Australia Books

my favorite sleuth, the stylish, independent phyrne fisher goes to sea in this volume of one of the best mystery series in existence.

as usual, greenwood has done her homework, and makes the days of the great ocean liners come to life. her characters are well drawn, the dialogue is believable, and the gleefully intricate plot pays homage to at least two of the traditions of the so-called golden age of mystery. there are wonderful descriptions of new zealand, and liberal doses of humor.

however, if you haven't read any of the earlier titles, i wouldn't recommend starting with this one. most of the usual cast of characters make only brief appearances, but some previous familiarity with our phyrne would add to the enjoyment.

Death of a Swagman was written in the mid point of Arthur Upfields career and shows in his attention to detail and his ability to capture the feling of Australian country towns in the early part of our century. The story is a good detective novel in its own right with plenty of plots and action and red herrings. Bony's relationship with Rose Marie is used as a strong pivot point throughout the novel giving a useful viewpoint of the running of the town from a child's perspective. The advantage of this book over other bony novels is the character development of the subjects. This gives a depth and humanity which remains after the story is finished. The narrative of the swagmans lifestyle and its mythology is addressed here with great detail and provides a refreshing glimpse of a bygone era.

Xavier Waterkeyn did an excellent job on this book, making it unique from this important perspective....he allows you to a glimpse inside the head and hearts of Death Row prisoners. Good or bad, these people are not subhuman as they are often depicted. Also explores injustice in the system.

Written in an irreverent style with regular examples from the authors' extensive experience in world-debating, this book is an excellent guide to debating - for beginners, the experienced, the coach and the adjudicator.

Focusing on the Australian style of debate, the initial chapters on Manner and Method clearly set out standards expected, as well as mentioning pitfalls and recommendations. The chapters devoted to Matter, combined with the discussion on Topics & Preparation lends immediately the wisdom necessary to construct speeches with structured purpose as opposed to a series of nascent ramblings.

whether you are a resident of Sydney, as I am, or a visitor, or just interested in a very vibrant part of Sydney life, then this is a terrific book.

The photographs are great. It is not a complete history of the Mardi Gras (now 22 years old) - there are other volumes that cover that territory - but it is a terrific 'slice of life volume.

The MArdi Gras festival lasts for 3-4 weeks in late summer (Feb-early March) each year, and culminates in the sequins and glamour, and political statements of the parade. This book is a worthy 'souvenir' of that very sultry time.

This is the best book on decision theory and subjective probability that I have studied so far. The book explains and demonstrates the axioms and fundamental concepts of these theories in a simple way. At the same time, every theorem in the book is proven in a rigorous way. I am particularly impressed by the introduction of subjective probability and its axiomatic foundation.

This book is highly recommended for anyone who wants to get an in-depth understanding of these important concepts.

Brian J. Fleay is remarkable for having written a book which, without his having access to anything like the same resources, parallels the findings of $US32,000.00 'The World Oil Supply 1930 - 2050' published by Petroconsultants of Geneva. The World Oil Supply' is a three volume work which draws on Petroconsultants' database on the upstream oil industry, which is the most comprehensive in the world and which they have been building since the 1950's. (P) Basically, the scenario outlined is that we have been using a meaningless and dangerously misleading method of calculating our future access to oil supply. The method generally employed has been to add up what is thought to be the total extractable reserves of oil in the world, and then divide it by the world's annual consumption. This is called the 'Reserve/Production Ratio', and gives a figure, in years, of how long we have until we 'run out' of oil. (P) The fault in this method is that it assumes that the remaining oil can be extracted at a continuous rate, as though the oil were sitting in some vast underground tank which we can simply drain until empty. In fact, the oil is held beneath the earth in porous rock, and relies on the pressure in the oil field for its flow up the well and into the pipelines. As the oil is extracted, the pressure drops and the flow slows down. Obviously, this can be aided by pumping, but this does not allow the same rate to be achieved. (P) Mr. Fleay argues that only a full audit of the world's oil supply, such as that carried out by Petroconsultants, including a history of the production from each of the many thousands of fields in the world, can start to give us a picture of where we stand. This is because our most immediate problem is not going to be the total amount of oil left in the world, but the declining rate of annual production against a background of burgeoning demand. If the normal laws of supply and demand are allowed to be the only thing to set our future price structure for oil, we're in for a rocky road. (P) Mr. Fleay's book is very readable, thought provoking and somewhat worrying. It is remarkable that the concerns he raises are not much taken into account by people discussing such things as the 'Greenhouse' effect, or by business people for that matter. In fact, because the issue of oil supply affects everyone on the face of the earth, this is a book which should not be left unread by anybody.

Paul Bangay is a truly talented garden designer. His designs are basically 'architectural' in that he uses sculptured hedges, formally pleached trees and careful use of axis to create traditionally formal gardens with a modern twist.

The principles that he espouses are not confined to only cool climate (ie English) gardens. In this book, gardens designed in more tropical regions achieve the same amount of polish and perfection by using the same underlying structure. There are also examples of courtyard gardens, as well as larger estates.

This book is a must read for anyone seeking an Architectural edge to their garden, or for inspiration for even the smallest courtyard.

My father, Lieutenant Max Lambe, was in Changi, Sandakan and Kuching camps for three and a half years. He's quoted quite a lot in this book. But that isn't the reason I gave it 5 stars. I've read ALL the books on this tragedy and this is the first one that really tells it from the Officers view. And I think its the first one that gives extensive coverage of the Kuching camp. There's a lot of detail here - a lot of scholarly research and interviews with survivors. Its a horrific tale. I could only read a chapter at a time before being in tears over what these brave men went through. You see...a lot of this stuff remained bottled up for sixty years. Even their families didn't really know what they endured at the hands of the cruel Japanese. The men were told to put it out of their minds - to forget it and get on with their lives. And they did...but with terrible mental scars and physical disabilities...and in the case of the few officers that made it home - terrible guilt over the slaughter of the enlisted men in the Sandakan camp. Shameful really - how the Australian governments neglected them over the years. But one thing it did do for me more than anything else - it made me feel really proud to be an Australian when I read how these men cared and looked after each other - the true spirit of the Aussie Digger and the real meaning of "mateship". Well done Michele Cunningham! Malcolm Lambe, Paris.

After I have read this book it is clear for me the principle that said the strategic mistakes never could be corrected by tactical proficiency.
The authors tell us how to train an infantry unit, in the field, in all weather, day and night, with long foot marches. Sometimes infantry units think that if they have trucks or IFV they don't need foot marches. This is a mistake, especially in Malvinas. The unit training must be focused to develop the offensive attitude in offensive or defensive operations.
The authors describe us the moral status of the argentine forces, more of them, especially the senior officers, thought the conflict could be solve by diplomatic means, no by the war. They thought like diplomats, not like soldiers. Another point is the lack of training of the argentine forces in limited visibility combat. The argentine forces were surprised by the British night operations, but this ability shouldn't have been a surprise, in 1955 the "Biblioteca del Oficial - Circulo Militar - Argentina (Argentine Army Officers library) publicized the "Rommel Memories" where the Marshal said that night attacks were a British's specialty". The authors said that the night vision devices are important, but they're only part of the solution; more important is to develop skills to fight at night.
In the end of the book, they tell us about the fight for Tumbledown hill. They remark the importance of every soldier can request fire support. They add the need to overcome the lack of communications in the middle of the fight. In their opinion, the static defense was the worst tactical mistake of the Argentine Command. It should have kept the initiative with a dynamic defense organized in the deep of battlefield.
To finish the book, Robacio and Hernandez, write some conclusions like that the argentine forces should have attacked the British's logistics and communications more than their front line units. The book stressed the heroism of the argentine soldiers, privates, NCO`s and officers. They added some lessons learned about how to train units and how give them logistical support.
I think it is a very good book. It has a lot of lessons learned with blood but unfortunately forgotten.