In search of critically endangered mammals in the Pacific, a young Tim Flannery spent much of the late 1980s exploring some of the world’s final frontiers, encountering killer snakes, corrupt officials, mountains of bat faeces and stories of cannibalism along the way. He tells his story with an infectious passion for the wildlife he studied, and also pays homage to the colonial explorers in whose footsteps he followed. Flannery, who is currently serving as chief commissioner of the independent Climate Commission, makes clear the impact of climate change on threatened species but avoids preaching. Indeed, Among the Islands is surprisingly funny at times, particularly when Flannery reflects on the often eccentric colleagues and predecessors who shared his passion for endangered creatures. This is the third book in a loose trilogy that includes Throwim Way Leg and Country. It is a rollicking adventure story that will entertain amateur zoologists young and old. By populating the narrative with interesting characters as well as fascinating creatures and spectacular environments, Flannery also keeps the story interesting for those without a deep interest in science.
Andrew Rankin is a former REDgroup employee. This review first appeared in the October issue of Bookseller+Publisher magazine.
The gimmick behind Brian Thacker’s travel tale Tell Them to Get Lost is that his journey is inspired—and guided—by South East Asia on a Shoestring, the first guidebook by Lonely Planet founders Tony and Maureen Wheeler, published in 1975. Beginning at Tony Wheeler’s desk in Melbourne, Thacker travels through East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Burma and Singapore, finishing his journey at the very hotel in which the Wheelers wrote their original guidebook. As a bonus, Tony Wheeler makes an appearance during the Indonesian leg of Thacker’s trip, roping him into a writers’ festival panel at Ubud. This story is very much a tribute to the Wheelers—in particular Tony Wheeler, who becomes Thacker’s role model and is imagined as a bell-bottomed hippy riding a motorcycle through the jungles of Asia. The story also takes a personal turn when Thacker meets a girl during the trip who agrees to travel with him, but is terrified of the bacteria in the substandard hotel beds. She later becomes his wife. Unsurprisingly, Thacker has trouble finding many of the hotels listed in the original guidebook, while those he does find are remarkably unchanged—in the sense that either they are still the quality institutions they were 25 years ago, or that their sheets haven’t been changed for 25 years. Quotes from the original guidebook and the 2010 edition are compared at the beginning of each chapter, and show—hilariously—what has changed and what has unfortunately remained the same. While this book reveals the effects of mass-tourism on a place, it is also interesting to note the effects of a lack of tourism on struggling communities in places such as East Timor, Burma and Samosir Island in Indonesia. This is a fun read from a well-travelled writer.
Meyer demonstrates how a shrunken head is worn—an act that is made less ghastly by the fact that he is holding a replica. Shrunken heads are rare today, he explains, because after a year the souls of the enemies were considered captured, and the heads were thrown away.
In ‘The Billionaire Trilogy’, Richard Newsome has written an adventure series that has shades of Indiana Jones and a Dan Brown thriller, pitched at a level that is accessible for its younger audience. In this excitement-filled final instalment, our protagonist Gerald Wilkins finds himself smack in the middle of the answer to everything—but unfortunately, this includes a murder charge. When Gerald is framed for the murder of his evil nemesis Mason Green, he is forced to go on the run, along with his trusty sidekicks, twins Sam and Ruby Valentine. The trio needs to find the ruby casket, an unknown treasure, and prove Gerald’s innocence. This leads them on a fast-paced series of adventures through France, the Vatican City and Greece. Meanwhile, Mason Green’s niece Charlotte is striving for world domination. Will Gerald, Sam and Ruby stop Charlotte or will Gerald end up in prison? While the story might follow a predictable formula, the excitement level is high, and is bound to keep children aged 9-12 enthralled.
All five books on the
A history of double-entry bookkeeping is not, at first thought, a likely subject for a riveting book. Yet that is what wordsmith Jane Gleeson-White gives us, by crafting a book that may be read two ways. For readers interested in modern accountancy she describes the ancient origins of the profession, its rapid ascendency during the Italian Renaissance and its transformation into the powerful financial management tool we know today. Her view of its future importance is startling and sobering. The more general reader should enjoy her detailed exploration of the life of the ‘father’ of bookkeeping, Renaissance man Luca Pacioli. A multi-talented man, friend and collaborator of Leonardo da Vinci and other luminaries, Pacioli’s crowning achievement was the writing of a 27-page treatise explaining, for the first time, the theory and application of what has become known as double-entry bookkeeping. The merchants of Venice were quick to understand and adopt the method: other mercantile economies began to use it soon after (though some resisted). Gleeson-White gives us a lively account of Pacioli’s eventful life and times, which leavens the more formal aspects of her text. Like Mark Kurlansky’s Cod and Salt, this one should appeal to most readers of single-subject narrative history.
Women of Letters is a collection of letters penned by well-known Australians, originally performed at a series of events of the same name. Curated by Michaela McGuire and Marieke Hardy, these events began in 2010 as a fundraiser for the Victorian animal shelter Edgar’s Mission. The idea was to celebrate the art of letter writing and showcase local talent by asking prominent Australian women—and some men in a special Men of Letters event—to write a letter on a particular theme. When you read this book you will: laugh out loud at actor Noni Hazlehurst’s letter to her first boss and comedian Fiona Scott-Norman’s letter to her nemesis; wish your 12-yearold- self could have received a letter like the one penned by musician Jen Cloher; come close to tears over the letter former politician Mary Delahunty wishes she had written; and if you are the romantic sort, fall a little in love with entertainer Eddie Perfect, whose letter is written to the woman who changed his life. Readers of all ages will get a glimpse of themselves in this surprising, thoughtful, funny and inspiring book, which deserves to find a place in everyone’s home.
It’s been 16 years since Gillian Mears published her last novel, The Grass Sister, which won the regional Commonwealth Prize for best book in 1996. The Mint Lawn won the 1991 Vogel Award and she has also written a number of award-winning short-story collections. Foal’s Bread takes its title from a small object that, on rare occasions, is found in a new foal’s mouth at birth. It looks like bread, hence the name, but nobody really knows what it is. It is thought to be lucky, however. If the horse is a jumper, it will jump high; if it’s a sprinter, it will run fast.
