New Zealand Books

What can be said about this book? Well...maybe that it's very interesting how the author, was able to embed so many well detailed moments into the story AND the emotions that a young man feels. How's to say what is right and what is wrong for a man to feel when he's confused and in search for answers? That is pretty much what the author tries to explore throughout the story.

However, there are a few things in which I was [am] a bit puzzuled about. Was the reason for not exploring the characters moments with sex something to be best left to the imagination or just being caucious? What becomes of the characters with their families, friends and society?

My believe is that maybe the author left these details out so that maybe...just maybe some day, he could pick up the story again and continue it. I can clearly see this story being continued and explored more...so, how's to say?

This is a sweet book. The story is short but given the intended audience that is probably a good thing.

The author wastes no time in getting his two protagonists together as friends. After a rocky start, they develop a tentative but devoted relationship. When it comes to talking to one another, the two boys don't do much to explore what their friendship really means. The author seems to stretch things a bit when it comes to having the two of them sleep together in an embrace yet not become sexual. I don't know if we can really believe that two teenaged boys would be able to hold back, especially since the older boy, Theo, clearly establishes himself as a risk-taker who is not afraid to make bold moves.

I was less taken with the Holocaust subplot. Although the author probably intended it as a way of giving more dimension to Theo's grandmother, I'd have prefered more time seeing how the boys interacted.

The author's style is pleasant -- just right for the material -- and the New Zealand slang came across as rather charming to this American reader. The character of David does seem like a nice kid.

Recommended, but only if you are not looking for a sex romp every five pages.

David is the star of his school's rugby team and he is famous throughout his New Zealand community for being so. But gradually he's discovered that rugby isn't something he's really interested and as is natural he needs to painfully pull himself out of that role in the community. At the same time he is doing this he meets Theo, a mysterious newcomer to the community. There is an unspoken bond between the boys from when they meet and a gradual friendship is created. Theo is extroverted, rebellious against adults and blunt in trying to bring issues to the forefront whilst concealing aspects of his identity and feelings he finds hard to vocalize. Green-thumbed David is the opposite, a good boy who always does as he should and gets along with adults, but who is able to insist on what he needs to make him happy. It's interesting the ways these boys are shown to come together from different parts of society to form a romantic relationship that neither of them fully understand. It is a relationship which proves through various tests to be a lasting one.

This novel is beautifully written. It never fully tells what the boys relationship is because it is in a slow process of formation. It isn't a representation of a typical coming out story or gay discovery, but a unique discovery of new sexual feelings for two sharply drawn individuals. It seems strange at times that for hormonal boys of their age there is no realisation throughout the narrative of their sexual feelings, but this is explained to be because they literally don't know what to do yet. The presence of Theo's grandmother sometimes distracts from the main story of the boy's budding relationship, though she is an interesting enough character that seems to be crying for a story in her own right. This is a very lovingly told, nice tale that explores how "normal" boys adjust to new aspects of their identity.

This is one of the better books I've read on the subject of coming out, aimed at a young adult audience. But that's not saying much. I think a kid who is struggling with his (or her) identity would be better off reading and 'adult' book like Edmund White's gorgeous "The Beautiful Room is Empty". The writing is what elevates this book to better than average. The plot is fairly typical. A young, gifted athlete (why are they always athletes?) discovers his attraction to another boy is mutual. At first they don't discuss this attractions; instead sublimating with fast driving, wrestling, and a hunting expedition. The author began to lose me when, after the boys confront each other with their feelings, they remain incredibly chaste, even during mutual showers and nights spent in the same bed, half-nude. They learn to sublimate their sexual feelings by long runs followed by the aformentioned showers. The main character, David, while seemingly less worldy then Theo, seems willing. He is physically more powerful than Theo, more imaginative, and at times more persuasive in his arguments so it isn't too big a stretch to imagine him finding away to gently force the issue. Theo, who seems to have little control over his other appetites; smoking, drinking, fast driving; has remarkable self-control when it comes to sex. Naturally, this is a young adult book and the author has to be fairly discreet but one has to suspend their disbelief a bit far to accept that with all their opportunities (they are left alone for the weekend on more than one occasion) they don't even kiss.
Also, with such a short novel, short even by young adult standards, the author should have concentrated on one storyline; that of the two boys and their developing relationship. The side story of Gretel, Theo's grandmother, was distracting and out-of-place, having little bearing on what was happening between the boys. At the end, when we learn about her tragic past, it seems rushed, a device to shed some light on Theo's behavior, as well as her own. The author got so caught up in this character that he lost sight of his readers. I picked up this book in the hopes of reading an engaging story of two teenage boys discovering the joys, the heartaches, and the thrills of first love. Instead, I found myself growing impatient when at times Theo seemed to be a third wheel in the friendship between David and Gretel. I can't imagine the average teenage reader will have more patience for this than I. Perhaps the author should have saved Gretel's story for a different kind of book.

Ultimately, Theo is just too undeveloped a character. The reader is first introduced to him as a rebel who cares little for what others think of him. Very quickly the author seems to run out of steam when it comes to delving any deeper into Theo's motivations. His rebelliousness seems to be mere bravado; a pose. He initiates contact with David by making a rather brazen proposition on the second page of the book. Later, when he confesses his terror at the prospect of being gay for the rest of his life it doesn't ring true. Up until then he has seemed to sure of himself and of his ultimate success at hooking up with David. The far less worldly David instinctively realizes that there are strength in numbers when he confides in Theo, " It doesn't seem quite so bad when we're together. When we get to see each other and be together." This isn't out of keeping with David's character. Early in the book, he quits rugby after coming to the realization he is playing for the wrong reasons. He consistantly shows himself to be a young man unwilling to be untrue to himself. He has spent a great deal of time getting used to the idea even to the point of examing himself all over and concluding that he is not different from other boys accepting who he is attracted to. He has few illusions about who he is attracted to and is ready to accept it as long as he has love. In David, the author proves he can write a believable and consistant character so it is a mystery why he didn't work a little harder to flesh out Theo. The grandmother is a more fully realized character than Theo. One never has any doubts what motivates her behavior. She too is one with very little illusions about herself. I believe the author's intentions were good in developing Gretel the way he did; her horrible past is meant to provide insight to Theo's character and at the same time provide a bit of a moral lesson about hate which is clearly meant as a plea for tolerance for the young gay protaganists. As a message device is was handled far less clumsily then most young adult authors manage. Unfortunately, the author relies to heavily on our acceptance that Theo's personality has been shaped soley by the reality of Gretel's past. While it would surely have some bearing on Theo's character, too much is left out. When David confronts Theo, demanding to know why he hasn't been told about Gretel's past, accusing him of not caring, Theo retorts, "What the hell d'you mean? It is me. That is what I am. She is what I am. That, and more besides. Stuff she hasn't told you, might never tell you." We do learn the rest of the story, but not until the penultimate page of the book. While Gretel's revelation does provide some insight into Theo's character, it merely leaves one wondering why the author chose to clue us in at the end, when it doesn't really matter any more, at least not to the reader, and after all, who is the book for if not the reader?

This is one of the most difficult reviews I have written. First of all, I am a 37 year old, gay man from the U.S., so I know I am not the average reader the author expected to reach. However, I am a consultant to a library about gay/lesbian youth books, so I read dozens of "coming of age" books every month. "The Blue Lawn" threw me for a loop. The New Zealand language is stunning and beautiful to an outsider. The way the author also blended the effects of World War II into the book and the present is fantastic. Most of the characters seem so real.

However, the book lacks a few key elements. Without reveling any of the plot for those of you who decide to read the book, allow me to try to explain. The boys are so quick to anger, yet never seem to reach any degree of real longing for each other. Their anger, due to their love/lust for each other, comes so quickly; but when presented with opportunites for physical contact and expressions of their apparent love, they fall short and I find it hard to imagine that two 16 year olds would not have progressed beyond a simple kiss and sleeping in the same bed (clothed). While I understand that the author may have wanted to avoid any explicit sexual situations (as I believe this book was written for the younger reader), he could have at least had the boys been a bit more physical - something more realistic in this day and age.

If I may be so bold as to offer advice to to the author... take this book, expand it a bit more, explore each character a bit more and make the relationship between the two sixteen year olds just a bit more realistic. You kept them just a bit too pure and a young gay boy reading this book may want to know that doing more than just sleeping in the same bed is okay.

On the other hand, I must commend the author for his fantastic use of words, his blending of the past and present, and for allowing non-New Zealand readers to understand the role rugby plays in a young man's life. I would not hesitate to read more by this author and I have to say that this book is worth the price. It could be better, but, it is worth the price. My final thought.. I hope William Taylor writes another, longer, more drawn out book. I'll be the first to buy it.

This book had excellent maps to use while in the country. It was also very useful when planning because it had phone numbers for everything so I was able to book in advance. It had very good advice when it came to planning itineraries. I especially liked that it had all the main tourist attractions as well as numerous off-the-beat-and-track (and wonderful!) suggestions. Use THIS book to plan in advance and to guide you while you're there. It covers EVERYTHING.

The new 11th edition (May 2002)of this Lonely Planet Guide is excellent. I grew up in Australia and travel back frequently. The publisher is based in Melbourne, so this book has unique "at the source" information and tips. This updated edition solves most of the problems of previous editions. Yes, things change -- so always refer to the most recent edition available. Australia is a fascinating island continent.

Having recently returned from Australia I must heartily recommend this title for the excellent advice on all the areas I visited.

One word of warning, however. When visiting Mission Beach, avoid Mackays motel on Porter Promenade. The grubby rooms and surly service spolied what was otherwise a highly enjoyable visit to Queensland. All the other Lonely Planet reccommendations were top notch!

This edition is a very poor effort by the Lonely Planet series. Year after year they get a lot of information completely wrong and no one seems to update it with the correct information. For example this edition lists Surfers Paradise, Coolangatta, Burleigh and practically every other suburb of the Australia's sixth largest city Gold Coast as towns. Obviously they are getting confused with the region north of Brisbane which is known as the Sunshine Coast which is made up of a lot of individual towns. Obviously the editor has never travelled to southern Queensland or this error would be corrected. The misleading thing then about this book is that it implies it is written by backpackers who have visited these places when clearly with such obvious mistakes someone just read a mistake somewhere while researching and reprinted it.

This book also does not contain the majority of hostel listings in Australia which is the main reason most people purchase these books. There are many free backpacker publications in nearly every Australian hostel so I would recommend not purchasing this book.

It does have some background information (although not entirely accurate) and some colour photographs. There are better books to buy to do research on Australia if planning a trip here then this mistake riddled thing.

This is the crown jewel of the Lonely Planet series. It's no wonder since Lonely Planet is based in Australia. This guide is much more comprehensive than any of the other Lonely Planet guides I have used. To get an idea, the Lonely Planet Australia guide is about the same thickness as the Lonely Planet Western Europe guide. Is there really as much to see in Australia as in Western Europe? I don't think so, but I'm not complaining. I just wish the other guidebooks were as complete as this one. This guide goes into great detail for every region of Australia. There even listings for minor towns with populations of 200 or 300. I don't think anything is left out.

As is usual with Lonely Planet guidebooks, this give great listings for reasonably priced hotels and restaurants. Also it gives you great information on how to reach each location. Oh, and it covers all the main sights, and a lot of the minor ones as well. Basically, if you're going to go to Australia, you should pick this up. You won't regret it.

If you are an Anglophile, you will treasure this book for the tidbits of social history , as well as the adventure story. The only problem I had that without a knowledge of England's seacoast geography and sailing terms,I was a little puzzled at times. But this was a fast and exciting read for the most part.I also recommend "In The Heart of The Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nat. Philbrick

I found this to be an extremely well written account of a compelling story. A difficult book to put down. If you enjoy adventure reading you will love this book.

Hanson has spun a very interesting, compelling and thought provoking story into a boring yarn. The book simply reads like a novel (rather than history) written by a college sophomore in a seminar class. Hanson fills the story early on with useless details that never materialize to bear any relevance on the story. He seems only to be trumpeting the depth of his research without putting it to much use. His prose is thin and uninspired. One of the two most interesting aspects, the "at sea" portion of the story, is brief and contains little of the overwhelming drama it suggests. There is little exploration of the characters. Even the chapter listing other stories of cannibalism at sea are rattled off as if taken directly from research notes with little thought given to their place or purpose in the story. Some portions, such as verbatim trial testimony and factual background of the political and legal climate were enlightening.

Imagine yourself adrift on the open sea in a small boat with three companions. You are 1000 miles from the nearest land, you have had no food or water for days, one of your members is near death,...is there a potential temporary solution to your problem? Reading this on a full stomach, some solutions just might not present themselves. However, in "The Custom of the Sea", the author, Neil Hanson, allows us to see things from the perspective of those involved. The solution that those men took that fateful day is the basis for a most interesting look at a most unusual footnote in history.

Hanson tells the tale primarily through the eyes of the main character but he gives us plenty of background on all of the other characters and events that culminated in a major trial in England in the late 1800's. Along the way, the author gives us historical background as well which I generally found to be helpful. Essentially, half of the 304 pages are focussed on the actual events and the other half are focussed on the resulting trial. That might sound like half is exciting and half is boring (or, at least, less exciting). However, there is a major moral and legal dilemna here and the trial helps to bring out those issues.

All in all, this is a very good book, easily read, and hard to put down. If I am to fault the author for anything, it is his openly biased account of the events. We know right off the bat who the good guys are; we hear only good things about them and we hear only bad things about the "bad guys". For example, we are told of the happily married men (good guys)and then we are told about another who is "rumored" to have abandoned a wife and children. This "rumor" is never proven but it is brought up several times in the story. I mention this because there are serious moral questions involved in these events. As such, the author ought to put forth the facts as impartially as possible so as to let the reader decide their own opinions. We were led in the "right" direction by Neil Hanson's way of telling the story. Still, most of us might have eventually ended up with similar sympathies. Read "The Custom of the Sea" and ask yourself what you would have done in the same situation.

The Custom of the Sea is a rather macabre yet fascinating tale of human survival and legal chicanery. One tends to think of desperate acts of cannibalism as the stuff of horror movies, but enough shipwrecked men resorted to this most desperate of means for it to become an unspoken law of sailors. This is an account of the doomed yacht Mignonette which went down in 1884 in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, far from land as well as the trade lanes most other ships pursued. Captain Tom Dudley, by all accounts a kind and good man, and his three hands drifted for weeks inside a leaky, tiny dinghy, surviving on two tins of turnips and a small ration of water. Ravished by weather conditions, fear, starvation, and especially thirst, they persevered as long as they could, but eventually Dudley knew that the lot must be cast and one man die in order that the others might survive a little longer. When the youngest hand succumbed to the temptation of quenching his thirst by drinking sea water and rapidly approached death, the decision was made by Dudley and his first made Stephens to kill him. Blood quenched the terrible thirst of the men, including the third man Brooks who partook of the terrible rations as willingly as his mates, and human meat sustained all three men long enough for a ship to finally rescue them after almost four weeks adrift. The captain who saved the men understood, as most sailing people did, that Dudley had done what had to be done. When the men finally made it back home, they were shocked to find themselves charged with murder. The case was a sensation, and the conviction of Dudley and Stephens for willful murder provoked a myriad of outcries from all over the country while setting a legal precedent of unusual distinction.

The book begins somewhat slowly, at least for me, as the author devotes a significant amount of time to the life and duties of men aboard ship. The story of the destructive storm they encounter and their ordeal at sea is of course quite gripping. The second half of the book basically covers their arrest and trial, and while this part of the story necessarily lacks some of the human drama that has come before it, the miscarriage of justice described by the author increasingly raises one's hackles as the book nears its end. Such an act of desperate cannibalism cannot be condoned, of course, but it is certainly understandable under the desperate conditions these sailors found themselves in. The moral and ethical issues underlying the controversy are debatable, but the story that comes out here is one of judicial abuse. The Home Office, having failed earlier to outlaw "the custom of the sea," basically used this case to obtain its elusive goal, railroading the unfortunate sailors. Their conviction was guaranteed from the start, a fact their own lawyer knew but did not divulge to them at the time. Most remarkably, the presiding judge basically told the jury they must convict the men of murder yet went on to resort to an archaic legal maneuver that took judgment out of the hands of the jury (for fear that local sentiment might result in an acquittal) and made the royal court both judge and jury. I'm not a lawyer, but the legal jurisprudence of this case would seem to be of great significance.

The book does drag in a couple of places. Hanson takes the time to comment on the history of shipwrecks and of cannibalistic survival methods of desperate men. He also goes into great detail as to life on board a ship and the pitiful state of mandated food rations. These facts are all interesting and provide a useful background to the story of the Mignonette, but they do take away from the driving force of the tale. I should say that the story is written in a narrative form, for the most part. While this makes the book more compelling, it does pose a problem in terms of the facts. The author describes the life and times of these men as if he were there recording their thoughts and deeds from the day they sailed to the day their legal ordeal finally ended. That kind of narrative would not make for good history in an academic sense, but it does make for a compelling, eye-opening read.

I have owned this book ever since its first release on the American shelves.
It has beautiful pictures of Phar Lap. The pictures of him galloping up close are astounding.
The book gives an accurate history of the freak horse.
I definitely recommend it to everyone who loves Phar Lap.

What really happed to the racehorse Phar Lap? Why did they call him a freak. I want read the story and find out.

Phar - Lap is one of my favorite racehorses, but I have to agree with some of the other people on here.....It is hard to get into. Not very well written. have to force myself to read it.

Phar Lap is still considered one of the best, if not the finest Thoroughbred champion from Australia.

The book is an outstanding history of the racer and the impact he made in Australia and the potential career he made have had in the United States. Phar Lap died under mysterious circumstances before his scheduled debut in the U.S.

There has been controversy swirling over his death in the U.S. and there were those who felt Phar Lap was poisoned deliberately, though it was ruled then by natural causes. A 2006 necropsy - obviously not in this edition of the book - revealed that he was poisoned through a high-level of arsenic.

Phar Lap - nicknamed "Big Red" - was bred in New Zealand and grew to be slightly over 17 hands tall. He captured 37 of the 51 races and was not highly regarded as a juvenile; being bought at auction for a small price due to his pedigree.

But from the humble beginning came a legend who certainly can be compared with two other racers who carried the "Big Red" tag; Man o' War and Secretariat.

This book was never written to be a novel it is meant to be factual history of Big Red and the race scene at the time and it shows our Australian Culture at the time of the Great Depression which is when the he raced, how desperate people were for money and also the snobbery that was part of the AJC and VRC in Australia. The photos were of particular interest as a lot of them haven't been seen by people who never saw him race (like myself).
The final listing of his all of the races he ran and amount of stakes money that he won in the Depresssion was also enlightening. The mind just boggles if he was alive and racing today with the prize money that is around.

The chapter that was devoted to his death finally explained to the world and particularly Australia what happened to this great horse and the sad fact that the veterinary practices at the time couldn't have saved him.

This book for me is a collectable and will be an heirloom. The picture on the front cover has been taken where he finally stands in the Melbourne Museum, where he is the most visited display in the Museum.

This book seems extremely overpriced for a paperback under 200 pages. I've read several transcripts and found it entertaining but not worth shelling out 60 bucks for it. I found a DVD version for 20. Alien abduction cases are very hard to believe because even if the abductee seems credible there is rarely even any good circumstantial evidence available. I'm not an expert but one of the only cases I have even heard of with any good circumstantial evidence was the case in new england. An interracial couple actually remembered being stalked and cornered by a UFO without needing hypnosis. After hypnosis the wife remembered being told what star system the aliens were from. It happened to be one that wouldn't be discovered until ten years later. From what I've read so far there's nothing but Alec's word to take or leave. He does weave entertaining stories about how these people travel through time, have ruined there dimesion, and how they have contacted higher government/military and offered tech secrets to live here on earth. As much as I would like to believe him it sounds like he's either real or just stringing together pieces of the rendalshum forest incident, pyramids, alien hybrids, and whatever else he can think of.

This is really going to be one of the best abduction books of all time. I have read all the ufo abduction books out there and this one is truly "the message" from our alien neighbors.

Alec is honest, and this can be easily discerned immediately. This is the first book he's ever written, but it is pleasure to read. Why? It's not about "style". It's about honesty. He has succeeded in applying the simple principle of honesty in relating the FACTS about what he experienced and his own reaction to it. And what AMAZING facts. I will not go into any details, I will simply say this: I am so glad I found this book, and read it, because I now know things I never knew before, about a subject which our "leaders" don't want us to know anything about. This is perhaps among the top 2 of, say the 25 books I have read in this field. Thanks Alec, you lucky son of a gun.

Well I've read a few of these types of books, this one is different mostly because the author does not make to many judgement calls, does not pretend to be an expert or know what this is all about, I like that about the book. If the terrestrial after events really did happen, and I'm sure it would not take to much work by someone to prove that part one way or the other, if they did happen, it makes for great back up to an amazing event. Makes you wonder if the author knows more than he's telling! I think the last part about future technology is an eye opener and not a bad guess.

It was with excitement that I waited for this book to arrive. By the time I had finished it, I felt deflated and misled.

Although I am not trying to discredit Mr. Newald, his story seemed to ring very hollow to me. Several things left me saying "huh?", not the least of which were his numerous references to "other" information he had, but preferred not to share in this tome (saving it for another book, perhaps?). These pieces of information were related to his experience "there" and suspicious activity "here" after he was returned home.

For being gone,and usually conscious, for a period of 10 days on another planet (and/or in another time)the book is very short, only 193 pages.

This book may be superb for the neophyte, but those with a lot of UFO reading under their belt may very well be left feeling as I did: "Huh?"

Modern day botanist Dr. Campbell's account of thirty years in this remote Amazon rainforest is both a captivating read of adventure and more importantly a daunting paradigm of what has happened to this esoteric land.
Every molecule of the natural, physical and anthropological world is magically transformed with zesty and passionate prose. The author's own escapades with jaguars, caimans and deadly snakes, to legends of tribes with tails and spirits with backward feet leaves the reader mesmerized.
Blend historical blunders of rubber exploitation, cattle farms, slavery, the Trans-Amazon Highway, etc. with the resulting decimation of native populations by disease and dilution of heritage, this book is a soothsayer of how humankind has not been so kind.
Everyone and everything loses from self-righteous and mindless practices such as occurred here. The outcome are ghosts with haunting apparitions from the past.

I wouldn't mind reviewing this book but I still haven't recieved it yet. It's now a month since you posted it, perhaps you could please chase it up. Thankyou

Paul Lightfoot

Though there are many books that describe nature in the Amazon, David Campbell definitely is among the top writers on it. In this book he offers, from start to finish, a very interesting mix between storytelling with lyrical qualities and scientific analysis with social commentary.

He is a scientist, focused on botany, and his knowledge of all aspects of science related to the forest are outstanding. We learn about the strategies employed by frogs to reproduce, or by snakes to identify prey, or by trees to attach polen to beetles. While learning about the science behind such activities and how they evolved, the author leads the reader through his travel log, meeting people and species and learning much about the history of the region he is visiting.

Besides all the interesting science, the author also provides a very deep character description of the people who live in this remote frontier. The stories range from rubber tappers left over from a period of abundance, to old indians who became westernized, to occupants moving there from the south due to government incentives. Each has a story and a way to deal with the challenges of the forest; some have a way to prosper in the exact same circumstances in which others fail. Some characters are presented as integrated in the forest, some as aliens beaten by the forest, some as leaders beating the forest.

Most amazing than all the history, social aspects and science however are the narrative abilities of the author. The book is a work of art, as it becomes clear that every word has been hand picked and every metaphor was chosen to provide the reader with the correct image, texture, taste, sound and smell of the forest. Reading is an experience of immersion and is to be savoured as very few books provide such a deep experience. It becomes quite clear to anyone reading the book that the author has a deep connection with his subject, much beyond science.

This book is the very best description of the Amazon I have encountered, written with gusto. It is the kind of book you will wish you had written. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the region, in nature writing or in popular science.

This book delivered much more than I expected. The author is a scientist, not just a traveler. Each observation went several steps deeper into the biology and history than typical with this kind of book. The story was made much richer by these details.

It is true that the vocabulary was a bit advanced. However, I never bothered to check the dictionary, and it didn't hurt the narrative.

Highly recommended.

A Land of Ghosts is a splendid journey through Amazonian Brazil. Infused with enlightened historical, ecological, and anthropological perspective, Campbell stands alone in his ability to fuse eloquent science writing with a tale of adventure. At times haunting, this book reveals the deep causes of rainforest destruction in the region. However, this book presents these causes in a unique way, and, at least for me, marks a new style of conservation advocation. Indeed, a refreshing one. If you have any interest in tropical ecology, and like works by such authors as David Quammen or Tim Flannery you will love this brilliant work.

Although I was looking forward to reading "The Castaways", otherwise known as "The Children of Captain Grant", the beauty of the writing was disturbed by glaring errors. Hyphens and random symbols randomly intrude upon the narrative and dialogue alike. Sentences are cut in half and divided by several lines of blank space. To be honest, the book is published by a .com publishing company that failed to review and edit what could have been a wonderful rendition of an engaging story. It looks as though they downloaded the translation of the story without adjusting for changes in format or checking for errors. Shame on them. Although this particular novel is difficult to find in an English edition, do not waste your money. Let us put an end to cheap publishers demeaning good works. Do not purchase this version--search for another.

This nicely bound book boasts inferior translation although it was done by an English PhD, and the type is puncuated with hypens in the middle of a sentence. This is very annoying but after about 100 pages, with patience the reader can over look this flaw if patient The greatest disappointment is the poor English translation that is at times, hard to follow as it appears the translation is literal and very clumsy to read in English. This is a book on demand edition (it is downloaded from a computer and bound when ordered and the presentation is more than acceptable), butd surely there is a better edition of this exciting adventure yarn in existence that has a broad appeal to young and old alike. It's a shame that the high price on this edition is so poorly done considering it was written by one of the most creative writers in literature. Verne has a tendency to spend far to much time detailing geography and sacrificing characterization for plot. The dialog at times is also very juvenile...but this could be due to the this particular edition, as this is the first time I have found a copy of this particular book. If nothing is available, then buy this edition. It's a rousing good yarn.

In Search of the Castaways is actually the first book in a triology by Verne, the 2nd being the famous 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the 3rd being The Mysterious Island, and, I think that the trilogy shows him improving and evolving as a writer. This means that the last one is the best (and one of my favourites of Verne's) and that this one is the worst.

Of course, like so many of Verne's works, it's still an entertaining adventure. It tells of a story of the search for Captain Grant by his young children, a captain, an eccentric scientist and many others, all aboard the one ship and armed with the classic message in a bottle (with only the latitude of the location, the longitude being erased). So, they try circumnavigate the globe and encounter a great deal of environs, people and nature. This is Verne at his descriptive best but in this book, the descriptions become overbearing as he goes on for pages and pages (even more than usual). Also, as an Australian [although I know this was before the 20th century but still...] his descriptions of the continent are a bit cliched and probably rely on his contemporary audience never having been more than 2000km away from Paris.

Yes, there's the usual betrayal, triumph and tragedy which makes it a good children's book. But it has no finer detail that some of his more mature works have. If you want something that will make you think (beyond the escapism and armchair travel aspects of Verne's books - which is certainly a legitimate and worthwhile reason for those books), try the Mysterious Island.

Finally, I did not read the book in this edition so I don't know anything about this specific one.

The book is wonderful. It's a great adventure story, favorite with every child and adult I know. BUT - this edition looks like it is an unedited scan. Thousands of hyphens appear in totally incorrect places. First, I was determined to disregard them and enjoy the book, but by the end of 50th page I was really annoyed. This is not a book, merely a draft that needs editing. It is a shame that there is no normal edition in print.

The book (story) is excellent and I highly recommend it!
It's a great adventure and one of the best from Jules Verne.
I've read it many times as a kid, and it certainly deserves
5 stars, but the quality of the softcover indypublish.com
version is abysmal: crooked pages, bad layout with hyphenated
words in the middle of lines all over... certainly does not
worth $...

Chris Duff's humility is one of the many striking attributes of a finely-written account of an often nerve-wracking and dangerous journey around New Zealand's South Island by sea kayak. Duff reminds us of the power and beauty of nature that so many of us have forgotten, lulled by the comforts of city life, and introduces the characters living around the coast whose goodness and moral support helped him get through the ordeal.

You don't have to be a kayaker to enjoy this book, but if you are, then you can empathise much more with the many challenges he faced. I was out there on the water with him, edging into the waves, fearing the surf, dwarfed by the Fiordland's cliffs. Well done, and thanks for sharing the experience!

I took this book with me on a trip to New Zealand, and enjoyed reading it as I learned first hand the island's crazy seas, and the many interesting facts about the country. At times the author can be a little long winded, but I thought it was well written for a trip that inherently has so much repetition. If you like sea kayaking, nature, and adventure stories, I would recommend this book. If you get to a slightly boring part about being with one with the boat and sea, just keep reading, and more adventure is sure to follow.

Unfortunately, I do not quite share the enthusiasm expressed by the other reviewers. Although Duff is an excellent descriptive writer, the numerous descriptions and philosophical musings in this book tend to go on and on needlessly; I do not need to read three pages about what it was like to find two apples in the ocean and eat them, or read description after description of the joys and epiphanies one experiences while paddling in a remote area. A little of that goes a long way.

I guess the upshot is that I was looking for an exciting adventure story, and what I got was perhaps the most thorough description of the New Zealand South Island's coastline, coastal waters, and weather patterns ever written. If you are looking for an "Into Thin Air"-type battle against the odds, keep looking. Although the journey required considerable paddling skills and Duff faced a few close calls, overall the book records little actual adversity aside from large waves and days of waiting out storms -- often in homes of hospitable New Zealanders rather than on his own.

I also agree with other reviewers that the photos are mediocre and certainly are not "stunning," as the back of the book claims.

A couple of years ago I saw Chris Duff speak at Canoecopia - a worldwide paddling expo held in Madison WI. One of his talks was about his solo circumnavigation of New Zealand's south island - the same topic as this book.
I, and I think the rest of the audience, was mesmerized as he told his tale. Even though he probably has talked about his trip many times it felt as if he was reliving it for the first time. His ecitement was contagious. The audience could almost feel the ocean swells and smell the salty air.
Chris Duff is as good of a writer as he is a public speaker. He vividly describes the scenery of his voyage, the people he encounters and his own personal thoughts. While, his adventures are WAY beyond my personal abilities I could actually feel what it would be like in his shoes (or in this case fast drying sandals) due to his excellent writing ability.

By Bill Marsano. Chris Duff's photos, which are bundled together and whacked a little perfunctorily into the middle of this book, limp under the heading of 'snaps.' Duff belongs to the old school of kayakin' shutterbugs: compose any old how, so long as the bow of the boat is in the frame; shoot in any old light; and shoot, sometimes, any old subject. There's a darn nice snap of a Hooker seal here but what I really wanted was more pix of the damage (and later repairs) to his boat from the surf landing that nearly killed him. I'm just saying. (And the maps are even worse--clear, but seldom helpful.)

Never mind: This is a book of writing. Duff seems to have had no specific reason to try a 1700-mile circumnavigation of New Zealand's South Island (it's not even a first) but he is no virgin. He's looped the British Isles and then Ireland; he's paddled 8000 miles along the east coast of Canada and the U.S.; even now he may be paddling round Iceland.

He, too, gets into a little gauzy mysticism about the Eternal Why and his place in the universe, but most of the time he's a little too busy for that stuff. South Island's coast is a place that goes from bad to worse, and it's instructive to listen in as Duff relates his tactics and strategies for dealing with bad weather and dangerous, even life-threatening situations: You can learn from this stuff as well as be staggered by it. And just for lagniappe there are those occasional moments of perfect weather and following seas that surf him along in solitary joy. These usually come along just after the notoriously perverse Tasman Sea has, as they say south of here, "prit-near" beaten him to a pulp.

A particular pleasure of this book is the human aspect. Despite the solitary aspect of his circumnavigations, Duff is a sociable man who enjoys and appreciates the people he meets--and appears to bring out the best in them. Add that to the fact that Kiwis are notably kind and generous anyway and you are not surprised that Duff makes friends everywhere he goes and they bend over backwards to help him in every way they can.

Judging from the indications in the text, it's clear that Duff prepared extremely well for this voyage, and readers should pay close attention as they go along, because--probably because this stuff is bred into his bones by now--Duff spends very little time discussing equipment at the end. In fact, he's done with the subject in a single page.

There's one incident in this book that commands my admiration and will yours. I don't want to give anything away but at one point Duff receives some help of a rather expensive kind, and his response is to pull out his credit card. "No worries, mate," he's told, officialdom is budgeted for that. All very well, but Duff insists on paying his own way. He is well aware of the fact that a well-behaved guest doesn't batten on his hosts.--Bill Marsano is an award-winning editor and writer whose own kayaking voyages fill only pages, not books.

An odd novel, but an exciting one.
A teenaged boy is drawn into the search of a kidnapped baby.
But there was a flaw.....When the babys' guardians were contacted by the abductor, they did not behave realistically!
They loved their baby so why would they start joking around about future marriages the second they got off the phone???!!!That was highly dumb.
But the rest of the mystery was a great read.

This was a very well writen and entertaining book. Margaret Mahy does a great job in spreading out the action and discribing all of the caricters. The setting is one that most people can not relate to and I think that makes it more interesting. The book may be a little bit confusing but that is only because the caracters themselfs are confused.

Ellis, the main character in the story had just come home from college and is trying to get over is best friends suicide. This book is about 24 hours of Ellis first day back. The 24 hours of exacly what he needs to cupe with his friends suicide.

The book was very exciting and action packed. Full of car chases and drinkig, along with lust, and an incredibly weird neiborhood. This book was a very fast read and I enjoy every weird moment of it.

The author Margaret Mahy really used the young character in the story 24 Hours. I really found how she wrote the book was really suspencful and thrilling. I find myself entering the book as the character. She used figurtive language to add to the story but the language was still understandable by anyone who would read this story. I liked how she used the young teenager in the story making the events in the story believeable. Meaning they really could happen to anyone. That is why I liked this book so much was because I could really relate to the characters. I recommend this book to anyone who likes reading about challenges, hardship and true life.

I do enjoy this book very much because it is really interesting, attractive and mystery especially in the epilogue part. You can't guess what the ending is if you not read throughout the whole story, when you read more, there will a force put you to continue to read. Although this is my first time reading Mahy book. I am quite impressive not only the content of the story, but also her writing style and she use many different kinds of words to express her view.
This story starts with a seventeen-year-old boy, Ellis who just graduates from prep school and start a holiday. In the next twenty-four hours, he meets a friend, Jackie who brings him go to a mystery world that cannot escape. Inside the world, Ellis loses his hair, becomes a tattoo, help find a kidnapped child, fall in and out love and persuade an old friend from suicide¡K Every thing is strange. Although the situations are quite adult, it can reflect the normal life that everyone may encounter, so that it is suitable for every age group.
I like this book very much so that I rate it with a four stars, but there are a little blemish which is the beginning of the story, everything happen too slow and a little bit boring, you want to pay more attention to the person at every parts because it will turn up at the most important part and act as a key person. On the whole, if you want to know what happen to the Ellis¡¦s life, does he success to find the kidnapped child and success to persuade his old friend. I am strongly recommended to you.

I enjoyed the book 24 Hours very much, it was very interesting! However I would have to rate this book with 4 stars. Simply just becasue I didn't like the beginning. The beginning part of the story is very boring until you reach the middle where all of the action starts. To me Margaret used tons of details and quotes in the beginning such as, " retreating, like precisely spaced bloms in a park garden, they rose on long green stems that curved elegantly at the top, then blossomed into hoods of deep crimson." That was one part that really got me involved in the book, with the words flowing all perfectly together. However, she used to much detail to set the stage. To me it seemed to take six chapters till we finally got to the action. Some people might like that, but personally I am not one of those people. so if you stick with the book I assure you that you will not be disappointed int the end, because this book has a fantastic and puzzling ending!

I am very interested in history and particulary fond of historical atlases. I own several by Colin McEvedy: The Atlases of Ancient History to Recent History, the Historical Atlas of Africa and that of North America. I particularly enjoy his witty incisive view of history. This particular atlas fills in my knowledge gap about the Pacific area. It was particulary fascinating to view the maps and read the history of this area, to find out how the "other half" of the world has been doing.

This atlas covers what is now the United States, Canada, East Asia, and the entire Pacific The focus of the text is very heavily on Europe and the United States. I would have liked much more focus on China, which had a huge impact on the region. It starts in 28 million years ago and finishes in 1998. The interval between maps gradually shrinks as we get into the modern era, so relatively little is pre-AD. In all, it has over 50 maps.

While I don't think this book is as good as the rest, this entire series is superb and is absolutely essential for any lover of historical atlases. I have been an owner of virtually all of them for at ten years and I can honestly say that they are most read books of all that I own.

The reason is their unique portability and scope. Most historical atlas are huge, heavy and expensive. They are difficult to read unless you are sitting at a table and very difficult to carry. This limits their utility (even though I still love them). Most history books have lots of dense detail about one nation or one period. Virtually none cover the broad sweep of an entire region over centuries.

Like all Penguin Historical Atlases, it is small, light, reasonably priced and incredibly broad in scope. These atlases offer a unique perspective on history than is otherwise impossible to achieve. Their size and weight make them perfect for travelling. Whenever I go on a trip, I take the most relevant ones with me. That way I can brush up on my history of the region.

The format departs a bit from other Penguin Historical Atlases, which I think is a drawback. They departed from the usual map on the right and text on the left.

The four parts of this book's contents gives a good indication of what you will find: Part 1, Setting the Scene [31 of the 120 pages to cover the period from 28 Million Years Ago until AD 1513]; Part 2. The Ocean Defined [by the Spaniards, English, Dutch, etc., of course]; Part 3. From Cook to Perry [need I say more]; and, finally, Modern Times [pp. 79-112, including much detail about WWII].

On the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the author states: ". . .as is often the case in Japan, things were not as they seemed. For instance, the idea that power was being restored to the emperor was simply humbug; the monarchy remained, as it always had been, purely ceremonial. For another, the new government was searching for a consenses and soon found it; top priority,it announced, would go to strengthening the armed forces. In a society that took great pride in its warrior caste, this was not a policy anyone could oppose. . ." And so on.

If the reader is content to understand the history of Japan simply as a series of Mifune films, topped off by "The Last Samurai", this may be the book for you. Otherwise, you will recall that the monarchy was very much in control of the government at least from the days of Prince Shotoku (d. 622) until the Gempei War (1180-85). . . He/she will also recall that the samurai class lost its political and social position from the very beginning of the Meiji Restoration. Was this a "society that took great pride in its warrior caste," or was it a society that was "opened" in 1853 with Commodore Perry's guns trained on the capital, a society quite aware of how Europe (including England) and America were on a rampage to colonize the entire world, that it might bestow upon it the blessings of democracy and Christianity? What would you do if you were a Japanese in 1868?

On the issue of inaccuracy, let me cite at least one, including one of the author's remarks that some might mistakenly consider amusing: "The Japanese script, on the other hand, though it looks similar to Chinese, was, from the start, an instrument for writing Japanese. There are several variants, which were combined with Chinese characters to produce the wildly complicated, often ambiguous hotch-potch that has proved so perfect a match for the Japanese psyche." (p. 23)

Where does one begin to address such a confused -- and bigoted -- statement? The earliest extant document in Japanese, the Kojiki (ca. 712), for the most part used Chinese characters for their PHONETIC value to convey Japanese sounds. The Nihon shoki (720), on the other hand, was written by Japanese IN CHINESE. Eventually, the Japanese developed two parallel syllabaries (kana) -- hiragana and katakana -- to complement the use of Chinese used SEMANTICALLY, for their meaning. . . The chart on p. 23 is also misleading. The Korean column contains standard Chinese characters but should probably display the Hankul script developed by the Koreans; and the "Japanese" column is, at best, some example of specialized writing style that to most Japanese today would be simply unreadable. Ask one.

For a good book on the issues, see Peter T. Daniels and William Bright, "The World's Writing Systems," New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. 922 pages.

For many years, Dr. McEvedy has been producing succinct analyses of mankind's achievements, combining wit and devastating attacks on the post-modern academic establishment.
But for some time, he left himself open to one major criticism: why deal with the Middle East, Europe, the Americas and even Africa, while relegating East Asia by implication to a historical backwater? In this book, he has convincingly rebutted his critcs.
Naturally, there will be partisans who find McEvedy's Euro-centric view of the world distasteful. To quote from an earlier work, "Asia is [rightly} considered only as a stage on which the European struts... this... needs no justification".
But here he has shown he is no mindless neo-con or jingo: he is simply not prepared to whitewash inconvenient facts, such as the smug and self-defeating attitude of the Ming and Ching rulers of China, or the fact that Japan only acquired real historical significance with the Meiji Restoration.
This is a book which will withstand the tests of time. It is brightened by the author's usual lively wit and extraordinary gift for relating maps to prose.

Following from the excellent, entertaining and informative series of Penguin maps on Europe (Ancient, Middle ages, Modern, Recent Histories) this book attempts to show 10000 years of history in the Pacific in 100 pages using the same geographical map (of the entire Pacific rim), showing the rise and fall of cultures, civilisations and other relevant events in the history of the region.

Unfortunately, in this case it does not work so well with reading of the book a little disjointed and less absorbing that others in the series. There are two reasons why I think this is so :
1) The time frame is just too large - too much happens in 10,000 years to be described in enough detail in a book like this, and we end up with lots of details for some events (e.g. America vs. Japan in WWII, European exploration of Pacific 16th->18th centuries) and not so much on others (e.g. mass migration of Chinese to SE Asia in 19th century).
2) The geographical area covered (all the pacific rim) is just too big and in some parts just too plain empty. Further, some of the most interesting events are just outside this map and so are just shown on the periphery or get missed out, e.g. the rise and fall of various Chinese dynasties and the Russian conquest on Siberia all appear on the very periphery of the maps but the Galapagos and Easter islands are all that really exist in the SE Pacific and don't really have a lot of history but still are shown on every page.

Maybe these are just limitations of the rules of these books (i.e. to use the same map) but maybe a map of Asian history would be a good complement to it.

Despite this though, it still is a good read. Mr Mcevendy has a clever ability to describe a whole era of history in a single paragraph. And finally, as with his other books, within the text there is often some very funny lines which will keep readers amused, e.g. on the extinction of native species with the arrival of man "... the moa's problem was having had to too easy over the subsequent 150 million years : no enemies, no sense of danger, no moa".