Australia Books

I read this book a year ago and found it such a compelling but chilling read. If it were not so painstakingly researched and the history it reports were not so recent and about a time I remember well, it would be possible to read it as a dramatic nail biting political thriller. The characters that as Australians we know so well are depicted so vividly, their actions so self serving and callous. Given the current political climate in Australia and around the world this book should be compulsory reading for all those who wish to not live through another term of the radical right wing conservatives. Frighteningly history is repeating itself with another election soon, the same campaign tactics exploiting the politics of fear and greed are being played out in the Australian media, fueled by now well seasoned politicians and business interests.

I am the first reviewer and boy george this books it great! Top notch

This is a great book. It is told through the letters that a girl and a boy write to each other over many years. They are from different cultures. It is a touching sweet story that you will love.

Joy Hester and Sunday Reed were two important women in Australian cultural life of the 1940s. Hester was an artist and Sunday Reed, her patron.Their letters to one another span 1940-1960, the year of Hester's death. Reed's home was a focus for Melbourne's radical cultural life. Hester was Reed's best friend. When Hester contracted cancer in 1947, Reed adopted her son.Their letters chart the passage of Hester's illness together with Reed's love for her garden, books, poetry, art and friendship.Despite poverty and illness, Hester produced fine, expressionist drawings which are now in Australia's state galleries. Reed was her constant and unflagging audience.

Death of a Swagman was written in the mid point of Arthur Upfields career and shows in his attention to detail and his ability to capture the feling of Australian country towns in the early part of our century. The story is a good detective novel in its own right with plenty of plots and action and red herrings. Bony's relationship with Rose Marie is used as a strong pivot point throughout the novel giving a useful viewpoint of the running of the town from a child's perspective. The advantage of this book over other bony novels is the character development of the subjects. This gives a depth and humanity which remains after the story is finished. The narrative of the swagmans lifestyle and its mythology is addressed here with great detail and provides a refreshing glimpse of a bygone era.

Written in an irreverent style with regular examples from the authors' extensive experience in world-debating, this book is an excellent guide to debating - for beginners, the experienced, the coach and the adjudicator.

Focusing on the Australian style of debate, the initial chapters on Manner and Method clearly set out standards expected, as well as mentioning pitfalls and recommendations. The chapters devoted to Matter, combined with the discussion on Topics & Preparation lends immediately the wisdom necessary to construct speeches with structured purpose as opposed to a series of nascent ramblings.

whether you are a resident of Sydney, as I am, or a visitor, or just interested in a very vibrant part of Sydney life, then this is a terrific book.

The photographs are great. It is not a complete history of the Mardi Gras (now 22 years old) - there are other volumes that cover that territory - but it is a terrific 'slice of life volume.

The MArdi Gras festival lasts for 3-4 weeks in late summer (Feb-early March) each year, and culminates in the sequins and glamour, and political statements of the parade. This book is a worthy 'souvenir' of that very sultry time.

This is the best book on decision theory and subjective probability that I have studied so far. The book explains and demonstrates the axioms and fundamental concepts of these theories in a simple way. At the same time, every theorem in the book is proven in a rigorous way. I am particularly impressed by the introduction of subjective probability and its axiomatic foundation.

This book is highly recommended for anyone who wants to get an in-depth understanding of these important concepts.

Brian J. Fleay is remarkable for having written a book which, without his having access to anything like the same resources, parallels the findings of $US32,000.00 'The World Oil Supply 1930 - 2050' published by Petroconsultants of Geneva. The World Oil Supply' is a three volume work which draws on Petroconsultants' database on the upstream oil industry, which is the most comprehensive in the world and which they have been building since the 1950's. (P) Basically, the scenario outlined is that we have been using a meaningless and dangerously misleading method of calculating our future access to oil supply. The method generally employed has been to add up what is thought to be the total extractable reserves of oil in the world, and then divide it by the world's annual consumption. This is called the 'Reserve/Production Ratio', and gives a figure, in years, of how long we have until we 'run out' of oil. (P) The fault in this method is that it assumes that the remaining oil can be extracted at a continuous rate, as though the oil were sitting in some vast underground tank which we can simply drain until empty. In fact, the oil is held beneath the earth in porous rock, and relies on the pressure in the oil field for its flow up the well and into the pipelines. As the oil is extracted, the pressure drops and the flow slows down. Obviously, this can be aided by pumping, but this does not allow the same rate to be achieved. (P) Mr. Fleay argues that only a full audit of the world's oil supply, such as that carried out by Petroconsultants, including a history of the production from each of the many thousands of fields in the world, can start to give us a picture of where we stand. This is because our most immediate problem is not going to be the total amount of oil left in the world, but the declining rate of annual production against a background of burgeoning demand. If the normal laws of supply and demand are allowed to be the only thing to set our future price structure for oil, we're in for a rocky road. (P) Mr. Fleay's book is very readable, thought provoking and somewhat worrying. It is remarkable that the concerns he raises are not much taken into account by people discussing such things as the 'Greenhouse' effect, or by business people for that matter. In fact, because the issue of oil supply affects everyone on the face of the earth, this is a book which should not be left unread by anybody.

Paul Bangay is a truly talented garden designer. His designs are basically 'architectural' in that he uses sculptured hedges, formally pleached trees and careful use of axis to create traditionally formal gardens with a modern twist.

The principles that he espouses are not confined to only cool climate (ie English) gardens. In this book, gardens designed in more tropical regions achieve the same amount of polish and perfection by using the same underlying structure. There are also examples of courtyard gardens, as well as larger estates.

This book is a must read for anyone seeking an Architectural edge to their garden, or for inspiration for even the smallest courtyard.