Australia Books

The best treatment of traditional Pacific navigation practices, written by someone who actually could navigate.

This book is well-written, displels a lot of strange myths about native Pacific navigation, and provides a lot of interesting details useful to modern navigators when they run out of batteries in the middle of the ocean.

For most of us, sailing across 2000+ miles of open ocean from Hawaii to Tahiti (or vice versa) would be daunting enough even with using every modern navigation device such as a GPS. Consider that in 1927 with compasses, sextants, radio, etc, in the Dole Air Race from Oakland to Honolulu (the same distance as Tahiti to Hawaii) 3 out of the 5 planes that started out were lost at sea. Then consider that a thousand years ago the Polynesians in 50-foot twin-hulled canoes were regularly making such voyages without any kind of instruments, and that crossing 50 or 100 miles of ocean was thought almost trivially easy.

That a primitive (by European or American standards) people were skilled at ocean navigation was thought absurd. Kon-Tiki was an attempt to show that Oceania could be populated from South America by drifting on rafts and sheer luck of landfall. But it is now established that there was skilled and purposeful exploration and colonization--including Rapa Nui (Easter Island) which is 1000 miles from the nearest other habitable island. We, the Navigators is a fascinating look at "primitive" navigation techniques, and the author himself sailed from Hawaii to Tahiti using only these ancient techniques.

So you'll see how the Polynesians used the sun, moon, and stars to achieve accurate navigation. They also used the ocean swells (as distinct from waves): islands reflect and deflect swells, so by careful observation, you can get a sense of direction to landfall. Land also changes cloud patterns. Birds were watched intently. New Zealand was one of the last places found and peopled--from 1600 miles away from the northeast, perhaps by watching birds migrate in that direction. Different kinds of birds travel different distances from land--some travel 40-50 miles, others 20-25 miles: by observing at dawn where the birds came from, and observing which direction they went towards sunset, and seeing what kind of bird it was, you could tell that there was land, and what direction it was, and how far away it was as well. On leaving land, backsights would be taken to help establish currents and drift. The book has lots of drawings and illustrations--it's a real treat!

This book is written by an academic. I don't necessarily mean this in a negative sense. The author has done a very thorough research on the topic and presented his findings. The effect is a book that can be called a comprehensive treatment as far as it can be done given that the practictioners are disappearing fast.
The downside is that it can send you to sleep as the author systematically compares how the navigational techniques are practiced in the various island groups.

The strength of the book is not only its thoroughness but also the fact that the author is a skilled sailor who has gone on trips using these techniques. This makes the material so much more authentic, because the reader can relate how effective these skills are and yet how much practice they require.

The author provides commentary on many practices and relates them to our modern day knowledge. An example was their ability to recognize the impact of sub surface currents, something that is today a rather specialist piece of knowledge not available to the everyday sailor.

The most complete study of early navigation I have come across. The author does a fantastic job of comparing the different styles of landfinding as used by the Pacific islanders. Lewis brings the knowledge and experience of an accomplished western sailor and navigator to his studies, and in doing so is able compare and contrast ancient and modern techniques. A scholarly study of primitive navigation, the book is not always an easy read, however for the reader looking for a complete comparison this is the volume to have.

Wombat Stew is in print, just click on the separate product page link Wombat Stew for the 21st Anniversary (2005) edition. For some bizarre reason Amazon lists these re-released books as separate products but they are one and the same. At the time of this review they did have stock but if they too are now sold out rest assured Australian publishers like to celebrate anniversaries and constantly re-release children's picture books so no doubt there will be a 25th edition released in 2009 and probably a 30th in 2014 as well. Since Amazon is a bit slow on their product updates you may need to search Amazon (or even Australian merchant websites) for these books in the years ahead.

Originally published in Australia in 1984 this book has more than stood the test of time bringing joy to children throughout time. A basic but good storyline combined with great illustrations means this is going to be a constant request by children to be read to them again and again and again. This book is an excellent book to teach children about the different types of creatures in Australia. Although the book doesn't give information on them the drawings are so well done you can expand from the storyline to point out the platypus' duck like bill, echidna's spines and other fairly unique adaptations particular Australian animals have.

Just in case you're wondering the basic plot of wombat stew is a dingo catches a wombat and boasts to everyone (all types of Australian animals) that he is going to shortly be enjoying gooey, brewy, yummy, chewy, wombat stew. These other animals are friends with the wombat and have a cunning plan to save their friend by giving suggestions of other ingredients to add to the stew. For those parents who now how to play or whose kids are learning a musical instrument the final page has the music score to the Dingo's song so the notes can be followed and played by instruments of some kids and sung along by others.

The constant lack of availability and selling out of Wombat Stew is a good lesson to keep good children's books even when your kids have moved on to older reading level books. In the future if you have more kids, friends have kids, you have grandkids etc they will all be very grateful when you come to visit with this classic. For those who don't yet have a copy rest assured though, there will always be anniversary editions of great Australian classics such as this.

Other great Australian wildlife fiction classics for kids by other authors you should check out are Possum Magic, Olga the Brolga and Edward the Emu.

My 9 year old and I love Wombat Stew! I am "reading mom" to several classes at my son's elementary school and without exception, the classes with whom I have shared this book also adore it. It's simple enough for the younger set, but so much fun that the older kids aren't embarrassed to get caught up in the rollicking, rhyming enchantment. The illustrations are simply fabulous and the cast of delightful, eccentric Aussie animals can't be beat. Even though we live in Florida, my son has been fascinated with all things Australian since he was a toddler-at 4 he loved announcing to everyone who would listen that echidnas and platypuses were monotremes and then giggled with delight when the response was "mono whats?". We have been fortunate enough to also find a very rare copy of the Wombat Stew Cookbook, which should definately be added to your library should you ever come across it. We haven't actually made any of the recipes yet, but if you don't have any trouble with converting ingredients from metric they sound like fun! Our sincere thanks to authors like Marcia Vaughan and Mem Fox as well as illustrators like Pamela Lofts for the lovely journeys of imagination they have provided for those of us who can't make the trip to Australia in person.

This wonderful classic has just been re-released in Australia for a short time - special limited edition 21st Anniversary by Scholastic (August, 2005).

I love this silly book! It's Eewie Gooey Yummie Chewy! I just wish I could have a copy of my own....:(

You don't have to put on a goofy Australian accent to read this story in which a platypus and his animal friends outwit Dingo and save a hapless wombat from the bubbling billycan... but your kids will laugh even harder if you do!

We read this first when my son was 18 months old; ten years later, it still finds its way out of the bookshelf once in a while. How can such a classic be out of print?

I love these books. I have Italy, Spain, Great Britain, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand and France. The information is good and the pictures are great. I don't actually take these books travelling with me. I look at them before I go and plan what I want to do by the books. I highly recommend these books for anyone who wants a travelling guide or for people who just want to read up on a country. The books have a wide range of information.

My daughter found this book to be engrossing, and loves it. All the color pictures really enhance the book, and make the reading a pleasure. As she stated to me - all the Eyewitness books are so good, it's hard to put them down, and they are educational too!

My family loves these (Eye Witness brand) travel guides! They are VERY informative, very easy to follow, and include lots of good pictures. We've given them as gifts, and the recipients have always given us positive feedback. All of this, plus they are reasonably priced.

I had purchased a similar book for my son about France to help him with his French language courses in high school. I ended up spending more time with it than he did, and when I saw the other country titles, I decided to purchase a few more. The Austria book is excellent in that it condenses a lot of information into a very portable volume. The photos and illustrations are fabulous and the background historical and cultural information is superb. The listing of accomodations and restaurants also appears to be very well researched and provides a starting point for further Internet research. My favorite part of Austria is the Salzburg Region, and this book provides a genuine sense of what it is really like. I can definitely benefit from this book on future travel to Austria. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to know more about the country, as well as for experienced travellers. Well done to the authors, editors, and publisher!

I love this brand of travel books. The images really help you to identify attractions, as well as the birds eye view maps. I also enjoy the "must see attractions" call outs within each section. This book helped make our trip through Austria more well informed and helped us plan our major stops. We also got one for Budapest which was equally great.

Beautifully written. Almost as much fun to read as my favorite vampire and werewolf novels.

Great reading. A wonderful man. I would love to know him but enjoyed spending the time with the book.

Here is advice from an expert: "If you ever see a fresh kangaroo carcass lying beside the road it is well worth stopping to take a closer look." The expert is Tim Flannery, a professor, explorer, and paleontologist, and he dispenses his advice, and much other eccentric and informative matter, in _Chasing Kangaroos: A Continent, a Scientist, and a Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Creature_ (Grove Press). Flannery has written plenty of books of anecdotes of travel and exploration, and also academic works about the strange mammals of his region. His current book is a combination memoir, travelogue, and appreciation of the fauna (including the humans) of the land down under, and it is delightful in all departments.

Flannery takes his own advice more than once, like the time he was driving in the Northern Territory and a wallaby dashed in front of him before he could swerve. It was a "nailtail" because its whip-like tail has a sort of fingernail at the end, and no one knows why it has such a thing because no one has ever seen it put to use. Flannery took the deceased nailtail back to his camp to anatomize its leg and feet; it is not surprising that these regions give the most clues about kangaroos' evolutionary descent. He also took steaks from the haunches, and reports that the resultant stew produced a meat that tasted like steak and mushrooms and was far superior to the meat of the red kangaroo (that's the kangaroo we non-Australians think of as "the" kangaroo, although there are plenty of others in different sizes, shapes, and colors). Unfortunately, the carcass was also tasty enough for some birds of prey to steal from him overnight, so his museum never got the specimen. Flannery does not deal in just recent kills, but some that have been extinct for millions of years, like _Propleopus oscillans_, the killer kangaroo. Don't worry; the huge carnivorous beast is long extinct, but it has been the subject of some of Flannery's own research, and he goes into some detail about how he did research and came to understand its environmental role, its teeth giving clues about it's carnivorous nature. Flannery describes his scientific jubilation: "Then there were a delicious couple of days when, as I worked on my theory without telling anyone else, I was the only person on Earth who knew that great, carnivorous kangaroos once stalked Australia." Subsequent finds of skulls confirm the theory, but beyond that there is a mystery, for a single arm bone is the only other fossil remnant of the creature ever found.

Another extraordinary thing about these creatures is that although they evolved in isolated islands with no hope of swimming to other lands, humans have arranged for them to populate new worlds, and kangaroos have flourished in unusual places. It is perhaps not too surprising to learn that brush-tailed rock-wallabies have done well on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. They are descendants of two who escaped from a menagerie in 1916. It is surprising, however, that there is a colony of grey kangaroos living happily in the forests west of Paris, France. Thirty years ago, a bungled theft of animals resulted in freedom for the greys who have prospered, much to the delight of the locals. And another extraordinary thing is that the male kangaroo has a scrotum hanging in front of his penis. And another extraordinary thing is that the female has two vaginas, and gives birth through neither of them (a special canal forms around birth time). And another extraordinary thing... Well, Flannery's book is full of them, and his enthusiasm in presenting them to the reader is a delight throughout.

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"Australia was once dominated by people who loved the mother country--a land of lush greens and as alien to my [present-day] country as any could be. Today, Australians are more likely to proclaim a love of things native, yet because they often lack a true understanding of their environment, theirs is a love that can kill. Such well-meaning but uncomprehending enthusiasm is one reason why many Aboriginal communities continue to struggle under insupportable burdens, why native species [like species of kangaroos] keep vanishing, and why our future is being cut short by an insatiable addiction to fossil fuels. It is why I wrote this book. We have now embarked on a new phase of our national existence, and just where it will lead I do not know. But I have a sinking feeling that unless every Australian searches profoundly for ways to help our land survive, things are likely to end badly for ourselves and this great island continent."

The above is the last paragraph of this fascinating book by Australian paleontologist (and concerned environmentalist) Tim Flannery, who received his PhD from the Department of Earth Sciences, University of New South Whales.

Generally, this book is a blend of three things:

(1) His early years as a paleontologist and his continuing exciting work as a "fossil hunter"
(2) A natural history of the unique Australian landscape
(3) A study of the evolution of the equally unique kangaroo. This early evolution of kangaroos was virtually unknown until Flannery came along. (The search for this evolutionary past is what drives this book's main narrative.)

Many people might think that these are three reasons not to read it. Well, not for me! What this book did was made me understand why Flannery was named 2007 "Australian of the Year" and why he a scientist, explorer, and conservationist of "international acclaim" and "interdisciplinary brilliance."

What I found apparent as I read this book is that Flannery knows his science and presents it well when doing actual fieldwork (some of it hazardous) and research to trace the evolution of kangaroos. But there is much more to this book than just scientific precision.

Flannery embellishes his main narrative with humor and gives us his impressions. He fills each chapter with actual Australian characters he meets along the way. However, for me, it was his enthusiasm for his subject that made this book such a joy to read. The result is that this book is like a "love letter" to Flannery's native Australia and its most strikingly remarkable inhabitant: the kangaroo.

My favorite chapters have the following titles:

(1) Captain Cook's kangaroo
(2) Kangaroo essence
(3) The mystery of hopping
(4) The oldest kangaroo
(5) Where the great roos came from
(6) The age of kangaroos
(7) Grass for the kangaroos
(8) A dingo-driven revolution

Throughout are black and white illustrations (drawings, maps, pictures, etc.) that highlight aspects of the main narrative. As well, there are a dozen color pictures near the middle of the book. (By the way, the book's cover {displayed above by Amazon} shows a picture of a red kangaroo--the symbol of Australia.)

Finally, just before the introduction to the book is a black and white map of Australia. On it, Flannery has placed the locations of key places that he visits and explores in his main narrative. I recommend photocopying this map and using it to follow his travels.

In conclusion, this is a captivating book that's a blend of memoir, travel, natural history, and evolutionary science. After I finished reading it, I realized that Dr. Tim Flannery should have a nickname similar to his fictional Australian counterpart "Crocodile Dundee." How about:

"Kangaroo Flannery."

(first published 2007; map; introduction; 26 chapters; postscript; main narrative 250 pages; kangaroo family tree; acknowledgements; bibliography; index)

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Tim Flannery's "Chasing Kangaroos" is a terrific, informative read regarding what surely is one of the oddest animals in all of nature. To say the author is obsessed with his subject may not quite be true but his love for kangaroos in unabashed. Flannery's book teems with knowledge as one would guess, as he is one of the leading experts on these fascinating creatures.

Anyone who has ever seen a kangaroo "hop"...and I do mean they HOP....will marvel at their overall structure and Flannery, rightly so, gives a detailed account about how they get around, beginning with the physical diversity of the feet of the many different kangaroos. Not all of the dispensed information is cute and cuddly....a description of their digestive systems is downright unappealing...but Flannery covers it all in a narrative style that is mostly well-paced.

His opening recounting of a trip around Australia when he was in his teens can be a bit of a drudge and by that measure it takes a while to get into things. However, I highly recommend "Chasing Kangaroos"...it's simply a fun and educational book.

Wow! This book by Jean-Michel Cousteau & Mose Richards is amazing! The 120 full color photographs in here are some of the best i have ever seen. Truly breathtaking pictures of this awesome predator. This book chronicles the Cousteau team's extensive two-and-a-half years study of the great white shark at Dangerous Reef, Australia. After attracting the sharks, the research team would observe the sharks behavior underwater in specially built stainless steel cages and one made of Luxon(a clear, bulletproof plastic). They would then tag them and attach transmitters to follow their movements and patterns. A new understanding emerges of the great white and it's lonely, lifelong hunt for food.

Cousteau has truly captured my mind and allowed it to wander through the amazing pages of his book, COUSTEAU'S GREAT WHITE SHARK. I started adoring sharks at age 3, and have always dreamed of becoming a marine biologist. Cousteau has wonderfully made it possible for me to go after my dream without any worries. His book is truly inspirational and gracious. Thank you Jean-Michel!

This book is fascinating. What most do not know is that Mose Richards wrote this entire book, while Cousteau supplied the inspiration and pictures. This book has excellent writing and fabulous photography. An excellent read. Props to the author, Mose Richards!

For surviving for 400 million years. For refusing to submit yourself to mankind's aquariums and corporate SeaWorlds. For never allowing your secrets of mating or birth to become known to the prying eyes of man. For not even leaving a skeleton for science to attempt to examine. For being the Master of the Seas, without even using mechanical aids to assist you, like we, the Humans, the Wimps, the Know-Nothings, the Arrogant Pestilence of the World must resort to to even attempt to conquer you. Keep fighting, Terrible, Beautiful Lordly Ones. We offer you humble, unworthy obeisance in the form of this book, under the aegis of your most dutiful admirer, Jacques Cousteau, Poseidon rest his soul. Never has your grace nor your fearful symmetry appeared to such great advantage. Keep cruising. May your fins glide through the oceans long after the peasants have ceased to crawl upon the earth--or dared to trawl upon the waters!

A very informative book about the great white. The photos are amazing. This Shark is one of the most interesting animals alive. A real predator.

Author of the wonderful Power of One, Four Fires is about a family in a small town who consider themselves (as does the town) the bottom of their social world and yet as the novel develops turn out actually to be the best in every sense: adventurous, courageous, indomitable, imaginative and most of all -- unfettered and unbound by narrow social convention.

I'm writing this in the midst of California wild fire season (and, seriously, I only have to walk outside to smell the smoke) to recommend the most AMAZING novel I've read in months.

I can't say enough about how wonderful this book is. It's the story of a family in Australia who are at the very bottom of the social ladder (they are garbage collectors, and the dad is usually in jail) struggling to find a place in the world. The narrator is the youngest son (Mole Maloney), who, like his father and grandfather, becomes one of the most gifted bush firefighters in his region. He accompanies a slew of wonderful family members and close friends as he tells the story of his familly's adventures through the years between WWII and the Viet Nam war.

Each member of the Maloney family is a fabulous, admirable character. By the end of the book you just want to erect a monument to all of them. It's wonderfully moving, and quintessentially Australian. I can't rave about it enough. I cried multiple times when reading this book. It's just fantastic.

Bryce Courtenay's other novels are equally great, if you haven't read them.

This has become one of my favourite books. It is more than just the story of a poor family. It shows us the prejudices that live inside even the most honourable of people. It shows that strength of character and doing what is right can be the biggest challenge of all. These characters face incredible obstacles and get help from where they least expect it and turned away by people who should help them. It allows you a glimpse of the complex inner workings of a society as experienced by the characters. Ranks right up there with Bryce Courtneay's "Power of One". Excellent read! I couldn't put it down and I was sad when it was over.

Bryce Courtenay is such a great writer! I love the Australian history and the power of love Bryce often writes about. I wish he could write faster!

This book is a narration by Mole, an Irish Catholic kid whose mother is of such loose moral character that she has had 4 different children from 4 different men. BUT she does go to Church on Sunday which I guess is Mr. Courtenay's way of telling the reader that she is not a slut after all. Mole's father (or his stepfather I think) is what Australians refer to as a "Bludger Piss Artist' which means he doesn't work and spends most of his time in Prison or drinking.However every time there is a bush fire Tommy becomes the local Fire Fighting Hero and then EVERYBODY wants to buy him a drink at the Pub so he does have his 15 minutes of fame. Mole's sister has inherited her Mother's loose moral character and wants to go to University when she is pregnant. Maybe she wanted to study hard and discover JUST WHO the father of her unborn child was. This is a very disappointing effort from a writer who has produced better works than this which is why I give this book 5 stars.

Travelling with Michael is to say the least exhilarating, fun, adventurous and a journey of discovery. While many can only dream of actually making the trip, Michael Palins' books are the next best thing. It's not just where he goes, but how he does it and perhaps most importantly: seeing it through his mind's eye, which needless to say can make humor out of nothingness. All you need is to relax and have the urge to increase your imagination. A wild but educative ride!

Michael Palin does it again with Full Circle. Starting in Alaska Michael travels anti-clockwise around the rim of the Pacific Ocean visiting countries as diverse as Russia, Korea, Viet Nam, New Zealand, Colombia and the west coast of North American. He tells of his adventures getting to and exploring some fantastic natural wonders, visiting a Russian gulag with a former inmate, the relief of Japan, the Vietnamese reactions to a westerner, the biggness of Australia and the hardworking people of South America. The section on the United States is short and not always sweet. Palin is taken aback by the physical bigness of Americans, and rush, and loudness. By the time he reaches Canada and attends a "lumberjack" fair (no singing Mounties included!) he really "wants to go home". We also learn a bit about how the series and book were produced, his wife Helen and their children, and that being on a job for the BBC doesn't always mean smooth sailing! Michael's friend Basil Pao took the photographs - he also joined Michael on "Around the World in Eighty Days". I can highly recommend this book and not only to fans of Monty Python - it doesn't end how you might expect!

As always Palin has produced a great travel book and series... this I found better than his "80 Days". The other thing people might find interesting about this travel book is that it takes us to some places which are hard to reach even in this day and age, so this is the only way we can know them.

Also suggested- "Hemingway Adventure"

Full Circle is just as good, if not better then his othertravel/comedy books. It is simply magnificent.

I've seen the 10-part Full Circle tv series, and I had a serious addiction from the start. When it ended, I went through a withdrawl period. I silently rocked myself in a chair in my room repeating "I must get the book,... must find book...must read book." I've got it now and I'm back on a Full Circle high. The book goes into details that they never had time for on the series. It tells you everything that you would have noticed had you been in Japan or Australia or Chile.

Ahh... I can imagine myself right now on the streets of China getting a massage from a blind man.

Which book was Dr. Heller & wife promoting on Oprah's show? (so I'll know which one to order) I didn't see entire show , but what I did see was informative & INTERESTING.

I picked up this book while browsing in a bookstore and it changed my life. I started at 153 pounds and my goal weight was 118. I weighed 116 this morning. And I have more energy, am more mentally alert and upbeat than I ever have been. The book is very motivational. The rules and guidelines for the diet are spread throughout the book so you must read all before starting. Only criticisms are that it's wordy and most of the recipes are bland, but I believe it's the best of all the books the Heller's have written.

I picked up this book while browsing in a bookstore and it changed my life. I started at 153 pounds and my goal weight was 118. I weighed 116 this morning. And I have more energy, am more mentally alert and upbeat than I ever have been. The book is very motivational. The rules and guidelines for the diet are spread throughout the book so you must read all before starting. Only criticisms are that it's wordy and most of the recipes are bland, but I believe it's the best of all the books the Hellers have written.

When I began driving a truck I gained 30 pounds in the 1st month. Fortunately I found this book and re-learned how to eat. Doing this diet right is not the easiest thing, breaking food addiction is seldom easy, but if you read this book it will be easier to make happen. I've lost those 30 pounds and more, landing at an ideal wieght that I've never imagined being at again. Good luck, use this book - it's a great resource. Follow where it leads.

This is an excellent, simply written, but well researched, book on the dangers of bad carbs. I found it extremely enlightening and wondered if it was more than coincidental that Dr. Barry Sears, writes in an amazingly similar vein, in his book "Enter The Zone". It seems that more and more scientists, and doctors, are discovering that we suffer from an overabundance of bad carbs in our eating, and it's also imbalanced versus protein and fat intake.I would heartily recommend this book, and for more scientific corroborative data read "Enter the Zone". Combine this with the sensible exercise program outlined in "Body for Life" by Bill Phillips of EAS Inc., and you will do yourself a very large favour.

A wonderfully crafted autobiography. Honest and personal, Geldof puts the first half of his life under the microscope and you grow to love him for his warts and scars.
A riveting book especially for those who recall the music of his era. You will laugh and you may cry even if it is only because the book ends years short of the present day.

This book is one of those books that will renew your faith in the ability of normal people to change the world for the better. It is also hilarious and a great read!

I don't usually read biographies books but this one is a very good one

It's severly dated by today's standards, but what an excellent read, all the same. I look at it as the music industry version of Julia Phillips "You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again". Biting with sardonic wit, lots of muck-raking (most of it spot-on), and just a wee bit 'o' honesty.

How much of it is true, we'll never know. But the essential bits (the inception of the Boomtown Rats, their immersion into the music scene, other bands, Live Aid, etc.) are required reading for anybody who gives a damn about the music industry. There's loads of comedy as well as pathos, as well as some of the greatest quotes I've ever read in an autobiography.

If you can still find a copy, it's well worth owning.

Bob Geldof's book is a stunning odyssey into the mind of a rock star. he also happens to be a philanthropist who can teach a thing or two to the best of them. the man behind `live aid' not only collected hundreds of millions out of a telethon for africa's famine victims, but made sure they reached the right hands. his forthright language and no-holds-barred style are refreshing. if you must read an autobiography of a rock star, read this one.

Eric Newby, who died in 2006 at the age of 86, was an adventurer and gifted travel writer who chronicled his experiences in several books that reflect his curiosity and research about the world as well as his shrewd and often very hilarious observations of humans making their way in it. Originally published in 1956, THE LAST GRAIN RACE could be called memoir, but Newby recreates his apprenticeship aboard one of the last mercantile sailboats on the eve of World War II via his diaries, claptrap memory and research, creating an airtight world with immediacy. There is no sense of retrospect, distance of time or hindsight in the narrative.

Newby was 18 when he went to sea in 1938 on a barque owned by a Scandinavian shipping firm. Before World War II, it was still economical to deploy a commercial fleet of these behemoths around the world to scoop up grain crops from Australia for the European market. When his job at an advertising agency (hilarious) was threatened by lay-offs, he indulged the youthful romance of life at sea stoked by a girlfriend's naval father and signed up with the Erikson firm's ship, Moshulu. He kitted up grandly, found a Louis Vuitton steamer trunk. Immediately aboard ship, he learned that a lot of the work centered about scaling those tall masts, cleaning the "restrooms" and repelling off the side to scrape rust. He was the only Englishman among Scandinavians and Germans who were decidedly not of the Louis Vuitton school. Newby's character sketches are priceless and he captures the hybrid vernacular so well that by the end of the book, the reader knows as much as he learned. The book is loaded with technical information about the boat and its mission, but also with accounts of dramatic storms, bedbug plagues or occasional leisurely pursuits like capturing an albatross just to measure its wingspan. I purchased a used original UK Reader's Union edition (think Book of the Month Club) that usefully had a detailed illustration inside the back cover and a world map inside the front, with the journey dated and marked off.

Infrequently, news of the outside world drifted to the ship via a radio signal from a distant land. It is not good news, but at sea they can mostly ignore it. Like the Pequod in MOBY DICK, the Moshulu was its own complete world. That's the beauty of this book: it captures a fully evolved culture that would suddenly disappear a year later. When Moshulu unexpectedly returned first among the fleet, Newby packed it in. He had lived a lifetime and grown up in under a year. The next time the boat went out, it returned to the waiting Germans. Afterwards, it turned up in a future where commercial sailing ships were no longer competitive. Sic transit gloria mundi.

If you want some relaxing summer reading and if you like the sea by all means get this book. Eric Newby was an 18 year old kid who, with family approval, signed on as an appentice before the mast on the Finnish owned barque Moshulu in the fall of 1938 for a nine month sail from Queensown to Port Victoria in Southern Australia and return. The Moshulu was a steel sailing vessel, built in Sweden in 1905, 3,600 gross tons, 360 feet at the waterline, three masted ship-rigged with her main mast topping out at 198 feet at the cap. She could carry 4,800 tons of wheat - and did, setting the record of 92 days for her return voyage eastward round Cape Horn. (Her outbound voyge had beeen around the Cape of Good Hope)

Newby went on to become a rather prosperous clothier in London but was better known for his travel writing till his death last year (2006) at the age of 86. I had read his "Travels in the Hindu Kush" years ago and put him down as a kind of smart alek and I had also read the paperback of this book published by Penguin in 1971 but had not appreciated it till I got it down from my shelf of sea stories last week and read it again. He's a dmaned fine writer here and I take back what I said about him being a smart alek. His description of life at sea and the sea iself is as good as anything I've ever read; and you will enjoy it. For those who like sailing ships there's a lot of technical detail about rigging, watch-standing etc. and you can skip this and read about a storm at sea if you want but if you wade through the technical stuff you will be amazed at what you learn. I strongly recommend the whole thing to you.

In 1938 Eric Newby was eighteen years old. He left a dead end job with an advertising agency in London and signed as an apprentice seaman on the four-masted sailing ship Moshulu for a trip to bring back a shipload of grain from Australia. Moshulu was one of a dozen sailing ships still engaged in the grain trade and the 1938 trip was destined to be the last of the merchant sailing era.

Newby is undeservedly less well known than other writers who have imitated him. His books, "A Small Place in Italy, "On the Shores of the Mediterranean" and "The Big Red Train Ride" have been imitated by other authors. His writing style is spare and matter-of-fact; he doesn't try to impress the reader with overblown prose instead letting the facts speak for themselves without florid editorial comment.

There's a funny account a trick played by the Belfast stevedores on the sailors of Moshulu. Among the tons of rocks loaded into the hold were two dead dogs. The decomposing dog carcasses fill the ship's hold with an overpowering odor that plagues the men as they dump out the ballast and load the grain months later off the shore of Adelaide.

The Last Grain Race goes into great detail describing the operation of a sailing ship, complete with obscure jargon names for the sails and rigging. Newby seems to have been working too hard on the trip to completely enjoy and appreciate it. The books gives a glimpse at a lost world of merchant sailing ships and the quiet life of sailors at sea, now exchanged for sparsely manned giant container ships crossing vast oceans in a matter of days.

Moshulu returns to Queenstown, Ireland on June 10, 1939 after a pace-setting 91-day passage by war of Cape Horn. It had taken 8 months for a round-trip in which Moshulu brought 4,875 tons of grain from Australia to Ireland. Newby leaves the ship a full-fledged Ordinary Seaman. World War II will start in a few months and obliterate the peaceful world of merchant sailing ships.

I was ready to drive from Seattle to San Francisco when I stopped at the library for some road music and a book on tape. This particular day, I found a jewel by one of the greats, Eric Newby's "The Last Grain Race". Eric Newby has done so much, and has been so many places that it boggles the mind. This book chronicles the beginning of his life as a true adventurer, when on the eve of WWII, he shipped out as a complete novice seaman on one of the largest sailing vessels ever built, bound for Australia and back.
Though I've been reading his books for 20 years, for some reason I'd never run across "The Last Grain Race", and for well over 1000 miles I listened to the reading of this book, and when I got to Portland on my return leg, my first stop was at Powell Books to grab a hard copy of the book.
This is one of the finest books I've ever read. I was going to say "seafaring books", but that is too restrictive.
Eric Newby's commentary and sense of humor are first-rate, like always. While listening, and while reading, I was transported by this book. The conditions seem indescribable, but Newby succeeds in describing them, and paints cold, wet portraits of the days and nights in the rigging and the foc'sle of the barque "Moshulu". I subsequently found a book of the photographs of this voyage, Newby's "Learning The Ropes", which gives us faces to the cast of "Great Grain Race".
Old friends of my youth came to visit while I was engrossed in this book, Sterling Hayden's "Voyage", the film "Windjammer", and the loss of the sailing ship "Pamir" in the late 1950's. The "Moshulu" survives today, as a restaurant ship in Philadelphia, but she was interned on Lake Union in my hometown of Seattle during WWI, and her consort, the "Monongahela" was the last tall ship to pass under the George Washington (Aurora) Bridge before it was closed to tall-masted ships.
An interesting sidelight: While recently rewatching "Godfather II", I noticed that in the scene where young Vito Andolini (Corleone) arrives in New York, the ship he's on is the "Moshulu".
Eric Newby is one of a kind. Now that he is gone we'll never see his like again.

Unfortunately the unappealingly named "The Last Great Grain Race" might be left on the bookshelf if it were not for its companion volume of photographs more appropriately titled "Learning The Ropes; An Apprentice on the Last of the Windjammers," both by Eric Newby. Oddly these volumes were issued over forty years apart, Grain Race in 1956 and Ropes in 1999. (A recent volume of Grain Race was reissued in 1999, possibly to take advantage of the pictorial release.)

After a brief stint as an office clerk, Newby at eighteen signed on as an apprentice seaman for an around the world cargo voyage, with no nautical experience or skills other than a careful eye and superb memory for detail. "The Last Great Grain Race" is the story of one of the last four-masted barques, which in 1938 sailed from Ireland to Australia to pick up a cargo of grain and return to Ireland, a voyage which would take nine months. Ultimately it was to become the last voyage in such a vessel, as the impending war would change the world forever. We are fortunate that Newby was along to document the voyage. We are equally appreciative of his thoughtfulness in bringing his camera, as "Learning the Ropes" is the superb photo essay of this journey.

Newby apparently was a very skilled photographer. Oddly, he only briefly mentions his possession of a camera in "The Last Great Grain Race." He never lets on that his is so actively chronicling events and shipmates throughout the voyage. Though Newby does an excellent job describing what is like to climb aloft in all kinds of weather, the black and white photographs take the reader aloft as well and provide the narrative even with more impact and grace.

The crew is as varied and colorful as one might expect the conditions are harsh and oftentimes dangerous; the work is unrelenting, demanding and dangerous in its own right. Newby works alongside seasoned veterans and never shirks.

Grain Race however does have its limitations. There is a tremendous amount of technical detail that can often leave the reader literally at sea. For example "There were still the sheets of the topmast staysails to be shifted over the stays and sheeted home, the main and mizzen courses to be reset, and the yards trimmed to the Mate's satisfaction with the brace whips." Newby does provide a graphic of the sail plan and running rigging (79 reference points), but these are only of marginal assistance.

Another shortcoming is the language barrier Newby faces. This is a Finnish crew and commands are rarely given in English. Newby and the reader often have to work out the language; if the reader misses the first context or explanation then subsequent uses of the terminology will be lost, a glossary might have helped here. Newby does faithfully record dialects especially when he is being spoken to in occasionally recognizable English and these dialogues are often amusingly recounted.

Eric Newby should seriously consider issuing both in a single volume and one has to wonder why this wasn't done when Grain Race was first issued or at least when "Learning the Ropes" was released a couple of years ago. It is interesting to speculate on the length of time between the original release of Grain Race and the very vivid and informative photographs. Regardless it was worth the wait.

Grain Race the narrative and Grain Race the photographs make for an enjoyable double read.