From provocation to intricate plots

With the coolness of autumn in the air, the four reads Patricia McCracken has selected this week are rich with ideas that are guaranteed to warm up the grey matter.

- Patricia McCracken

The One Thing by Bruce Whitfield (Macmillan, R330)

Whitfield's renowned for grasping your attention and getting you thinking, whether he's writing or broadcasting. In his latest book, he has some of South Africa's most interesting and influential people grappling with a problem question so tough that several backed out.

He asked contributors to name, in about 500 words, 'the one thing' that could drive sustainable change in the country if we really focused on it - “small ideas, big outcomes, a brighter future', as he sums it up in the subtitle.

It would be too much of a spoiler to go into detail on the short pieces, but they make excellent, thoughtful daily reading or journalling prompts, especially with the local government elections on the horizon, which Whitfield pinpoints as the Government of National Unity's first big test.

He gives context to the variously themed sections of contributions and concludes with his own, which is provocative, to the point and irrefutable. Don't miss this.

Freestyle Cooking with Chef Ollie by Oliver Swart (Penguin, R450)