Famously snippy columnist, writer and comedian Catherine Deveny takes a swing at swine flu, TV, marriage, sexy billboards, plastic surgery, financial meltdown and much more in Free to a Good Home. Following It’s Not My Fault They Print Them (Black Inc. PB. $19.95) and Say When (Black Inc. PB. $24.95), this third collection of Deveny’s Age columns is perfect for lovers of her insightful, opinionated and hugely funny writings. As outrageously irreverent as ever, and covering just about every topic you can think of, the collection promises a rant for everyone on the left side of the fence. See how far you get down the ‘You know you’re from Melbourne if ...’ list before breaking into a smile. Perfect pick-up, put-down and pick-up-again holiday reading.

No stranger to the New York Times bestseller list, author and New Yorker columnist Malcolm Gladwell’s previous books The Tipping Point (Abacus. PB. $25), Blink (Penguin. PB. $24.95) and Outliers (Penguin. PB. $26.95) have all been runaway successes. Like Oliver Sacks and Alain de Botton, Gladwell’s greatest ability is to popularise sociology and psychology through essays covering a wildly varied assortment of themes and events. In What the Dog Saw, the range of subjects examined under the Gladwell microscope include choking and panic, criminal profiling, dog training and an adventure through the American postwar years via a theme as apparently uninteresting as hair dye. Inquisitive, thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining, What the Dog Saw has pop psychology page-turner written all over it.

De Botton explores the joys and perils of the modern workplace, and what makes our jobs either fulfilling or soul-destroying.

This fascinating history of correspondence tells the 4000-year story of how email came to rule our lives.

A fascinating book about what our everyday actions and possessions really say about us. Packed with original research and fascinating stories.