New Zealand Listener is the country’s most respected general interest magazine, bringing you a wide variety of news, stories, columns, reviews, plus TV listings, every week.

New Zealand Listener

Don’t walk on by

House-price shame

Caption competition • THIS WEEK’S PICTURE

Quips& Quotes

10 Quick Questions

Funny You Should Ask • The QI elves are a team of writers and comedians who find the answers to impossible questions, doing the research for the long-running QI TV series, podcasts and the spin-off books. For the next few months we’ll be running some of their finest findings: the weird, wonderful, witty and wise, from their latest book, Funny You Should Ask.

Winged horrors

Amping confusion levels

A sockdolager of an idea

BREATHERS OF THE LOST ART • Good breathing is the key to living longer, says US science journalist and author James Nestor, but humans are among the worst breathers on the planet.

Something in the air • Exclusive extract from James Nestor’s Breath.

BREATHE BETTER, LIVE LONGER • By adopting some simple breathing techniques and doing more exercise, we can lower blood pressure, regulate heart rate and ease digestion.

Feel the weight

The magic number • The optimum breathing rate is about 5.5 breaths a minute. Take a quick test to see how you measure up.

BLOOD ACIDITY

HOW NOW BURPING COW? • The answer to methane emissions on our farms could lie in a feathery red seaweed.

The search for methane solutions

EXPLOSIVE BEGINNING • In an exclusive extract from her forthcoming book on the late Helen Kelly, journalist Rebecca Macfie, whose first long interview with the union leader featured in the Listener in 2015, looks at the unsolved act of terrorism that deeply affected Kelly.

WHAT HAVE WE COME TO? • Aldous Huxley’s nightmarish vision of a future society, Brave New World, offended many people on publication, but something about the novel’s 1930s take on dystopia resonates with readers right now.

’NAKI-STYLE JUSTICE • Online “sextortion” and revenge porn are on the rise. But earlier forms of vigilante justice also had their followers.

First, snap your mole • A simple smartphone attachment for taking mole images is helping in the fight against skin cancer.

HEALTH BRIEFS

No more burnt bits • Summer barbecue meats can be made healthier with just a few simple measures.

NUTRITION BITES

A go-low approach • The Fast 800 method of combining rapid weight loss and intermittent fasting for long-term health has inspired a book of easy recipes.

Summer whites • A selection of top drops that won’t cost you the earth these holidays.

The short and the tall • The developing brain works in mysterious ways, particularly when you’re very young.

They said it • Sport can be a spectacle that keeps on giving when its players open their mouths.

‘I’m grateful for my mother’s struggle’ • Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart speaks to Kiran Dass about the power of resilience, sharing his mother’s spirit and the plot of his next novel.

Sordid stuff

Worlds apart • Mesmerising worlds, both old and new, are a distinctive feature of two new novels.

So real, in retrospect • Worlds small, large and musical are conveyed in three relatable collections.

Central to the soul • Books about place, misplaced identity, and a working life well lived.

Ultimate sacrifice • A deftly told account of what drives Tibetans to set themselves alight.

DIVERSIONS

Wordsworth

Joey Pants breaks out • The actor remembered for killing his girlfriend in The Sopranos gets a benign lead role and laments the gangsterisation of US...