Reviews (1)

A must-read
This is a fascinating book.

First off, it presents a close-up view of what the last stages of language death are like -- the language is spoken by only two or three people very old people. They may speak it well, or may speak it haltingly, or may only remember a few phrases. And then they die, and there went the language. Since most of the languages in the US and in the world are headed toward that fate in the next forty years, I think it's time people get to see what it looks like, and what a great loss it is.

Second off, this book is the closest I've seen anyone manage to explaining what it is that we linguists do. If only this book got half the press that Steven Pinker's ramnblings get!

And third off, this book recalls some of the daily experiences of the author's travels in rural Australia, among the Aborigines. As one rarely reads anything about Australian Aborigines, or rural Australia in general, this alone makes it interesting. I, for one, had no idea that the Aborigines were, until recently, in a situation combining some of the worst features of Apartheid and of what the US was doing to its Natives in the 19th century. ... Read more

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Reviews (5)

disappointing
I was terribly disappointed in this book. It's more of an autobiography of the author's life than it is about books and book collecting. Also, while I read more than the average person and I don't only read mainstream books, I felt like "Pound of Paper" was full of references to obscure authors.

I would recommend "Used and Rare" and other books by Larry and Nancy Goldstone if you really want to read about books and collecting.

A Pound of Pleasure
By Bill Marsano. The very first thing you should know is that this is a book about collecting, not just book collecting. Collecting--the determined search for specific objects on a given theme--is pretty much the same kind of mania for all collectors, whether they're after vintage cars, rare stamps and coins or--as in this case--books, and whether the treasure they seeks are top dollar or bottom. Every kind of collecting develops its own little cultures and subcultures, its side streets and back alleys, its characters loved or hated or legendary. And, of course, its litany of heart-lifting successes and heart-breaking failures. So if you collect (as distinct from accumulate) or if you know a collector, this book is a definite buy.

John Baxter's collecting, which began with science fiction, made him into a short-story writer then a scriptwriter then a novelist and a teacher. He begins his trek in a desolate tank town in Australia, where things start slowly, but he soon moves on--and ups the pace and tension--to London, the U.S. (East Coast and West) and finally Paris. The whole journey runs along like a thrill ride as you join Baxter in a series of adventures and misadventures with his assortment of bookstruck ne-er-do-wells and genial lowlifes.

There are only pluses to this book. Plenty of amusing incidents and anecdotes, lots of inside information about book collecting (appplicable to collecting in general) and to top it all off, superb writing. Baxter writes vivid, imaginative, entertaining prose. He is a delight to read.--Bill Marsano is an award-winning travel writer, an editor and a desultory book collector.

A True Delight For Every Book Lover
This is a engaging, entertaining memoir by a true book lover. The leisurely, slightly discursive way in which John Baxter unfolds his life story led me into imagining I had struck up a conversation with him in a musty second-hand book shop; and found his story to entertaining that I invited him across the street to a dark, smoky pub to continue the tale over several tall pints of lager.

Baxter grew up in Australia, and has since called London, Los Angeles and Paris home. He's been a broadcaster, novelist, biographer and film critic. The one constant thread in this far-ranging life has been his love of books. As a young adult, he became obsessed with science fiction. While living in London, he stumbled on a rare copy of a Graham Greene children's book, which served as the basis for a Greene collection he spent several years building.

In this book, he celebrates some of the most memorable people he's encountered along the way, including book runner Martin Stone (A book runner makes his living, if you can call it that, by buying and reselling books from flea markets, thrift stores and the like); and several literary greats, including Kingsley Amis, Ray Bradbury and Harry Harrison. He also explores collectors of erotica, the difference between Paris and London bookshops, skewers the ignorance of many eBay sellers, and has a grand good time through it all. The closing scene, where he brings all the books he owns together in one place for the first
time in his life, had a special resonance for me....it's something I dream of in my own life. For book lovers everywhere.--William C. Hall

A Pound of Paper
In his memoir A Pound of Paper, novelist and film biographer John Baxter meanders through the story of his life-long obsession with books and book collecting: from his precocious childhood in the Australian hinterland, where he devoured the science fiction magazines that were piled in a friend's garage, through years spent hunting Graham Greene first editions, to his Parisian penthouse in the present, in a building whose stairwell was once splattered with F. Scott Fitzgerald's vomit. Reading the book is akin to the experience of overhearing the eclectic chatter of a cocktail party. There is a lot of talk about people and places and books and films one has never heard of: my one complaint about Baxter's book is that he spends too much time mentioning publishers or book sellers that can mean nothing to the average reader (though book collectors will doubtless relish the detail). But interspersed among the forgettable bits are some delightful passages that any neophyte reader can enjoy--Baxter's description of the eccentricities of movie theaters in the small-town Australia of his youth, or of book browsing in Parisian librairies, an activity quite unlike shopping in English or American bookshops:

"The aristocratic attitude to bookselling meant that whole areas of Anglo-Saxon book-dealing expertise simply didn't apply. In visiting a librairie, you were paying a social call and admiring a collection. You were expected to walk appreciatively along the shelves, taking down books at random, admiring the bindings, rubbing a hand over the worn morocco, perhaps reading a few pages, nodding at a well-turned phrase, even smiling. Browsing, yes, but not as we know it.

There is, too, for those interested in flayed humans, a catalogue of anthropodermically-bound books, and also a story about a certain Bea Miles--"smelly, dumpy but charismatic,"-- that is worthy of Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair: she "roamed Sydney, wearing a hand-lettered cardboard sign offering to recite Shakespeare for a shilling a time." A Pound of Paper has many such anecdotes to offer readers.

In the end, one does not leave Baxter's book feeling that one knows the author particularly well--he does not offer readers an intimate entree into his life. But one does leave the cocktail party entertained, for the most part, by the chatter.

Book lovers unite
Though I do not believe in censorship, books like A POUND OF PAPER: CONFESSIONS OF A BOOK ADDICT need to be hidden from family members. Bibliophiles know the affinity that film biographer John Baxter shares with us. Though not chasing around the world like Mr. Baxter has, book lovers will comprehend the need to hit the obscure bookstore whether on a business trip or a vacation. Going to Europe includes visits to the neighborhood bookstores of Athens and Rome (Greece and Italy not Georgia) as key to the itinerary.

Book lovers can commiserate with Mr. Baxter as everyone thinks you're a nut whether one grows up in rural Australia or the urban Bronx. Mr. Baxter provides a bit of book history beyond just the printing press invention and gives insight into proofs and galleys, and limited editions. He also goes into depth of what havoc and destruction the Information Age via the Internet has had on bookstores including the global yard sale of eBay. Though he adds other personal non-book elements of his life, it is his love for the printed media that will hook readers like me whose house displays the destruction of several rain forests (it is hard to be an environmentalist in my abode). Clearly for book hoarders though film addicts might try a spin as Mr. Baxter is part of that community too.

Harriet Klausner ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Fiction - NOT Fact
As a work of fiction, this book may have some merit. But, please be informed that this book IS fiction and not fact. It is currently being protested by the aboriginal community of Australia as a fabrication and outrageous exploitation of their culture. Please see their website on this matter at www.dumbartung.org.au/report2.html

Crystal Woman: by Lynn Andrews
I have most if not all of lynn's books and they are the most informative and interesting books I have ever had the Honor of reading. There is one book I do not have. That Is Crystal Woman. I work with crystals in my daily life I feel this book will help me on this journey of crystals and as always Lynn's books are always my favorite to read. Thank you, Michele

Andrews' Most Moving Book Yet!
I have read most of Lynn Andrews books (I started with Medicine Woman) and even though her first experiences and journeys were quite fascinating, this particular narration explains much more about female spirituality and what a woman can give to herself and those around her. Through Andrews different experiences in the Australian aboriginal landscape (they are many), we see that once you start on your spiritual quest, you receive/acquire more and more gifts that are directly related to your spiritual courage. "Crystal Woman" truly moved me - and I've been into New Age studies since for the past twenty years!

You have got to read this book!!!
When i first picked up this book it was by accident, but the title intrigued me so I checked it out. Boy I was in for a surprise! As I read this book I was amazed at how much power that a female possesses inside of herself. I was so into this book I read it in 2 days. After this first book I was hooked on all the rest of her books. The thing that got me the most was that these books were based on her real life experiences. From then on I have been trying to find my spirituality, this and the other books has inspired me ... Read more

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Reviews (1)

Trememdous insight into writing children's books
Having never read a Mem Fox book, it was the title of this book that caught my eye. For anyone who has fancied writing children's books, this is a must-read. It covers the writing and editing processes and provides insight into obtaining publishers and illustrators. Great book, as are all of Ms. Fox's books. ... Read more

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Book Description

One of Australia's well-known chroniclers of the Second World War tells the devastating story of war from the insider's perspective. Based largely on Osmar White's own war diary and the articles he wrote as a war correspondent, this deeply personal account stands out among the vast literature on World War II.Selected among the best 100 articles in Australian journalism of the twentieth century, White's eloquent record of the climactic events in the final days of the Third Reich remains as fresh and timely as ever. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

CONFRONTING QUESTIONS FOR THEN - AND NOW
White's Conqueror's Road is particularly relevant now with the anniversary of the D Day landings bringing back to mind the allies' slog through Europe which White captures so well. He compels us to ask again why so many of those involved in the conflict behaved the way they did. More than that, he insinuates the question in our minds "have people changed, could these things happen again?" The book is timeless and disturbing; no wonder publication was refused for decades.

Courageous journalism
Brilliant, courageous and accurate reporting from the front line has been one of the great international contributions of Australian and New Zealand journalism, especially during World War ll. Osmar White, who reported from both the Pacific and Europe, was among the finest of the Anzacs who achieved global recognition as war correspondents. "Conquerors' Road" -- a first-persona account of the US Third Army's push to Berlin -- shows why he had such a high reputation. He brought the skills of a novelist (which he later became, in tandem with his work as a journalist) to his depiction of the horror and folly of war, whether he was describing Buchenwald concentratin camp or Herman Goering's trove of looted treasures. White was too experienced and intelligent to believe that complete objectivity was possible in journalism, but his subjectivity never slipped into bombast or sentimentality. His precise, vivid writing always allows you to distinguish between fact and his opinion and emotions. Much of this book was virtually written on the run, yet it is an important contribution to the history of the 20th century.

Timely Read
A well paced and interesting read. Conquerors Road is a gripping journey through events at the end of WW2. Importantly, many facets of war journalism are discussed, and this is extremely pertinent in the current political climate. To the younger reader such as myself it gives a great impression and sense of the time and events of WW2, and with this the reader can get a good perspective on the recent events in Iraq and especially issues around their reportage.

I really liked the flow of the book, which is understated and progressive - it was difficult to put down. The events unfold naturally, and the distance between 1945 and the present is greatly reduced.

There are some strong descriptions about conditions and the depravity which occured in the war, and these have a lasting impact. The book is an effective window to the past. ... Read more

Book Description

Considered the greatest proponent of common law in the 20th century, Sir Owen Dixon stood on the high court of Australia, served as ambassador to the United States, and mediated conflict between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. This biography presents a textured view of Dixon through use of primary sources such as Dixon's personal diaries and letters, official correspondence from archival sources, photographs, interviews from friends and family, and government reports. Attention to personal conflicts and dramatic storytelling results in a dynamic image of this renowned barrister and judge. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Fabulous biography about a not very likeable person
I found the biog hard to put down, unlike White's fiction which I find easy to put down! Marr has written a scholarly yet entertaining biography, and you really feel you come to know something about an Australian icon - our only Nobel laureate in literature.

In everything i have read (including White's own portrait of himself, Flaws In The Glass) he comes across as a horrible man - a misogynist, but with some political principles with which I might agree.

Nevertheless, that is not the point of literature, or art, to be loved by one and all. White's voice certainly added immensely to the cultural life of this country, and it is worth getting to know something about his life and works. Marr's book is an excellent place to start. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Patrick White (1912-1990), author of The Living and the Dead, 1973 Nobel Laureate in Literature, officially Australian but also partly upper-crust Englishman by education, rejected alike English stuffiness and Australian philistinism. These letters, edited by his biographer David Marr, chronicle White's gradual reluctant engagement with the world: his interest in Jewish culture after an early ignorant anti-Semitism; his idyllic wartime period in West Africa; his passionate and rancorous anti-royalism, sparked by the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis when the British Queen's representative sacked the Prime Minister; his deep held belief in the validity of homosexual unions, based on his own life-long relationship. These letters give an inner glimpse of a mostly private life. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

An opportunity to enter the private world of Patrick White
I read 2 negative reader reviews of this book on the day I bought it and thought I had thrown my money down the drain. Luckily we all come at books from a different perspective and I am very pleased I stumbled on this 677 page volume of letters written from 1919 to 1990. Reading this is like sitting in someones living room unseen and hearing all from the everyday to the important being discussed. It gives us a strong human connection to this hugely talented, crotchety, driven, private, argumentative man of strong opinions and unpredictably diverse views of the world. Rather than writing him off as a typical Australian as previous reviewers have, I found his letters fascinating, surprising, and a damn good read and his life and thought are very un-typical of Australians of his era in my view. The fact that my house is in walking distance of Dogwoods made their Castle Hill life doubly pertinent to me but in any event I would have enjoyed the book immensely. White's comment about wishing to spend his time on his acreage atDogwoods rather than 'watching a landscape slowly destroyed by a race whose most pronounced gift is that of creating ugliness' was prescient, a McDonalds now stands nearby opposite a shopping centre carpark. Certainly worth a read.

Boring and bitter is right!
What an awful life! As an Australian this dreadful, wizened old cockroach of a man makes me ashamed.Nothing but boring twisted hatred and ingratitude. Why publish such a book at all?

what a boring bitter old man!
patrick white is one of the 20th century's finest novelists - his thick tome of letters compiled by david marr was given to me by someone who knew of patrick white only as awriter from my country- I was living in TX at the time feeling acute homesickness of which, upon reading the book,was immediately cured bypage 2 when the reasons why I left australia in the first place came vividly galloping towards me with a loud yawn. The scratchy nib of discontentment mark 400 pages of this old sod's rather boring snippy life with his companion manoly. His mandarin mouthed mug scowling at u courtesy of the brush strokes of Brett on the cover really tell u the whole sad story .. dinner parties, gossip, gardening, writing, gossip, travelling, bitching, writing etc go on and on -- most telling aspect is that patrick wanted all his correspondence destroyed after being read - obviously not enough of his friends took him seriously - so why should we ... ... Read more

Book Description

Meet Skidboot, the Amazing Dog. His owner swears he never trained the blue heeler to do tricks. Skidboot just does what he’s told to do. And what he does has amazed not only thousands at rodeos and fairs, but millions as well, through television appearances on Oprah, Animal Planet, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Show with David Letterman, and many others. This is the story of a dog who almost got kicked off the ranch, but ended up a star. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the first biography of one of Australia's finest poets--a famed lyricist, polyglot, and polemicist. Alexander draws on extensive interviews with Murray to reveal how this complex man endured the harshest and most anti-intellectual of childhoods to develop into one of the most famous poets writing in English today. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent biography of a Great Poet
Les Murray is the leading poet in the English-speaking world today. This account of his often strange life and work is scholarly, well researched and lifts the lid on some of the dirty tricks of Murray's rivals and enemies in the Australian literary scene (there were unsuccessful attempts to ban it). Sheds light on many aspects of poetry, culture in general, and the human condition. ... Read more

Book Description

Australian cinema has taken the international film world by storm in recent years, winning awards and garnering attention. The faces and talents behind these films have been brought together to discuss the popularity of Australian film in these thought-provoking essays. Heartfelt, eclectic, and imaginative, these essays allow the filmmakers to become active participants in the discussions of an Australian aesthetic usually reserved for journalists and critics. Contributions include an interview with Jane Campion, a dissection of apocalyptic mythology from George Miller (of Mad Max fame), and the journal Scott Hicks kept as Shine found its way from Sundance to the Oscars. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Much needed, greatly appreciated
I read this book almost a year ago, but I was prompted to write this review when I discovered (with horror)during a search for books dealing with contemporary Australian film that there was no customer feedback yet for this title! This book is a real treasure, even for those not remotely associated with Australian film. In fact, even divorced from film interests at all, this book is filled with interesting and engaging narrative from fascinating and colourful characters. As a film resource, it is unparralled. There is unfortunately a real poverty of material dealing with current Australian filmmaking that is this absorbing and entertaining. As a recently graduated film student, I would suggest this book as a great resource for film students in all nations, not just Australia. Australian cinema is unique, diverse, and booming on the local and global scene. This book is the most up to date resource that I could find, and by far the most enjoyable, it's just a really good read on so many levels. I really can't reccommend it enough, and I hope someone writes someting as good dealing with Australian film sometime soon..... ... Read more

Book Description

Arthur Bishop is a world-class international inventor, a consummate thinker, and a passionate dreamer, yet few who use his products have ever heard his name. This account of his extraordinary life and work is also an exploration of what it is to be an inventor.

Driven by Ideas is not only the story of Arthur Bishop; it is also a biography of an idea, Bishop's mechanical magnum opus: variable ratio steering. His technology is used in a quarter of the passenger vehicles produced in the world today. This book becomes an edifying account of what an inventor does to develop an idea, as well as the obstacles that must be overcome in order for that idea to come to fruition. ... Read more

Book Description

"Cardiac resuscitation was often applied to a patient who was fast asleep.The hapless victim woke from a peaceful slumber to find somebody, often an infidel, jumping up and down on his chest."

Lydia Laube worked as a nurse in Saudi Arabia in a society that does not allow women to drive, vote, or speak to a man alone.Wearing head-to-toe coverings in stifling heat, and battling administrative apathy, Lydia Laube kept her sanity and got her passport back."Behind the Veil" is the hilarious account of an Australian woman's battle against the odds.It will keep you entertained for hours. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Behind the Veil: An Australian nurse in Saudi Arabia
Lydia Laube in her adventures "Behind the Veil: An Australian nurse in Saudi Arabia" has captured the essence of her experience. She begins by taking the reader on her journey, as she enters Saudi Arabia as a travel nurse on a one year contract assignment. Her love of adventure shines through as she relates to the reader the unique culture shock and customs of this closed country. Her story, for many travelers will be all that they may experience of this oil rich nation that does not admit tourists. Laube successfully pulls the reader into the very essence of the culture, language and customs of the Muslim daily life. She candidly shares the challenges of health care in a nation, plagued by ineffieciency, where women have no rights, censorship is the norm and capital punishment is strickly enforced. Laube remains strong with determination to improve her surroundings, and the level of care at this hospital, a challenge especially as a woman in a culture that does not respect women. She shares the triumphs and sorrows of daily life. Laube relates the misfortunes of expatriates from the Philippines, Sudan, India, Korea and European countries and of recruiting agencies misguided promises. Laube's candid book is a must read for every nurse or health care professional considering a term in Saudi Arabia. Also an excellent resource for expatriates planning a term of service. ... Read more

Book Description

This Companion offers a comprehensive record of New Zealand writing in an easily accessible form. More than 1500 alphabetically arranged entries discuss writers, novels, plays, poetry, journals, anthologies, literary movements, and professional organizations. The generous range of plot summaries and author entries will prove invaluable to scholars, students, and all lovers of this nation's unique and powerful literary tradition. ... Read more