New Zealand Books

This is one of the best guides I have ever found to any country!

It is first and foremost an excellent guide to birdwatching localities all around New Zealand. Rather than just describing the essential sites for twitchers rushing around the country to tick off all endemics as quickly as possible, this book tells you what birds are to be seen in just about any corner of this spectacularly beautiful land. It even mentions what other wildlife, if any, is to be seen besides birds at the same spots.

It also has a useful photographic guide to the birds of New Zealand, giving both essential identification info and multiple site recommendations for each species both on North and South Island where relevant. While this part of the book is no substitute for a comprehensive and light field guide to birds, it does cover most species of interest, including most endemics.

Anyone interested in the fauna of New Zealand should buy a copy - while it seems hard to get here, the book is still readily available on Amazon's UK site, or in New Zealand itself.

This is a terrific book. Read in conjunction with John Birmingham's 'Leviathan: an unauthorised biography of Sydney', you will get more than a working knowledge of how and why Sydney is like it is.

Flannery has written an introductory essay 'The andstone City', which gives a good overview. The bulk of the book is an anthology of voices from the earliest days to late 19th century -from Captain James Cook to Mark Twain, Aboriginal women, and British governors.

2000 saw a plethora of books on Sydney, as it hosted the Olympic Games. This is one of the best.

I have always been an avid reader of maritime and naval history but must confess I was totally ignorant of HMAS Sydney and the mystery surrounding her dissapearance. I only became aware of the story of Sydney and her crew when I stumbled on the internet site, "finding Sydney" and seeing the first photographs of her wreck, which was discovered in March of 2008. Reading the history of HMAS Sydney on the web site, I was hooked.
Following a violent surface battle with the German Commerce Raider Kormoran, off the West Coast of Australiain, on November 19, 1941, the Australian Light Cruiser HMAS Sydney sank with no survivors from her crew of 645 souls, yet 317 German Survivors from Kormoran were eventually resucued.
The Author, Mr. Olson, has done a superb job of researching the loss of HMAS Sydney. As the book was written before the discovery of both sydney and Kormoran, it was more than a little interesting to see just how close many of the authors conclusions were - if not 100% acurate at least close enough - to the evidence provided by photographs of the wreck site.
Mr. Olson - working from a veritable sea of original documentation, including transcripts of interrogations with Kormoran Survivors - has carefully pieced together the most logical, and I feel the most likely, explanation of how a superior warship could have placed itself in a position to be surprised and initially overwhelmed, by what should have been an inferior opponent. And, how her entire crew could have perished virtually without a trace. In so doing Mr. Olson, on ballance, vindicates Sydney's Commanding Officer, Captain Joseph Burnett, RAN who, over the years has born the brunt of much criticism for placing his ship in such a vulnerable position.
In this age of Terrorism it is worth mentioning that asymmetrical warfare is nothing new. The perspective of asymmetrical warfare and it's consequences, while not a main theme of the book, come across very clearly. In this age of renewed piracy and terrorism this book should be mandatory reading for any prospective naval commanders who will be taking their ships into harms way.
It is the final chapter in which the author pays fitting tribute to the crew of HMAS Sydney and quite rightly points out that, "The enduring tragedy of Sydney's death is that its loss has been perceived as something shameful...Sydney's loss, however, was not shameful. Captain Joseph Burnett and the men under his command upheld the proud traditions of the ship and the Royal Australian Navy."
The Royal Australian Navy and the Australian People can rightfully take great pride in HMAS Sydney and her Crew. As an American I am thankful and grateful that over many years and many conflicts, Australians have been staunch allies and good friends to my country.

This is a wonderful book. It's the story of the Black Robin and how they were saved. There were only 5 left, and only one was a female. She was already older than breeding age. Don and his crew moved them to predator free Chatham Island. Old Blue (the female Black Robin) suddenly changed mates and started laying eggs. Don had the idea that if he took the young chicks to be fostered by another species, she might lay more eggs. It worked and now there are over 100 Black Robins. I know Don personally, but even if I didn't, he would be a hero to me. Don also saved the Kakapo, the world's largest parrot by weight, and one of the most endangered. He's a genius when it comes to birds, and very humble about it. There must be a special place in Heaven for people like Don Merton.

I'm a chinese Master student,i'm interested in truffle,so i have been doing some work on taxonomy and systemy of the Genus of Tuber in south-west of China,I'm looking forword to having chance to read this book,unfortunately,I couldn't get it ,I'm very appreciated if you can tell me how to buy this book? Thanks in advance!

i would recommend this book for anyone who is in the animal field and works closely with animals

This book captures the true meaning of NZ rugby. Jonah Lomu is Rugby's fastest growing star. This book tells us about his hard life growing up in NZ and takes us all the way to his dynamic play in the 95 Rugby World Cup.

More than "just" a travel guide, this book offers thought-provoking insights into Australian culture through essays that provide an insider's look at the territory for the visitor (or would-be visitor).

I found the section of colorful and quirky Australian dialect especially entertaining and illuminating.

I've never been to Australia but after reading this book I am more anxious to travel there. This book is a comprehensive and useful travel guide PLUS.

A well-documented scholarly translation from the original French of Jean Bodin's masterpiece of political theory. Though of immense influence in its day, divine right sovereignty has certainly gone out of fashion (thank goodness!) unless perhaps you are living in Saudi Arabia or Lesoto. Nonetheless, for college students and the curious this is as nice a translation and abridgement as one is likely to find.

Robin Hyde's _The Book of Nadath_ is a striking poetic work. Her use of imagery is often on par with that of later, Pullitzer prize-winning poet Sylvia Plath, yet her work as a whole is not nearly as tortured; one of the most captivating aspects of _Nadath_ is its concurrently beautiful and bleak awareness of place and time, often with perceptable reference to the world war (the poem was written around 1937). The sophistication and boldness of _Nadath_ sets Hyde apart from many better-known female poets of the 1930s and ensures that interest in her poetry will grow, not only among scholars, but among casual lovers of poetry as well. If you are looking to branch out and discover something new and beautiful, whether to inspire and direct your own writing, or to expose your mind to unique perspectives, _The Book of Nadath_ may be just what you need.