Australia Books

This information provided as LCCI description is incorrect. Table Of Contents: The Art of Dancing, The First Step, The Fox Trot, The Waltz & its variations, The Rumba, The Mambo, The Cha-Cha, The Tango, The Samba, The Merengue, Swing, Rock N Roll, Dance Secrets, Dance Etiquette, Dancing for Children. Drawings, diagrams.

Arthur Murray is perhaps the most acclaimed teacher of dance technique EVER. This book offers detailed text, illustrations and diagrams on a wide variety of basic and unique dance styles. A very usueful instructional/reference book!!

This book will encourage children to get going in the garden. The pictures add a zesty quality. Children will enjoy the happy and informative style.

This a book about gardening for kids, and how to grow things you can eat. Practical advice from a famous Australian TV personality. This is probably more use to people in the Australian climate. JR's illustrations are charming.

Australia's Aborigines are legendary hunters and trackers, but few outside of Australia have any inkling of what's involved in their art. Enger Pat Lowe, who migrated from England to Australia in 1972, and who met Aboriginal artist Jimmy Pike, spending three years with him in the desert hunting and exploring his country. Her Hunters And Trackers Of The Australian Desert thus provides a truly unique blend of observation and personal experience.

Superb look into the primitive world of Australia's legendary hunter/trackers, the Aborigines. This book is an oversized soft cover made with quality paper. The book is heavily illustrated with line drawings, B&W and color photography, with the later being prevalent. This book goes into great detail describing the lifestyle of these Bushmen (Pre and post contact with Europeans). It covers a substantial amount of information about the art of tracking, primarily how it is a body of various skills and knowledge (botany, primitive navigation, and understanding animal behavior, to name but a few skills). I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in culture, nature, and in particular tracking. I do have to say it is a very hard title to find, I ordered it three or four times with no luck (And it is listed as a obtainable title, so beware!), finally I had to purchase it through a used book dealer at more then double its cost. But it was worth every cent. I provided the table of contents;

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Acknowledgment
Introduction
1 - Why Track?
2 - The Hunter's Tool Kit
3 - Learning To Track
4 - What Tracks Say
5 - Tracking Clues
6 - Tracking News
7 - Fire
8 - The Flight Of The Crow
9 - Water
10 - Tracks And The Law
11 - A Search And A Short Story
12 - Yesterday And Today
Walmajarri Pronunciation Guide
Glossary Of Walmajarri Words And Phrases
Glossary Of Other Australian Terms
Further Reading
Index
(Total page count is 112)
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Zoe Caldwell OBE is one of theatre's finest living actresses with one problem. Outside the theatre circles, most people haven't the faintest clue who she is. Despite that she has won four Tony awards and is probably in the New York Theatre Hall of Fame, most people don't know who she is. In this book, she chronicles her modest upbringing from Melbourne, Australia and her experiences in the Australian theatre before venturing to Stratford to act in Shakespeare and finally to North America where she settled in Westchester, New York with her husband, producer Robert Whitehead and their two sons. She also worked as a stage actress. THe book stops by the time that she plays Cleopatra in Shakespeare's play. To her, the stage is the thing and the ultimate pursuit for the actor in their art. She doesn't go out and sell herself to endorse products. She doesn't get the roles that go to other equally trained and veteran actresses in the films and television nor does she care about that. She is quite happy being in the theatre. I was kind of interested in her experiences with Dame Edith Evans, Albert Finney, Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn, and others and her time abroad in England before coming to America where she has felt most at home in the theatre on stage mostly in New York. This quadruple Tony Winner is a winner in the field of drama where she pursues the ultimate experience as the actor in playing before the audience. She has never failed her audience.

Having just journeyed to Melbourne (from Sydney) to see Miss Caldwell in Durenmatt's "The Visit", which is part of the Melbourne Theatre Company's 50th anniversary season (she was also in their first production in 1953),I chanced upon her "semi-autobiography" in a local bookshop. This covers the first half of her dazzling life. Her prose is like her acting: direct, simple, intelligent, moving, riveting and unforgettable. Anyone even remotely interested in the theatre should take the opportunity to read this marvellous book. And if there is ever a chance to see the lady on a stage, RUN, don't walk, to get in line. A great book by a great artist.

There's a glut of fantasy on the shelves today -- and so much of it is just a poor copy of Tolkien, or Harry Potter, or Star Wars (itself little more than a bottomless maw of merchandising these days). For something with more originality & genuine magic, we have to go back 2 or 3 decades, when writers like Patricia Wrightson were creating forgotten jewels like this Young Adult fantasy novel.

Wirrun is a young man in Australia, an Aborigine with one foot in the white man's world. When ancient forces of ice awaken & threat the land of his ancestors, he's chosen to find & rouse the Eldest Nargun, an Aboriginal fire spirit, to restore the balance. On the surface, it seems a traditional coming-of-age fantasy story, done up in somewhat more unusual trappings.

But Wrightson doesn't settle for a rehash of the familiar. She develops the story slowly, letting us get a feel for the Aboriginal worldview, so very different than our Western preconceptions. There's far more characterization & exploration of culture here than lurid special effects duels or cardboard cutouts hacking at each other with generic swords. It's much more than a simplistic good guys vs. bad guys story!

Wirrun's journey is fraught with unexpected dangers, touched with surprising humor at times, and filled with the delights of a completely different mythology & outlook. You sense that Wrightson isn't just using the Aboriginal background as exotic set dressing, but hopes that the reader will come to understand & value an older way of life & experiencing the world. And I think she succeeds very well.

This novel is complete in itself, with a definite ending. But if you enjoy it, you'll want to seek out her two sequels to it, "The Dark Bright Water" & "Journey Behind the Wind." Both develop & deepen the character of Wirrun & his relationship to his ancestral world, rather than simply rewriting the first novel. Most highly recommended!

This is a quiet, contemplative book. There's not a lot of "action" and nothing blows up, which I found rather restful. The hero, Wirrun, sees the world through a traditional Aborigine viewpoint, and the book does a good job of portraying how different his world is from that of the white people who interact with him. A wealth of detail and some nice plot twists near the end kept up my interest, and by the end of the book I felt I was starting to get a "feel" for the way Wirrun thinks.

Those who love C.J. Cherryh's detailed portrayals of alien societies should love Patricia Wrightson's portrayal of a society equally "alien" to many "modern" readers, but much closer to home.

The most fun I've ever had on a trip I didn't make. This book reads is easy reading - never boring. The author in trekking around the Mediterranean seems to have almost a story a step. His local and historical knowledge is impressive. Each curve of the beach, inlet, cove or nearby island comes with an event or myth or legend - some originally recorded by Homer, some as reported recently in local or national media. The book is sprinkled with intriguing bits and pieces about famous people the rest of us have met only in museums and gossip columns. A plus - the writer's love of nature and descriptive powers whet your appetite for Mediterranean travel. If you go, do take the book with you - a great guide!

Taylor Chambers
Pittsburgh, PA

By Diana Plater (with pix AAP579-583)
SYDNEY, AAP - There must be simpler - and less strenuous - ways to get over a midlife crisis following a divorce.
Walking around the Mediterranean does seem to be a bit extreme.
But American journalist and author Joel Stratte-McClure doesn't seem to be the type to take the easy way out.
After living in France for 35 years, working mainly in Europe and Africa, his marriage to a "still-lively, still-brazen blonde" Franco-American woman broke up. So he decided to give himself a 50th birthday present and attempt the walk.
In the end, it took him 10 years on-and-off to do both the walk and write a book from it, The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean.
His main travelling companion apart from his dog, Bogart, and occasionally other people, including his son, Luke, was his copy of Homer's The Odyssey.
The book makes frequent allusions to the Odyssey as well as Buddhist sayings, his own alcoholism, trekking and descriptions of the people he meets along the way.
In Sydney to promote the book, Stratte-McClure, explains an odyssey like his teaches valuable spiritual lessons such as patience and persistence.
"One of the many themes in the book is the goal is the path and the path is the goal ... all these nice little Buddhist refrains that keep me going at times of woe. So I never say to myself, My God, I have 10,000 kilometres left. I always take it a day at a time and don't stress where I am."
He was still working while he was doing the walk, with the longest break eight months.
"I've walked further than I have in the book and I've kept as close to the sea ... as possible (apart from Morocco where there was a military installation).
" ...I went back to one place after nine months and it was like I was there yesterday."
Now a fit-looking 60-year-old, he's always walked, including six week treks in the Himalayas and other countries and has been writing about these adventures for 30 years.
"The problem with a walking book is that if it's just about walking you can sell one copy - to your mother. This books works on, I hope, the right balance of different levels integrating everything from Homer's Odyssey, which has kind of been a muse of mine since I bought it in college for $6, to the various populations and cultures, historical, social happenings (of the places he visited)."
He had been told by a Buddhist monk that one of the best forms of meditation is not just walking, but walking for other people.
"After I'd walked for 30 or 40 km, at the end of the day I'd be feeling tired...and I'd invariably see somebody who would be incapable of walking, whether they were old or handicapped or whatever and it gave me a feeling of how lucky I am."
As part of his walking meditation, he always picks up his litter, gives stuff away and tries to stay calm.
He says his book, with its title a combination of Dostoyevsky's The Idiot and Greek mythology, has been described as Eat, Love, Pray for the male.
The bestseller by Elizabeth Gilbert uses her divorce as a premise for her travels and spiritual journey.
And in some ways Stratte-McClure does something similar, although his book is denser and perhaps more literary. But they both share a form of self-deprecating humour.
He describes his devastation after his ex-wife came home from a five-day trip to London and informed him she had a 24-year-old male lover, a nightclub bouncer half her age.
"The decline and demise of almost any long relationship is complicated and, as any student of Greek literature will tell you, even the gods had problems with their wives," he writes. "But Cyclops was not as blind as I was."
He did tell his ex-wife later that she was included in the book, but agreed to change a few aspects including her name.
His son suggested he leave the whole episode out, but as his divorce was a major earth-shattering event in his life he felt he had to keep it in, even though his daughter boycotted the whole thing.
He has since re-married and now lives in West Hollywood. His current wife, who is also a journalist, came up with the title of the book, but she too wanted her name changed.
"A guy can pick up this book to get some advice on how to proceed in life, a kid can give his father this book or read it himself...to show some of the richness that can be established between father and son," Stratte-McClure says in his best promo voice.
"And a woman can read it for spiritual reasons or give it to her husband and get him out of the house for three or four years ...that gives a whole new definition to the expression, take a hike."
The book has a hiking addendum listing one-day to one-week walks on the Mediterranean including the Saint Tropez Seascape Stroll and Moving from Morocco into Spain.
The Idiot and The Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean. (Fast Thinking Books) $24.95.
AAP drp

This book offers important insights into the debate about reciprocity. Weiner provides a great discussion of related social theory besides introducing her insights about reciprocity. An important book.

Annette Weiner does an amazing job with this book. For anyone interested in social relationships and economics, this book is for you. She reinterprets age-old anthropological data (upon which most current anthropology is based) with an entirely new focus. Rather than reciprocity being the foundation of society, the paradox of "keeping-while-giving" is what defines our social and economic lives, our histories, and our ancestries. She's bold and amazingly intelligent -- good work Annette!

The book is as great as all his others, I'm a big fan of Nick Waplington, He can see things that looks hidden for closed minds. This book is the conjuntion of places in South America and I can tell you that his work is amazing

this is a truly amazing piece of work by nick.truly scrumptiou

I don't think I can say enough about Ingrid Bergman without sounding like an idiot, but Ingrid, to me, was one
great woman. I would classify her as the World's Greatest Icon. The photo of Ingrid on the Hollywood Icon Journals is equisitely beautiful. Now that I bought this Hollywood Icon Journal with Ingrid on the cover, I hate to use it. It's something you just don't want to mess up. It is a very well-bound book with fine, strong pages for recording data. I love this book. In fact, to preserve the beautiful photo cover of Ingrid on this book, I bought a plastic book cover for it. Anyone that loves Ingrid Bergman will love this wonderful book. It is something you will treasure for the rest of your life.

Ingrid Bergman was one of the most Beautiful and Talented Ladies to ever grace the Silver Screen. This book is a must for all the many millions of Ingrid Bergman Fans. This book is well written and is a perfect tribute to the one and only Legend herself, the Epitome of Beauty, Talent, and Class, the late Great Miss Ingrid Bergman. Hollywood and the World, has lost an Icon, a true Gem. Ingrid Bergman will live on in the hearts of millions through her many movies, books, and photographs. This book is one reason Ingrid Bergman will live on Forever. Stefano

Very nice guide book that was easy to carry during our travels. Plenty of information for the price and size. Highly recommend.

The publisher has the bad habit of hiding the names of authors of their compact guides, let me rectify this:

The guide was written by Nicholas Cobb, the splendid color photography was provided by Tim McKenna.

On mere small 121 pages, Cobb's book provides the essential information about the (tragic) history of Tahiti and about the contemporary marvels of its nature, attractions and the hospitality.

McKenna's photography is magnificent and its value cannot be underestimated: Compared to the black and white photography in books from Lonely Planet and Moon Handbooks, with their sometimes abysmal print quality, this travel guide really shines. In its photographic valors and in the quality of print Insight Guides match the best of the breed, including the Eye-Witness DK guides. The charts and maps of the islands are also in color. Without clutter, they really depict well only the important details of interest for a short time visitor.

Of course, 121 pages cannot contain all the information which you might find in David Stanley Tahiti Moon Handbook, thus I would suggest to take Stanley as the primary source of information. However, considering the moderate price, this guide is a most welcome extension and a "must have!" It is current, 2005 edition, compared to 2003 editions of others. Foremost, currently this is probably the only guide about Tahiti written after Marlon Brando passed away. Somehow I do not like to read about a dead person in 'present tense'...

My only regret is that Insight does not provide a larger version of this guide! Maybe they will, I will grab it as well!