From the category archives:

Book News

Hot Flat and Crowded by Thomas L Friedman

December 9, 2009
Hot Flat and Crowded by Thomas L Friedman

The environment is a hot topic right now in more ways than one. As this post goes to air the world is trying to hammer out some sort of deal at 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen and the media is full of claims and counter claims about what is going on, who [...]

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Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

December 3, 2009
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl

Despite the rather lofty title this book is genuinely readable, and not at all as impenetrable as one might imagine. The book is divided into two parts: the first recounts the author’s altogether horrific experiences of being a Jew in several of the Second World War’s most notorious concentration camps. The second part of the [...]

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Jeff In Venice by Geoff Dyer

October 1, 2009
Jeff In Venice - Death In Varanasi by Geoff Dyer

By his own admission, Geoff Dyer likes to play in the skinny inch between literature and reality, fiction and verity, to twist surprise and manipulate the expectations both of his audience and his genres, and one suspects his own self. This much might be obvious from an author called Geoff who’s a writer writing a lead [...]

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The True Cost of Cheaper Books

July 19, 2009
the true cost of cheaper books

A debate is raging and raging hard in the Australian publishing industry. Yeah woteva you may scoff but as readers of books, or as people with pretensions of reading books, this does effect you. Some time ago, the Australian Government asked the Australian Productivity Commission (APC) to have a look at whether or not the [...]

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The Second Book of the Tao by Stephen Mitchell

July 14, 2009
The Second Book of The Tao by Stephen Mitchell

In a nutshell, Stephen Mitchell’s “Second Book Of The Tao” is a book about reading his first book  Tao Te Ching (literally: “The Book Of The Way”) to his wife & fellow author Byron Katie. The outcome is what Stephen himself describes as “the most profound book on spirituality that exists” and “not only a [...]

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Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

July 13, 2009
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Set amidst the turmoil of Henry VIII’s struggle against The Vatican, and Thomas More’s equally epic struggle against Thomas Cromwell  Hilary Mantel’s lastest work of historical fiction Wolf Hall sets out to make us rethink our assumptions about the story’s key figures. So many of our thoughts of this turbulent time in British history is [...]

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Sum by David Eagleman

June 29, 2009
Sum: 40 Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman

Returning to the themes of Mary Roach’s Stiff for a moment, I thought it might be prudent to examine the possible options for your less physical remains. Sum: 40 Tales From the Afterlives by David Eagleman takes forty possible scenarios of what might happen to you or your soul, your intellect, your essence or whatever [...]

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Manhood by Steve Biddulph

June 22, 2009
Manhood by Steve Biddulph

It has never really been socially acceptable for men to talk about what it’s like to be a man, much less to discuss what might make a good one. Steve Biddulph is a UK born Tasmanian resident and a family psychologist, perhaps better known for his books,  talks and seminars on parenting and the education [...]

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Home wins Orange Prize, praise and prattle

June 6, 2009
Home by Marilynne Robinson

Marilynne Robinson’s Home has just been awarded the Orange Prize for Literature. It is however well worth having a squiz at the announcement over at the Guardian Books website as the response to the news raises some interesting questions about whether the awarding of special prizes for women writers adds much needed focus and attention [...]

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On Sight and Insight by John M Hull

May 27, 2009
On Sight and Insight by John M Hull

I’m sure you’ve wondered what it must be like to be blind – you may even have even spent a few minutes trying to get around with your eyes closed, or you may have team-built with a blindfold on. It is not the same. John M Hull was born fully sighted but started to loose [...]

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