New Zealand Books

While in essence a history of a movement, covering over 200 years, this books brings the past to life, inciting the reader to search for deeper meaning, and seek out reasoning which may have previously been overlooked.

Another excellent feature is the colleciton of photos - I only wish there were more.

A fantastic read, for anyone interested in the environment movement, and in particular the politics and the people behind it. A book no university student in related fields should overlook.

This is a very well-written introduction to South Pacific history, with the additional bonus of the author rejecting the 'politically correct' bias of more recent works which tend to demonize Europeans and sanctify the 'natives'. A must-read for anyone interested in the Pacific beyond the beaches and resorts.

"Home and Away" accompanies an exhibition of artworks from the Chartwell collection, held in Auckland, New Zealand 1999. The collection contains major pieces of contemporary Australian and New Zealand art, and while there is nothing groundbreaking in this particular exhibition of the works, the publication is refreshingly straightforward. McAloon groups the works classically under 3 thematic headings - signs/place/indigenity, abstraction/expression/transcendence, and abstraction/material/signs. While these are not new themes, the publication concisely highlights significant issues in the recent history of Australasian art. The text is informative, yet very readable and the reproductions of the works are simply luscious! A highly enjoyable book.

While parts of the book are slow moving it does convey the sophistication of Titokowaru from his military strategy to his letters to the British. It also provides a picture of life for early settlers in New Zealand.

A good read for New Zealanders who think that history only happens in the battlefields of Europe!

Nicolas Baudin and Matthew Flinders were commissioned by their respective governments to chart the unknown coastlines of Australia (then known as New Holland). Both did brilliantly well: Flinders making the first close circumnavigation of Terris Australis (or Australia, whose name he invented), and Baudin charting the the last unexplored slab of Western Australia, plus making numerous botanical and other scientific discoveries. Both captains, however, met with disaster: Baudin dying on his return (only to have his posthumous reputation sullied by a hostile biographer), and Flinders detained for five years by the notorious Governor Decaen, the Napoleonic commander at French Mauritius. This is the first book to chronicle their achievements along the same timeline, and naturally the narrative reaches a climax where they meet at South Australia's Encounter Bay.

There are not many New Zealand field guides to mushrooms,this book holds the biggest collection of New Zealand mushrooms in one book. My main complaint about it is the lack of good colour photos, there are a few but not many and their quality is not that great. However, all the mushrooms featured in this book are illustrated and the best thing about it is that there are also illustrations of cross sections, spores and more microscopic features for the more experienced or serious mushroom hunter. The descriptions are great, to a large extent they make up for the lack of photos, I have identified mushrooms using this book that to this day I have not seen in any other field guide!! No mushroom field guide is perfect, this one is not but when used in combination with other guides it becomes a vital memebr of the group.Also great for getting additional information on mushrooms identified using other guides.

Brodsky writes of her experiences as a girl in Sydney of the 1940s. Viewing it as an outsider. Compared to Europe, the city was unscathed by war damage. Her impressions are touching, and perhaps by not having grown up there, these are more revealing.

Those of you who have visited contemporary Sydney, or indeed Australia, will see a vast contrast. The Sydney of the 40s was a social monobloc, of overwhelmingly British and Irish ethnicity. With perhaps the odd Aborigine or Asian thrown in. The transplanting of British customs onto the region can sometimes seem so incongruous. Like the prevalence of the oh so British names of suburbs.

Brodsky's experiences were of a city just on the verge of massive postwar influxes. From eastern and southern Europe, and then eventually from east and south Asia.

Part family memoir, part history and part travelogue, In Tasmania is a sweeping portrait of a little-visited part of Australia with a surprisingly rich and, at times, brutal backstory.

Shakespeare moves to Tasmania with his wife for a bit of peace and quiet after writing a lengthy and critically acclaimed biog of Bruce Chatwin, but the writer in him can't stop digging around for interesting stories and soon he's uncovered two different strands of his family that chose to emigrate to the island. One of them, Anthony Fenn Kemp, was a 'founding father' of sorts who had dreams of being an antipodean George Washington - not that he ever came close.

And Shakespeare doesn't stop there - he details the devastating destruction of Tasmania's native inhabitants - both human and animal - and travels to the four corners of the island to tell its story and that of its first European settlers.

I found this book an interesting and enlightening read and even if you've read books before about the founding of Australia you will find plenty here that is new. The rich portraits of inhabitants alive and dead, the tabloid scandals of yesteryear, the birds, the animals and the rich soil of Tasmania all have their fascinating stories told here.

Out of the three books I have purchased, this will be the one to go with us to New Zealand. I especially like the detailed maps about each specific area. Since this is a once in a lifetime trip my husband and I are planning, we want to know as much as possible by the time we get there. It has wonderful suggestions for traveling on a budget, yet isn't afraid to reccommend the really good places not to overlook because of price. With all the information we have gleaned, we are starting our inquiries and reservations. We can't wait to go!

The book is great. I bought it a few months ago, it goes in all the details of how Muslim population started in New Zealand since the early 20th century.
I advise any body who wants to have a better understanding about Muslims in the west, their culture and how they live, and what problems face them and how they solve it (especially Muslims in NZ), I advise anybody like that to read this book, it is very good and informative.