Travels in Antarctica

 

Mint condition. PB. 320pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia

Looks at past, present and future of Australian involvement in Antarctica. Craig Cormick is a Canberra based award winning author.

Departing Hobart on a seven-week voyage on board the RSV Aurora Australis, Craig Cormick is fulfilling a long-time dream to visit the frozen continent of Antarctica - an adventure to one of the few under-discovered regions of the world. As the ship navigates its way through the wild Southern Ocean and explores the icy coastline of the Antarctic continent, Craig muses about - and with - the great explorer and geologist Douglas Mawson. Mawson's ill-fated but scientifically successful Australasian Antarctic Expedition sailed from Hobart in 1911, as Scott and Amundsen were embarking on their race to the South Pole. 

Visiting the three Australian bases, with Mawson's ghost at his side, Craig Cormick describes the exhilaration of seeing his first iceberg, climbing a mountain on the Antarctic plateau, flying in a helicopter over the Vestfold Hills, photographing Adelie penguins, seeing the spectacular Aurora Australis in the sky, smelling elephant seals and discovering the mysteries of 'crap and wrap' field toilets. In Bed with Douglas Mawson is a humorous and thoughtful exploration of the enduring spirit of discovery, adventure and comradeship around Antarctica.

An award-winning account of the Keating government

 

Mint condition. PB. 272pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

In the early 1980s, Paul Keating set out to reinvent the Australian economy. He floated the Australian dollar, liberated banking and finance from its regulatory shackles, and - most significantly - introduced a universal superannuation scheme. The results were astounding growth in the value of the national economy and in the personal wealth of ordinary Australians.

Keating's revolution was based on his insight that, by encouraging every citizen to save for retirement, a huge pool of investment capital would be created that would help enrich the nation. But the fulfillment of his vision was denied by his political opponents after the Australian people voted Keating out in 1996.

In Unfinished Business, David Love, a veteran economic and financial observer, explores the stor of Keating's revolution - a story that has never been fully told - and sounds a timely warning that the failure to finish the job Keating started has left our new-found prosperity vulnerable, particularly in the current climate of international economic uncertainty. The Keating revolution, it turns out, is at least as relevant to the future as it has been to the past.

An Australian refugee memoir

 

Mint condition. PB. 272pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

In 1978, following a dramatic escape from war torn Vietnam, Tracy Vo's parents boarded a leaky boat not knowing what their future held or whether they would live. The couple had fled Vietnam under the cover of darkness, exchanged wedding rings en route to Malaysia, then sold them and their scant possessions to feed themselves and their 10 relatives on the journey. They were declared refugees.

Now, almost 40 years later, their decision to flee Vietnam has been rewarded by a happy and successful life for their family in Australia, the country they are now proud to call home. Here, their daughter Tracy reflects on that life changing journey and the amazing life it created for them in Australia. Today, Tracy is a successful Channel 9 journalist who has chosen to return to her family home to care for her family as they enter old age. Her story shows the extraordinary bravery of her parents and the many refugees like them who now call Australia home.

The best travel writing on Nepal

 

Mint condition. HB. 512pp. $30 including postage anywhere in Australia

In April 2015, catastrophic earthquakes left Nepal devastated. Over 7,000 people lost their lives and more than twice as many were injured. Hundreds of thousands were made homeless and UNESCO World Heritage sites were destroyed.

HOUSE OF SNOW is the biggest, most comprehensive and most beautiful collection of writing about Nepal in print. It includes over 50 excerpts of fiction and non-fiction inspired by the breathtaking landscapes and rich cultural heritage of this fascinating country.

Here are explorers and mountaineers, poets and political journalists, national treasures and international stars such as Michael Palin and Jon Krakauer, Laxmi Prasad Devkota and ManjushreeThapa – all hand-picked by well-known authors and scholars of Nepali literature including Samrat Upadhyay, Michael Hutt, Isabella Tree and Thomas Bell.

An authoritative account of the Dismissal of the Whitlam government

 

Mint condition. HB. 448pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Drawing on a range of new sources, some of which have never before been made public - including hundreds of pages from Kerr's archives - this remarkable account is dispassionate in its analysis, vivid in its narrative and brutal in its conclusions. It exposes the true motivations, the extent of the deceit and the scale of the collusion.

Forty years on, the dismissal remains one of the most damaging and controversial events in Australian politics.

This groundbreaking book by two of our leading journalists provides a startling reinterpretation of events. It tells the story of the clash between extraordinary personalities- two political giants - Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser - and an ambitious and calculating governor-general, Sir John Kerr.

Drawing on a range of new sources, some of which have never before been made public - including hundreds of pages from Kerr's archives - this remarkable account is dispassionate in its analysis, vivid in its narrative and brutal in its conclusions. It exposes the true motivations, the extent of the deceit and the scale of the collusion.

Injecting humour into home duties

 

Very good condition. PB. 224pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

In Home Truths, comedian and author Mandy Nolan explores the significance of place in relationship to self, specifically what it is about home that is so intrinsic to our sense of self and what is says about our place in the world and our emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing. This is a book about who we are in the place where we live, and why; It's about who we are when no-one is watching, when the doors are closed and the pants come off.

Queen Victoria and her Indian tutor

 

Mint condition. PB. 368pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Now a major motion picture starring Dame Judi Dench, Ali Fazal and Eddie Izzard, directed by Stephen Frears. 

'A tale of Empire and intrigue brought vividly back to life' - VIKAS SWARUP, author of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE 

The tall, handsome Abdul Karim was just twenty-four years old when he arrived in England from Agra to wait at tables during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. An assistant clerk at Agra Central Jail, he suddenly found himself a personal attendant to the Empress of India herself. Within a year, he was established as a powerful figure at court, becoming the queen's teacher, or Munshi, and instructing her in Urdu and Indian affairs. Devastated by the death of John Brown, her Scottish ghillie, the queen had at last found his replacement. But her intense and controversial relationship with the Munshi led to a near-revolt in the royal household. 

Now a major motion picture starring Dame Judi Dench, Victoria & Abdul examines how a young Indian Muslim came to play a central role at the heart of the empire, and tells a tender love story between an ordinary Indian and his elderly queen. 

AUTHOR: Shrabani Basu is an author, journalist and historian. She has also written Curry: the Story of the Nation's Favourite Dish (2003) and Spy Princess: the Life of Noor Inayat Khan (2006). She is based in London. 31 b/w illustrations

The definitive biography of David Bowie

 

Mint condition. HB. 496pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.

The 10th January, 2016 will no doubt resonate with David Bowie fans across the globe from now on. The world was shocked to wake to the sudden news of his death from cancer, which he had been secretly battling for eighteen months. The outpouring of grief, empathy and loss has been palpable, honest and raw. And he had only turned sixty-nine.

Respected arts commentator Paul Morley, one of the team who curated the highly successful retrospective exhibition for the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, David Bowie Is . . . constructs the definitive story of Bowie that explores how he worked, played, aged, structured his ideas, invented the future and entered history as someone who could and would never be forgotten. Morley will capture the greatest moments of Bowie’s career; from the recording studio with the likes of Brian Eno and Tony Visconti; to iconic live performances from the 1970s, 80s and 90s, as well as the various encounters and artistic relationships he developed with rock luminaries John Lennon, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop. And of course, discuss in detail his much-heralded, and critically-acclaimed comeback with the release of Black Star just days before his shocking death in New York.

Morley will offer a startling biographical critique of David Bowie’s legacy, showing how he never stayed still even when he withdrew from the spotlight, how he always knew his own worth, and released a dazzling plethora of mobile Bowies into the world with a bloody-minded determination and a voluptuous imagination to create something amazing that was not there before.

About the Author

Writer, broadcaster, and cultural critic Paul Morley has written about music, art, and entertainment since the 1970s. A founding member of the electronic collective Art of Noise and a member of staff at the Royal Academy of Music, he is the author of Ask: Chatter of Pop; Words and Music: A History of Pop in the Shape of a City; Piece by Piece: Writing About Joy Division 1977–2007; Earthbound; The North; and Nothing, and he collaborated with music icon Grace Jones on her memoir, I’ll Never Write My Memoirs.

Jewish humour at its finest

 

PB. Very good condition. 310 pages. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.

Two rival businessmen meet in the Warsaw train station. "Where are you going" says the first man.

"To Minsk," says the second.

"To Minsk, eh What a nerve you have! I know you're telling me you're going to Minsk because you want me to think that you're really going to Pinsk. But it so happens that I know you really are going to Minsk. So why are you lying to me"

Four men are walking in the desert.

The German says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have a beer."

The Italian says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have wine."

The Mexican says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have tequila."

The Jew says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have diabetes."