New Zealand Books

I bought my son several of the Let's Read and Find Out books for Christmas. He's a first grader going on 7 years. These are just absolutely fantastic books for introducing varoius difficult concepts. I like that they contain alot of information, but are still easy to understand. Hard to find something "not too young, not too old" for this age. We love them. This particular one was a favorite.

One of my older children brought this book home from a school book sale many years ago. It was a hit with both of my children for several years. Then, as they grew up, the book was put away in a box for another time.

When I had another child, I got out that "box for another time" and stacked the books on a shelf. This one was amongst them, and onto a shelf it went, though I did't expect it to be of interest to him for several years yet.

But lately, at 21 months, Jack has been asking for this book frequently -- and listening with interest to reading after reading! I doubt that the concept of "how much you weigh on Mars" makes much sense to him yet -- but the idea of gravity is one that he is working out, and Branley's explanations of the Earth pulling everything to its center is simple and seems to satisfy even at this age!

Even better, the science is simple, but accurate so it's a good start on his physics education!

Although this book will painlessly teach your four year old what science is and what that abstract concept, gravity, is, it is also excellent for a teenager who is struggling through a physics course. As Einstein said, you don't really understand a concept until you can explain it to your grandmother. Well, this is a book for Grandmother.

This book is as important as it is wonderful. It brings home the Big Secret about science that escapes most people: Science is about the unknown, not the known. There are lots of mysteries out there; the business of science is to change the unknown into the known, which is the lesson, I think, of Franklyn Branley's masterpiece.

In 1990, my husband went to the library and brought home " gravity is a mystery" for our son to read. He loved it! It was his favorite book for weeks! Every night one of us would have to read it to him. This is a fun book that everyone should get a chance to read.

We recently visited New Zealand and searched at each venue for books that capture the magnificent landscape. Although there are many beautiful books, this is the best. We found it at the Te Papa museum. It has won a gold award. The feature I like best - apart from the photography itself - is that the book is divided into sections according to the type of landscape - coastline, lowlands, mountains etc, and does justice to each.

This is a simply beautiful book of photographs. Apse's custom-built medium-format cameras and his eye for composition and lighting have produced a collection that distills the essence of New Zealand's beautiful "Four Seasons in a Day" landscapes.

I just returned from 3-weeks in New Zealand and I must have looked at 30 NZ published photo albums before I left, settling on "New Zealand Landscapes." The US price for this NZ published book is a little steep, but it beats the pants off anything else I saw.

This is the first time that I have ever written a review but I feel that I must in order repay what Mr. Apse has provided me.

This book is my favorite collection of photographs, period. The photographs are technically perfect and do justice to a landscape that itself is almost indescribable. Whenever I pick up this book, I know that I'll be sacrificing an hour because I just cannot put it down.

Thank you Mr. Apse.

I am an amateur photographer who just returned from an extended vacation in New Zealand. I spent a lot of time looking for the perfect scenic picture book to take home as a souviner, and I must say that this one was absolutely the best! Andris Apse is an amazing photographer - his images of the New Zealand country and coastal areas are incredibly well composed. The lighting, the scope, the sheer beauty of it all..... it's difficult to put into words. The price for this title in the US is well worth it. If you are able, definitely get your hands on a copy. And if you want to have a look at more of his stuff, visit his website.

Even if you've never been to New Zealand, I highly recommend this title as a thoroughly enjoyable work of art!

I just received this as a gift. It's filled with some amazing shots all over New Zealand and some nearby islands. Some of the photos do not even look real they are so picture perfect. I love his use of light in the photos as well. Only thing better will be getting to go there. :-)

From a lay perspective, "tradition" arises from a repeated series of human acts. In many cases, those acts were first spontaneous or induced by some external event.

Can you "create tradition?"

The most interesting part of this book to me was Rykwert's analysis of Celebration, Florida. This was, of course, Disney's effort to create a brand-new "small town" from the ground up. He correctly diagnoses the effort as being dominated by profitable real estate development. In fairness, he distinguishes Celebration from a typical suburban development because of its dependency on "Olde World" design principles.

What he foresaw, almost inadvertantly, is the more widespread use of this modality for commercial/residential developments now springing up in revived, older suburban areas. These have been commercially successful and have created the sorts of delightful spaces he describes in his coverage of older urban spaces.

It's a good book, albeit a little dogmatic.

Joseph Rykwert's new book is perhaps his most radical, although he elaborates on themes that have preoccupied him for more than 4 decades. Never has he so emphatically stated his conviction that the cities we desire can become the cities we have, but only if we take hold of our capacity to effect meaningful reform. Rykwert's position is particularly encouraging and insightful at a time when most of us perceive the built environment as the result of abstract and impersonal economic and political forces seemingly beyond any individual influence. Rykwert's stance is a challenge to architect's, urban designers, planners and other citizens who cannot imagine an alternative between revolution and acquiescence other than surrender to conditions as they are. Such inertia is countered by Rykwert, as are rationalist and quantitative approaches to the city, with affirmation of the city as a fundamental setting of and for human will, dreams, and desire. It follows then, according to Rykwert, that any successful making and re-making of cities depends on a set of rational principles that are flexible enough to accomodate chance, elaboration, and improvisation. Features Rykwert believes can become the special qualities of contemporary and future cities (if they are not eradicated). Rykwert's consideration of the city investigates the full-range of attempts to make cities places of and for people; a thread he pursues from ancient cities, to the revolutions of 1848 to the Seattle demonstrations in 1999 in opposition to the World Trade Organization. It is for these reasons, and many others, that Rykwert's book is a must-read for all lovers of cities and perhaps especially for all those who don't yet love them.

Joseph Rykwert's new book is perhaps his most radical, although he elaborates on themes that have preoccupied him for more than 4 decades. Never has he so emphatically stated his conviction that the cities we desire can become the cities we have, but only if we take hold of our capacity to effect meaningful reform. Rykwert's position is particularly encouraging and insightful at a time when most of us perceive the built environment as the result of abstract and impersonal economic and political forces seemingly beyond any individual influence. Rykwert's stance is a challenge to architect's, urban designers, planners and other citizens who cannot imagine an alternative between revolution and acquiescence other than surrender to conditions as they are. Such inertia is countered by Rykwert, as are rationalist and quantitative approaches to the city, with affirmation of the city as a fundamental setting of and for human will, dreams, and desire. It follows then, according to Rykwert, that any successful making and re-making of cities depends on a set of rational principles that are flexible enough to accomodate chance, elaboration, and improvisation. Features Rykwert believes can become the special qualities of contemporary and future cities (if they are not eradicated). Rykwert's consideration of the city investigates the full-range of attempts to make cities places of and for people; a thread he pursues from ancient cities, to the revolutions of 1848 to the Seattle demonstrations in 1999 in opposition to the World Trade Organization. It is for these reasons, and many others, that Rykwert's book is a must-read for all lovers of cities and perhaps especially for all those who don't yet love them.

What's Joseph Rykwert's perspective and what's his view of the city? It's not very easy to peg down. It's not that of "sociologists, traffic experts, and politicians" as he says that he's "always been struck at how little the physical fabric of the city - its touch and smell as well as its sights - occupies their attention". Maybe he's more inclined to take an economists view and see things as Jane Jacobs does. Then again maybe not. Rykwert says quite plainly that cities do not develop "naturally". The perspective is definitely not that of a speeding, disinterested motorist. Rykwert refers to the impact of cars as "catastrophic" and says "I am not, nor have I ever been a driver." Now we're getting somewhere - a supporter of New Urbanism? Not quite. He has this to say about one of those showpiece communities: "the whole business of 'community' at Celebration is about...real estate". Rykwert is equally critical of a few architects (modernists), certain building designs (government and institutional), a couple of city plans (Brasilia and New Delhi), and some approaches to urbanism (the New Town concept of post WWII Europe).

With all that's wrong it's amazing that this book didn't turn out to be a miserable reading experience. That's partly due to Rykwert's writing skill but moreso because of his very obvious love for the city. THE SEDUCTION OF PLACE and affection for city space is obvious. The depths of his thinking about the urban form is manifest and Rykwert offers a synopsis of what's wrong and also what's to love about a city. "My polemic is not against the disordered, even chaotic city but against the anonymous and alienating one." With this we finally understand what his perspective is. It's that of a person open to experiencing the personality of a city; that of someone at ground level. Our difficulty with coming up with a clear view of the city might be due to the fact that we haven't experienced the city as Rykwert has and it doesn't yet occupy the same space in our hearts and minds. He invites us to begin. "The very condition of openess is what makes our city of conflicts so attractive to its growing crowd of inhabitants. The lack of any coherent, explicit, image may therefore, in our circumstances, be a positive virtue, not a fault at all, or even a problem."

Joseph Rykwert's new book is perhaps his most radical, although he elaborates on themes that have preoccupied him for more than 4 decades. Never has he so emphatically stated his conviction that the cities we desire can become the cities we have, but only if we take hold of our capacity to effect meaningful reform. Rykwert's position is particularly encouraging and insightful at a time when most of us perceive the built environment as the result of abstract and impersonal economic and political forces seemingly beyond any individual influence. Rykwert's stance is a challenge to architect's, urban designers, planners and other citizens who cannot imagine an alternative between revolution and acquiescence other than surrender to conditions as they are. Such inertia is countered by Rykwert, as are rationalist and quantitative approaches to the city, with affirmation of the city as a fundamental setting of and for human will, dreams, and desire. It follows then, according to Rykwert, that any successful making and re-making of cities depends on a set of rational principles that are flexible enough to accomodate chance, elaboration, and improvisation. Features Rykwert believes can become the special qualities of contemporary and future cities (if they are not eradicated). Rykwert's consideration of the city investigates the full-range of attempts to make cities places of and for people; a thread he pursues from ancient cities, to the revolutions of 1848 to the Seattle demonstrations in 1999 in opposition to the World Trade Organization. It is for these reasons, and many others, that Rykwert's book is a must-read for all lovers of cities and perhaps especially for all those who don't yet love them.

Katherine died at the age of 32, a real pity because she was fouding a complete personal and masterly style of her own. Her stories are anecdotes of everyday life written with an incredible onomatopeyic style. You can easily find Chejov influence in her (one of her stories is just a translation of the russian master) but for the non russian speakers it is a treat to find this gift for subtelity in an australian writter.
I think this is a good selection of her work, but would rather recommend the penguin complete works. Anyway you can find in here some of her masterpieces:
Prelude and At the bay (I think one of them was first publish by leonard and Virginia Wollf in the Howgarths Press, VW reconigzing that she envied mansfield style): Onomatopeyic style for days of sun and sea
Je ne parlais pas français: More playful and cruel. Young
The fly: her masterpiece and probably the best short storie of all times. Complex, ironic, full of meanings.
If you are going to do a Mansfield tour start with
1.In a german pension: Her youth playful written critizising germans. Witty and inteligent
2- Bliss &stories: A littel to much sensibility but always great
3- The garden party & stories: She grows to inmense proportions
4-The dove nest& stories: Really ill. Strange stories presided by the fly
So good luck. I reaally envy you that will discover her. It is whole pleasure

Katherine Mansfield is one of many very talented writers who were eclipsed by others more famous (such as Woolf) or who were forgotten (because of her early death.) I decided to read these excellent stories after a critic compared her to Flannery O'Connor. Knowing O'Connor's works very well, I thought it an odd comparison at the time, because they wrote in different periods, countries and styles. But after having read these stories, I think I understand this astute insight into their unique talents: both writers mastered the art of the short story through mystery and manners and spoke to universal truths.

This collection of short stories is a remarkably good introduction to Katherine Mansfield. All of her most well-known and representative stories are included here, along with some that are lesser-known.

The beauty of Mansfield's writing lies in her poetic description of detail--her power of suggestion--and her courage. She was determined, both in her life and in her writing, to move against the current of the time. Her life was filled with problems; her health, her love life, and her writing all caused her measureless pain, but in spite of these she lived her life the way she chose to live it. And though her writings were often critized--not least by her notable rival, Virginia Woolf--she kept on in the face of difficulty, and is now recognized as a major transformer of the short story.

A few examples from this collection would be in order. In "At the Bay," Mansfield examines in great detail the experiences and emotions of each member of a large family in New Zealand. It is in this story that she displays perhaps to the fullest extent her ability to take seemingly unimportant details--gestures, looks, scattered thoughts--and from them build a fascinating portrayal of an individual's personality.

In "Psychology," she conducts a unique experiment. At first glance, not much happens in the story; but on further examination and multiple rereadings, the depth of conflict becomes evident, and then, Mansfield's understanding of the deepest nooks and crannies not only of the female but also of the male character.

"The Singing Lesson" progresses in a lighter vein; a spinster singing teacher receives a message from her fiance, breaking off their engagement; she begins her teaching miserable, heart-broken, and full of anger. Thirty minutes later, she receives another message in which he reassures her of his love. The story contains interesting use of imagery and simile, and pokes mild fun at the tragic mood swings of the young woman.

Mansfield's stories are not melodrama, but lyrics. They are short, poignant silhouttes drawn in quick and sometimes uneven brushstrokes, but always carrying the touch of genius.

There are 28 stories in this very excellent collection by Katherine Mansfield, the settings reflecting her own life experiences in New Zealand and England in the early part of the 20th century. Her detailed descriptions of objects are intrinsic to the stories, tiny sparkles that spread out and create a canvas on which her characters interact. Every story has its own suppressed passion as Ms. Mansfield gets right into the heart of what makes us all human. They are filled with arrivals and departures, spinsterhood and marriage, love and loss and pangs of despair. Children play a role in her writings, as do distinctions of social class. Life is a struggle for her characters who are timeless in their humanity, although they all live in a world that existed more than 80 years ago. With rare exceptions, the stories are sad. I was impressed by her writing, which is layered with subtleties in the way she deals with the major themes of life and death. Her structure is unique for its time, as there doesn't seem to be any center or an easily identified beginning, middle and end. Often, they are simply small slices of life, rare glimpses into human nature with sharp insights that sparked my own memories and feelings. It might have been uncomfortable, but reading these stories was a deeply enriching literary experience.

I have come across Mansfield numerous times in school, but not until this year, when I read her entire collection of short stories, have I begun appreciating her greatness as a writer. In her stories, Mansfield captures some of the impressions we encounter daily and have time only to remark how surprising, how sudden, and how fleeting they are. Some stories, like "A Garden Party", "The Doll's House", "The Daughters of the Late General", accurately convey the sense of loss, the breath of youth, the regret of unfulfilled lives all in subtle and striking prose. The beauty of the writing lies in the subtlety of description, the use of symbolism, and the immediacy of the language, not unlike her contemporary and admirer Virginia Woolf.

I was fortunate enough to find a copy of Claire Tomalin's biography of Mansfield, and reading it gave me a better grasp of the context of the writing. If the stories sometimes seem remarkable or shocking for the time they were written in, Mansfield's life too readily provided a source to draw from. Her presence and personal failings, triumphs, and conflicts are felt throughout her work, and rereading the stories knowing about her life impressed this sense further. Her stories show what a writer can do when inspired, and suggest what a much greater writer she could have been with time, health, and happiness later in life.

Fantastic Book! Makes a revolutionary concept seem simple and obvious. As an education student, I plan to take from this book for the rest of my life.

This text was recommended reading and as a teacher myself, I find it confounding that it was not required reading during my teaching education. She certainly was ahead of her time, but Sylvia Ashton-Warner might still be distancing herself from those standard based minds determined to put children into the molds we have decided are necessary for their own good. How do we get children to see the power of language so that writing and reading have personal meaning that piques a lifelong journey into the love of learning--this book has some incredible seeds that a willing and curious mind might take, study, and find itself using to change the world, and at the very least the landscape of education as we see it today. Read this book if you want children to come alive to learning.

I am a teacher of 18 years who had to read this book in 1977 as part of my college teacher training and would like to share this book with all teachers. It is as relevant for me today with our scripted phonics and literature-rich reading programs as it was then. Sylia Ashton-Warner does more than portray a method and philosophy to teach reading to New Zealand's Maori children--she paints a vivid, dramatic picture of any classroom. The reader can see the combination of her daily, organized lesson plan superimposed with the actual unpredictable, spontaneous, and social nature of children. Sylvia writes in such a perceptive, humorous way that our sympathy goes out to the Maori children who are expected to learn reading, but are expertly led, not forced.
One of her main points was that the contemporary "Dick and Jane" method of teaching reading was too imposing, stagnant, and foreign to inspire success and a love of learning for her Maori students. She created a new system to do the job of bridging the old, illiterate civilization of the Maoris to contemporary New Zealand. Her method became famous. It is fairly simple and has been used since in a multitude of kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms. Children were allowed to give Ms. Ashton-Warner, their teacher, a new word every day. The word was traced, written, practiced, shared, and reviewed the next day. If the word was important enough to the child, it was remembered and therefore called an "organic" word since it came from an important part of the individual child. Children had word cards and every day would locate their own personal word cards amidst the class' collection.
As Ms. Ashton-Warner used this method over time, she was able to categorize important words, and thereby came across universal truths regarding words that made reading easier for her students. The two widest categories she called "sex" and "fear" words, and if a word was easily learned then it fit into one of these categories. Although I personally don't like her use of the word "sex," she explains her conception of it as referring to the human needs of love, acceptance, and survival.
As students became proficient with this first introduction to words, they were "graduated" to more advanced classes in reading and writing, using their own personal word banks, until at last the traditional school books could be used successfully. In addition, Ms. Ashton-Warner wrote and illustrated her own version of basal readers for Maoris, using their own interests and lingo, as another part of transitioning them from their own culture to the literate and modern New Zealand. It is tragic that most of her original works are gone.
In actuality, the book "Teacher" is much more than a description of a pedagogical method. It is a work of art, describing the talent needed to teach. It is a work in psychology, showing one how to cope with the enormous diversity and constant problems of the real classroom. It is a work of teaching methodology, inspiring a teacher to value and inspire the inner thoughts and feelings of a child, and to take those raw materials and create real learning experiences for that child.
I actually read this book once a year. It has become a part of me that allows me to take each day as it comes, to see special inspired moments in a child's day as being a huge, poignant step in their education.

In generally straightforward prose, Sylvia Ashton-Warner describes the success of her "organic" teaching method for five-year-old Maoris, a native people of New Zealand. The idea is as brilliant as it is simple: young children will best remember words that are nearest their hearts.

For young Maoris at the time of Ashton-Warner's writing, these words were not always positive, as many of her students were from troubled backgrounds. Words such as "fear" and "kill" were as popular among them as "kiss" and "love." Ms. Ashton-Warner's infant reading texts were hand-crafted by her for each student's particular needs and interests. After developing an "organic" vocabulary, the Maoris were better able to tackle traditional English elementary texts.

I found a sixth edition of this book in my late father's library. It was required reading for my father's Masters in Education program at Hunter College in New York City during the late 1960s and early 1970s. "Teacher" was first published in 1963.

Contemporary readers, especially Americans, may find the style somewhat dated. Towards the end of the book, Ms. Ashton-Warner changes from a conversational format to a diary-like, almost stream-of-consciousness style which is rather confusing. She also uses New Zealand terms such as "pa" and "haka" whose meanings have to be determined with some difficulty from context.

All that said, the message of "Teacher" is as vibrant today as it was when this work was first published. It is as relevant to building cross-cultural bridges as it is to enhancing learning among students of all backgrounds. My father drew upon it in getting reluctant older students to write and read about things that they were truly interested in. "Teacher" provides an important caveat to today's world of standardized testing and rigid pedagogical criteria.

Hard for me to write a short review of this book since I've written a book about Ashton-Warner's contributions to teaching young children.

The point is, Ashton-Warner was a careful observer of the young Maori children she taught. She knew that what she had been trained to do in a college teacher-training program wasn't working, so she really looked to see what the children cared about, and invented ways to teach them based upon their deep interests and respecting their culture, different from her own. She, a left-handed artist, was different from the mainstream, and wanted to be appreciated...and she carried this and other knowledge from her personal life into her teaching. Ashton-Warner wasn't a woman of perfection, but she made a contribution that lasts...This book has changed the lives of many, many teachers -- I know because they have told me.

If you have seen the film 'Rabbit Proof Fence', then you simply must read this book. Carolyn Wadley Dowley has presented all the historical context necessary to allow the reader to understand the themes and setting of the film more deeply, and has richly illuminated this period of Australian history.

Wadley Dowley succeeds masterfully in bringing this fascinating episode in Australian history to life, filling the framework provided by historical archives, contemporary analysis and oral histories with fresh emotion and reality. Through Silent Country is all the more remarkable for its ability to preserve a clear distinction between the voice of the author and those of the real historical actors in this human drama. Wadley Dowley's treatment of the historical sources and oral history transcripts, along with her honest and moving journal record, provide a strong basis for the reader to understand - from several fascinatingly diverse perspectives - her new and complete account of the escape from detention of this group of Aboriginal Australians, and their epic trek back to their home country. This work is important and ground-breaking, both in content and in style. It deserves to be widely recognised as such. I recommend it without hesitation to all who want to explore the landscape of Australian history, and especially to Australians who hope to discover a new perspective on their past.

This book is an excellent contribution to Australian history. I recommend it highly.

This exceptional book - which I note has just received a significant Australian history award - is the author's account of an event from 1921 in the Western Australian goldfields. Further, it is the story of what was required to uncover such history. Through Silent Country is history as it all too rarely written - emotive, gripping, full of fascinating characters, and ultimately triumphant. The 'heroes' of the tale are the Wongutha people of the Western Desert, who walk hundreds of kilometres across unknown (silent) country to return to their homes from forced exile. Loved it!

This book follows the circumstance of the forced removal, in 1921, of the Wongutha people from their their homeland in the Western Australian goldfields to Mogumber, a feared place of detention.The events are set in context, the complete picture slowly emerging through the author's own travels over the escape routes the Wongutha used, from `speakings' about the escape and related concerns, documents (officialdom's cold tone chills even now) and a `new account; by the author. This is not a dreary recitation of facts but an imaginative reconstruction of the events. The Wongutha's plight, as they face encroaching settlement and drought, is emotively drawn. Just brilliant.
Good Reading Magazine(Australia). January 2003.

Unfortunately I gave this gorgeous book away as a gift! It is visually beautiful, wonderfully written and leaves you wanting to book a ticket downunder

Michael Cooper's WINE ATLAS OF NEW ZEALAND is the first wine atlas dedicated just to New Zealand - a nation becoming known world-wide for its high quality wines. Michael Cooper has over 25 years experience researching and writing on his subject and is the perfect professional choice for producing a guide which reviews the nation's climate, soils, ten wine-making regions, and nearly 300 wine companies. Add color photos of labels, countryside and productions throughout and you have an important basic reference.

Here's a region-by-region profile to over 280 wine companies accompanying in-depth profiles of 10 selected New Zealand winemakers and packed with maps and new photos. Analysis of climate, soils and wine styles accompany an illustrated history of the wine industry and a regional organization just perfect for the destination-oriented New Zealand wine fan. But you don't have to be traveling there to appreciate the extensive geography and wine grape facts packed into Michael Cooper's Wine Altas Of New Zealand: with John McDermott's color photos gracing nearly every page, armchair wine fans have a lot to enjoy, too.

At the Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2003, announced 22 July, Wine Atlas of New Zealand, by Michael Cooper, won the Montana Medal for the supreme work of non-fiction. The judges' commented that "the final decision on the winner of the Montana Medal was influenced by our collective view that the Wine Atlas of New Zealand could not possibly be improved upon - it is elegantly written, superbly designed and produced and its impact on the community has been considerable. Michael Cooper has written many superb books on wine in New Zealand - this is unquestionably his Magnum Opus."

There's not much more to say than that this is a fantastic treatment of its subject. The book is well laid out, fantastically researched, beautifully photographed and a joy to look at (let alone read!). It is little wonder this won the Montana Book Award - Cooper has meticously researched his subject.
The book starts off with an introduction (as they tend to do) then explores the fascinating history of viticulture in New Zealand before tracing the impact of New Zeland wine on the world market. We also get to explore the most commonly grown grape varieties in New Zealand and how they are characterised in New Zealand wines.
General information out of the way, Cooper then explores in detail the wine regions of New Zeland with fantastic maps, photographs and notes on individual wines and wineries.
The book is also indespersed with profiles of key players in the New Zealand wine industry and history.
To sum up - its a beautiful book and a must for anyone interested in the area. It is by far the most comprehenive treatment of New Zeland viticulture, and worthy of the accolades it receives.

I've been traveling through Australia on expedition (mostly in the Simpson Desert) and this book features awesome panoramic photography throughout the continent. Unfortunately, the references to "God" once again muddy its pages. You know what to do, though: get out that permanent marker, careful to keep the real beauty unscathed.

In this age of immense suburban sprawl and the drive by many to pollute this world as much as possible, we can be reminded of some of the beautiful places that still exist. This book is an example and what a terrific book it is. It's absolutely appalling one would take a permanent marker to this book to black out God's glorious name. He did, afterall, create this place that we all share as our home. God created it for us to enjoy and we ought to praise Him for that everyday... not black out His name.

Ken Duncan has managed to capture Australia beautifully. This is an an excellent buy for those who appreciate landscape photography.

This is a beautiful book of a gifted photographer. Just like the "America Wide" this book offers much joy and peace in browsing through its pages. Thanks God for giving Ken such talent and skills.

You have to hand it to the Brits: there were elements of almost mystical grace about the way they lost, or shall we say misplaced, their Empire.

On dune and headland sank indeed the fire. But in its fading glow there were elements of decency and heroism, including Britain's lonely fight against Nazi Germany, survivors in the South Atlantic in 1982 singing "look on the bright side of life", and here, the conquest of Everest by a bunch of amateurs and jolly Sherpas, the latter being drunk most of the time on Strange Brew indeed.

Chronicled by a bloke who later became a lass who carried the message to Garcia with Tom Brownian pluck, who played up, played up, and played the game so that a chit of a girl could add a jewel to her crown, in a land no longer British.

Having stumbled around mountains myself courtesy of the patient tutelage of Outward Bound, another British invention, I can relate to a non-mountaineer slogging up into the thin cold air. And rather than sentimentalising mountain vistas when they are seen up close and personal, Morris makes it clear that these places are alternately glorious, unearthly in their beauty, and demon-haunted, and terrible in their menace.

The worst aspect of mountaineering for the tyro is, as Morris shows, the descent when everything has been done, but instead of basking in your accomplishment, you have to slog down, and gravity becomes your mortal enemy, driving weary bones into each other and mocking a descent that turns into another fall of man:

From what height thou see'est, into what pit fall'n

Sentimentalists in the American wilderness wonder at the bad temper of pioneers who name such picture postcard views, Devil's Leap, Hell's Rockyard, Lucifer's Barstool and Jornado del Muerte. They need only walk the walk on the talking rocks that mock you in the sun, or on Morris' ice falls turning into vile mush to realize that we have to earn our ticket to the Sublime.

Morris describes in this re-issued book, published long ago right after the great events, a gone world. Today, on Everest, every prospect pleases (well, many do) but only man is vile, and can pass people dying in the Yuppie way. That wouldn't have occured to the men he describes.

The solution to the transmission problems alone is worth the price of the book: like the book The Victorian Internet, this book shows that before the Internet, the urge to connect time and space was real and people were willing to do what was necessary to get the message to Garcia.

It is nobler to think that the Empire ended at "Coronation Everest", the decent bits, anyway. The Empire of time-serving colonial pukka sahibs and their impossible wives ended at Suez. The Empire of ideals, of Bertrand Russell, of hymn singing when the ship went down, of genuinely decent people doing their best, that ended on top of the world the week before the Coronation.

This is a wonderfully written book of the events surrounding the historic Everest expedition of 1953 which saw Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay summit Mount Everest. It was written by special correspondent for The London Times, James Morris, who accompanied the expedition and first broke the news to the world of the successful summit. The news fortuitously reached England on the eve of Queen Elizabeth's the II coronation of June 2, 1953, and was the cause for much nationalistic pride. Hence, the name of the book.

The book is reflective of the time in which it was written and evokes a feeling of an era long gone. Therein lies its charm. Nostalgia buffs will love it, as will those readers looking to consume anything about Everest. It will not disappoint, though the book is not about the climb to the summit in the strictest sense. The book chronicles in great detail the author's journey to Everest, as well as his personal experiences and observations while at Everest, waiting to break the story of the end result of the historic climb to the summit. It also chronicles the cloak and dagger methodology which he employed in order maintain exclusivity for The London Times.

It should be noted in the interest of clarity and to avoid confusion, that times do indeed change. The author, James Morris, underwent a gender change subsequent to the original 1958 publication of this book. When the book was released again, however, the publisher did so under the name which the author had since adopted, Jan Morris. James or Jan, the author is a hell of a writer, and the book is well worth reading.

Although the outcome is known, there is much to be gained from reading this book.

Apart from the specific history of the climb which 'conquered' Everest (a much-used but dubious claim about one of the great feats of human endeavour, and one not used by those involved), I was particularly interested in several aspects:

* The description of the expedition took place, the mechanics of it from someone outside the actual expedition;
* The non-mountaineer's view of mountain-climbing and experiences in the Khumbu ice-fall and Western Cwm especially. This was the experience many an armchair-Everesteer would wish for themselves, I am sure;
* The journalist's view of the people involved - all the other accounts I have read have been written from the point of view of being 'insiders' in the ecpedition - Hunt, Hillary, Tenzing, for example
* The mechanics of how Morris set up 'exclusive' media coverage from the mountain! It is amazing to think that it was a mere 50 years ago that messages were taking 8 days to reach London, when nowadays we hear live radio broadcasts of people dying in snowstorms, have immediate Internet access to expedition journals etc.

Thoroughly recommended for anyone with any interest at all in the subject.

This slim volume details the trip of London Times journalist Jan Morris with the 1953 British Everest Expedition. It provides interesting and unique first-hand accounts of Hillary, Tenzing, and other expedition personnel, as well as beautifully written descriptions of the landscape and persons encountered on the expedition. It is written in the style of its day - English "Public School" in tone - and reflects a love and command of the English language all too lacking in today's expedition accounts.

The account flows easily and draws the reader along with the expedition. Despite knowing the outcome, the reader is kept interested by the tone and language, and by the behind-the-scenes looks at how this mammoth effort came together, and its ultimate effect on those on the mountain and those back home in England. For example, as the book opens on the eve of Elizabeth II's Coronation, we see Field Marshal Montgomery reading the Time's account of Hillary and Tenzing's triumph as he waits in robes to process in the Coronation parade. Small asides such as this give the book its unique flavor, and make it an interesting and invaluable addition to the armchair (or actual) mountaineer's collection

As someone who grew up in London in the sixties and seventies and who now lives in New Zealand this was a must buy. Plus I've been a long time fan of the Pretty Things ever since I picked up a mint copy of their original Fontana lp (from Shoppertunities in Holborn) in the early seventies. The photographs are illuminating (there is some repetiton but this is not a problem) and the text is both informative and entertaining. NZ even now in 2006 has its retro qualities but not to the degree that existed in the sixties. My first visit in 1977 helps me accept the introverted nature of the culture there in previous years as shown in this book. If you're a Pretty Things fan then this is essential for your life. If you're not then try their 60s recordings and then read this - it's a distillation of the progress of rock from its black American roots to its current situation and thus is applicable many times over everywhere in the western world.

If you are a fan of The Pretty Things already then you will want this tidy magazine-style book revealing all about the group's momentous 1965 tour of New Zealand with Sandie Shaw. Even if you are not a fan of The Pretty Things (why not I wonder?), I'm sure after reading this revelatory account, you will be rushing to your nearest record emporium to snap up as many of the group's platters as you can afford or can carry home. Yes, it's true, this is the most revealing account of a group on tour in the early days of rock-group-goes-on-the-road as you could hope to ever imagine in your wildest dreams. If you've ever wondered what the source, or origin was for all these excessive hotel trashing, tv throwing, vomit-stained tales of hard rockin' & hard livin' pop groups on tour...THIS IS IT! If you are of a nervous disposition, or get queasy easy, then please do take care turning the pages. This is a unique, one-off publication of a totally one-off, unique rock group's tour - actually not much more a couple of weeks at the most, told by the participants, and put together by a intensely dedicated team of passionate experts...this is the last word on that fateful Pretty Things visit to New Zealand in the late summer of 1965, with all the words, pictures, tall tales, truths, half-truths, lies all brought forth into the light for the first time ever. Yeah. BUY IT NOW...before it disappears - Lenny Helsing (The Thanes) Scotland UK

Mike Stax and Co. have done a superb job yet again of bringing the rock'n'roll past to life in all of its raucous glory. The Pretties' 1965 tour of New Zealand is a high point in pop mayhem but this is the first time anyone has told the story fully. The photos are fantastic, the overall archival research superb, and the writing excellent throughout. If you want a snapshot of what rock'n'roll was like before it became scripted and predictable, read this book. Truly an excellent story excellently told. Kudos.

For those in the know, the Pretty Things were every bit as cool as the Brian Jones-era Stones. Here is a detailed account of their notorious tour of New Zealand where the outrageous antics of their drummer Viv Prince got them banned for life. Filled with press clippings, a well-researched text (it appears that all of the principals were interviewed) and lots of pictures, the book is obviously a labor of love. Published by UT Publishing, a spin-off of the fabulous Ugly Things magazine, the coolest zine of its kind. Recommended for all age groups.