New Zealand Books

Tim Flannery's book on the ecological history of the `Australasian lands' (Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New Caledonia, with bits and pieces on islands such as Christmas Island, Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island, etc), is both timely and refreshing. It is a good and current overview of argument and debate concerning the complex interplay of ecological and cultural forces shaping these parts of the world, from before human influence, to the times these lands were invaded at various times by homo sapien from at least 40,000-60,000 years ago (New Guinea earlier), to the present. It is very frank about the current state of these lands, in terms of environmental degradation, and what things could be done about it. It is quite controversial, and as someone who works in issues concerning biodiversity, ecology and resource sustainability, I can tell you much of the material is cutting-edge, complex, and controversial at times. In many instances Flannery is speculative and original, but often entertaining. He does back his theories and views up with substantial argument and evidence, and it is this which makes the book a cut above the ordinary.

One particular feature of the book worth emphasising is just how different these lands really are in terms of ecology, compared to most of the rest of the world. Not only is the flora and fauna, both extinct and living, somewhat unusual, but in, for example Australia, the climate, the influence of fire, the poor fertility or soils, and the part these factors have played in shaping the ecological past is rather surprising at times. Maladaptation of modern culture to these sorts of things is also particularly striking (for example seasonal agriculture in non-seasonal climate-early Australian colonisers, tropical agriculture in cold temperate climate-early polynesians in New Zealand). Of course early colonisers wanted, in the case of Australia, to create a `little Britain', so to speak, except that it is obvious after 200-odd years of settlement (and some of this has been rather odd), it isn't western Europe. Later idealists wanted another North America-Australia is similar in size to the USA, but it isn't in natural ecology.

The book is very detailed and quite complex to describe in short review. It includes chapters on early megafaunal and other extinctions from the arrival of early man in all locales, through to the present. It speculates about early human migrations to Australia, backed up for example by sediment cores from three interesting locales in Australia (Lake George particularly interesting). Discussions of diprotodon, megalania (an extinct 7m long lizard), giant moa, an extinct New Caledonian land crocodile, and 3m high kangaroos are some highlights. It is a complex story, but readers will be delighted in the unusual flora and fauna, the misguided `invasions', the arrogance, the trials, the failures and the astounding successes alike. Some particularly interesting parts for me was the demise of the New Zealand Moa-the worlds largest extinct bird, the story of virgin Lord How Island- first seen by humans of any kind in 1788, the discovery that many of Australia's marsupials descended from South America (ancient Gondwana in origin), the extraordinary array of New Zealands birds in the absence of evolving mammals, the degree of evolved co-operation amongst Australia's biota (for example self-sacrifice, and strange examples of symbiosis), and the story of Easter Island and its human contact.

There is a lot of controversial and complex stuff here, but it is well argued. Flannery speculates for example that Wallace's line played an important part in the `great leap forward', which I admit I didn't quite follow, with early agriculture in the New Guinea area, which spread outwards. I didn't agree with his assessment of firestick farming and agriculture in prehistoric Australia, and in this he differs from Diamond (The Third Chimpanzee/Guns Germs and Steel) in the reasons agriculture never developed in prehistoric Australia. He asserts that the reason agriculture didn't kick start in early Australia is due to poor soils, unpredictable climate (ENSO), and the prevalence of natural fire, not the lack of available biota. I don't think he is quite correct here, it is more likely competitive selection pressures, both *cultural* and ecological, in addition to isolation, did not facilitate development of the varities found in Australia, as compared to Eurasia. I also don't think his description of Australia's mineral wealth as a `one-off', is quite correct. `Mineral wealth' changes with technology, market and cultural factors. He also seems to miss evidence of some megafauna existing well after the arrival of aborigines in Australia, (it is a large and scattered ecological landmass) which I have come across elsewhere (eg Coonabarabran). I am also not sure of his view that high urbanisation in Australia is a modern maladaptation to the ENSO climate. He emphasises the influence of fire in Australian ecology, but perhaps over-emphasises in parts (his house was burnt down in a bushfire whilst writing the book, which may explain this!)

Nevertheless it is well argued and quite astutely written. The `Future Eaters' refers to homo sapien tending to eat his future resources and overpopulating-as occurred in New Zealand, Easter Island, and parts of colonial Australia-for example-and the human disasters which resulted form this tendency. He has a wide knowledge of the material, and certainly there are many original ideas worth thinking about. Some of the arguments will surprise readers, particularly from northern hemisphere countries, primarily because southern land masses have been, and also will be, rather different ecologically from their northern counterparts.

With a sweeping gesture, Flannery dispels one of modern mythology's most cherished ideals. The image of the "Noble Savage," living intimately and in harmony with his surroundings is demolished by the evidence. Instead, Flannery shows how the intrusions of humans into previously unoccupied lands led to mass slaughters and the extinctions of countless species. His study covers the vast territories of the South Pacific - continents, large islands and archipeligoes - examining geology, weather and climate, flora and fauna. After completing this book, you will have a new view of our ancestors and how humanity has viewed nature.

In describing how humans have revised the face of the globe, Flannery begins in deep time. Tracing the breakup of Gondwanaland into what he deems Meganesia and Tasmantis - Australasia and the Pacific islands. For millions of years, life there evolved in unique ways. Isolated from the rest of the planet, Australia produced large marsupial mammals and giant bird species. Why did they disappear without apparent cause? After an examination of the likely candidates, climate being the most frequently cited, Flannery finds a different cause - humans. Fossils in Australia show that the large animals disappeared before the onset of the last glaciation. The extinctions, however, parallel the invasion of the continent by humans, people now known as the Aborigines. In one sense, the loss of the large animals forced the invaders to adapt a less predatory lifestyle. Mobility increased along with more selective hunting practices to maintain sustainable levels of supply. In studying these techniques, Flannery is able to move on to the subject of land management in today's world.

Although Australia's evolutionary path was unique, the lessons derived from studying events there may be applied globally, according to Flannery. Adaptation is an ongoing process, whether for "wildlife" or "civilized" humanity. Change forces that process. He aknowledges that in recent times change is more rapid and intrusive. We need to understand what impact those changes have and what, if any, adaptations are taking place. This book thus becomes and educational tool to help protect our own future. It is his recommendations for action that makes this book far more valuable than as simply a study of extinctions.

Flannery's many years of field studies granted him the essential background for this book. However, it isn't simply a dreary recounting of how we've ravaged the globe. His sense of beauty and love of life is vividly imparted in a deep personal sense. You join him in his travels in New Zealand, New Guinea and other Australasian lands. His fine descriptive powers and detailed knowledge combine to make this an excellent read. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

As a reader who admires good writing, and the effort that goes into writing a decent (popularized) account of a field, I take exception to the New Zealand reviewer's gossip of the author as a basis for judging the merit of this book.

Frankly, what "the Lady" with the goods on Tim Flannery had to say about the author is irrelevant to the book and a nasty way of going about discrediting a man who has solid claims to the field he is writing about. It says more about the woman than it does about Mr Flannery. That envy and backbiting is a seemingly inevitable consequence of competition among researchers (whether in the sciences or the humanities) is bad enough; that it gets passed on by readers who take vicious gossip at face value just shows how ideas are less important than the "dirt" one can spread.

Perhaps the previous reader can take the time to look up "ad hominem" and then consider the motives of the lady who claimed special privileged knowledge. The consider his own standards of judgment.

As for the book itself, the reviews already written give a good indication of what you get.

This book is fascinating and very readable. Flannery teaches us quite a bit about the ecological history of Australasia for the past few tens of thousands of years. We learn about the flora and fauna, and about the impact of the people who rely on the fertility of the land to survive. We see examples of how human populations fared in places such as Tasmania and Easter Island, where they became isolated and started to run out of resources.

It is not surprising that some populations have increased until they affected the viability of the ecosystems. But we also see that many populations have not simply grown until there was a catastrophic shortage of resources, followed by a nearly complete population collapse. And we see that even moderate populations can collapse catastrophically.

One famous example of the collapse of a moderate population comes not from Australasia, but from England. The population nearly vanished there in the sixth century AD. Flannery cites one of the very few relics from the centuries immediately following this disaster, a poem fragment called "The Ruin." The author quotes from this poem, and quite properly shows that the author could not imagine how the people of only a few centuries earlier could have built what had clearly been an imposing structure. Of course, such structures were in fact built in Roman times. When the Romans left, the population went down considerably in the chaos that followed. And after that, one or more plagues almost totally depopulated England (by the way, although Flannery does not mention it, the author of the Ruin seems to have been aware of this latter fact).

Well, what does Flannery think a good population for Australia ought to be? He cites various sources that feel a maximum population for the country ought to be anywhere from 10 million to about 480 million. The present population of Australia is about 20 million, and the author is concerned about the potential inability of Australia to support such a population indefinitely, especially were the place isolated.

I agree that Flannery's concern is legitimate. In addition, I think we humans now have the ability to increase the population of Australia to far more than the land could hold after some major mishap. After all, plenty of sunlight falls on Australia. We're capable of using that sunlight for power. And we can use that power to desalinate water and pump it all over the place. That could result in fundamental changes to the ecosystem. In my opinion, these technological advances might easily allow a population of 500 million or more in Australia. And that population would remain stable until something went wrong. I think it's a scenario worth considering.

I recommend this book.

Tim Flannery has written what can only be described as a the most comprehensive history imaginable of the lands making up present-day Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and New Caledonia. His fascinating account starts with the earliest breakaway of those lands from the super continent Gondwana, more than forty million years ago, and goes right up to the present-day, ending with Flannery's recommendations for preserving Australia's unique ecology.

Despite this mind-blowing multimillion-year scope of a territory covering an enormous area, the book never falters in its readability or interest. Much of it is highly speculative (as even the author occasionally admits), but Flannery presents enough evidence to make his hypotheses almost always seem plausible. I most enjoyed the comparison of the ecologies of New Caledonia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and Australia -- despite their proximity, they are entirely different places, and those differences are reflected in their histories. Flannery's account of the destruction of megafauna in Australia and New Zealand is also well-told.

There should be more of these kinds of books: "biographies" of not just a land, but an entire continent (and its neighbors). Flannery has also written a similar book on North America, called "The Eternal Frontier", that rivals this book in its scope and excellence, but with that single exception, I can't think of any other ecological history that does such a fine job over so wide a range.

Keneally has produced a fascinating introduction to the foundation of Australia, a fantastic mix of the high politics and the fascinating lives of the first settlers and their complex relationship with the Aboriginal peoples.

Robert Hughes,'Fatal Shore' redressed? Not quite. Hughes's well-honed invective sits uneasily besides Keneally's pragmatic prose. Keneally extolls the virtuous outcome of Australia's first governor, Arthur Phillip's benevolent authority, and his establishment, against all odds of Australia's criminal society. Whereas Hughes feels troubled by these origins, Keneally, the ongoing grief of the indigenous inhabitants apart, senses triumph. The writing does not wear its research excessively, and the setting of the settlers amidst an alien environment and culture is as balanced as any recent history I have encountered. We get thumbnail portraits of a large cast of people that bring the story closer to us and a graphic sense of the hardships endured, which few present day residents around the harbour city would easily imagine. Most of the bods on the book's positive side of the ledger have their names embedded in the city, a minor intetrest to local readers. And Glebe? the name of the vegetable patch attached to a church; never knew that either!

The author of Schindler's List brings us his 37th book, a history of the four years during which white Australia was born. Thomas Keneally competes with Robert Hughes' epic history of Australia's origin that covers a span of 80 years, chronicling the white settlers as oppressive. But Keneally's fresh, novelistic history has found its own place in Australian historiography; it scrutinizes a short time period, providing a multifaceted and profound study of the historical characters that birthed Australia.

Midwife to this birth was Great Britain, who sent a captain of her royal navy, Arthur Phillip, to oversee as governor a penal-colony experiment with 759 thieves, prostitutes, and criminal children. The poorly planned experiment could have easily become a disaster, had Phillip not been both authoritative and compassionate. Ultimately, Keneally admits bewilderment as to the true nature of Phillip, the narrative's potential hero, given his "nature so complex and hidden behind official formality."

Keneally illuminates the white settlement against the backdrop of the then virtually unknown Aborigines, whose contact with the criminal settlers kept tension high. The useful historiographical theme of dichotomy between two cultures takes shape here, with Keneally's description of the Aboriginal worldview, and his admission of its impossible incongruence with the intent of the Empire to colonize and cultivate.

Keneally tactfully narrates the clashes between the two discordant populations without romanticizing either, portraying with equal emphasis the contrasting barbarity and decency both groups exhibited. For example, Phillip's would-be-hero counterpart, Woolaware Bennelong, captured as an Aboriginal translator, assisted the white settlers after his escape, to the point that he was finally disowned by his own people.

Keneally's tactful tone has its own purpose. Where Hughes' history did not hesitate to weigh in against the colonial invaders, Keneally sustains his narrative along the middle ground, allowing Australians to realize their heritage as less melodramatic, and oppressive.

With Phillip's return to England after his term, Australians were left without a founding father-figure. Keneally's history fills in that gap, with assurances from Keneally that he can make out a positive resemblance between the first governor's pragmatism and thoroughness, and that of the country today.

Armchair Interviews says: Very well-done history.

Like a lot of myths, the founding of Australia by 'convicts' is altogether a misleading statement. Though the majority of people in the "First Fleet" had been consigned to 'transportation', if we are to believe Keneally, they were more schemers and scammers than violent criminals. In addition there were a number of marines and government officials who would 'settle' down with convict-wives and start up some of Australia's most famous families.

Keneally only writes about the three "Fleets" that arrived in the first five years of immigration. He has done his research into how the colony was started and what failed and what worked. He has also taken the time to try to present the emotional effect on the original (The Eoras) society that existed at the time of Sydney's founding. Unlike most histories, Keneally doesn't present the land as having been 'vacant' and only marginally occupied by the native people. He tries to give a flavor as to how the Eoras viewed the Europeans who had settled in their midst.

My one negative comment about the book reflects a lack of historical back- ground on my part not Keneally. I would guess that he wrote this book for home (Australian) consumption and therefore assumes that certain informa- tion would be evident to most readers. Unfortunately, most Americans learn little or nothing about Australia and therefore it would have been nice if an appendix could have been added to clarify some situations that Keneally mentions that happened later, such as the Irish Rebellion of 1804 and the mutiny against Governor Bligh.

This account of the founding of the first English penal colony in Australia is also a view into other things, not least the state of English society in the late eighteenth century, one of the consequences of the Enclosure Act, and human triumph over fantastic adversity. It is very difficult for us to even imagine the hardships these people endured, from what seemed an arbitrary legal system, the overcrowded jails and prison hulks, the voyage to the end of the world, and finally survival in a very alien land. It must have been no less difficult for the Aborigines, but their story is only peripheral to the focus of the book. There is a very good follow-up on what became of some of the first arrivals, those who not only survived but also succeeded beyond whatever they could have dreamed of in the Mother Country, becoming in time and in spite of their origins the pioneers and founders of a modern, vibrant country.

Janet Frame's autobiography is great literature and certainly revealing memoir with powerful insights. At one point she claims that "time is not time gone, it is time accummulated..." (p.191) I found myself thinking about this idea day-after-day, and journaling its truth for me.

Some of her opinions written some years ago are proven by the test of time: "...in the late 1950's Coca-Cola had an aura of magic, of promise, as a symbol to many outside the United States of America of all that was essentially American, generous, good...bathed in the glow of a country's morning that was not yet tarnished by the scrutiny of daylight." (p. 297) We all know now the pain of the world's scrutiny of America post 9-11.

Janet Frame lived a most difficult life made so very terrifying due to the misdiagnosis that nearly ruined her life. However, she NEVER lost sight of her gift, the need, her call, to write; and it was her determination to stay with the writing that saved her life.

Like some of the other reviewers I discovered Janet Frame through the movie,'An Angel at my Table," and I knew I had to read something of hers.
I started with her autobiography, and I'm so glad that I did.
This is perhaps the finest piece of writing, bar none, fiction or non-fiction that I have ever read. I think Frame is a genius, she should be awarded every prize for literature in the world. This is a funny thing to say about such a humble woman who endured so much to become one of the greatest writers the world has ever known.
I was completely bowled over, enthralled, by her recounting of her life. Her word pictures, her recollections of places and things are incredible. I don't know another writer who has as fine a capacity for detail and description. The book is utterly lyrical as she weaves a painful, at times, story through decades of her life. I could not put this book down at times and I grieved when I had finished it. Stories like hers are instructional and give us all a reason to go on living. I sometimes wonder, I'm a memoirist myself, but a baby compared to Frame, how did she do it? It may be crazy to think this but I wonder if those numerous shock treatments she endured rearranged her brain in some magical fashion and gave her the capacity to be a superwoman writer? The line between genius and insanity is permeable. I think writers, for good and ill, are exquisitely fine-tuned, sensitive people. Unfortunately some of them are so beyond ordinary human beings they can't survive living in the world, but what they have left us is priceless as we make our own life journeys. Frame has allowed millions of readers, I hope, to accompany her on her challenging journey through life and she shows how she coped with fate and a set of circumstances given her courageously, copiously, and heart breakingly. I am in awe of her acheivement.
She is a writers writer. Her musings on art and the capacity of the imagination are among the finest I have ever read. She is an inspiration to artists everywhere.

I came to this book by way of the movie "An Angel at My Table" [which was fairly true to the book]. I had never heard of Janet Frame, and was so intrigued by the film that I knew I had to read her autobiography. The book introduces you to her impoverished life in New Zealand [she was born in 1924], and includes about two dozen pages of photos of Janet's family [it was wonderful putting the real faces to the ones we were introduced to in the movie]. From the epilepsy of her brother, the drownings of her two sisters, her own mental breakdown in college [which was erroneously diagnosed as schizophrenia], you understand how all of her traumas and perceptions are incorporated later into her writing career. She overcomes daunting events and social alienation to become a novelist, poet, and short-story author.
I have continued to read more of her writings.

Janet Frame was an amazing woman. She died on Jan 30, 2004. I had this book on my 'need to read' shelf when I read an obituary in the NY Times about her death at age 79. She endured so much and wrote so keenly. She was thought to be a schizophrenic and wrote about her periods of madness in mental institutions. This autobiography was fascinating for me. There is a gentleness and everlasting patience about her that will make anyone like her. If you want a real treat...find the film AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE (from 1990) that Jane Campion (famous for the film THE PIANO) to complement the book. If only I could have met this woman. I would have loved to have tea and crumpets with her.

I do not know of any author who can retain so much authencity in his writing and yet produce such beautiful and imaginative prose, other than Janet Frame.

Her excellent autobiography is definitely worth a reading and offers an insight to her other works which are, at times, more experimental and harder to grasp. I have seen the film adaptation but this book has even more to offer: the heartfelt descriptions of the family members, some beautifully written passages which could hardly be translated into film, the 24 pages of delightful photos of Frame and her family...etc.

Excellent.

This is the first Rough Guide I ever used and it was so great, that I have bought one for each of the countries I visited. They might be large, but I only had to bring one book and it took care of all questions/confusion/curiousity/mysteries. It became our bible on our trip to New Zealand!

I went with my beautiful brunette wife to New Zealand on our honeymoon, and "The Rough Guide to New Zealand" was by far the best of available guide books. Not only is it light and portable, it is also extremely detailed. Plus, it "shoots from the hip" and mentions a lot of off-the-beaten-path things the other guides don't.

I recommend that, as a supplement, you purchase a detailed New Zealand road map, as "The Rough Guide" can't help you too much in that category.

Also, "The Rough Guide" doesn't have many photographs. You might want to choose your New Zealand itinerary using travel guides that are more photo-laden and colorful, and then leave those guides at home and bring "The Rough Guide" with you to New Zealand.

I was looking for a Rick Steves like guide to New Zealand - a book that concisely told where to go and where not to go. I had heard that other Rough Guides were like that, but this one is like most guide books - tells about everything with recommendations about what's best, hard to find. A good book to use as a reference but not quite what I was looking for.

Not only does this guide provide extensive recommendations for places to say, places to eat, and activities, it's also very well written. This book includes clear, detailed descriptions that really help you decide where to go, what to see, and what to skip. An indispensible travel guide for anyone headed to New Zealand, whatever your budget.

We brought 3 guides for 6 weeks in New Zealand - Rough Guide, Lonely Planet and Eye Witness. Soon we were only consulting Rough Guide - for lodging, meals and places to visit. The others stayed in the trunk of the car. Particularly good were the author's distillations of what was most important to see. While at Orakei Korako to see an example of geothermal activity, we encountered a group of U.S. geologists who had chosen to tour only O.K. after a mining conference in Australia. It was great to have contact numbers for rafting companies or wildlife spots such as Royal Albatross Center or Penguin Place so we could easily schedule tours to those places well in advance of arriving in the vicinty. Staying in Arrowtown rather than Queenstown or spending several days in Wanaka would not have occurred to us except for the Rough Guide's Advice. Even 6 weeks in New Zealand isn't enough for that country - we hope to use a future Rough Guide for our next trip.

You will really enjoy this book. An inside look, very humorous and entertaining as well as informative.

The author's unrelenting use of tacky sexual simile might be difficult to deal with if the overall content of the book wasn't quite so interesting...his 'hands dirty' insight to this small piece of the wine making business is compelling, though, and I found myself ignoring his hormonal excess. This is one that I'll read again.

Eric Arnold took a subject that could have been as dry and pompous as a California Chardonnay and actually made me want to read about it. Of course, I didn't retain all the information because I took his advice and read some of the chapters while drinking wine. I learned more than I really wanted to know about some aspects of the author's personal life, but that's part of what makes the book accessible for those who would rather drink wine than obsess about it.

Eric Arnold spent a year in New Zealand's Marlborough winemaking region. Years earlier he spent a day touring the area: "And from my very first sip of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc at ten-thirty or so on that morning, I knew it, too -- I was tasting something special. My mouth zipped and zinged, and though I couldn't describe the flavors I was tasting, I was sure of only one thing: I wanted more. I was hammered by noon, with five wineries still to go. At one point I stole the tour guide's microphone in the van and started singing karaoke -- "The Tracks of My Tears" by Smokey Robinson -- even though I didn't know the words. I might've taken off my shirt, too, but I don't remember. From winery to winery and sip to sip, the wines just got better and better. From the time I got back home to Brooklyn, whenever I was in a wine shop I either bought wine from New Zealand or asked for something similar. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc was my new Hogue."

The memory of that firts Sauvignon Blanc sticks in Arnold's memory:

"For a few years after that trip I was still guzzling whatever New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc I could find at night, and spending my daylight hours working the copy desk at a small business magazine. It was better than working for the Nazi devil woman at PBS, but the same could probably be said for cleaning up monkey shit at the zoo (which, I imagine, is very similar to working at PBS). So out of a desire to drink more, work less, and maybe satisfy a little curiosity, up sprang the idea of just throwing myself into the lifestyle: getting a job at a winery and writing a book about it."

Arnold initially knows nothing about winery work, but you have to admire his cheerful attitude, no matter what reality throws at him. He learns about rugby, pig hunting, and hard working rural New Zealanders. He finds two particularly difficult areas: the finer points of pitchforking and pruning winter vines in the cold fields. He concludes:

"Vineyard work sucks...I have no idea why, but many people who drink wine think that making it is some sort of relaxed, cushy lifestyle. And I don't understand it , because I've never eaten a juicy steak and imagined how romantic and luxurious a life I'd have if I started raising cattle in Wyoming. Similarly, I've never met anyone who got a massage and moved to Sweden or shot heroin and moved to Afghanistan."

Arnold is excellent at describing the difficulties and joys of working in a vineyard and in a winery. His language may be a bit racy for some readers, his humor a little too broad. Overall, I found the substance worth a few "Oh, grow up" moments.

you know when you're with a group of people, and one person is just trying way too hard to be entertaining and you just feel embarassed for him? this is how eric arnold comes off in this book.

look, i'm all for a fun wine read. the last thing we need is another dry 'how to' wine guide or buttoned up encyclopedia. and i'm certianly no prude when it comes to off color humor or language. but within the first 30 pages of this book, arnold uses more bad sexual one liners than i can count on all my fingers and toes, and has used the F word at least twice as much. all well and good, if it worked. but the jokes are lame, they don't land, and you just feel like the author is a teenager trying to show the older kids how cool he is.

i wanted to like this book. i loved the accidental connoisseur by lawrence osborne, and thought this sounded like it too could provide an interesting, informative, yet informal and light hearted look at a wine experience. unfortunately any hope for this is destroyed by the author's juvenile, labored writing. skip this one.

Sisterchicks Down Under does not live up to Sisterchicks Do the Hula. I credit the author with writing woman-positive story interwoven with Christian themes. In this book, the author explores the Crucifixion, with what could be a powerful climax. (Biblical passages and themes support the story throughout.) However, I was so bored by the end that I totally missed the climax.

Descriptions of New Zealand and Australia were impeccable. I felt like I was the one on vacation! I actually want to visit both countries, or at least tap into their cultures via the world wide web! What bored me was the dialogue. It was completely lackluster. The dialogue is often filled with jokes between Kathy and Jill, our heroines. But, to me, the jokes weren't funny, and I couldn't believe that two grown women would find them to be. The joke on the flight to Australia was incredibly lame; I was embarrassed for them (and they're fictitious!!!). Kathy's incident with the bubbles quickly grew stale. I was constantly put to sleep by this book. In fact, I wanted to drop it, but I'm one not to do so.

Chick lit isn't for me, even when it's Christian themed. I give this book three stars because it's perfect chick lit for women who want to read something "clean cut" as opposed to the usual trash sticking up the genre. The author knows her "land down under" culture, introducing new colloquialisms throughout the text.

Another reason for three stars? The book doesn't have a syruppy ending. It's quite realistic, but you'll have to get to the very last chapter to find out why!

I cried with this story brought a part of me that I had hide of a long loss. God is so wonderful to use things to prompt our healing.

This book is fun, like the rest. Kathleen learns about "Vegemite", travels to New Zealand with her husband who has an assignment, discovers the Chocolate Fish cafe... and new relationships. It is 'real', touching and inspirational.

I loved this book. Robin Jones Gunn is quirky and witty with kernals of truth scattered throughout like chicken feed!

Sisterchicks Down Under by Robin Jones Gunn is another fantastic entry in this Christian series. When Kathleen and her husband head to New Zealand for three months, he fills his time with work. Kathleen finds herself alone like never before until she meets Jill at the local coffee shop. The relationship between Kathleen and Jill is so natural as written by Gunn that it's easy to suspend disbelief in the improbabilities. Together they explore the beauty of New Zealand and God, and both grow as people and friends. This book is everything good chick-lit should be: quick reading, extremely enjoyable, lovable characters, with just a sprinkle of Christianity. Can't wait for the next book!

I teach AP high school US History and I just got my masters degree in history, and this is a great source for both people who know a lot (a disappearing breed) and almost nothing about the Wobblies. It's appropriate that on the 100th anniversary of its founding, the Wobblies, an organization that used visual communication so brilliantly to recruit and communicate with its members (because so many of its membership did not speak English), would get a book like this published written both by leading labor historians and cartoonists in the relatively recent graphic novel movement. The history is solid, the drawings are great, and it successfully tells a compelling story to a broad audience. I wish I had written this book.

The history uses many cartoonists, many cartoon styles. Text outside the cartoons is minimized. Footnotes are light. But compelling reading as an introduction to the Wobblies, from their beginnings to this 2005 publication. A lot of information despite (or maybe because of) the cartoon format.

These are not neutral presentations. You may wonder whether our government and corporations really mistreated workers in this way. That many jailed, that many killed? This is within the past 100 years. If we're not careful, whatever progress workers have made since the Wobblies began may be lost.

Read this great intro and get charged up. Then, by all means, seek out other sources to check what you've been told here. Section six of this book, "IWW Lives", alerts us that, although smaller than in the past, the IWW is active. Seek them out on the Web: you too can be a wobbly.

This book has everything: words, pictures, history, exciting stories, and disaffected workers. There are almost as many different artists as stories, so it's easy to look at each episode with fresh eyes.

The IWW may have been small, but they were also hugely important, and there are more scholarly ways to learn about them, but there can't be any that are more fun than this.

This is one of the most enjoyable books on the hidden and suppressed labor history of American workers. Made all the more enjoyable by the variety of people's artists/cartoonists that have contributed to what is surely a labor of love. This is not what you're going to be taught in schools or colleges. This book portrays clearly that long memorable struggle for dignity among the working class that continues to the present day.
The Wobblies held to a grass roots approach of organizing workers, prefering "crude vigor to polished banality", a system of priorites too little seen in these waning days of capitalism. Each young person, parent and school should have this information available to them, for any soul not born with a silver spoon wedged in their mouth will come away from this history with a lump in your throat and a new spring in your step. In light of encroaching globalism (that is no friend to worker's anywhere) this is a handbook to inspire and encourage a new generation to take control of their own destiny.
Solidarity Forever!
P.S.- Check out the recordings of Utah Phillips, the modern troubadour/sage of the Wobblies.

As a historian of the IWW, I bought this title hoping for something new and insightful. While the presentation is new, it really suggests what Henry Adams referred to as the devolution of America. The real IWW did some interesting things with the graphic arts -- none of which are cited or displayed by the author. While portrayed as a serious history, this is truly a comic book posing as history. I would not buy it again/

I have to say that I was surpised how much I liked this book. It kept me hooked and I couldn't wait to find out how it all turned out. I think it's a relevant narrative on the role "stuff" (i.e. material possesions) has in our lives. It's got great characters and is a really interesting story.
(Sorry, I'm not going to deliver a page-long essay - you'll have to read it yourself!)

Tremain will capture the heart of readers who pine for the lost
and hopeless in love. Selfishness, greed, and other deadly sins move the character Joseph to despicable deeds--so unlike his wife, "Hal-yet" who yearns for the love of being free of the world of 19th century England. The New Zealand landscape comes alive with its aggressiveness in the winter: imagine a snow so deep, cold and ravaging that it can.....Greed has to be a character in the novel as it pushes the plot to an unbelievable ending....why wasn't he killed instead of....
What a movie this book would make!!!!

If stories were meals, this would be a roast dinner with steamed treacle pudding for afters! "The Colour" is a filling read.

Tremain has delivered a story with a stunning landscape - New Zealand in the gold rush - a strong, believable female main character, and a story arc that keeps you reading to the bitter, sad, yet liberating end.

Someone told me that a good book teaches you something concrete about life you didn't know when you read the spine. Tremain has taught me about the sharpness of grass, the fickle quality of gold and how to keep a cow warm.

Priceless.

Bunny

At the opening of "The Colour," John Blackstone, his mother Lilian and wife Harriet, are huddled in their mud house, shivering through a freezing New Zealand gale. The cob house is especially drafty and cold because John would not listen to anyone's advice and has placed the house in the most disadvantageous place possible. You know from the start that this trio is in for trouble.

After the death of his debt-ridden father, John sells everything remaining when the debt collectors are done with it and takes his mother and new bride to the opposite side of the world for a fresh start. It is the mid-19th century and New Zealand seems as good a place as any to start a farm. But John's decisions are weirdly off-kilter, making everything even harder than it need be. Lilian plots her escape, and Harriet wonders what happened to the fleeting bliss she and her new husband knew while preparing to emigrate. Something is wrong here, something that is exacerbated by the discovery of gold-"the colour" of the title.

This is a rich and mysterious novel, a place where grueling days of sodbusting meet the cloudy mountains of a dreamtime. Rose Tremain has the ability to imbue her story with the kind of deep emotion that cannot be described and do it in a most readable fashion. The setting and the characters of "The Colour " all ring true, including the mystical ties between an English child and a Maori woman. This is an worthy addition to Rose Tremain's earlier novels, which are worth checking out if you haven't done so already. Her books are notable for their strong historical detail and unusual emotional frisson. ---Reviewed by Candace Siegle

In THE COLOUR Rose Tremain creates a wonderful insightful portrait of individuals drawn into the lure of the New Zealand gold rush in the mid-19th century. Newlyweds Joseph and Harriet Blackstone immigrate to the south island of New Zealand with Joseph's mother Lillian in order to begin a new life on a farm in the untamed countryside. As the Blackstone family settles down to their new life it soon becomes apparent that Joseph and Harriet's marriage is not based on any deep sense of love or devotion. In fact, they are becoming increasingly emotionally distant from each other each day. In addition each is fleeing from a disturbed past in Norfolk, England. After their first year in their new homestead their lives are forever changed when one day Joseph spots a glimpse of the colour, a New Zealand euphemism for the glimmer of gold, in their creek. Keeping is discovery a secret from his wife and mother Joseph soon abandons his dreams of farming and joins the thrust of the gold rush occurring throughout the country in his dreams of striking rich and securing a better life. After he leaves his farm and heads to the west coast Harriet is not far behind with her own agenda.

This book is filled with wonderful images of the hard painstaking life of establishing a farm in the midst of the untamed New Zealand countryside. I felt sympathy for their ever-increasing struggles to remain on their farm. The descriptions of the harsh winters made me appreciate my warm apartment. One of the most interesting parts of this book dealt specifically with the gold rush. I was entranced by the descriptions of men buying mining licenses and claiming a spot of land in order to pan for gold while living in squalor - all the while clinging to the dream of striking rich and cashing in their fortunes. Also intriguing was the varied individuals who developed a business to accommodate the miners such as selling food, lodging, and sometimes their bodies. But despite my enjoyment of this section of this book, I was dismayed by the inclusion of the Maori woman and her connection with the little boy Edwin. Tremain appeared to feel a need to include a Maori storyline but it felt too forced for my own tastes. Furthermore, I felt the story of Pare didn't coincide well with the other storylines and her relationship with Edwin was eerie and unsettling. Regardless, THE COLOUR is a book that quickly grabs your attention and had me guessing the ending until the last couple of pages. I will definitely now read more books from Rose Tremain.

This is a table book for my daughter. She loves to find an answer to any question. It is very clear to understean the description, photos and pictures are colorful and help to understand the word. I would recommend it to any one.

We needed a dictionary for our child to use in grade school, something easier to read than the college-level books we had on hand, but more sophisticated than the typical baby-book, beginner dictionaries out there. This book met our expectations, and exceeded them. (Note, I'm reviewing the 2007 edition. Some of the reviews here go back years!)

Another reviewer has aptly noted the book's appropriateness for Grades 2 through 4, which sounds about right, for a starting point at least. I wouldn't think it useful (as a reference book) before that age, due to the reading level of the book's explanations. Most kids before that age just won't be able to read it.

I'm sure many kids will like the pictures at earlier ages. Even a good reader may ask for help now and then. But if the parent is doing *all* the reading, the book loses some of its value as a reference source that the child can learn to use independently.

Independent research is one of the skills that many schools are trying to teach to this age range in literacy classes, which is why they assign kids to look up words on their own -- and why this book is so valuable to have at home. With 35,000 entries, it takes on many words that deal with complex ideas -- but it does a pretty good of translating those complexities into terms that kids can comprehend.

When necessary, it does this by using pictures, and to great effect. For example, the word "contrast" is not only explained in text, but is also illustrated by showing a Great Dane next to a Chihuahua, with an explanatory caption. The numerous illustrations in this book are used for many purposes, and they are very well-done.

For clarity, the editors do not include the complex etymologies that an adult volume might offer for every single word. However, in some cases when a word has a particularly interesting or instructive derivation, there might be a small text box on the page to discuss the word's history.

Thus the book does what a dictionary should do: go beyond mere definitions and offer an insight into the ways words and language evolve. However, in such cases where there is an explanatory box like that, it is separated from the word's main dictionary entry. Thus, the reader is not forced to read the history just to get the definition. One is free to go as deeply as one wants, which I think is a brilliant design.

An inquisitive child will probably find this book to be a treasure trove, worth poring over for its own sake -- not just as a tool for homework. Other kids, who may not be interested in all the illustrations and expanded explanations, will still find it to be, at its core, a really good dictionary. So I think it easy to recommend for any parents, or any kids, in grade school.

I feel certain that older kids would still find this book to be interesting and helpful, well beyond grade 4. At some point, school demands may require more sophisticated definitions, and other things that this volume does not include. At that point the child may require another type of book, but I'd think they'd still be referring to this one on occasion, into middle school at least.

It's worth buying at its list price, and it's an absolutely great deal at the discounted price I got mine at. Highly recommended!

This dictonary is very useful for the teachers-in-service training in the
graduage school of education, and trainees to be teachers of English. If CD is included it will be much more useful for teachers of Englsih as a foreign language. The illustrations and reference are also of great use.
I usually give a copy to each student I teach as a gift.

Easy to find the distinct 26 letters for the purpose of looking up a word.

I have several dictionaries in my classroom but this is the by far the best illustrated dictionary I own. I teach middle school ESOL students and other children's dictionaries don't cover enough words to help them with the work they need to do. This dictionary is more likely to contain words and illustrations they need to know. Highly recommended!

Loved this book! I had read it many moons ago and then lent it to someone and not got it back. Glad I found it again. I guess it is true what they say about the politics of lending good books. only an idiot lends out a good book - and that it takes an even bigger idiot to return a good book.

I find books about aliens and people in small towns pretty interesting. This story was not that good though. The main character is supposed to be a sweet, innocent, small town girl who you just never fall in love with. Her character isn't developed in a realistic way. As a matter of fact most of the town folks aren't real. This wouldn't be such a problem had the novel not been rounded enough to even keep you interested. The only reason I finished the book was to find out if there were really aliens or not. The alien story line was the only part of the novel that kept me interested. A disappointing read.

Feisty, unapologetic 16 year old Delia from a small New Zealand town claims she was taken up briefly in a space ship after she is found wandering in a daze by the town's newly arrived librarian. The plot unfolds as the effects Delia's ensuing pregnancy and subsequent events have on unlayering facets of the different townspeople's characters. It's a whodunit device that masterfully engages the reader. At the end, though we do get to see some resolution in Delia's character, the last chapter smacks of dragging everyone back on stage one last time to make sure all the loose ends get tied up somehow, if not neatly. I disliked the ending pace in comparison to the rest of the tantalizing, almost meandering course of character and event development. Still, probably the most entertaining and plausible story of alien intervention written. Definitely worth reading!

First, let me say I am fourteen and had NO trouble reading and understanding this book. Okay, now, what made me get this book from the library was the cover. A nice bright green with a picture of a cow on the front. It stood out from all the other boring covered ones. From the cover alone you can tell this is going to be a good WITTY book. Witty is definitely the best word to describe it. I loved the plot: a 16 year old girl claims to see spacemen and claims to be having their baby. Theres some twists and turns, surprizes and things you can foretell, but one thing I must, not complain, but comment about, is the ending. I think the ending where everything comes into perspective was crammed into a certain amount of pages. Everything came together so quickly. It would have been better if everything had unravelled not slowly - but not as fast.

All in all this was a great book. A good way to spend a leisurely weekend. Definitely some good laughs and things to tell your friends about. x0x

The ending was a bit... hasty. That's where the last half star went. It all made sense and the loose ends were tied up, but it seems like McCarten only had a certain number of pages to work in and was starting to run out at the end so he hurried up and finished it off. But other than that, it was a great book. The writing was witty, something that I truly admire in a book. It's hard to be witty all the time, but it comes through in the whole book. The first paragraph sucked me in and I was committed to the last, and I laughed the whole way through. Well, that's not entirely true. I was sucked in before the first paragraph--the cover of this book alone was enough for me to buy it. It's a lime green book with a cow on the cover. And it's about a girl who saw aliens! Cool! And it was.

I really enjoyed the way McCarten captured the gossip mill of the small town atmosphere. It really complimented and fueled the story--it was really the aspect that made the whole thing work. It was a good book. I definitely recommend this book--especially to those who like sharp, witty writing.