Slight water damage otherwise mint condition. PB. 271pp. $18 including postage anywhere in Australia.
Friday, June 25, 2021
SOLD Searching for faith in modern Britain
SOLD
Mint condition. PB. 200pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.
Contemporary pilgrim Peter Stanford visits some of the most ancient religious sites in Britain, taking the spiritual temperature of our apparently secular and sceptical age.
“'Stanford's sometimes humorous account of these evocative places, and of the present-day pilgrims who visit them, comprises an intriguing investigation of what faith might mean in our apparently secular age.” – London Review of Books
“A highly illuminating study...his selection may be domestic but it is by no means parochial...Particularly welcome is his ability to laugh at himself.” – The Independant
“Stanford offers a personal and at the same time historical and geographical investigation into what he sees as a deeply ingrained spirituality in Britain.” – John Cornwell, The Financial Times
Predicting the strategic situation of the next century
Mint condition. PB. 253pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.
A fascinating, eye-opening and often shocking look at what lies ahead for the U.S. and the world from one of our most incisive futurists.
In his thought-provoking new book, George Friedman, founder of STRATFOR--the preeminent private intelligence and forecasting firm--focuses on what he knows best, the future.
Positing that civilization is at the dawn of a new era, he offers a lucid, highly readable forecast of the changes we can expect around the world during the twenty-first century all based on his own thorough analysis and research.
For example, The U.S.-Jihadist war will be replaced by a new cold war with Russia; China's role as a world power will diminish; Mexico will become an important force on the geopolitical stage; and new technologies and cultural trends will radically alter the way we live (and fight wars).
Riveting reading from first to last, "The Next 100 Years" is a fascinating exploration of what the future holds for all of us.
A short scholarly biography
Published in 1983. Good condition. PB. 94pp. $15 including postage anywhere in Australia.
A classical satire of English sea travel
Mint condition. PB. 322pp. $18 including postage anywhere in Australia.
SOLD A history of interactions between Maori and Westerners
SOLD
Mint condition. PB. 288pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.
Come On Shore and We Will Kill And Eat You All is a sensitive and vibrant portrayal of the cultural collision between Westerners and Maori, from Abel Tasman's discovery of New Zealand in 1642 to the author's unlikely romance with a Maori man.
An intimate account of two centuries of friction and fascination, this intriguing and unpredictable book weaves a path through time and around the world in a rich exploration of the past and the future that it leads to.
Bold, absorbing and utterly original, this book will take its place on the shelf next to Bruce Chatwin (Songlines), Bill Bryson (Down Under) and Doris Pilkington (The Rabbit-Proof Fence). Occupies the same territory as Jane Campion's film The Piano and Rose Tremain's novel The Colour.
Ruth Cracknell on Ruth Cracknell
Excellent condition. HB. 308pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.
'Ruth Cracknell: A Biased Memoir' goes behind the scenes into the fascinating world of Australia's first lady of theatre, film and television.
From performing in radio soap operas in evening wear to dancing a wild tango in the famous Phillip Street revues to subverting the 'old dear' stereotype in Mother and Son, Ruth Cracknell has led an acting life that embraces Australian theatre history since World War Two.
Her personal account beautifully evokes the endless summers and long verandahs of childhood, the wild adventure of London in the 50s, the fun and desperation of rehearsals in many theatres - and always the richness of a life hugely enjoyed and lived to the full.
SOLD Magical Mathematics
SOLD
Mint condition. PB. 321pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.
The world's greatest mental mathematical magician takes us on a spellbinding journey through the wonders of numbers (and more)
"Arthur Benjamin ... joyfully shows you how to make nature's numbers dance."--Bill Nye (the science guy)
The Magic of Math is the math book you wish you had in school. Using a delightful assortment of examples-from ice-cream scoops and poker hands to measuring mountains and making magic squares-this book revels in key mathematical fields including arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and calculus, plus Fibonacci numbers, infinity, and, of course, mathematical magic tricks.
Known throughout the world as the "mathemagician," Arthur Benjamin mixes mathematics and magic to make the subject fun, attractive, and easy to understand for math fan and math-phobic alike.
"A positively joyful exploration of mathematics."
-Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Each [trick] is more dazzling than the last."
-Physics World
Thursday, June 24, 2021
Coming to terms with one's mummy
Mint condition. HB. 182pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.
Understanding the most difficult, complicated and fascinating relationship in your life
Guilt. Affection. Embarrassment. Friendship. Anger. Love -- who can bring out all these feelings, and often in the same day? Your mother.
No matter how mature or successful we are in our adult lives, with one word our mothers can somehow send us scurrying back to childhood.
Can mothers and adult children ever learn to set aside their earlier relationship and talk to each other as adults?
In this warm, funny book, dozens of revealing stories from well known personalities from politics and show business show that it is possible to improve your relationship with your mother- or at the very least begin to understand it.
Alyce Faye Cleese and Brian Bates include a practical ten-step plan and questionnaire to help you get back on track with your mother.
You will learn to address specific issues and develop valuable insights that will help you start thinking about your mother in a profoundly new way.
Politics in the Age of Extremism
Mint condition. PB. 415pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.
From Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author Ron Suskind comes an astonishing investigation of how America lost its way and the nation's daily struggle to reclaim the moral authority upon which its survival depends.
Tracking down historic revelations and improbable hope from the Beltway to the farthest corners of the globe, Suskind delivers a stirring and strikingly original portrait of the post-9/11 world.
Fine Indian fiction from Rohinton Mistry
Excellent condition. PB. 487pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.
Nariman Vakeel is a 79 year-old widower beset by Parkinson's disease and haunted by memories of the past.
When his illness is compounded by a broken ankle, he's forced to take up residence with his daughter Roxana, her husband Yezad and their two sons.
This pushes Yezad into a scheme of deception - with devastating consequences.
About the author ...
Rohinton Mistry was born in 1952 and grew up in Bombay, India, where he also attended university. He later migrated to Canada, where he began a course in English and Philosophy at the University of Toronto.
He is the author of three novels and one collection of short stories. His debut novel, Such a Long Journey (1991), won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book and the Governor General's Award, and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. It was made into an acclaimed feature film in 1998.
His second novel, A Fine Balance (1995), won many prestigious awards, as well as being shortlisted for the Booker Prize, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Irish Times International Fiction Prize.
His collection of short stories, Tales from Firozsha Baag, was published in 1987.
SOLD History's greatest scandals
SOLD
HB. Mint condition. 255pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.
Smart, educated, and accomplished people—often the pillars of society—sometimes behave in the most uncharacteristic and fascinating ways.
These are stories of adultery, perversion, shameless greed, theft, and deception—scandal in its rawest forms—that have brought down presidents, prime ministers, clergy, and famous people from every walk of life.
The gripping dramas climax in catastrophic exposures and career-destroying indiscretions that rival great fiction and are all the more astounding because they are seminal moments in our history.
*The stories star famous names and often share selfish desires, yet each tale shocks us—sometimes for its audacity, sometimes for its complexity, sometimes for its pure idiocy.
*Inside you’ll find several in-depth accounts of the greatest scandals in history.
Alternately disturbing and amazing, the narratives of History’s Greatest Scandals reveal clandestine affairs, underhanded political dealings, blatant criminal activity, and other dramatic episodes that erupt in the lives of successful people.
SOLD History's Worst Decisions
SOLD
Mint condition. HB. 255pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.
A compendium of cock-ups, from the Trojan War to Gallipoli, from the Boston Tea Party to the Enron scandal - a book that shows it's all too easy to go down in history as an idiot!
'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' - George Santayana, philosopher and writer
Mankind's past is strewn with mistakes - colossal blunders driven by virtue as often as vice. Some unlucky people didn't always set out to cause the mayhem they did, but somehow things just went wrong. Really wrong.
History's Worst Decisions shines a light on fifty of the biggest.
Starting with Adam and Eve's original blunder in eating the apple, author Stephen Weir takes you on a tour of catastrophes from antiquity to modern times.
From the Trojan War to Gallipoli, from the Boston Tea Party to the Enron scandal, famous figures of ancient times such as Cleopatra and Nero rub shoulders with more modern culprits like Churchill and Mugabe.
History's Worst Decisions doesn't just point the finger at individuals, the actions of governments and corporations are also scrutinised.
The motivations, often sinister and sometimes naive, that led those responsible to commit their mistakes are unveiled, as is the lasting impact that their decisions have had on the world we live in today.
About the Author
A graduate of Cambridge University, Stephen Weir is a writer and publisher who has worked on three continents.
He has worked with authors as diverse as the Australian novelist Patrick White, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the noted British military historian John Keegan, and the billionaire George Soros.
Don Aitkin on the making of modern Australia
Mint condition. PB. 288pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.
Surveys the dramatic changes in Australian society over the last half century - from the blinkered and conservative British colony' of 1953 to the progressive, confident society we are today.
'This is a remarkable book. Don Aitkin brings fresh insight to the question What does it mean to be Australian?'' Hugh Mackay
'To understand contemporary Australia this will be a mandatory read and one to be enjoyed.' Wendy McCarthy AO Chancellor, University of Canberra
'This book touches the heart and the head. It is both a celebration of the Australian people and a warning about Australia's future.' Paul Kelly
Australia has emerged, sixty years after the end of the Second World War, as one of the world's most successful societies.
How did we go from being a blinkered and conservative former British colony, to the progressive and confident society we are today? And how can we keep it this way? These are the questions at the core of What Was It All For?
In this compelling new book, Aitkin reflects on the key factors education, immigration and wealth that have produced this change. We've seen important advances in areas as diverse as sport and music, work and leisure, and religion. We've celebrated the changing status of women and observed shifting attitudes to the importance of Sunday and of churchgoing, the houses we buy and renovate, the books we read and the food we eat. But at what cost? Strong community bonds have given way to an individualist, materialist ethic, while the very notion of community' has changed fundamentally.
Australians know who we aren't, as was the case in 1950, but are we any surer now of who we are or what we stand for?
Enlivened by the life-experiences of his own high school Class of '53, Aitkin's new book is a must for anyone who wants to know how Australia got to be the way it is and what needs to be done in the future.
'This is a remarkable book. Don Aitkin brings fresh insight to the question What does it mean to be Australian?'' Hugh Mackay
'To understand contemporary Australia this will be a mandatory read and one to be enjoyed.' Wendy McCarthy AO Chancellor, University of Canberra
'This book touches the heart and the head. It is both a celebration of the Australian people and a warning about Australia's future.' Paul Kelly
Australia has emerged, sixty years after the end of the Second World War, as one of the world's most successful societies.
How did we go from being a blinkered and conservative former British colony, to the progressive and confident society we are today? And how can we keep it this way? These are the questions at the core of What Was It All For?
In this compelling new book, Aitkin reflects on the key factors education, immigration and wealth that have produced this change. We've seen important advances in areas as diverse as sport and music, work and leisure, and religion. We've celebrated the changing status of women and observed shifting attitudes to the importance of Sunday and of churchgoing, the houses we buy and renovate, the books we read and the food we eat. But at what cost? Strong community bonds have given way to an individualist, materialist ethic, while the very notion of community' has changed fundamentally.
Australians know who we aren't, as was the case in 1950, but are we any surer now of who we are or what we stand for?
Enlivened by the life-experiences of his own high school Class of '53, Aitkin's new book is a must for anyone who wants to know how Australia got to be the way it is and what needs to be done in the future.
Travels with an ABC cameraman
Mint condition. PB. 262pp. $25 including postage anywhere in Australia.
Take an entertaining and occasionally terrifying ride alongside likeable ABC TV camerman, Julian Mather and share some adventures from his 25 years on the job.
Wry humour infuses this beautifully written book.
For as long as he could remember Julian Mather wanted to be a photojournalist. then he got side-tracked.
And while military sniper seemed like a good idea at the time, he found the telescopic sights of his rifle were starting to look more and more like a movie camera, and so he fell in love with film-making. It wasn't quite photojournalism but it was better than killing people.
Shooting people with a camera was more, well, fun. And of course, life as an ABC TV cameraman was less life-threatening -- wasn't it?
From filming explosions in Los Alamos, to harrowing car journeys in Kosovo, from performing magic tricks for kids to hanging from helicopters with his camera on his shoulder, Julian goes from one exciting and perilous adventure to another.
And then there's the people he meets along the way: care workers and strippers, refugees and nuclear scientists, and the many strange and wonderful character he works with, both in the outback and the corridors of that great national institution, the ABC.
It's a bloody great job, even if it is the second best job in the world.
THE SECOND BEST JOB IN THE WORLD is a funny and entertaining look at the life of an extremely likeable TV cameraman who really has been everywhere, and done everything.
SOLD Journey along the Andes
SOLD
Mint condition. PB. 216pp. $18 including postage anywhere in Australia.
When Christopher Portway and his companion David Taylor decided to follow the royal path of the Incas from Bolivia through Peru to Ecuador and Colombia, they held no illusions as to the difficulty of the task they has set themselves.
Indeed, their first task was to find the road itself. Built by the Incas in the fifteenth century, the purpose of the royal road was to connect their southern capital of Cuzco with their northern city of Quito.
Subsequent extensions to this original road took it north into Colombia and south into Argentina. Overall, it covered some 3,250 miles.
But this road is no signposted and neatly paved way. The road when it was built varied between 15 and 24 feet wide and from being a series of rough steps cut into a rocky mountainside, to a built up causeway over waterlogged ground, to a simple waymarked track across wide empty grassland.
Along its length rest-houses, temples and forts were built. But the road today is no longer continuous and whereas in places its agger is clearly defined, in others it simply disappears - though many of the building remain.
Becoming lost in so vast a territory was a real possibility, since no only were maps of the supposed route rare, but those the two of them possessed contradicted each other to an alarming degree.
SOLD The history of the Koh-i-Noor, India's great diamond
SOLD
Mint condition. PB. 272pp. $18 including postage anywhere in Australia.
In the beginning diamonds came from India, nowhere else. And the greatest of those ancient stones cut a deep and bloody path across the history and legends of the country.
The Koh-i-Noor, the Mountain of Light, has been fought over, cursed and occasionally lost. Seized by British agents eager to please the young Queen Victoria, it now lies in the Tower of London, its ownership still disputed. Kevin Rushby follows the trail of this great jewel.
Biography of a Gallipoli hero
Incredible read. Excellent condition. PB. 393pp. $15 including postage anywhere in Australia.
From the bestselling author of Goodbye Cobber, God Bless You and Gallipoli Sniper.
In The Price of Valour award-winning journalist John Hamilton gives us an extraordinary insight into the life of a real Australian hero, Hugo Throssell.
From the bloody battles of The Nek and Hill 60 during the Gallipoli campaign, where Throssell won a Victoria Cross, to the Great Depression of the 1930s, where his life came to its tragic end, Hamilton has written a rich and vivid portrait of a fearless soldier, a national hero, a born-again socialist, a loving husband and father, and finally a victim of the war's long and destructive aftermath.
Winner of the Nib Waverley Library Award for Literature People's Choice Award 2013
SOLD The happiest man on earth!
SOLD
Here's a lovely book to make you feel hopeful about your future.
Beautiful book in mint condition. HB. 195pp. $20 including postage anywhere in Australia.
Life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful. It is up to you.
Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, a Jew second. He was proud of his country. But all of that changed in November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp.
Over the next seven years, Eddie faced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, then on a Nazi death march. He lost family, friends, his country.
Because he survived, Eddie made the vow to smile every day. He pays tribute to those who were lost by telling his story, sharing his wisdom and living his best possible life. He now believes he is the 'happiest man on earth'.
Published as Eddie turns 100, this is a powerful, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful memoir of how happiness can be found even in the darkest of times.
About the Author
Eddie Jaku OAM, was born Abraham Jakubowicz in Germany in 1920. In World War 2, Eddie was imprisoned in Buchenwald and Auschwitz concentration camps. In 1945, he was sent on a 'death march' but escaped. Finally, he was rescued by Allied soldiers. In 1950 he moved with family to Australia where he has lived since. Eddie has volunteered at the Sydney Jewish Museum since its inception in 1992. Edie has been married to Flore for 74 years. They have two sons, grandchildren and great grandchildren. In 2020 Eddie celebrates his 100th birthday.
Let's not forget the end-of-financial year sale!!
In case you wish to
find out about
how you can save
more $$ of our
already cheap books
basically take $5 off the marked price off every book and order before close of business, 30 June 2021.
How do you order? E-mail your order to sydneylawyers@gmail.com. Make sure you include a postal address. I will then contact you to arrange payment and delivery.
(p.s. I can make Indian and Scottish cheapness jokes because:
* my parents were born in Delhi
* my step daughter is one quarter Scottish
* some of my closest friends are Scottish!!)
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