Oceania Books

This is an excellent facsimile edition of the original publishing in the 19th century. Be forewarned, though, that the publishers have made an error (which may exiat in the original edition from which this facsimile is taken, I don't know). Page 372 of this edition is numbered in sequence, but is a repeat of an earlier page. Thus, when you are reading of Sir Joseph's adventures in Batavia in November 1770, you are reprised with a page dated May 1770. Infurtiatingly, you then miss the appropriate page and miss, sadly, the death of Tupia.

With that caveat, This is an excellent resource, in some ways better than Captain Cook's Journals (though I feel blasphemous in saying that), and as fien a recreational read as you will find in many a year. It also surprises me how much science they actually knew in the late 18th century.

When researching or writing, one important step for a scholar is to write a chronology for reference, and one would have thought that this volume would be a time saver. Well, it is a chronology taken from key source material, but the question remains whether it has anything but the most common information from the standard biographies. I would imagine that the scholar who might benefit most from this title is already familiar with the biographies by Alpers, Tomalin, and recent work by Woods, Ferral, O'Sullivan, Scott, and Smith. While the information here might be accurately collected from other sources, there is the question of whether there's anything new that is really offered. Maybe the bullet point biography has its place, but for this work to be really complete, it would have been more useful to have the entries cited. It is defenseless not to have done so.

One section that also screams to be done more completely is the "Who's Who in the Mansfield Chronology," an attempt at a KM Encyclopedia. All the major players--easily found in previously published sources or online-- are listed, but the first name I went to look for, Jeanne Beauchamp (Renshaw), was not included.

This is a great concept, and one would hope that scholarly libraries will make this available for researchers. However, it may be of limited use for many of the questions that have yet to be answered about this author's work and life.

The contributors to this collection of essays about the 6 year Kennett Governmeent in the Australian State of Victoria, reveal a government hell bent on following the policies of Regan and Thatcher to their logical conclusion.

Jeff Kennett and his ministers have set a course for Victoria where no one is a person anymore but is only a client or customer. Not only has language been coopted to change public perceptions but some of the most potent examples of fascist propaganda are now commonplace in Victoria. As the economy prospers , schools ,transport, public servcies and hospitals wither and die.

The book is well written and a valuable resource for students of the cancer of economic rationalism.

I bought this book in the summer of 2003, just before I moved to Korea to teach English. I happened to stumble on it during the authors' book signing, so I have a signed copy. (yeah, I know -- oooooooh.)

As a Hawaii resident, it made a great coffee table book -- it recounts the history of Hawaii's Korean community and discusses in some detail how Koreans in Hawaii helped shape the development of South Korea.

It also highlights the demographic divisions within the Korean community, based on generation, time-in-country, and home province.

Overall, it's an interesting book. 4 stars.

I found this book to be of great interest although it was a bit more scholarly than I expected. Given how little is known about that part of the world and the Oceanic peoples I found it to be full of interesting information.

Well, if this is what passes for postcolonial criticism "down under" then it's a good thing at least we'll always have New Zealand.

Not only does Dr Boer seem incapable of mastering even the most basic dialectic schema, but he insists upon subjecting us to his photography.

Is he even a real MarXXXist. Was he ever?

In spite of - or, perhaps, becasue of his countless scholastic slips and revisionist inklings - Roland Boer remains the only man capable of dragging biblical studies out of the 19th century and into the retro-futuristic age of joyless humanism we all thought died with Della Volpe. More please!

Vastly superior to it's competitor, this book still has a few inaccuracies but nothing compared to the mistake ridden Lonely Planet Australia. This new edition by Let's Go isn't too different to its predecessors but it is slightly smaller in size. Every centimetre and gram of weight does count when you're lugging the thing around the vast continent of Australia. Let's go has also introduced some new small features down it's left hand columns on some pages. They are In Recent News which reports on regional issues that may affect you tells you about recent local council works or stuff like what is happening with Tim the Yetti Man. Irrelevant, yes and weight adding but somewhat interesting if you're bored somewhere. The Local Story, From the road, The Big Splurge are a few of the others which are equally irrelevant to most backpackers and seem to have been created just to give the book a new look so you'll buy the current instead of an older version. The big grey rectangle with interesting tid bits still exists. Find out why Hungry Jacks is called Burger King down here for example.

A fair number of hostel listings are in here but not all of them. There are lots of free publications in a lot of hostels with most hostels listed so if buying the book for this reason alone maybe save your money. There is still a lot of weight unnecessarily taken up with stuff such as hotels and restaurants which backpackers obviously never use. Let's Go should produce two versions one for travellers interested in that kind of stuff and one for backpackers. This book would then be half the size and weight.

This book is good for general information on Australia especially if you've never been here before or don't know much. You don't really need one of these types of books to travel Australia or anywhere else but if you must get one definitely get this over Lonely Planet.

I bought just about every guide I could find before my recent trip to Sydney. This is the one I ended up carrying with me at all times. It has the maps you need, and enough basic info on the locations and attractions that you'll always have some idea what to see and do next. While not a substitute for a detailed guidebook that'll tell you more background, this combination map and mini-guide is extremely useful.

I am planning a trip to New Zealand and have been absorbing as much information as possible before I go. I have seen several guide books and this is the first and only one I have seen that is set up for a budget traveler. Most of the guides list their $ (supposedly budget) meals at less than $30, this book has it's cheapest listed as under $7 and the expensive stuff listed over $25. Not everyone who travels makes $100,000+ a year :)
It also has heaps of extra information about traveling to NZ and travel in general. Information on passports, visas, safety, health, history, etc. All of the authors are people who have traveled to New Zealand, rather than living there, so you get an angle from the traveler's perspective more than from the usual travel writer's perspective.
It has the same kind of break down that most books have by city, attractions, restaurants and housing. It also has suggestions on other ways to experience the country such as farmstays, volunteer work,
education, and different travel styles.
A very good travel book, and easy to read rather than tedious. I don't feel like I am being sold anything while reading, it's more like having a friend tell me about their experiences and giving me travel advice, which is just what I need!

All you ever wanted to know about this fascinating place and a little bit more can be found in this book. Good reading, great pictures, and fun to share with friends. Makes a great gift for those who enjoy learning and sharing!