Welcome to Blokes vs Books, a campaign that promotes Kiwi men as readers.

Today, meet John Tamihere, broadcaster and politician and booklover!

Watch his 3-part interview with Victor Rodger here on YouTube

As an early reader John was inspired by Jacques Cousteau and the discovery of the natural world and the mysteries of the deep blue.

He has an impressive library filled with books on Te Ao Māori and we couldn’t help but notice writings by Judith Binney, Sir Āpirana Ngata. There is so much rich material to be discovered here. We would also recommend Ranginui Walker, Dame Anne Salmond, Vincent O’Malley and Michael King. Also see Tangata Whenua: A History by Aroha Harris, Atholl Anderson and Judith Binney.

In his downtime, J.T is a fan of big names like Jeffrey Archer. Archer has an extensive back catalogue (254 books!) but if you read all of him we think you might also like Sidney Sheldon.

J.T’s desert island book is Churchill by Roy Jenkins. If political biographies are your thing there are countless depths to plunder here. You could start by referring to this Guardian article: From Disraeli to Thatcher: 15 of the best political biographies and diaries for some ideas.

John is also a champion for reading and books more generally. In part 2 of his interview, he describes the power of reading like this:

"It allows you to disengage, then totally engage in the intellectual world of whoever you're reading. Their spirit touches you, in that book, in that moment. It's a wonderful experience. Reading is a way of enriching yourself and of resetting your own mind."

He encourages young men, especially Māori and Pasifika boys to discover the joy of reading.

"Boys that read, succeed. Boys that read lift their vocabulary, lift their vision of themselves, lift their status, by piggy-backing on the mana of the person who wrote the book."

Kia ora, John!