Australia Books

the photos are great, i just wish there were more. i am not very interested in the human beings that performed the research, and wish there was more about the animals...

I received this book from a thoughtful, loving, and dear kindred spirit of a friend and while it is being marketed as a children's book, I found that it was just as wonderful as an animal lover's or even a conservationists' (organic-free trade-decaffeinated) coffee table book. Nic Bishop's up close and personal photography is beyond any Life Magazine or National Geo quality color photos. Sy Montgomery's writing takes the reader along on the expedition with all the science, language and even a bit of humor provided in part by the guides. Montgomery has created a fun book for kids and adults alike! A great gift for high school graduates to inspire them to follow their dreams and passions. For kid's, this would make a cake science report book!

The book Erak's Ransom, by John Flanagan, is about a boy who goes to get Erick back from the Arridi. The boy, Will, was an orphan at Castle Redmont who had no last name. Will No-Name is chosen to become apprenticed as a ranger.

Apprentice Will goes with Halt, his instructor, and Gilan, Halt's ranger friend, to bring silver to the people who hold Erak prisoner. The crew from Erak's ship came along. As they head off, Will's friend Horence joins them. When they arrive, they are told that a group of warriors are taking them to a nearby village. They follow the path to the village. The first days seem fine but a sand storm overtakes them and Tug, Will's horse, gets lost. Will splits off the main group to find Tug. Meanwhile, the rest of the group follows the road to the village. After a little while the main group finds out that bandits have taken the group of soldiers. The main group changes course not knowing whether Will and Tug are alive! To find out what happens after that, get the book and read it.

In Ranger's Apprentice 7, Erak is making a last raid when he is caught and is held for ransom. Will, Halt, Horace, Cassandra, and Gilan must find him and rescue him. There is a fair amount action in this book. This book is only available in the Australian version. Chronologically, this book comes before the 5th and 6th but after the 1-4. He does a good job of putting pressure on characters. I thought it was a good book and that it was worth buying online from an Australian bookseller.

I read these books many years ago and found them moving, perhaps 'The Sword and the Blossom' the most moving. This, the third book, attempts to understand the Japanese character as it was experienced by the POWs. It's not pretty, but it is necessary if you want to try to come to grips with quite a lot of the meanings behind the Pacific theatre of WWII.

Parkin's writing is well-balanced, as pointed out. The brutality, sadism and all the other things can't be hidden. Parkin wrestles with the complexity of the Japanese psyche in the war. The POWs are men in extreme situations. Some may not act as well as they may have liked, but Parkin doesn't judge them: who could? There are quietly heroic acts that just seem 'normal', but Parkin doesn't make a big deal about it.

What shines through is the author's humanity. In spite of the brutality, he can appreciate the people he meets, the world around him (e.g. 'the coruscating sea'), and capture it in his sketches.

The novels were first published in London in the 1960's, the author himself stating it took this long for him to take a balanced view of the things he saw as a sailor during war and as a prisoner of war under the Japanese. His hand drawn pictures in these works were made whilst in Custody under threat of execution if seized.

Before the war, PARKIN was a professional sailor, after the war he studied as a classical artist, and worked on the wharfs of Melbourne as a tally clerk.

This description meets his works, his love of the sea, his artwork throughout the works, his beautiful descriptions, and his exacting detail.

The first novel is of a shipwreck survivor, it doesn't show it, but he is the hero portrait, it is a TRUE story. The second is a diary of his captivity on the Burma railway, and the third of his captivity in Japan, including the dropping of the A-Bomb. 'He states that a newspaper dropped in by air to Japan when he was first released has three momentous events, atomic weapons, jet propulsion and ball point pens'.

His works are not bitter, if anything appreciative of having lived a life less fortunate. Very Australian in it's style and language, it is as moving as any of the recognized greats. I will not wax lyrical about its style further, the editorials above do so far more eloquently than I could.

I have been muddying my way through REXX for many years. I only recently discovered this book and would give anything to have discovered it 20 years ago. Thanks Gabe.

This is the definitive source of information on the topic. It is a better teaching/learning tool than Mike Colishaw's own text, and he is the "guru" who headed up the team that created REXX. If you cannot take a class in REXX, do not hesitate to pay $... for a used copy of this text.

This book was hard to find or buy in book stores in australia. I found the seller reliable and provided the book in perfect condition and the delivery was quick.

This masterful work by Paul Carter revisits the historical assumptions about the founding of Australia. Carter rejects previous assertions (assumptions) that lay behind a form of Australian history such as the primacy of empirical "facts" and the self-evident rhetoric of cause and effects. Instead, Carter attempts to explain the imagination of a place as somewhere one could be and he illustrates the imperial qualities of this imagination (especially as it pertains to langauge and naming). Early narratives of exploration (such as Capt. James Cook) are used to explain Australian history as a project of European meaning-making and this moves away from imperial history which assert capital-T universal Truth and toward a spatial understanding of Australia as a particular space that Westerners moved through in a particularly Western way.

This book is out of print, but should be near the top of any person's list of must-reads for spatial theory. It is erudite, combining historical analysis with philosophical frameworks, but it is also extremely readable and even poetic in its language. This is only natural as Carter is also a poet. Grab a copy of this book before they all disappear and while it remains a great bargain used.

Another wonderful story by Bob Graham that shows how children can attach amazing imaginings to mundane things, and teaches us to take some time to get to know our neighbours - life can be better when you do!

This is an appealing little book, short and to the point. It is the story of Rose which is told partly in pictures and partly in descriptive text. For instance the first image is clearly of Rose's family moving into a new house, with Mr Wintergarten's sinister house next door. It is a great way of getting children to talk about what is happening, there is lots going on and you can set the scene (along with children playing and kicking a ball over Mr Wintergarten's very high fence). I really liked the message in this which is great for pre-schoolers. Rose loses her ball over the fence of Mr Wintergarten's house, and the children start telling her horror stories of how awful she is - first she asks them not to because the baby can hear, and then she goes in and talks to her Mum who helps her take things over to Mr Wintergarten. Mr Wintergarten is very rude to Rose, but Rose is always polite and leaves when nothing more can be said - but she has made an impression, and Mr Wintergarten comes back and makes friends with the neighbourhood. The last picture is of Mr Wintergarten's fence being taken down.

Populated with appealingly illustrated characters and situations, a great story and an excellent message. It is a fun and funny book and my children love it. A definite 5 stars from me.

This is a nice little story that celebrates our similarities and differences.
The story follows 7 children each involved in the same activity, but in a different way. For example, each child has a different favourite food, they live in different types of home, like to have fun in different ways, etc.

I read this to my kid quite frequently. I'm almost 30 and I think I enjoy it more than she does.

There's just something about it that I really like, but I can't pinpoint it.

Writen by the Head of the (Royal) Naval Historical Branch, The Royal Navy and the Falklands War is quite simply the finest account of the naval war yet written. With detailed access to official documents and widely illustrated with photographs form both official and private sources, the book traces the history of the campign from the naval perspective in a day by day, blow by blow account.
The narrative is easy to follow, either as a cover to cover read or a book to dip into for specific information about key events. There is a seperate chapter dealing with ships taken up from trade, (STUFT), and appendices listing all ships from both navies that took part in the war. An excellent read and a "must have" book for the serious reader.

Writen by the Head of the (Royal) Naval Historical Branch, The Royal Navy and the Falklands War is quite simply the finest account of the naval war yet written. With detailed access to official documents and widely illustrated with photographs form both official and private sources, the book traces the history of the campign from the naval perspective in a day by day, blow by blow account.
The narrative is easy to follow, either as a cover to cover read or a book to dip into for specific information about key events. There is a seperate chapter dealing with ships taken up from trade, (STUFT), and appendices listing all ships from both navies that took part in the war. An excellent read and a "must have" book for the serious reader.

This is the "traditional" translation of the Rule, used by monasteries for years, and partitioned by day of the year for three complete readings a year. This new printing is a larger format with larger print, is a hardback, with a sewn binding -- very durable, very graceful, and still very simple.

I especially with my ancient eyes appreciate the large print, as well as the traditional dating of the chapters and selections for regular reading, once through three times a year.

This is also the well known and traditional translation into English as done by an Oblate of Saint John's sixty years ago but still clear and fresh as a miraculous mountain spring of Living Water. The translation was drawn from Dom Cuthbert's third edition of the LAtin text, published in 1935 (and originally written by Our Holy Father Saint Benedict a millenium and a half before then!).

Any community or individual devoted to the Rule will find this the most useful and welcome edition, not only for the hardcover and large print with generous margins, and the ribbon to hold your place, not only for the clear and correct translation, but also for the gentle feel in your hands of the brushed light blue denim like material which covers the cover.

The introduction written by Father David Cotter in the year 2000 comprehensively captures the historic as well as the theological high ground, making comprehensible this text to the novice as well as intriguing the veteran monastic. This excellent introduction and theological commentary in itself merits the small cost of this essential book.

Some thirty years ago I lived for several years in monasteries which closely follow this Rule. I am now an Oblate of Saint Benedict attached to a monastic house of the Subiaco Congregation. I am profoundly grateful to receive this edition of our beloved Rule of Saint Benedict for regular reflection.

There is much here for everyone to read, especially Saint Benedict's description of a twelve step program towards humility, an essential element for any monk, and so lacking in our present day. Several commentaries exist which anyone might find fascinating adn helpful, including Sister Joan Chittister's The Rule of Benedict: Insights for the Ages (Crossroad Spiritual Legacy Series), and Attorney John McQuiston's excellently entitled Always We Begin Again: The Benedictine Way of Living. Several others exist of all levels of scholarship, but what we need most and daily do is read the Rule. Thanks to Father Cotter's objective and thorough introduction no further commentary is necessary but what God speaks within the silence of our own individual hearts and our communities and in our Church, now under the able and gentle shepherding of one who chose the name of Benedict, whose revolutionary Sacramento de La Caridad: Sacramentum Caritatis and Deus Caritas Est: Dios Es Amor (Documentos) we do well now to read.

When I first viewed this book in my local library, I was captivated for hours. The wealth of information that can be found in this book is excellent. I've seen some unusual games before on television, but never fully understood the basic rules and what is involved.

This book explains and illustrates (very well) the basics of many professional and amateur games that are played in the world.

I once used this book to create a game that would be easy to play and where no one would get hurt. This book helped, and now the young kids in my family use it make up new games. We combine the balls and rules of many games into one.

If you love sports, or you are new to sports, this book will be of help to you.

I had a version of this same book when I was a kid, and remember pouring over the pages for hours on end. It opened my eyes to so many wonderful sports, that might not necessarily be popular or common in the US. To this day, I still browse through it when I visit my parents house. This is a truly timeless book, that can be passed down through generations.