Australia Books

This was the first book I had read that really opened my eyes to the public manipulation a government was capable of. Cawthorne pulls facts together from very credible sources and uses them to weave cohesive arguments that are difficult to refute. This book should be more widely read, and portions of it should be used in Civics classes across the United States to teach our youth to be more objective about political motivations.
If any fault can be found with the book, it's the amount of detail it provides. Though, given the prevailing public "knowledge" of American POW's, it serves the author well to support his statements from many angles.

The Bamboo Flute was a very interesting book about a boy called Paul, who's family was poor. He meets a man called Eric the Red who tells and shows him how to make a flute out of bamboo.

I was looking for information on tracing one of my Irish ancestors and found this book most helpful.Not only did I find who I was looking for it also put our family in touch with other descendants.A great book for genealogy research.Can't wait for the updated version.

This guy has two feet firmly planted on the twenty-something-year-old ground. He makes a point of starting with a dose of reality: money is only the stuff that gets you where you want to be, so work that out before you spend. He's ideas are no-fuss, practical and quite obvious good sense once you hear his explanations.
He is completely in tune with pop culture and doesn't try to get you money for when you are too old to enjoy it - it's about being smart now so that you can enjoy it soon...and I trust his advice to last me my lifetime.
The best book an Aussie young-adult can read - the first time I've interested enough to make good decisions that have already reaped rewards.
:)

There is a cattle station - Barra Creek - in the wild Gulf country of North West Queensland of Australia on a tributary of the crocodile-infested Norman River.

Sally Mitchel impulsively takes a job as a governess at Barra Creek. Hundreds of miles from any town and no contact except the mail plane, The Flying Doctor and the School of the Air. The children have to use every day as there is no school except by radio and home tutoring by the governess.

Her boss is overpowering John Monroe and his strict and proper wife Lorna. John Monroe late at night often wanders down to the aboriginal stockmans camp to join them for drinks around a camp fire. The white women are told to never come near at night time, as its not safe.

Sally sleeps on the verandah in the unbearable heat with the three young boys. The boys put a snake in her shoes, play awful pranks on her to scare her away in the beginning.It used to work scaring off all the other governesses. But Sally is determined to stay she has nowhere else to go.

The challenges of her three charges, wild stockmen, the heat and the wet, a great passion, cattle musters all fade compared to a great loss and a gruesome death.

An Outback Family Saga you won't be able to stop thinking about when you are finished. This story would make a wonderful movie.

The late Australian lawyer Sir Garfield Barwick, who in a lifetime became the country's leading Queens' Counsel, then member of federal Parliament, Attorney-General, External Affairs Minister, Privy Councillor and Chief Justice of Australia, remains one of the most controversial figures in the nation's history. Combative by nature, he navigated such tumultuous events as the attempted nationalization of Australia's banks by a socialist government (he fought for, and saved, the banks), the attempted banning of the Communist party by a conservative government (he fought for the ban, but it was rejected as unconstitutional), a nasty political witch-hunt known as the Petrov affair (he helped hunt KGB witches), an equally nasty artistic witch-hunt known as the Dobell affair (Dobell never recovered from Barwick's devastating cross-examination) the Vietnam War (he was foreign minister at the time Australia fought there), the 1975 dismissal of an Australian prime minister (while Chief Justice, Barwick secretly counseled this) and the building of the new High Court building in Canberra. As Marr shows, Barwick scaled professional heights no other lawyer will match, and as an advocate was never equaled: as such, he has earned the respect and affection of a good many of his peers. However, he is most remembered for fostering the High Court's string of zealously pro-taxpayer decisions, virtually eviscerating the tax code, leading to an equally aggressive legislative counter-attack. This is not a sympathetic biography, and Barwick himself was furious when it was published, but neither is it the hatchet-job he claimed it to be. The definitive expose of Australia's legal institutions.

With the controversy that surrounds Australian and US involvement in Vietnam one approaches any book about that conflict with trepidation.
There are too many people with agendas to push, even more so than most other wars.

So I was pleasantly surprised by this book about Long Tan, a battle that is little known outside Australia (though its anniversary is Australian Vietnam Veterans Day) but which demonstrated the courage and ability of the Aussies didn't end with WW2. It demonstrates a sense of balance about the controversial events. and doesn't fail to criticise people and practices where the commanders feel this justified. The book also debunks some of the revisionism, notably that promoted by the Vietnamese themselves, regarding NVA number and casualties and whole ambush question.

Also covered in some depth is the legacy of Vietnam to the Australians who fought there, many of them conscripts, and the vexed question of medals awarded and not awarded.

A good read, not just for Australians and those interested in the Vietnam war.

In the past 12 years, I've reread this gem 4 times - and look forward to the next time. The leading characters are superbly portrayed, as the good guys try to protect a deceased scientist's uncanny system that predicts Aussie weather, 12 months in advance.. The manuscripts are protected by two binge drinkers, both in their eighties, both with colorful cattle drover backgrounds. A key aspect of the plot: Upfield offers colorful insights into the differing psychological nightmare/illusions associated with various types of liquor - and gets these distinctions into the unraveling of the plot.. The central old-timer comes across much like the old geezer prospector in Treasure of Sierra Madre. Plus: Bony's wily ability to outsmart his police-bosses is top-rate here. Don't miss this one!

This book is fantastic. A must have if you are interested in improving you communication skills in business and life.

This book will change your life because once you understand and practise the power of giving praise to yourself as well as to others, you will learn to be bold. It is written in a clear but lively style. There are no big buzz words, no hype, no jargon. Praise is not flattery. Praise is simple, direct, specific and sincere. Praise is the catalyst that will give you wings. This book will inspire you to solve conflict, create relationships, strengthen work practices by using praise. By reading this book you will feel bold enough to take that leap, risk that change or just be content to be the person you already are. Give yourself a treat. Buy this book. And then buy others to give to those people you love.