Oceania Books

This book adds significantly to the understanding of Katherine Mansfield and her New Zealand stories. I enjoyed it very much.

If you're new to Katherine Mansfield, this is a good book to start with. Smith opens some doors for the novice or scholar. You might want to buy Vincent O'Sullivan's recent anthology published by Norton to use as your reading copy of KM's works. It's easy to find Antony Alper's excellent full length biography. It's essential reading too. If you are serious about your reading, Alpers also edited her works (Oxford U Press), and it's worth tracking down a copy -- not just for the logical arrangement of the text, but for his excellent notes.

The author obviously did his homework in compiling this book. If you really want to know the history of Kauai, you cannot go wrong with this book. It covers the origins from the first settlers to the landing of Captain Cook and ends with the annexation of the islands by the United States.

My only ping is it tends to jump dates and times about subjects while on the same page and you lose track of where you are. I can understand why the author did this, but it breaks the flow when you are trying to process Hawaiian names and places at the same time.

But don't let that stop you from purchasing this book if you want a real history and education on Kauai. If you can retain 10% of what this book offers, you will be an expert on the island.

If you go or have gone to Kauai, the places you visit will have much more meaning than just going to a snorkeling location or paddling the Wailua river. You learn about how sacred these places were to the ancient Hawaiians and also how the island both prospered and faultered throughout its inhabitance.

The Na Pali coast is devoid of any people or communities today, but in ancient times, many people lived in those valleys. Families trekked across treacherous terrains just to visit each other. It is amazing to think about when you stand at the top of the Kalalau lookout.

When you pull off the side of the rode to look at the Hanapepe valley, you are looking at the location where many people were killed as "payback" for Kauai's resistance to unification of the islands from years past.

These stories and more are vividly explained. It's not a tale of fiction or an easy read like Harry Potter. What it is though is a thoughtful, historic and educational story of the island and the people who lived there.

Includes Melpa Land Tenure - Rules & Processes, Land Tenure in the Woleai; on Kapingamarangi; Landholding on Namu Atoll, Marshall Islands; in the Ellice Islands; Tamana Island, Gilbert Islands; Case of Plamerson Atoll; Pacific Land Tenure in a Nutshell

I highly recommend David Bowman's new book, Legerdemain.
It is the most thorough and objective collection of just about all the
evidence and theories regarding what happened, or did not happen, to
Amelia Earhart that I have ever seen...literally a meticulous file of all
available old and newly discovered and rigorously analyzed information
about the disappearance and possible survival of Amelia Earhart.
It is thoroughly catalogued and documented, and a resource that no
sincere researcher should pass up making available to themselves.

This book would be one of the only country editions where I would say it isn't vastly superior to it's Lonely Planet competitor. It is thinner than Lonely Planet which is great if you're backpacking as it's less weight. If one company's version is a lot cheaper I'd say buy it.

The main difference between this and Let's Go is that this Lonely Planet is written for a North American audience whereas Let's Go is more for your British, European, Australian, South African and the like markets. This means those not from North America may find a lot of the information contained in Lonely Planet as common knowledge, especially historic things and would prefer to have less weight by not having this common knowledge space and weight creating information. Assuming you already know the common stuff Let's Go actually gives you more information as it has stuff Lonely Planet has left out for their space reasons. Since the American education system doesn't teach the basics about the world, American audiences may prefer Lonely Planet but others I would think would get more out of Let's Go. Lonely Planet does have a few colour photographs which Let's Go doesn't but you're going to take your own anyway.

A fair amount of the hostels in New Zealand actually do appear in this book with around the same number in Lonely Planet. Be aware that there are other hostels out there though, so don't completely rely on the book and use the best method word of mouth from other backpackers as well. Of course the price information is out of date as usual.

Actually I'd say don't bother with either as you're just reliving someone else's experiences and it's better to explore for yourself but for hostel listings and background info if you don't know much about New Zealand then this is useful. There is heaps of information in every New Zealand hostel on every part of New Zealand so you don't really need it.

This is a splendid study of power shifts, ruses, mimicry, contamination, counter-authority, in the textualizing Pacific seen as a domain of conversion and imperial materiality. The book deserves a wider recognition within postcolonial studies, as a thick descriptive theorization of colonial authority as made and unmade in a nexus of unequal and unstable distribution, then and now. The materials on Stevenson in Samoa are the best of their kind on native and colonial collaboration in something mongrel and new.

Leon Oberg has brought out the fourth edition of his classic works, "Locomotives of Australia" and if anything, it is an improvement on an already excellent book. This not only provides details on the very latest locomotives to be introduced on the various railroads of Australia over the last ten years, in addition to those already in the earlier edition, but includes many colour photographs as well, which add to the overall quality of the book. Also, I do not remember the section on the "Shays" in the last edition and believe it is an addition here. Undobtedly, this is one of the best books on locomotives anywhere, giving fascinating details and technical information on so many locomotives, from the first days of railways in Australia right up to the present day. This book should find a fitting place on the book shelf of any railway enthusiast not just in Australia, but all over the world.

Uday Peeligama
Sydney
Australia

I used this map book on a recent trip to Australia. I used it extensively and in conjunction with other travel books. We drove a rented RV from Sydney to Cairns (about 1500 miles). Had a blast and found this map book very useful.

This book is an excellent and still pretty up-to-date book on PNG's many and varied dive sites. Good way to plan a dive trip, by seeing which site descriptions most appeal to you. PNG's dive sites are very variable; fabulous visibility one day can be down to murky on the next. Little explored country in terms of diving, new sites are being identified all the time. Hopefully they'll update the book in a few years to include the many sites not known at the time it was first published. All in all, a very helpful and thorough book.