Oceania Books

Tom Keneally's The Commonwealth of Thieves is an excellent read, well researched and written in a smooth and economical style that gives the reader a thorough introduction to the early history of the Botany Bay settlement. My sole complaint is that it essentially ends in 1793 with the return of Captain Phillip, the colony's first governor, to Britain, the colony having after much difficulty and doubt finally become a viable settlement. Keneally's style is so engaging and the events so intriguing that it leaves you wanting more, beyond the epilogue in which he relates what became of some of the key individuals (and their descendants) who survived the difficult times of the early years.

But while Keneally's history is limited in its breadth, it compensates for that in its depth. His thorough research brings to life the conditions of Britain's legal and penal system that led to the idea of the Botany Bay project, the difficulties that the transportees faced in the ships where so many died before even setting foot in the utterly alien land they were sent to, the hardships faced in the early years where the colony was repeatedly faced with the prospect of starvation, and of particular interest, the difficulties between the British intruders and the native Eora (the aborigines).

I learned quite a few things from this book, one of which was how it was the American Revolution that indirectly led to the Botany Bay experiment. Prior to the Revolution, Britain had for decades used its American colonies as a method of reducing its prison population by transportation, and when the Revolution put an end to that outlet, it became necessary to find another. The dates tell it all: the American Revolution ended in 1783, and the first convict fleet departed for Australia in 1787.

Keneally goes into great detail showing how both the harshness of the British legal system and the severe over-crowding of the prison system created a need for transportation. Drawing on the historical records, he shows how most of the crimes involved were crimes of property, i.e. petty theft and such, for which the invariable penalty was death. That is the choice many of the prisoners faced: taking their chances in a far-off unknown land or death. It is easy to see why most (though surprisingly not all) opted for transportation.

It is also interesting to see how many of the individual transportees (and their military overseers) fared. Many, far too many, died. But many not only survived, they ultimately prospered.

Another thing Keneally did extremely well was to show the Eora point of view of this period, both in how the Eora saw these strange pale-skinned intruders and how the British and the Eora cultures were so different that misunderstanding was not only inevitable, it was insurmountable. The worst incidents between the British settlers and the Eora resulted from both sides thinking that they were being understood clearly when in fact they were not being understood at all.

All in all, this book is a very enjoyable and very educational read. I only wish that there had been more. Highly recommended.

This book provides an excellent and detailed feel for what life must have ben like for the early settlers of Australia and the environment from which they came. It is difficult to imagine how anybody survived those early days and the hardships they had to put up with.

Keneally has produced a fascinating introduction to the foundation of Australia, a fantastic mix of the high politics and the fascinating lives of the first settlers and their complex relationship with the Aboriginal peoples.

Robert Hughes,'Fatal Shore' redressed? Not quite. Hughes's well-honed invective sits uneasily besides Keneally's pragmatic prose. Keneally extolls the virtuous outcome of Australia's first governor, Arthur Phillip's benevolent authority, and his establishment, against all odds of Australia's criminal society. Whereas Hughes feels troubled by these origins, Keneally, the ongoing grief of the indigenous inhabitants apart, senses triumph. The writing does not wear its research excessively, and the setting of the settlers amidst an alien environment and culture is as balanced as any recent history I have encountered. We get thumbnail portraits of a large cast of people that bring the story closer to us and a graphic sense of the hardships endured, which few present day residents around the harbour city would easily imagine. Most of the bods on the book's positive side of the ledger have their names embedded in the city, a minor intetrest to local readers. And Glebe? the name of the vegetable patch attached to a church; never knew that either!

The author of Schindler's List brings us his 37th book, a history of the four years during which white Australia was born. Thomas Keneally competes with Robert Hughes' epic history of Australia's origin that covers a span of 80 years, chronicling the white settlers as oppressive. But Keneally's fresh, novelistic history has found its own place in Australian historiography; it scrutinizes a short time period, providing a multifaceted and profound study of the historical characters that birthed Australia.

Midwife to this birth was Great Britain, who sent a captain of her royal navy, Arthur Phillip, to oversee as governor a penal-colony experiment with 759 thieves, prostitutes, and criminal children. The poorly planned experiment could have easily become a disaster, had Phillip not been both authoritative and compassionate. Ultimately, Keneally admits bewilderment as to the true nature of Phillip, the narrative's potential hero, given his "nature so complex and hidden behind official formality."

Keneally illuminates the white settlement against the backdrop of the then virtually unknown Aborigines, whose contact with the criminal settlers kept tension high. The useful historiographical theme of dichotomy between two cultures takes shape here, with Keneally's description of the Aboriginal worldview, and his admission of its impossible incongruence with the intent of the Empire to colonize and cultivate.

Keneally tactfully narrates the clashes between the two discordant populations without romanticizing either, portraying with equal emphasis the contrasting barbarity and decency both groups exhibited. For example, Phillip's would-be-hero counterpart, Woolaware Bennelong, captured as an Aboriginal translator, assisted the white settlers after his escape, to the point that he was finally disowned by his own people.

Keneally's tactful tone has its own purpose. Where Hughes' history did not hesitate to weigh in against the colonial invaders, Keneally sustains his narrative along the middle ground, allowing Australians to realize their heritage as less melodramatic, and oppressive.

With Phillip's return to England after his term, Australians were left without a founding father-figure. Keneally's history fills in that gap, with assurances from Keneally that he can make out a positive resemblance between the first governor's pragmatism and thoroughness, and that of the country today.

Armchair Interviews says: Very well-done history.

Tim Flannery's book on the ecological history of the `Australasian lands' (Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New Caledonia, with bits and pieces on islands such as Christmas Island, Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island, etc), is both timely and refreshing. It is a good and current overview of argument and debate concerning the complex interplay of ecological and cultural forces shaping these parts of the world, from before human influence, to the times these lands were invaded at various times by homo sapien from at least 40,000-60,000 years ago (New Guinea earlier), to the present. It is very frank about the current state of these lands, in terms of environmental degradation, and what things could be done about it. It is quite controversial, and as someone who works in issues concerning biodiversity, ecology and resource sustainability, I can tell you much of the material is cutting-edge, complex, and controversial at times. In many instances Flannery is speculative and original, but often entertaining. He does back his theories and views up with substantial argument and evidence, and it is this which makes the book a cut above the ordinary.

One particular feature of the book worth emphasising is just how different these lands really are in terms of ecology, compared to most of the rest of the world. Not only is the flora and fauna, both extinct and living, somewhat unusual, but in, for example Australia, the climate, the influence of fire, the poor fertility or soils, and the part these factors have played in shaping the ecological past is rather surprising at times. Maladaptation of modern culture to these sorts of things is also particularly striking (for example seasonal agriculture in non-seasonal climate-early Australian colonisers, tropical agriculture in cold temperate climate-early polynesians in New Zealand). Of course early colonisers wanted, in the case of Australia, to create a `little Britain', so to speak, except that it is obvious after 200-odd years of settlement (and some of this has been rather odd), it isn't western Europe. Later idealists wanted another North America-Australia is similar in size to the USA, but it isn't in natural ecology.

The book is very detailed and quite complex to describe in short review. It includes chapters on early megafaunal and other extinctions from the arrival of early man in all locales, through to the present. It speculates about early human migrations to Australia, backed up for example by sediment cores from three interesting locales in Australia (Lake George particularly interesting). Discussions of diprotodon, megalania (an extinct 7m long lizard), giant moa, an extinct New Caledonian land crocodile, and 3m high kangaroos are some highlights. It is a complex story, but readers will be delighted in the unusual flora and fauna, the misguided `invasions', the arrogance, the trials, the failures and the astounding successes alike. Some particularly interesting parts for me was the demise of the New Zealand Moa-the worlds largest extinct bird, the story of virgin Lord How Island- first seen by humans of any kind in 1788, the discovery that many of Australia's marsupials descended from South America (ancient Gondwana in origin), the extraordinary array of New Zealands birds in the absence of evolving mammals, the degree of evolved co-operation amongst Australia's biota (for example self-sacrifice, and strange examples of symbiosis), and the story of Easter Island and its human contact.

There is a lot of controversial and complex stuff here, but it is well argued. Flannery speculates for example that Wallace's line played an important part in the `great leap forward', which I admit I didn't quite follow, with early agriculture in the New Guinea area, which spread outwards. I didn't agree with his assessment of firestick farming and agriculture in prehistoric Australia, and in this he differs from Diamond (The Third Chimpanzee/Guns Germs and Steel) in the reasons agriculture never developed in prehistoric Australia. He asserts that the reason agriculture didn't kick start in early Australia is due to poor soils, unpredictable climate (ENSO), and the prevalence of natural fire, not the lack of available biota. I don't think he is quite correct here, it is more likely competitive selection pressures, both *cultural* and ecological, in addition to isolation, did not facilitate development of the varities found in Australia, as compared to Eurasia. I also don't think his description of Australia's mineral wealth as a `one-off', is quite correct. `Mineral wealth' changes with technology, market and cultural factors. He also seems to miss evidence of some megafauna existing well after the arrival of aborigines in Australia, (it is a large and scattered ecological landmass) which I have come across elsewhere (eg Coonabarabran). I am also not sure of his view that high urbanisation in Australia is a modern maladaptation to the ENSO climate. He emphasises the influence of fire in Australian ecology, but perhaps over-emphasises in parts (his house was burnt down in a bushfire whilst writing the book, which may explain this!)

Nevertheless it is well argued and quite astutely written. The `Future Eaters' refers to homo sapien tending to eat his future resources and overpopulating-as occurred in New Zealand, Easter Island, and parts of colonial Australia-for example-and the human disasters which resulted form this tendency. He has a wide knowledge of the material, and certainly there are many original ideas worth thinking about. Some of the arguments will surprise readers, particularly from northern hemisphere countries, primarily because southern land masses have been, and also will be, rather different ecologically from their northern counterparts.

This book is fascinating and very readable. Flannery teaches us quite a bit about the ecological history of Australasia for the past few tens of thousands of years. We learn about the flora and fauna, and about the impact of the people who rely on the fertility of the land to survive. We see examples of how human populations fared in places such as Tasmania and Easter Island, where they became isolated and started to run out of resources.

It is not surprising that some populations have increased until they affected the viability of the ecosystems. But we also see that many populations have not simply grown until there was a catastrophic shortage of resources, followed by a nearly complete population collapse. And we see that even moderate populations can collapse catastrophically.

One famous example of the collapse of a moderate population comes not from Australasia, but from England. The population nearly vanished there in the sixth century AD. Flannery cites one of the very few relics from the centuries immediately following this disaster, a poem fragment called "The Ruin." The author quotes from this poem, and quite properly shows that the author could not imagine how the people of only a few centuries earlier could have built what had clearly been an imposing structure. Of course, such structures were in fact built in Roman times. When the Romans left, the population went down considerably in the chaos that followed. And after that, one or more plagues almost totally depopulated England (by the way, although Flannery does not mention it, the author of the Ruin seems to have been aware of this latter fact).

Well, what does Flannery think a good population for Australia ought to be? He cites various sources that feel a maximum population for the country ought to be anywhere from 10 million to about 480 million. The present population of Australia is about 20 million, and the author is concerned about the potential inability of Australia to support such a population indefinitely, especially were the place isolated.

I agree that Flannery's concern is legitimate. In addition, I think we humans now have the ability to increase the population of Australia to far more than the land could hold after some major mishap. After all, plenty of sunlight falls on Australia. We're capable of using that sunlight for power. And we can use that power to desalinate water and pump it all over the place. That could result in fundamental changes to the ecosystem. In my opinion, these technological advances might easily allow a population of 500 million or more in Australia. And that population would remain stable until something went wrong. I think it's a scenario worth considering.

I recommend this book.

With a sweeping gesture, Flannery dispels one of modern mythology's most cherished ideals. The image of the "Noble Savage," living intimately and in harmony with his surroundings is demolished by the evidence. Instead, Flannery shows how the intrusions of humans into previously unoccupied lands led to mass slaughters and the extinctions of countless species. His study covers the vast territories of the South Pacific - continents, large islands and archipeligoes - examining geology, weather and climate, flora and fauna. After completing this book, you will have a new view of our ancestors and how humanity has viewed nature.

In describing how humans have revised the face of the globe, Flannery begins in deep time. Tracing the breakup of Gondwanaland into what he deems Meganesia and Tasmantis - Australasia and the Pacific islands. For millions of years, life there evolved in unique ways. Isolated from the rest of the planet, Australia produced large marsupial mammals and giant bird species. Why did they disappear without apparent cause? After an examination of the likely candidates, climate being the most frequently cited, Flannery finds a different cause - humans. Fossils in Australia show that the large animals disappeared before the onset of the last glaciation. The extinctions, however, parallel the invasion of the continent by humans, people now known as the Aborigines. In one sense, the loss of the large animals forced the invaders to adapt a less predatory lifestyle. Mobility increased along with more selective hunting practices to maintain sustainable levels of supply. In studying these techniques, Flannery is able to move on to the subject of land management in today's world.

Although Australia's evolutionary path was unique, the lessons derived from studying events there may be applied globally, according to Flannery. Adaptation is an ongoing process, whether for "wildlife" or "civilized" humanity. Change forces that process. He aknowledges that in recent times change is more rapid and intrusive. We need to understand what impact those changes have and what, if any, adaptations are taking place. This book thus becomes and educational tool to help protect our own future. It is his recommendations for action that makes this book far more valuable than as simply a study of extinctions.

Flannery's many years of field studies granted him the essential background for this book. However, it isn't simply a dreary recounting of how we've ravaged the globe. His sense of beauty and love of life is vividly imparted in a deep personal sense. You join him in his travels in New Zealand, New Guinea and other Australasian lands. His fine descriptive powers and detailed knowledge combine to make this an excellent read. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

As a reader who admires good writing, and the effort that goes into writing a decent (popularized) account of a field, I take exception to the New Zealand reviewer's gossip of the author as a basis for judging the merit of this book.

Frankly, what "the Lady" with the goods on Tim Flannery had to say about the author is irrelevant to the book and a nasty way of going about discrediting a man who has solid claims to the field he is writing about. It says more about the woman than it does about Mr Flannery. That envy and backbiting is a seemingly inevitable consequence of competition among researchers (whether in the sciences or the humanities) is bad enough; that it gets passed on by readers who take vicious gossip at face value just shows how ideas are less important than the "dirt" one can spread.

Perhaps the previous reader can take the time to look up "ad hominem" and then consider the motives of the lady who claimed special privileged knowledge. The consider his own standards of judgment.

As for the book itself, the reviews already written give a good indication of what you get.

Tim Flannery has written what can only be described as a the most comprehensive history imaginable of the lands making up present-day Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and New Caledonia. His fascinating account starts with the earliest breakaway of those lands from the super continent Gondwana, more than forty million years ago, and goes right up to the present-day, ending with Flannery's recommendations for preserving Australia's unique ecology.

Despite this mind-blowing multimillion-year scope of a territory covering an enormous area, the book never falters in its readability or interest. Much of it is highly speculative (as even the author occasionally admits), but Flannery presents enough evidence to make his hypotheses almost always seem plausible. I most enjoyed the comparison of the ecologies of New Caledonia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and Australia -- despite their proximity, they are entirely different places, and those differences are reflected in their histories. Flannery's account of the destruction of megafauna in Australia and New Zealand is also well-told.

There should be more of these kinds of books: "biographies" of not just a land, but an entire continent (and its neighbors). Flannery has also written a similar book on North America, called "The Eternal Frontier", that rivals this book in its scope and excellence, but with that single exception, I can't think of any other ecological history that does such a fine job over so wide a range.

I read this for a class at Southwest MSU where Sutter himself was a student way back in the 70s... he is the only author who has won the Minnesota Book Award in three categories: fiction, non-fiction (Cold Comfort), and poetry.
I love this collection of short stories. For those who are scared of essays, this is amazingly easy to read. Short, straight forward, poignant, and hilarious at times. You don't have to know the places to enjoy the essays.

This is one of the best works of Duluth's Poet Laureate.

An excellent book, and to think that if I had never lived in Duluth I would have missed out on such a great author. He reminded me of Bill Bryson in a way, another one of my favorites!

I was lucky enough to have Barton Sutter as an English Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Superior and he read some of this book in our freshman english compostion class. The book gives you a sense of the Duluth/Superior area. Sutter is a great author and he comes highly recommended for english classes in Superior. So if you are looking for a book at that area..get this book!

I attended college at what was then called Wisconsin State University-Superior in the late sixties. I was from Philadelphia and I quickly got into this college to avoid the draft. So did many eastern draftable men. Imagine my surprise when I landed at Duluth Airport in January and stepped into a sheet of frozen air that made the hairs in my nose stiffen like pins.
Barton Sutter describes Duluth and Superior exactly the way people live there. Yes, people live there and they are nice people, but as Sutter shows, they ain't like you and me. They live in snow drifts nine months of the year.
Then there's Lake Superior or as Barton describes it, GOD. The lake is an ocean and it's everywhere. Barton describes fishing, hiking ,canoeing, and reading maps for a hobby. Somewhere in those dark winters he gets a divorce, is involved with a suprisingly active art community, and then gets married again. The prose is perfect. The description of rugged Minnesota and Wisconsin is terrific. Forget Vanity Fair and the New Yorker. Experience ice fishing at thirty below.

Barton Sutter is an amazing writer. He uses his creativeness to express his feelings about the beautiful city of Duluth. Not only did I enjoy "Cold Comfort," but I enjoyed learning more about Barton Sutter. He seems to be a brilliant man with a lot of positive energy. The book highlights points of Duluth and Lake Superior that I've never heard of before or considered. I'm new to the city of Duluth; during my winter break, I'm going to take some time to visit the places that Sutter talked about in "Cold Comfort." He really inspired me about the city of Duluth and I look forward to getting to know the city better!

A chochem is, in Yiddish, a wise person. Sam Apple, the writer, is a lot wiser than Sam Apple, the character he creates, a woody allen-ish hypochondriac awkwardly trying to write a book about a wandering Jewish Austrian shepherd. Apple also scores a literary triumph in his portrait of the one-of-a-kind Hans Breuer, the shepherd.

Post-modern in its best sense, the book makes wonderful and surprising connections between the search for justice and reconciliation in post-war Austria, the history of domesticated animals, Yiddish song, sexuality and the fine points of herding 675 sheep through mountains, forests and small towns.

I sat down to read for a few minutes and stayed in the chair for most of the day, following the hapless Sam as he tries to live the life of an alpine shepherd with Hans, Hans' estranged wife and devoted girlfriend, his sons and various eccentric friends like Austria's giant champion scythe-wielding grass-cutter. More is revealed when Sam spends time in Vienna meeting politicians, survivors of the Shoah and anti-racist activists, including the beguiling Irene, a welcome romantic interest whose fling with Sam forms a revealing counterpoint to Hans' tangled love life.

Through these varied landscapes, Apple's voice is funny, knowing and refreshingly humble. He gracefully mixes and blends the
Jewish, picaresque, storytelling tradition of Sholem Aleichem and S.Y. Agnon with the irreverence of Phillip Roth and the eye for quirky detail of Bruce Chatwin He's a young writer whose first book jump starts what I imagine will be a surprising and exciting career.

I read this enchanting book when it first came out and could not put it down. Reading it for the second time, I can't help but wonder, "why isn't this a movie?" This rare, heartwarming story told with such humor and wit could easily translate into another media form. It's definitely time to replace "The Sound of Music" with a new travel guide through the Alps. After all, a shepherd, a nice Jewish boy, and a beautiful girl could make the hills come alive again. Hollywood, where are you?

To paraphrase comic Jeff Foxworthy, if you find this engaging travelogue entirely humorless... you might be an Anti-Semite. (Reading it might be a good self-test.) Although Jewishness and Anti-Jewishness are portrayed throughout, Mr. Apple's writing is so genuine and fluid that anyone with an appreciation for English will enjoy its exceptional quality. While comparisons have been made to Woody Allen, author Sam Apple might better be described as the Hunter S. Thompson of Generation X. Perhaps "Rolling Stone" would do well to engage him to cover the upcoming Presidential election--and those uncomfortable with Jewishness (Jews and non-Jews alike)--would find it less frightening to enjoy a bright new literary light. Meanwhile, try this one: reading through it is no schlep.

There are two stories here. Which one dominates your reading will depend in part on your tendency to optimism or pessimism at the moment that you read. The grim story that hangs over everything is the fate of the Jews in Austria. There were a quarter million Jews and people of Jewish parentage in Austria in the 1930's. After the Austrians decided to kill or expel their Jewish neighbors, there were almost none. Today, the Jews of Austria number about 10,000-most of them in Vienna.
The comedy is the story of Hans Breuer, a folk-singing grand-child of the radical sixties. In the middle of the world's most developed economy, he makes a living as a shepherd: a Jewish shepherd.Sam Apple, the author of this book, plays with the nature of the shepherd's life, the mercurial personality of Hans Breuer and the odd business of being Jewish in a country where killing Jews was a bit of a national sport.
Having spent a great deal of time in Vienna, I can tell you that Apple gets a great deal of this right. He certainly gets all of it funny, or at least wry. He concentrates on lingering old-fashioned anti-semetism and ignores both the small philo-semetic counter-trend and the more genteel neo-jew-hating of the left.
Apple spends a great deal of his time talking about himself and so the book is also partly a memoir. The self that he reveals is game for the adventure of being a shepard for a while, but also comically neurotic and thereby a bit unattractive.
On one of my last trips to Austria, I went to a Hans Breuer recital. It was at a bar in the countryside. Half the audience was out from Vienna, the other half local people having dinner. Breuer seemed to think he was in a concert hall and between songs went back in the kitchen to silence the cooks. It was an awkward moment, but one that seemed to fit.

Lynn Hoffman, Author of The New Short Course in Wine

Sam Apple, author of Schlepping Through The Alps: My Search For Austria's Jewish Past With Its Last Wandering Shepherd, first encounters Yiddish folk-singer Hans Breuer at a concert and slide show in New York. Breuer, as Apple points out, is not just your ordinary run-of-the mill Yiddish folk-singer, rather he is truly a wandering Jew and as he reveals in his book, "If you ever happen to be hiking the Alps and you see a man singing Yiddish songs as he watches a dog chasing a sheep in a raincoat, no need for concern."

Apple, who grew up in Houston and now makes his home in Brooklyn, was quite intrigued by this forty-five year old Austrian shepherd. The result was a one thousand word article that eventually has being turned into a witty yet insightful book, wherein much of Apple's research was accumulated while traveling in Austria as an apprentice to Breuer.

During their first encounter in New York, Breuer mentioned to Apple that he wanted to bring Yiddish to the uninitiated in the Austrian Alps. When asked if he wanted these individuals to remember their Yiddish neighbors, his reply was: "I want to make them confront for the first time in their lives this culture that their uncles and fathers destroyed." With this in mind Apple decided to voyage to Austria and find out for himself what it was like to be a shepherd in the twenty-first century and to make sense of Han's Jewish identity or as he states, what it really meant for him to sing in Yiddish. He also wanted to learn about sheep, Yiddish music and anti-Semitism.

Apple's engaging narrative is what Yiddish speaking readers would probably classify as a good "meinsa," something akin to an old wife's tale only this story is actually true. Apple beckons us to follow his meandering through the Alps following a herd of sheep, a shepherd, his mistress and young lamb herders, while picking up along the way various shepherding tips from his mentor and learning about Austria's past and present political landscape.

During the course of his apprentice with Breuer, Apple learns about Austria's post-war anti-Nazi legislation that led to the sentencing to death of several Nazis and the conviction and incarceration of thousands of low-ranking Nazis. However, a few years after the enactment of this legislation, a general amnesty came into effect and all but a handful of the worst offenders were free to live happily every after. In fact, the government's constant line about complaints about Austria's behavior during the Holocaust was that if you have one take it to Germany.

Quite telling of Breuer's psyche is that he associates the Austrian countryside with fascism and anti-Semitism. When he encounters people along his shepherding path, he believes that they are all staring at him with cold eyes, aware that he is not one of them. Apple notes that Breuer enjoys being a living part of a dying tradition, where Yiddish and shepherding are relics of another time- nonetheless he takes great pride in both. Moreover, he is not quite sure how much of his own romanticizing of wandering and Jewishness has drawn him to Breuer. However, what he observes about Breuer's shepherding is "the rejection of modern society in the aftermath of the Holocaust. In his Yiddish songs I inevitably listened for the millions of missing Yiddish voices that should have been singing along."

Apple does an excellent job of capturing the flavor of the Austrian Alps with its little villages and inhabitants who seem to either have collective amnesia pertaining to their past or consider themselves blameless. Although he never does find as many anti-Semites as he originally feared, Apple does provide his readers with some serious insights, spiced up with enough lively and sometimes humorous commentary that will unquestionably keep readers turning the pages all the way to the end.

Norm Goldman, Editor Bookpleasures

The chapters on business-government relations provide some real insights. The book is more "academic" in character, and not really recommended for those who have no knowledge of Asian business. But with a little knowledge, one can draw on and use a wealth of information, especially as regards relations with various business stakeholders.

Really enjoyed the discussions on Singapore, Vietnam and Australia -- a complex and cutting-edge view of business-government relations.

Hi,,,
I am from Indonesia and working in one of the government company...After I read this book from web site...I feel that this book has a lot of information to suppot all of the asian development country (like Indonesia) to make a change their organization structure...
But as you know....Its price was too high...especially for me...
May I get this book with a lower price....or may I copied this....Thank you..

Covers diverse viewpoints, stakeholders and approaches for a complex look at business environments in the Asia Pacific. Not easy reading but worth the effort.

This book's strength lies in its approaching Asian business and operating in Asia from various stakeholders' perspectives -- governments, local businessess, foreign multinational corporations, etc.. Excellent and systematic coverage of a complex topic!

This is the first Rough Guide I ever used and it was so great, that I have bought one for each of the countries I visited. They might be large, but I only had to bring one book and it took care of all questions/confusion/curiousity/mysteries. It became our bible on our trip to New Zealand!

I went with my beautiful brunette wife to New Zealand on our honeymoon, and "The Rough Guide to New Zealand" was by far the best of available guide books. Not only is it light and portable, it is also extremely detailed. Plus, it "shoots from the hip" and mentions a lot of off-the-beaten-path things the other guides don't.

I recommend that, as a supplement, you purchase a detailed New Zealand road map, as "The Rough Guide" can't help you too much in that category.

Also, "The Rough Guide" doesn't have many photographs. You might want to choose your New Zealand itinerary using travel guides that are more photo-laden and colorful, and then leave those guides at home and bring "The Rough Guide" with you to New Zealand.

I was looking for a Rick Steves like guide to New Zealand - a book that concisely told where to go and where not to go. I had heard that other Rough Guides were like that, but this one is like most guide books - tells about everything with recommendations about what's best, hard to find. A good book to use as a reference but not quite what I was looking for.

Not only does this guide provide extensive recommendations for places to say, places to eat, and activities, it's also very well written. This book includes clear, detailed descriptions that really help you decide where to go, what to see, and what to skip. An indispensible travel guide for anyone headed to New Zealand, whatever your budget.

We brought 3 guides for 6 weeks in New Zealand - Rough Guide, Lonely Planet and Eye Witness. Soon we were only consulting Rough Guide - for lodging, meals and places to visit. The others stayed in the trunk of the car. Particularly good were the author's distillations of what was most important to see. While at Orakei Korako to see an example of geothermal activity, we encountered a group of U.S. geologists who had chosen to tour only O.K. after a mining conference in Australia. It was great to have contact numbers for rafting companies or wildlife spots such as Royal Albatross Center or Penguin Place so we could easily schedule tours to those places well in advance of arriving in the vicinty. Staying in Arrowtown rather than Queenstown or spending several days in Wanaka would not have occurred to us except for the Rough Guide's Advice. Even 6 weeks in New Zealand isn't enough for that country - we hope to use a future Rough Guide for our next trip.

Alison Anderson's "Hidden Latitudes" does have a interesting premise, that Amelia Earhart survived and lived on a small island in the Kiribati islands, and she has been marooned for so long that she no longer wishes to leave. A unhappy married couple stops at the island to repair their boat, and they soon discover that they are not alone, but they are afraid and annoyed by their "visitor". They argue and we find ourselves uninterested in them. Ending is kind of muddled

Read this book and enjoy the 'story' that unfolds.

If you are interested further, research the CBS data on what she was really doing, or had beeen persuaded to do.
And finally - switch to audio format - and enjoy the beautiful harmonies of Iain Matthews' eponymous album which sings of her bravery, and casts doubts as to who/what lay behind her mission.

As for the book, well although it is not quite in the 'Madame Bovary' league, it reads well enough, and those who criticise the author for portraying the marooned couple as just a pair of typical yanks with many greenbacks and little ambition; well, just who are we all, anyway??

Imagine Amelia Earhart stranded on a tropical island, and imagine that 40 yrs later a young couple beaches their sailboat on that same island. That's the premise of Hidden Latitudes. Anderson writes convincingly, alternating between Earhart's voice (and now 70yo doesn't immediately reveal herself to these newcomers) and a 3rd-person narrative of the two sailors, whose marriage was shaky to begin with, and now they've got shipwreck to contend with.
Sounds iffy, right? But set aside your doubts, pick this book up, and read it. Besides being a superb first novel, it's a superb story. You won't be disappointed.

Throughout the book, I can see what I think that author is getting at. She wants us to look beyond our materialistic world, to look beyond the people we are in the world we know. All a very valid message.

I find her message in the acknowledgement section somewhat confusing, that perhaps this is not Amelia Earhart afterall, that the reader should make up their own minds. If not Amelia Earhart, then why the companion named Fred, the talk of the fame that this woman knew would surround her when she arrived home and the references to the lost Electra.

Lucy and Robin were not terribly heartwarming characters in my opinion. They both seemed quite immature, self centered and shallow and I doubt that in the long term they would be able to hold a relationship together. They probably matured from their experience, but I think they might find being full time parents rather boring and I see each of them drifting into their old lives and habits, leaving the child to almost raising itself.

As to the woman that the author suggests to be Earhart, she has no choice as to the life she has led on this island, though I find it somewhat unlikely that after 40 years rumors from the Japanese and some natives might not have caused someone to come and take another look.

Inspite of the above criticisms, it was a fast read with a rather predictable ending.

In 1937, aviatrix Amelia Earhart disappeared with her navigator, Fred Noonan, somewhere in the South Pacific while attempting a circumnavigation of the globe. The mystery of Earhart's fate has captured the public's imagination for decades. Did she perish when her plane hit the water? Was she captured by the Japanese and executed as a spy? Was she abducted by space aliens? Is she living in Idaho with Elvis?

The premise of Alison Anderson's novel HIDDEN LATITUDES, which is set in1979, is that Amelia has survived 42 years as a castaway on a tiny Pacific atoll, the last 40 alone. Then one day, a 35-foot sailboat, the "Stowaway", with husband Robin and wife Lucy aboard, anchors in the island's lagoon, her engine kaput and her hull reef damaged. Might this be Earhart's ride home?

In chapters that alternate between the "voice" of Amelia and those of her might-be rescuers, the author explores the loneliness that derives from complete isolation from the world as compared with that despairing aloneness which grips the partners in a failing marriage. Earhart has become so accustomed to solitary life on her little island that she hesitates to reveal her presence to Robin and Lucy, whose marital difficulties are only exacerbated by their present crisis. At 82, Amelia wonders what would be gained by returning to a world that would regard her as an historical curiosity, soon to become nothing but an aged crony. Being young and not realizing the value of what they have together, Robin and Lucy internally contemplate the possibility of separation once they get back to "civilization".

I liked HIDDEN LATITUDES insofar as the poignancy of Anderson's plot resides almost solely in the Earhart character as she "remembers" for the reader the significant events of her life since she and Fred lost their way, including two near-rescues snatched away early on by cruel Fate. To this extent, Anderson has crafted an imaginatively satisfying "what if" scenario. On the other hand, the Robin and Lucy characters become so caught up in their dysfunctional behavior while struggling to make their boat seaworthy that they approach dangerously close to becoming tiresome. They're so self-absorbed in their own bickering that they fail for too long to follow up on clues that another human is present on this "deserted" island. You want to yell at them, "Snap out of it. Look around you!"

At one point, Amelia sneaks a book from the "Stowaway":

"In my shelter there is a new treasure, a novel. ...I have taken it from them ... but I think if they could ever know the pleasure it will give me they would not mind. Dare I read it over and over, for the pleasure? As it happens I cannot read quickly. I am not used to letters on a page anymore. ... I read aloud, quietly; words and voice struggle together against neglect. Yet I can savor the words and pictures they convey. ... I am like a child, learning to read, learning the world I have forgotten."

Perhaps more than anything else, Earhart yearns for the small things of life like jam, a scissors to cut her hair, a new pair of shorts, needle and thread. And, God bless her, books.

I'm in my fifth year at medical school in London, if you're a clinical student in the UK this book and the BNF are absolutely essential, it has most of the major conditions you'll see in enough detail to get through an average ward round, very consise for revision. It also has the great advantage of having what the condition is, how you recognise it and what to actually do about it which can be surprisingly difficult to find in most textbooks.
The partner Handbook of clinical specialities is also good but not nearly as useful.

The Oxford HCM in legendary the world over for some very simple reasons.

1. The content is brilliant. I have always marvelled at how the authors managed to fit in so much in only a handbook. Discussions of etiology, pathophysiology, epidemiology, clinical signs, investigations and treatment are all here, in concise and uncluttered text. These are understandably not exhaustive, but quite enough for you to get a sensible grasp of the subject at those moments when the attending is looking dangerously pimpish, or your patient has decided, very inconsiderately, to crash through the floor at an ungodly hour when you're the only chap with an MD hanging around the ward.

2. The editing is superb. Nothing extraneous here.

3. Evidence based. There is a genuine effort to make pronouncements only based on the available evidence, or, where this is lacking, on the experience of the authors.

5. An outstanding threesome of authors. Honest, sincere clinicians who write from the heart as much as from the head. The advice given to the medical student at the beginning of the book alone is worth the price.

A note on one of the reviews below. This book is NOT only for the UK. There are two versions,
1. The yellow covered one published in Britain,
2. The blue covered one with David Thaler as editor

The first one is the one in use virtually everywhere else in the world. A lot of countries, especially the Commonwealth nations, have medical systems based on the British. Drug names are the same.

The second was prepared especially for American MDs. All drugs are noted by the name familiar to Americans. In addition there is an excellent drug index at the back of the American edition that has both trade and generic name for virtually every drug you will ever meet.

So if you're American or Canadian, just buy the American edition.

It is an excellent comprehensive handbook, which can fit your pocket. With it, you can answer nearly any question. I personally used it in my Internal Medicine Rotation, and it was extremely helpful. I would like to thank the authors for their great work. I wish though if this handbook could be published in a regular book size as well.

Its chapters include: Thinking about medicine, At the bedside, Symptoms and signs, Geriatric medicine, Surgery, Infectious diseases, Cardiovascular medicine, chest medicine, Renal medicine, Neurology, Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Hematology, Biochemistry, Rheumatology, Oncology, Eponymous syndromes, Radiology, Epidemiology, Reference intervals, and Emergencies.

It has many tables & diagrams, and it might be advisable to buy a color atlas as a supplement.

The only problem which bothers me is the units used for some lab restults (e.g. mmol/L instead of mg/dL).

This book is basically a bible for medical students who live in the constant shadow of fear from a question-happy consultant. I'm assured that it's the same for JHO's and SHO's. It's clear, concise, and fits snugly into the bottom right wardcoat pocket, and provides instant answers to even the most evil consultants. Don't go near a ward without one!!! A bit tricky to navigate at first, but you will soon get used to it. One of it's most endearing features is the section at the front which will cheer you up and keep you going long after the proplus have ceased to work. A must have for all medical students

This is one of the best concise Internal Medicine books that I have ever read. It does not have the vast details of Harrison's or Cecil's..it is not large or heavy...but the information it contains is valuable for clinical management, passing exams(especially England's PLAB) and answering your attending's questions. It offers a birds eye view of the world of Internal Medicine and practical management skills. I believe it should be in the coat pockets of all clinicians. The american edition(blue book) reflects current medical practice in the US and is widely used by residents.

This is a thoughtful and revealing biography of the woman who did the first major study of Easter Island in the early 20th century. Van Tilburg gives us insight into Katherine Routledge's life, passion, and personal struggles as well as providing an indepth sequel to Routledge's own important book. Anyone who has read THE MYSTERY OF EASTER ISLAND, indeed anyone who has been thrilled to walk among the island's magical statues--as well as anyone who has done so in the pages of a book--will find this biography compelling.

This book should top your list of Summer reading. I found that I had to keep reminding myself that this was a true story- it is amazing that all of this actually took place in Victorian times. I commend the author for taking the time to do such in-depth research. I can't wait for Van Tilburg to come out with another book!

This is a fascinating account not only of Katherine Routledge's journey to Easter Island, but her journey through life. For a Victorian woman to graduate from Oxford, live in Africa, organize an expedition to one of the most remote places on earth, and ultimately succumb to schizophrenia is truly a remarkable story. This is a compelling read, full of interesting facts, as well as wonderous parallels. It is a story of determination and frustration, success and failure, love and loss. Great summer read!

This book is a MUST READ! It was very informative and well researched. I was impressed by the obvious depth and care the author took to portray her subjects in a fair and impartial light. She explored all her character's strengths and weaknesses equally, and this made for a compelling read. The author obviously had a great deal of empathy for her subject.

I would love to see this book made into a movie! The author's beautiful word pictures would translate VERY well to the big screen.

I would recommend this wonderful book to anyone who might be planning on traveling to Easter Island or who would like to learn more about this magnificent place!

This book scores highly for the length of its footnotes and its bibliographies - and van Tilburg is to be congratulated on bringing a great but overlooked story into print - but how much do you trust a biographer who mistakes the dates of both the birth and marriage of her subject?

Knowing a little of Katherine Routledge and her times, I found van Tilburg's narrative unconvincing. Perhaps it would be unfair to expect an author working from America to understand the absurd and divisive nuances of British notions of class, though class was a key factor in Routledge's life. I bridled, however, at the author's repeated insistence on Routledge's mental illness. Has van Tilburg seen evidence for this, perhaps from Routledge's surviving family (tracking down descendants, even establishing the fate of the ship Mana, is something van Tilburg does well) that she is not prepared to publish? The suggestion that Routledge's life and work were profoundly affected by schizophrenia is a major charge. It needs more substantiation than this book presents: what we have does not rise above gossip.

The book is also curiously thin, coming from an author with much experience of Easter Island archaeology, on what makes Routledge's Pacific work so special. There are many details here, and much useful material to inspire and aid further research. Too many minor errors, however, warn against taking it all on trust. Read and enjoy, but keep your critical faculties about you.

(For the record: Katherine Routledge was born on 11 March 1866 [not 11 August, though the author has corrected her previously published error over the year] and was married on 8 August [not 6 August] 1906 - she was over, not nearly, 40 on her wedding day. Nit picking? These dates are easy to check. The reader, though, cannot check facts that van Tilburg quotes from inaccessible or ungiven sources)

This book is a wonderful celebration of wildlife--what's lost and what still survives--in a beautiful and strange part of the world. But what makes Carnivorous Nights great is the oddball voice of its narrators.

While appalled by the destructive forces that pushed the Tasmanian tiger to the edge of extinction, the authors manage to find beauty and humor in the amazing creatures--and people--that still populate this far-flung island.

The illustrations are black-and-white watercolors of Tasmania's animals. And they're like ghostly photos of a long-lost world.

This book really stuck with me, and made me want to travel to Tasmania.

Being an avid fan of the Thylacine, I had great hopes for Carnivorous Nights. Boy was I disappointed!!!!! "The Last Thylacine" 2005 by Terry Domico ISBN 1883385156 is a far better book.

There is some very good information in Carnivorous Nights but it is covered by filthy language (the F word every few pages) and Middle School level humor (nipple clamp joke on page 111, many references to scat or other bodily functions in a so-called humorous manner, etc...) Additionally, I did not like the glorification of illegal drug use by one stoned adventurer who seemed to focus his life around his next hit of weed.

I also did not care for the artwork. It was simplistic and not especially inspiring. The black and white images were just basic and nothing special. I thought some of them looked like they were traced over old photos.

A truly good book could have been here if the authors had just had some common decency and maturity. Not everyone speaks with a potty mouth, nor do all adults think of mating habits and sexual issues all the time about all of nature. Unfortunately, reading Carnivorous Nights was more like digging through a dung heap looking for treasure. Too bad that in this case the treasure was not worth the garbage it was covered in.

Funny, deep and educational. Environmentally aware and a fantastic travel story. What else could a person want?

The book centers on the Tasmanian tiger but threads through cloning, giant lobsters and other strange Tasmanian beasties, extinction, hope and, of course, all manner of strange Tasmanian scenes.

The book is depressing because it's about extinction and endangerment; it's funny because our authors manage to stay optimistic and cheerful in the face of extinction. They have an extremely clear eye for the foibles of humans, as well as for the traits of the animals they see. It takes talented writers to make roadkill amusing; these guys manage it.

If you've ever read Gerald Durrell, then you would find this book similar, both in the attitude toward travel and the observations of native humans. The humor is somewhat similar, too, although of course Durrell's is a bit dated by now. If you read and enjoy this book, then I'd strongly encourage you to go find and read anything you can by Gerald Durrell, especially his earlier books.

Completely by coincidence, during the same week that I read this book, I read a story by Harry Turtledove in a science fiction magazine, and an article in a newspaper about lemurs. Turtledove's story was about an alternate history where the island of Atlantis did not sink, and it has a great deal of unique island wildlife, like Tasmania or Madagascar. The plot of the story was that John James Audubon goes to visit Atlantis to sketch and paint all the endangered wildlife there - because of course, the incursion of man onto the island has endangered most of the species. The story highlights the casual cruelty of 19th-century practices, killing rare animals just to pose and paint them and stuff them for museums; I contrasted that to the care that Mittlebach et al. take not to kill anything, and Alexis' efforts to connect to the animals he is painting by using their bioproducts to make paint. Then the article in a Maine newspaper was about a 14-year old who had saved money since she was 6 years old to go to Madagascar and work on lemur conservation; she accomplished her trip finally, and I felt that the viewpoint of the young generation on the many endangered island animals also added to my appreciation of what the authors of "Carnivorous Nights" were seeing on Tasmania.

The paintings in the book are wonderful; I only could wish some were in color. I have always been fond of wombats, echidnas, and platypodes (or platypuses if you want to simplify it), and have stuffed toys of each (yes, I am half a century old and have a large collection of plush toy marsupials, insectivores, extinct reptiles, and assorted endangered species) and had the fun of meeting an echidna face to face once; it was the short-beaked kind, not the long-beaked one, but still odd enough.

A short "family-reading" alert: while the topic is ideal for kids, there are a few things some parents might object to - assorted unmarried people sharing hotel rooms, more than a few four-letter words, a lot of discussion of blood, gore, and animal parts. I personally don't think there's anything here an 11-year old wouldn't already have met, but your children may vary, and I suspect that more than one 8-year old would have nightmares after the scene about feeding a Tasmanian devil. But definitely, the whole family should get to see the pictures, and get to hear about baby pademelons and Bennett's wallabies!

Carnivorous Nights on the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger follows three New Yorkers, authors Margaret Mittelbach and Michael Crewdson and their artist friend Alexis Rockman as they search for the Thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger. The thylacine is presumed to have been hunted to extinction with the last known individual dying in Beaumaris zoo in 1936. There have been many sightings since then and many still hold hope the Thylacine persists somewhere on the island of Tasmania.
As you might expect, the trio find little evidence of the Tiger in their travels but provide a lot of information on its natural history and some of the more credible recent sightings. They also spend a lot of time checking out Tasmania's many other non-extinct weird and wonderful animals, and I believe they give a good feel for the general atmosphere on the Island. I read this book a few months prior to my own trip to Tassie and it lead me to visit Marakoopa caves and check out the glow worms, which was really fantastic. As far as an informative and interesting book on the wildlife of Tasmanian goes, it earns five stars.
I had to take two stars off however for what are basically stylistic reasons. Normally this doesn't bother me too much, but in this case it turned what would have been a great book into something that was a bit of an effort to read.

The first problem is that this book intends to be a bit of a wacky-travel-adventure read. That in its self is fine (check out Redmond O'Hanlon's "Into the Heart of Borneo" for a perfect example of how it can work) but the problem here is that we have three Americans traveling in Australia, a first world English speaking country. Let's face it, they don't have any really wacky adventures. In fact the attempt to have wacky adventures seems to distract from the book and dumbs down the text a bit. (see pg. 10 "... we were happy to find out that English was spoken on the island.") Nevertheless the authors try to keep the humor up by making lots and lots of quips. Mostly unfunny quips in my opinion. Most other reviewers found this book funny, and I usually enjoy a humorous travel book (Bill Bryson) but most of this was just off for me. Most of the 'humorous' dialog is attributed to Alexis, which resulted in my wishing about halfway through the book that he'd just keep his mouth shut. But I have to admit I took an early disliking to Alexis due to what was probably the worst part of the "travel adventure" side of the text, his purchase of pot (illegal in Australia as in the US) and his smuggling it around the country. There is something about a tourist abroad willfully committing a crime that is also a crime in his own country that I find really distasteful, and I was sorry to see it treated as a sort of comic aside in this book. To be even handed to poor Alexis, his artwork featured in the book is beautiful and I loved his choice of media.

The second problem and really the worst aspect of the book for me was the narrative voice. Since the book was written by two authors and covered their personal experiences, they opted to refer to themselves as 'WE'. Bad idea. While I can't really offer a better suggestion for two authors to have an equal say in a tale, using 'we' is a bad way to go. At times it was fine, at times it sounded like a married couple, at times it sounded like a olde time king, and at times it sounded like a missive from the Borg. To see how bad it gets one can read the dream sequence on page 118 "That night we dreamed about wombats and feral cats..." Actually I recommend using the search inside function to read a few pages and see whether or not this style will bother you.

A final gripe that is probably worth a third of a star or so is that this book lacks an index, which is probably indicative of its trending to pulpy mass media marketing as opposed to a more intelligent natural history text. And yet it does have a decent set of notes and further reading in the back. While I haven't read any other works by these authors, it feels like they are smart natural history writers lead astray by an editor asking for a dumbed down text in the hope it will have a boarder appeal.

In short, if you have an interest in Tasmania, the Thylacine, or Australia travel in general I can recommend purchasing this book, but I was sorry to see a potentially fantastic book severely damaged by some bad editing decisions.