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Australia Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Australia
MIRACLES DO HAPPEN
Published in Paperback by MACMILLAN EDUCATION AUSTRALIA (1987)
Author: BRIEGE MCKENNA
List price:
Used price: $5.67

Average review score:

You can trust in the power of Jesus Christ
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-08
Our book study just completed Miracles Do Happen. It was incredible to see God open hearts and minds to Jesus' healing power. It's written in a simple style but it packs a punch in terms of presenting the Gospel. The son of a friend of our group was diagnosed with a recurrence of a brain tumor, and just like in the book, Sister Briege showed up in our town and was able to pray with him and his family. His prognosis is now quite favorable, praise God. If you want to hear the story of how Jesus still cares about His people, how Jesus is still in the healing business and you need a reason to have hope in Christ, this book is the best choice I've ever seen.

Powerful book
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-14
This is a great inspiration to me, though I am not catholic.
Her words are uplifting and healing.

Great Testomony of the Power of Faith
Helpful Votes: 13 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2005-06-07
"Miracles Do Happen" is an excellent testimony to the power of faith. Briege Mckenna developed sever arthritis as a young adult, which confined her to a wheel chair. When attending a Catholic Charismatic prayer services, she was miraculously healed. Allegedly, she received a private revelation, in which God asked her to be a healer to others. She debated whether the message was really from God, as she was a member of a contemplative community, but after a period of discernment and a series of signs, she lost all doubt.

"Miracles do Happen" is an autobiography of Sr. Briege's healing ministry. She prays for people and many have been healed of spiritual and physical pains and diseases. The book is full of stories and photos of people, whom she has encountered during her journey and many of whom were healed by prayers. It is easy to be skeptical of spiritual healers today, but unlike many charlatans in the field, Sr. Briege does not accept money or promote products or methodology for financial gains. The book is great for renewing faith in prayer, and offers much guidance and learning to discern God's voice in your life through prayer. Sr.Briege herself spends an estimated two-three hours in prayer each day, and write about the types of Christian spiritual practices which have been spiritually edifying for her.

This is a simple book about the role that prayer and faith has played in her life, and in the lives of others whom she has had the fortune to know, during her religious life and is not bogged down in theological explanations or issues related to debatable doctrines. It is written simply as an intimate conversation, as often is the case of works from saints, and when one reads it one has to wonder if they are living in a very special life time of a woman who might be recognized as a saint in the future.

Wonderful book
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-12-13
This is a wonderful book. We often need to remind ourselves about the present of our Lord Jesus Christ in our daily lives, and Sr. McKenna has done a wonderful job of doing so. Buy, read and believe...

This is a life changing book! And a healing one
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-23
This is the story of how Sister Breige McKenna became a healer of human bodies and human souls. She herself had a instantaneous healing from Rhematoid Arthritis. Because of this book I sought out her phone number and upon hearing a healing prayer over the phone, I was healed spiritually. I have never been the same and I thank God for it! Buy this, you won't regret it!!!

Australia
Professional Vegetarian Cooking
Published in Hardcover by Titles Supplied by John Wiley & Sons Australia (1999-06)
Author: Ken Bergeron
List price:

Average review score:

Vegan not vegetarian
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-30
I was disappointed only in that this was a vegan cookbook and not vegetarian as the title implies. There are some good recipes, but not enough to hold my interest. I sent it back.

Vegan Haute Cuisine for Everyone
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 1999-12-29
I am a serious home cook who has made this book her kitchen bible. The recipes contained in this book are scrumptious and remarkably free of all animal products (including eggs and dairy). As vegan cookbooks go, this book is unique. The culinary results are delicious and visually appealing. The author is a professional chef who knows how to layer in complex, yet pleasing flavors into dishes for spectacular results. Ken Bergeron really knows how to stimulate taste buds that have grown weary of the same-old, same-old. Truly innovative cuisine like this doesn't come around every day. I've made dozens of recipes presented within these pages with incredible success. Over the holidays, I followed the author's menu suggestions. I made the festive holiday menu for Christmas dinner and the hors d-oeuvres menu for an elegant cocktail party. Most of the invited guests were non-vegetarians with sophisticated taste-buds--definitely not the dry lentil loaf and brown rice crowd. I was delighted to receive enthusiastic raves and dozens of requests for the recipes. The fried oyster mushrooms, vegetable walnut and pecan pate, baby bella mushroom risotto and maple nut tart were especially big hits, but everything was devoured with gusto. This book is truly avant garde--I believe vegan cuisine will be the everyday norm for most American tables by the end of the next century. Even Time Magazine--hardly a granola rag by any stretch of the imagination-has recently predicted this dietary megatrend will happen in the near future. Undoubtedly, this book will help lead the way. No home should be without it. And, anyone making a profession out of feeding the public--pay attention, please! Customers will continue to want to live large into the next century, but that doesn't necessarily mean they want big slabs of dead animals oozing blood on their plates. Exotic fruits and vegetables, prepared with all the care and attention given to flesh-centered cuisine, will fit the bill just fine. Many trendsetters are looking for this now, but millions will follow.

Professional Vegan Cooking
Helpful Votes: 14 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-27
All of the recipes in this book are not only vegetarian they are vegan. They are also scrumptious. I have tried several and it is well worth the trouble of having to scale down the recipes (since this is really created for restauranteurs everything serves 10).

Truly great example of why the question --don't you get bored eating vegetables all the time--is so funny!

Steph

Brilliant Collection of Inventive and Original Recipes
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2005-05-27
Wow, chef Bergeron is a genius. Yes, a genius. This book contains dozens and dozens of sophisticated and inventive recipes using vegetables. Wow, and Wow again. A treasure trove!!!! Hey, home cooks out there, you will amaze your friends with any of these recipes. I only wish I had purchased a copy of this book sooner.

Die Hard Mainstream Chefs, Just Try It!
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2003-03-26
A little bias because Ken is a friend of mine, Ken is a modest down to earth guy---No pun intended. I am not a vegetarian by any means but every recipe that I have used is awesome. You really have to try the Oyster Fried Mushrooms, Watermelon Catsup or The Sea Czar Dressing. I have worked side by side with Ken, who is an incredible wealth of knowledge and expierience as a Vegan. Ken is the 1st World Vegan Gold Medalist at The Culinary Olympics in 92. I am very proud to be considered his friend and very proud of this book.

All I can say is it's simple, easy to read and healthy! Don't let the "Professional" in the title fool the average person because it is for everyone.The knowledge and eye opening this will give you to the vegetarian/vegan world is priceless.

Australia
The Australia Stories
Published in Paperback by Summersdale Publishers (2003-11-30)
Author: Todd Pierce
List price:

Average review score:

Timeless and Influential
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2005-07-16
I read this wonderful book when it was first released, but something--summmer weather, I thought--made me pick it up again. Quickly I realized the book had been with me the whole time, and within a few pages, Pierce's voice had lulled me again into a state of high suggestibility where landscape, history and dream comingle. At first the novel seems fragmented, but soon you realize that Pierce's characters, especially Sam Browne, move according to their own timelines. Trauma, uncertainty and loss guide this book on a scavenger hunt of meaning that lead to the Blue Mountains of Australia, a setting that, like an astrological chart, casts its fortune on three generations of soon-to-be wanderers. Todd Pierce's The Australia Stories is just as timeless and influential.

A beautiful and engaging book
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2003-06-26
"The Australia Stories" is a beautifully written, captivating novel. Pierce's amazingly clean, crisp writing creates wonderful images that transport the reader to the time and place of each story. The stories would appeal to anyone, young, old, male or female. Each individual story is masterfully woven as a part of the larger story, and the end pulls them all together in an unexpected, but perfect, way. I could not put the book down and, when I finished, I wished there was more!

In Search of Lost Time
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2003-08-03
This five-star debut uber-novel, a sequence of short stories, takes the reader across oceans of time to Sydney and the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. Pierce risks sentimentality on his poignant journey - and comes up with something like a prose poem I could not put away until I reached its last intense page. Other readers have praised the novel's plot and characters. I'd like to extol its powerful nostalgia, its longing for what Proust called les temps perdu. The Australia Stories creates an almost mythical aura about its setting and characters; it is exponentially more radiant than any travel guide. The wonder of the author of this book is that, rather than living like an aesthete in a cork-lined room, Pierce has performed an enormous service to all writers by maintaining a stellar Web site about literary agents. He is both at home in the fictive world he creates in The Australia Stories - and alive and well in his generosity and tirelessness as a member of the workaday literary community. Cozy up to Pierce's pocket-sized The Australia Stories and let it take you to a magical Down Under!

fabulous read
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2004-05-22
I picked this up because a friend told me about it. Took me about two evenings to read. Fabulous story. Stunningly written. Seriously, each paragraph was dazzling. I'm only saddened because (at least on Amazon) this is the author's only work. Hopefully, there'll be more.

(3.5)Family memories of a mysterious continent�
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 12 total.
Review Date: 2003-08-29
The mythology of Australia is central to this novel. Both Sam Browne's grandmother and mother have vanished into the wilds of the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, his grandmother to myth and his mother in search of her own mother's memory. These disappearances (his mother's body is found, his grandmother's never found) have a profound influence on Sam as he remembers the year he spent with his mother in Australia before she was lost forever.

Pierce combines the unfathomable territory of memory with myth-saturated Australia, where the Aboriginal population has produced such ethereal tales from spectacular geography. Pierce also adds a strong feminist content to Sam's identification with his maternal relatives. His mother has had a positive effect on the young boy and the grandmother's journals offer him even more understanding of their unique bond with the land.

After returning to the United States, Sam finishes school, marries and divorces. Yet he remains fascinated by the stories of his mother and grandmother. Sam is able to recover most of his grandmother's original documents and spends his time pouring over their contents. His grandmother's voice speaks to him over the years, seducing him back into the land of myth that plays such an important role in his life. He cannot help but heed the siren call of his mother's native country.

In The Australia Stories, Todd James Pierce perfectly captures female sensitivities and the power of familial ties, reading Sam's mother's emotions with acuity in that short year spent with her in Katoomba, before returning to California. While the maturing Sam Browne feels Australia in the marrow of his bones, the lives of his mother and grandmother are ever more an intrinsic element of his spirit. He begins an intimate journey toward understanding the true nature of intergenerational connections, evolving one into another, spiraling through time. At peace with the past, finally, Sam steps easily into his future, where limitations are allowed no purchase, offering only promise and possibility. Luan Gaines/2003.

Australia
Dads, Toddlers and the Chicken Dance
Published in Paperback by Simon & Schuster Australia (1998-04-06)
Author: Peter Downey
List price:
Used price: $20.01

Average review score:

Funny...
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-04
This book is the follow up to "So, You are going to be a Dad?" from the same Author. ANd the first book was awesome, this b second one is also really funny and the sometimes sarcastic humor is just great !!
Enjoy !!

Laugh out loud funny and very helpful!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-11
A great book! Mr. Downey entertains while delivering important, every-day advice to new dads. Dad's will laugh out loud and feel re-assured that they're not total failures at fatherhood. With his unpretentious writing style and unique brand of wit, Mr. Downey covers everything from baby's first steps to "permanent" birth control options, and he never fails to entertain. Dad's can only hope that Mr. Downey continues to share his thoughts and experiences through his children's pre-pubescent and teen years.

It's about time!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-29
Finally, a down-to-Earth, no-holes-barred reference book for new Dads. No fancy terminology - just creative terminology. No detailed psychological analysis from a group of doctors who pride themselves on using 10-syllable words - just the blunt facts from an everyday-Dad's point of view. An extremely humorous, yet insightful view into Dadism.

A perfect follow-up to Downey's "So You're Gonna Be A Dad". I could only hope he continues his wizardry of words addressing prepubescent teenagers!!

the dirty goods for new dads
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-03-18
As a 46 year old father of 2 young children, I have found this book to be very informative and very humorous(actually at times horrifying for fathers to be). The book could be classified as humorous horror for fathers. Peter Downey touches on all important aspects of childrearing in a down-to-earth, easy to read, practical, "lets get our hands dirty on this" fashion. Fathers with children will really identify with the problems discussed in this book. He doesn't shy away from touchy topics like sex, nudity in front of the children or physical discipline. He's obviously read the "professionals" on childrearing and his advice on how to deal with the many problems we dads encounter reflects this, but is also heavily flavoured with his own personal strategies developed on the frontlines of being a dad to 3 children himself. Of course, if you're a perfect dad, doing everything right or if you're not a dad you may want to read the book for it's humour, with which Peter is not stingy.

A MUST READ for all Dads: Old and New
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-09
Downey's book is a must read for all dads, old and new to this game of parenting. I was the fortunate recipient of this book, and having read Downey's earlier book, "So You're Gonna Be A Dad," I knew immediately that Downey would deliver with hilarious material that would make a difference in raising my two daughters. I have not been disappointed.
One significant diifference between Downey's book and others is that his approach diminishes the anxiety that comes with being a dad. He lets you know that there's a lot of other guys going through the same things, and they're all doing just fine.
Perfect holiday gift--better yet, the PERFECT gift to give Dad when his son or daughter turns two. I give Downey's book, "Dads, Toddlers, and the Chicken Dance" the highest rating possible: *****.

Australia
Moon in the Water
Published in Paperback by Pan Australia (1987-02)
Author: Pamela Belle
List price:
Used price: $12.40

Average review score:

Not your typical romance
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-23
I stumbled across this book by accident when I was younger. I almost got rid of it, but luckily, I was bored one day and I started to read it. That's all it took -- I was hooked after that. I don't typically read romances, but this one was very compelling. Yes, it is a love story, but there is much more to it than that. It is also the story of a family and a country during the trials of a civil war. Belle really took me back to that time period and engrossed me in the history. The setting was fascinating, the plot was riveting, and the characters were well-developed and lovable (or lovably hatable for some, I suppose). To this day, I still love her characters. The only down side to this is, I loved them so much that when they ceased to be the main characters in later books, I was a bit disappointed. I missed them! I would highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys romance or historical fiction.

So unforgettable...
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-11
This was one of the few romance books that stick out in my mind as an excellent, heart wrenching wonderful book. I highly recommend it to anyone. One of the best books I have ever read, and the characters seem to stay with you always.

READ THIS BOOK!!!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2003-04-03
I loved this book so much. If u like historical romance novels get this book its worth it!!! I just dont give 5 stars to any book. After this book you must get the next book because Moon in the water leaves u wanting more.

Compelling and Romantic
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-10
Pamela Belle is one historical romance writer that I would read again and again. Moon In The Water is a compelling novel of love caught up in the throes of human conflict and strife. As a writer, I was inspired and impressed by the beauty in which Moon In The Water is written. Ms. Belle's writing has a way of sweeping you back in time and holding you there.

Didn't Put it Down
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2001-08-23
This is one of the very best historical romances I have read. It is the book that got me hooked on the genre. The whole series is great!

Australia
Mr Messy
Published in Paperback by Penguin Books Australia Ltd (2000-01-28)
Author: Roger Hargreaves
List price:
Used price: $50.94

Average review score:

Great
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-14
I enjoy this book very much. I had this book when I was a child and now I have bought it for my daughters so they can enjoy them as much as I did.

Mr. Messy
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-24
I teach Kindergarten and my students love the Mr. and Miss books! They really enjoyed this one. It is a good way to talk about keeping the classroom neat and tidy.

Great Kids book collection
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-17
My children love these books.They are fun and silly.And we look forward to collecting all of them.

Great for classroom use
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-31
I am an elementary teacher and I use these books in my class to supplement our Character Ed program (which isn't the greatest). My students love the Little Miss and Mr. Men books. I have to keep them behind my desk and let them "check them out" like library books or they fight over them. The are excellent to use in a pinch if you have a book that pertains to a problem that has developed in class (especially rudeness or bossiness). It is easy to read the book and have a quick class chat about what is going on. I highly recommend all of the books for anyone who teaches, home schools, or children in general. They are a great asset.

Love the Little Miss and Mr Men books!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-28
We just love these books... my 8 year old reads them to my 4 year old and they just crack up. Of course, there's a good lesson in each of them!

Australia
Straight and Crooked Thinking
Published in Paperback by Macmillan Education Australia Pty Ltd (1974-10-11)
Author: Robert H. Thouless
List price:
Used price: $66.94

Average review score:

Remembered Well and Thanked Everyday
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2007-04-24
Upon encountering this book in Foyles on Shaftsbury Ave I picked it up and dusted it off. It was discounted so I bought it... it has been invaluable to me in the past and I thank myself for finding it almost everyday.

Inside the book are all the classics of bad thinking analysed -- everything from the common red herring argument, to argument from authority and the classic Popperian argument that an argument must be weak if it cannot be proved wrong (something amazingly the vast majority of people just do not seem to get).

All of the beliefs that lead to much of the misery in the world and the poor allocation of resources to solve the worlds problems are all here... indeed if people were to read this book the malaise of mysticism, faith-based healing, religious fundementalism, bad science and even worse political reasoning would be avoided...

Oh... and if you're a business person, like I am, you will immediately benefit by avoiding 90% of the rubbish that passes for wisdom in the business/ self-help section of your bookstore.

Treasured.

Invaluable
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-08
In my biased opinion, this ranks as one of the finest books on the subject of critical thinking. Unfortunately, it is highly priced on Amazon.com, but one can find cheaper alternatives on the internet. Thouless focuses a lot on how social proof, and other biases do impede one's ability to think rationally, especially when facts are not conclusive, or when there are more than two plausible arguments in a given scenario. Good for policy makers, students, regular folks, and people who routinely make decisions under uncertainty.

Why is this out of print?
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2005-05-21
Reading this book opened my eyes to exactly how badly crooked thinking runs our society today: how little emphasis we place on actual evidence and argument, what kind of dishonest argumentation our politicians and news providers use, etc. The only thing I didn't like about this book is that I had to go to a used bookshop in Perth, Australia to find it! Why isn't this masterwork still in print? We need it just as much now as they did in the 1930s!

Still very relevant today since it was first published
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-25
I last read this book about 15 years ago as a student and the lessons of the 38 dishonest tricks used in arguments detailed in the book have left a life-lasting impression on me. It is an invaluable book which is still relevant today as it was when it was first published in 1930. Could the copyright owner(s) please reissue this book or better yet, contribute to the public domain?

An excellent book, amazingly pertinent today
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2003-10-28
Although written at the end of the 1930's, the book is amazingly relevant today and one of the most clearly presented and well thought-out books of its kind that I've ever read. It is well worth your time.

Australia
The Turning: New Stories
Published in Hardcover by Scribner (2005-09-13)
Author: Tim Winton
List price: $25.00
New price: $5.98
Used price: $0.67

Average review score:

A Very Thoughtful Collection
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-11
Some of the stories are only four star, and that says a lot about the standard to which I hold Tim Winton. "Only four star." I've been writing for years and publish three-star work sometimes. This collection, meanwhile, is five stars overall.

This is a collection of thought-provoking stories which are loosely linked, always excellent, always natural, never showy or forced, always observant, and a pure pleasure to read. He's such a gifted author that you're actually not always aware of how gifted he is.

Beautiful
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-16
If you are looking for writing that takes your breath away and stories that make you look deeply into yourself and your life and the lives of others, then read this book. You will not be disappointed.

Not always a fan but this book may be one of the finest collections
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-30
Sometimes Mr Winton seems to be straining to be profound riddling his books with impressive literary devices - or maybe I'm too dumb to recognise great art. But with THE TURNING he seems completely at ease and as a consequence the stories ring with a truth - an emotional and spiritual truth firmly set in a believable landscape. The title story about Raelene's physical and spiritual journey, is in the patois of we Australians - a ripper! Mr Winton's great contribution to world literature may indeed be the way in which he is liberating the Australian language and bringing the voice and stories of our caravan dwellers, fishermen, and other inhabitants of small town Australia - working and otherwise - to the fore.
The Lockie Leonard trilogy and THE TURNING I expect have joined or will be joining our collective memories much as Blinky Bill, Ginger Meggs and Voss already have.

Australian universality
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2005-12-26
Tim Winton has created a Western Australia community, which remote as it is, portrays a commonality of human spirit instantly recognizeable. The scruffy town of Port Angelus, whose whale-processing history is laid out in his book THE SHALLOWS, is as original a concept as the communities of Faulkner or Louise Erdrich or T. R. Pearson, and with each book, Winton continues to expand the community of Port Angelus while limning out the human condition. The people in these stories could live anywhere, but are still ineffably Australian. In this latest book, each story is complete within itself yet linked to one another. Each story could be a springboard for an entire novel of its own. And each story makes you care about its characters and wish you could know what happens long after you've closed the book.

Antics in Angelus
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-23
There's a special appeal to the "linked" short story collection. Although the same names and places appear, each is new with the next story. The desperate men, the battered wives, the confused and bewildered children. They interact in their own ways, coming together and breaking apart over the years. In the hands of a master storyteller like Winton, each tale is a spark of reality. Every individual comes almost startlingly alive in but a few pages. As the sequence unfolds through the view of the protagonist, you gain fresh insights on circumstances. Absolute values have no place here, a lesson most of us would do well to remember.

The tales are set in a coastal town in Western Australia. Angelus is a fishing community - often under stress from unemployment, it is a contained locale. Children grow up as neighbours, move through school together, and interact in almost wildly varying ways as they mature. There are mysteries - why was a boy left broken and battered on a beach? Who was the girl found dead in a school loo and how did she die? Who escaped the almost desolate town and how bound do they remain to it in later years? These are common situations and questions in a small town, and the economic pressures add intensity to the expected conditions we all endured in adolescence. It is a credit to Winton's outstanding prose skills that beauty emerges within this forlorn community. A coastal location always provides a sense of expanded view lacking in inland towns. Yet here, as almost everywhere in Australia, the desert looms as an ever-present menace, poorly understood and a block to escape even mountains fail to match.

Vic Lang, the character around whom these stories weave, emerges first as a young child at a beach party. His life is complex. While in school, a girl with a facial birthmark fascinates him, but that's not the girl he marries. His attachments are intense and sometimes offbeat. He takes up with "Boner" McPharlin [the term comes from his job in an abattoir], the Huckleberry Finn of his time and place. Totally without ambition, Boner's presence gives Vic a basis for comparison with his own life. It's a shaky foundation to launch into adulthood. Vic symbolises the small-town outlook with his sense of being under constant scrutiny. In "The Long, Clear View", Vic reflects on his life and how the town imposed so much of itself on his later life.

North American readers often balk at the "culture shock" of Australian conditions and language. Winton's deft touch softens the shock to what might be deemed a "culture tickle". His character portrayals and the manner in which he deals with the passage of time among what become familiar people, guide the reader effortlessly through some unfamiliar terms and conditions. What does "shoot through" mean? It has nothing to do with weapons. It means "escape" or "desertion" depending on the protagonist's viewpoint. A "jacaranda" turns out to be a tree, ugly when not blooming, but a stunning array of colour in the proper season. If a blossom falls on while walking underneath, it is said to be a sign of good luck. Does that happen in Angelus?

Winton's realistic view of people and events is at odds with much of today's literature. His voice, while grim and sometimes even bleak, doesn't overwhelm the reader with despair. His people aren't crushed by events, they remain battlers even in the most seemingly desperate circumstances. You must, however, traverse the entire sequence to understand how they accomplish that feat. While each story stands entirely on its own, like a brick-built building, they must all be taken together to perceive the entire stunning edifice. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Australia
Weather Flying
Published in Paperback by Titles Supplied by John Wiley & Sons Australia ()
Author: Buck
List price:

Average review score:

Still the best practical guide on the market
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-11
I first read this book early in my private pilot training, many years ago. Needless to say, I did not really understand what I was reading. Coming back to it now, with a number of additional ratings and many more hours of flight time to my name, was a revelation. Almost on every page, I found myself saying, "Yes, that's how it is." Buck really knows what he is talking about, whether it be ice, thunderstorms, turbulence, or transitioning from instruments to visual on the approach. Taking to heart what Buck has to say will first and foremost help you to survive as a pilot by making good weather decisions. Just as importantly, he imparts a great deal of wisdom on how to get maximum utility from the airplane while keeping risk to a low level. However, as indicated earlier, the book is definitely not for beginners. A solid understanding of basic meteorology and a considerable amount of piloting experience are needed to interpret it correctly--and safely.

Essential reading for the GA Instrument pilot
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-06-07
As a CFI I have numerous books in my aviation library. This book details flying in weather and the mindset required to be a safe and competent instrument pilot.

Recommeded to me by my instructor after I received my instrument rating I now recommend it to students and associates whenever the subject of flying in weather (or not flying in weather) comes up.

I read Northstar Over My Shoulder prior to buying this book so I had an understanding of Captain Buck's history and experience which added weight to the wisdom obvious in Weather Flying (buy that book too!)

Dealing with the weather
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-22
Not a lesson on meteorology; more of a lesson on judgment and decision-making. In other words, how does one deal with the weather? What does one do with the information one has?
Bob Buck is a man of authority, vast knowledge and experience when it comes to weather flying. His advice is, therefore, not to be taken lightly.
The book is readable, Buck writes "as he talks and flies, with an easy touch...he makes it simple and plain". The only thing that frustrated me at times was the fact that due to the sheer amount of information and knowledge he wants to impart, he occasionally jumps from one issue to the other, picking up new subjects while seemingly leaving others unfinished.

"The sky is my office"
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2005-06-30
It is hard to imagine a pilot with more weather flying experience than Captain Robert Buck. And much of this flying was in the old days: in the early years of the Army Air Corp and a young company called TWA. Much of this flying was accomplished without the assistance of modern instrumentation. Captain Buck travelled the world seeking the most ornery weather he could find, and then flew into it time and time again, compiling the experience and collecting the data that no one else had at the time. Captain Buck shares that experience here. This book is interesting and engaging to the flying enthusiast, essential to the VFR pilot, and absolutely priceless to the aspiring instrument pilot. Every discipline and every pastime has its classics, and WEATHER FLYING is, without a doubt, one of the classics of aviation.

The language of WEATHER FLYING is simple and straightforward. The lessons are practical more than theoretical, though Captain Buck keeps his readers briefed on essential weather theory as well. Virtually every weather situation that a pilot can encounter is covered in this book, from the ordinary to the exotic. Then Captain Buck instructs you how to fly it. The concept is simple and direct; the lessons are comprehensive and pragmatic.

In short, this is not a book to read once and then shelve. The lessons are too important to be forgotten. This is a manual to be taken down and read over and over again by any sort of pilot who flies any sort of aircraft.

Jeremy W. Forstadt

weather is confusing...
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-07
... and will remain so after you read this book. Everything in Buck's book is useful but it is tough to remember all of his rules without a solid grounding in meteorology. The cover's subtitle "a practical book on flying in all kinds of weather" is accurate. This book is about practice, not theory. However, after finishing the book, I was disappointed to find myself as ignorant as ever about weather and completely at the mercy of the FAA briefers.

Australia
101 Ways to Market Your Business
Published in Paperback by Allen & Unwin Pty., Limited (Australia) (2001-05-01)
Author: Andrew Griffiths
List price: $15.95
New price: $5.00
Used price: $0.44

Average review score:

Should be called 101 easy ways to business success
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-25
Andrew Griffiths has written another classic. There are so many simple ideas (actually over 101!!) that will make a difference to my business.

I enjoy Griffiths writing style - he speaks with experience but doesnt talk down to you.

This book deserves a home in every small business owners library

BOOMING Marketing Ideas
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-06
Great for my business, these marketing ideas have helped me set up new ways of building my coaching and training business internationally! Loads of information, easy to read and great examples make this book a MUST for all small business owners!

Great resource: Use this one, don't leave it gathering dust.
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2004-08-12
This book is a simple, thorough, engaging manual of methods people can easily apply immediately to market their business. What I most appreciate are the many unusual ideas - and the passion Griffiths uses as he makes suggestions to the reader.

He has a very engaging, friendly style which any reader would enjoy - it is as if he is sitting beside you, cheering your efforts.

This is one of those books that belongs on the shelf of any business. Those with a limited marketing budget or a SOHO will find it especially helpful.

The Small Business Owner's Bible
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-11-29
"101 Ways to Market Your Business" by Andrew Griffiths is a sensational tool for any small business owner. It's simple to read and the ideas are easy to implement and best of all, don't cost a great deal of money. As a marketing manager for a shopping centre, we find business owners often need inspiration - and something that will help get them back on track. We buy this book in bulk and hand it out to those who need it - and it's great to see them implement the ideas and to see their businesses ultimately improve.

Logical and practical
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2003-01-27
If you can't get advice from this book - you are not trying! An easy to read guide to marketing - logicial, practical - a common sense guide which can be applied to any business, anywhere. THis book, along with Andrew's other guides to business are written to genuinely help you - not to dewilder you. You never feel as though you are being spoken down to - rather you feel as though these steps are so easy, logical and cost effective they have to work. Highly recommended and congratulations Andrew.


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