The Miracle of Water by Masaru Emoto
4 September, 2007
‘The Miracle of Water’ is well presented as an A5 size pretty looking book. Pretty, perhaps not doing it justice! Looking into this title is like examining a body of still water.... it runs deep.

The Verneys by Adrian Tinniswood
3 August, 2007
"Sir Francis Verney lay on his bed in the great hall of the sick at Messina. He was thirty-one years old. He was a long way from home. And he was dying". He had been a Barbary Coast pirate, a "sometimes great English gallant", a convert to Islam and, for two years at the end of his life when his fortunes lapsed, a galley slave. All of which makes for a dramatic opening scene in this family saga which has all the ingredients for a gripping television series. And it is all true.

Red Princess: A Revolutionary Life by Sofka Zinovieff
29 May, 2007
Mrs Skipworth, an old lady immersed in her books in rural Cornwall, fostering stray animals and walking Bodmin Moor in old gum-boots and scruffy clothes. And Princess Sophie (Sophka) Dolgorouky, a child attended by nursemaids, footmen and private tutors, playmate of the Tsarevich, and heiress to some of the greatest wealth in Russia.

Ted Hughes Selected Translations by Daniel Weissbort
29 May, 2007
"Ted Hughes(1930-98), Poet Laureate from 1984, was among the most important translators in the English tradition". So writes Daniel Weissbort in his introduction to this book. Weissbort whose own expertise in translation is widely acknowledged and who was co-founder of the magazine, Modern Poetry in Translation in 1965, is ideally placed to assess Hughes's translations.

Autobiography of My Mother by Meg Stewart
25 May, 2007
What do you do if you have spent hours talking to your mother and recording her memories, researched some of the family history, and published it all as a ghost-written autobiography, and then you read a chapter headed 'Mistress and Wife' in someone else's book and realize that there was something your mother omitted to tell you?

Unpolished Gem by Alice Pung
5 January, 2007
The setting of Unpolished Gem will be at once familiar and completely foreign to many readers. Those familiar with Melbourne will know the suburb of Footscray in which Pung grew up, but most would consider themselves outsiders to the Chinese Cambodian refugee community she presents here. Unpolished Gem is a playfully written and welcoming gateway into the lives of one family for whom the suburb is at first a ‘wonderland’ and eventually a delicately intertwined community.

The Human Touch by Michael Frayn
10 December, 2006
You have to admire Michael Frayn's courage. He has taken on all the major problems that philosophers have argued about over the centuries; all the major assumptions about the universe which underlie the scientific experiments on which we spend billions; and all the ethical credos on which we base our judicial system; and he has come to the conclusion that we make it all up.

Ted Hughes: A Literary Life by Neil Roberts
9 December, 2006
" As a young man, Ted Hughes must have seemed blessed. He was extravagantly gifted, as his juvenile poetry shows, and was warmly encouraged by his family and teachers. From a socially and economically modest background in Yorkshire, he won a place at Cambridge, despite performing poorly in his entrance exam: his teacher persuaded the college to accept him because of his talent as a writer".

Interview with Andrew McGahan - author of Underground
5 November, 2006
Andrew McGahan’s latest novel Underground invokes an Australia ‘in the not too distant future, a military state where Muslims are the enemy and government propaganda is rife’. McGahan spoke to Tony O’Loughlin.

The Laughter of Foxes by Keith Sagar
4 November, 2006
Keith Sagar is unique amongst scholarly critics of Ted Hughes' work. Hughes regarded him as a friend and they met and corresponded with each other for more than twenty years. Hughes also valued his judgment to the extent that he reinstated some dropped Cave Birds poems in the sequence at his instigation and, much later, used him as a sort of "devil's advocate" (Hughes' words) to refine the theory which lies at the heart of Shakespeare and the Goddess of Complete Being. The letters which they exchanged are now in the archives of the British Library.

Tales from the front
5 October, 2006
Personal accounts, biographies, histories and even guide books—Australia’s military history is the subject of a whole army of books hitting the shelves this month.

Non-Fiction Book Reviews - August 2006
26 August, 2006
This short book by Dennis Altman, professor of Politics at Latrobe University, examines the long-standing and often controversial relationship between Australia and the United States. The warm reception given to John Howard at the White House recently might have made many Australians proud, but also more than a few cringe. The fear that Australia is becoming a lackey of the United States is not, as Dennis Altman admits, a recent phenomenon. American ideas have long had an impact on Australian society—from the politics of the American New Left in the 1960s to the aggressively militant stance taken toward international terrorism by the Bush administration.

The Prince of Australia by Kevin Childs
28 May, 2006
Kevin Childs is a former Age journalist and it shows. The 10 stories that make up this welcoming book reflect the hallmarks of good journalism: clarity, simplicity and thorough research. Moreover, Childs writes in a style that is fluent and almost conversational. We can readily imagine him telling these stories to us personally. The book is celebratory of the Australian character and more specifically, quirky and often little-known moments from the past.

Object Lessons: Archaeology and Heritage in Australia edited by Jane Lyndon & Tracey Ireland
28 May, 2006
Recent events covered by Australia’s media have highlighted the complexity of social identity in this country. Object Lessons, far from being simply a book about what constitutes heritage in our relatively new nation, is a timely assessment of how ‘places and objects’ contribute to our sense of belonging and community.

Many Lifetimes: A Memoir by Audrey Evans
28 May, 2006
Audrey Evans is a truly inspirational Australian woman who overcame tremendous obstacles and hardships to inspire and change lives. This is Audrey’s life story—a life that involved growing up through abuse, pregnancy at 17, battling through depression and countless visits to mental institutions, rape, prostitution, alcoholism, abusive relationships and poverty. This memoir is far more than just the story of an inspirational aboriginal woman, it is the life of an extraordinary person who triumphed to qualify as a teacher in the same year she qualified for the old-age pension.

The Champions: Conversations with Great Players and Coaches of Australian Football by Ben Collins
28 May, 2006
This new football book from GSP interviews 24 AFL/VFL players about their Australian Rules football experiences. From Ron Barassi and Bob Davis to current footy stars such as James Hird and Robert Harvey, this book gleans information from the players about their football careers and where their lives have led to after football. This book will appeal to readers who are 40 or older—younger readers may find the format a little dry and regimented.

Please just F*** Off: It’s Our Turn Now by Ryan Heath
28 May, 2006
Shame about the title. No doubt it got a good laugh at the publishing meeting where this book was pitched, but it’s combative, negative, and will alienate some readers immediately. Pity, because this isn’t a half-bad book. Its strength is that it conveys in no uncertain terms, often using first-person quotes, the frustration many young people feel about the stagnation that currently afflicts Australia.

The Big Oyster by Mark Kurlansky
15 May, 2006
"Up until the nineteenth century the oyster was thought to be a simple primitive creature". So begins one early chapter of this book by Mark Kurlansky. And, if you enjoy oysters as a culinary delicacy, you would do well to stop reading right there and skip to the next chapter, because what follows is a detailed description of a complex, sensitive creature which we keep alive so that, complete with "a working brain, a stomach, intestines, liver and a still beating heart", we can swallow it whole. And some of them can grow to a foot long, which, as William Makepeace Thackeray once complained was "like eating a baby"

Black Founders: The Unknown Story of Australia's First Black Settlers by Cassandra Pybus
23 April, 2006
Black Founders is well-written historical text, full of details that make most fiction look like lolly water. There is a very powerful thesis in this text, an attempt to reappraise the inherent white/black dichotomy of Australian history.

Drink Me by Skye Rogers
23 April, 2006
The sub-genre of substance-abuse autobiography­think Running with Scissors, A Million Little Pieces et al-has taken up an increasing portion of the shelves in recent years. Rogers, author of nonfiction titles like Thirtysomething, varies the format with Drink Me as she delves into the story of her ex-partner Dan's alcoholism and how it eventually destroyed an intense and very loving relationship.

Australia Locked up by John Nicholson
23 April, 2006
John Nicholson's information-rich, nonfiction picture books have been highly commended for years. Following his award-winning format, Australia Locked Up combines detailed illustrations with Australian nonfiction and is aimed at upper-primary­age children.

Asbestos House: The Unauthorised Story of James Hardie Industries by Gideon Haigh
12 March, 2006
Asbestos House, a monumental history of James Hardie Industries and its 107 -year relationship with a most useful and deadly substance, treads a fine line between exposing problems and attaching blame. Although reports from as early as 1930 suggested a link between asbestos and lung diseases, a succession of Hardie staff persisted in the belief that the problem could be overcome, or ignored until a later time.

Bernard Shaw: A Life by A.M. Gibbs
12 March, 2006
George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin in 1856, the only son of an alcoholic corn merchant and a leading amateur soprano. He died at the age of 94 in 1950, and was, as A M Gibbs states, a 'herald and creator of cultural and social change.' Despite showing promise in his early years as a novelist, Shaw began a successful career as a playwright in his 30s, and became a major influence on the theatre of his time and after.

Tucker Track by Warren Fahey
19 December, 2005
Warren Fahey’s Tucker Track draws together some of the lore, songs and recipes that he has gathered in his many years of roaming this country as one of Australia’s premier folklorists. It’s a ragtag collection of bits and bobs, organised thematically into chapters and then in varying-length sections, listed in alphabetical order. I found myself wondering exactly what its purpose was.

South by Northwest by Granville Allen Mawer
19 December, 2005
G A Mawer is the author of numerous books about exploration and seafaring adventures, his most recent being The Life and Legend of Jack Doolan, the Wild Colonial Boy. Now he turns his attention to the last continent, Antarctica, a continent that became the last Holy Grail for so many.