New to the Paperback - Non-Fiction - December 2008
American Journeys
Don Watson
In a journey that took him to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, to the deep south, to Yellowstone National Park, Chicago and more, Don Watson explores the religion, history, heroes and poverty of the United States and wonders about its peoples' condfidence in a divine plan. Travelling by rail gave Watson a means to experience American life with its citizens and the people he meets reveal much about the contradictions of American life. He also considers his own feelings towards America - a fascination and appreciation of the genius of the place and revulsion at its worst qualities. Beautifully written, humorous and erudite.more details...
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American Revolution: Quarterly Essay 32
Kate Jennings
Caught between despair and hope Jennings offers a series of memorable snap-shots of America in fascinating flux: Bush s last days in office; sub-prime meltdowns; markets, trust and community; the saga of Sarah Palin and the meaning of Obama.more details...
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Best Australian Stories 2008
Delia (ed.) Falconer
Featuring established masters as well as fresh new voices, this is a perfect book for summer and an ideal introduction to Australia s best contemporary writing. By turns global and domestic, subversively funny and wrenchingly sad, Falconer s criteria for selection were that the stories be surprising and moving and they are. Contributors include Nam Le, Anna Krien, Robert Drewe, Emily Ballou, Nicholas Shakespeare, Bernard Cohen, Deborah Robertson, Frank Moorhouse, Tony Birch, Marion Halligan, Will Elliott and more.more details...
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Best Music Writing 2008
Daphne Carr
An annual feast of essays, missives, and musings on every musical style by critics, novelists, and musicians themselves. Culled from publications ranging from blogs to the New Yorker, the 2008 edition captures a diverse year of music.more details...
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Language Of Things
Deyan Sudjic
Deyan Sudjic charts our relationship - both innocent and knowing - with all things designed. From the opulent excesses of the catwalk, or the technical brilliance of a laptop computer, to the subtle refinement of a desk lamp, he shows how we can be manipulated and seduced by our possessions. In an age when the word 'designer' has often become synonymous with the cynical and manipulative, Sudjic examines the qualities behind successful design and explores the conflicting tensions between high art and mass production. An insight into a different way of viewing the multitude of objects that surrounds us.more details...
more Design...
Moveable Feasts
Gregory Mcnamee
How did humans discover how to grow plants like olives, coffee and rice and why were such foods chosen over other foods ? In this surprising and interesting compendium McNamee researches history,anthropology,chemistry, biology and other fields to discover why these foods have become staples of our diets- and there's recipes from culinary traditions around the world.more details...
more Food and Cooking...
New Theories Of Everything
John Barrow
The quest for the theory of everything a single key that unlocks all the secrets of the Universe is the focus of some of the most exciting research about the structure of the cosmos. Updating his earlier work Theories of Everything with the very latest theories and predictions, Barrow tells of the M-theory of superstrings and multiverses, of speculations about the world as a computer program, and of new ideas of computation and complexity. Barrow also considers and reflects on the philosophical and cultural consequences of those ideas, and their implications for our own existence in the world.more details...
more Science...
Notes From Walnut Tree Farm
Roger Deakin
For the last six years of his life, Roger Deakin kept notebooks in which he wrote his daily thoughts, impressions, feelings and observations. Discursive, personal and often impassioned, they reveal the way he saw the world. This is a collection of the best of these writings, capturing Deakin s extraordinary, restless curiosity into the natural and human worlds, his love of literature and music, his knack for making unusual and apposite connections, his humour - and an optimistic view of our changing world.more details...
more The Natural World...
Outliers: The Story Of Success
Malcolm Gladwell
Gladwell argues that we pay far too much attention to what successful people are like, and too little attention to where successful people are from: their culture, their family, and their generation. Examining how the careers of Bill Gates and the performance of world-class football players are alike; what top fighter pilots and The Beatles have in common; why so many top lawyers are Jewish; why Asians are good at maths; and why it is correct to say that the mathematician who solved Fermat's Theorem is not a genius, Gladwell overturns many conventional notions.more details...
more Philosophy, Politics and Current Affairs...
Place For A Village: How nature has shaped the city of Melbourne
Gary Presland
Beginning with a reconstruction of what the Melbourne area would have looked like when first seen by Europeans, Presland looks at how the development of Melbourne has been shaped by the nature of local environments. Draws on historical and scientific sources to create a fascinating picture of the flora and fauna of the original landscape and the continuing influence of nature on the shape and size of Melbourne. Beautifully produced.more details...
more Australian Non-fiction...
Tall Man
Chloe Hooper
The story of the death of Cameron Doomadgee, who died on Palm Island and the controversial trial following his death which has had lasting repercussions throughout Australia. Hooper examines all angles of the case, writing of Doomadgee, of the history and culture of Palm Island and of the policeman, Christopher Hurley who was brought to trial.more details...
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This Book Has Issues
Christian Jarrett
Jarrett and Ginsberg assemble a wide variety of intriguing psychological issues in order to show just how much we can learn from our failings. Covers everything from the real reasons we fall in love to the science behind a good night's sleep, from extreme disorders to the truth behind the ways we live our everyday lives, and includes some of history's greatest psychological mistakes. Introductions to groundbreaking psychologists, and experiments and tests to unveil the way your own mind works are intriguing and entertaining.more details...
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Travels With Herodotus
Ryszard Kapuscinski
Travels with Herodotus depicts Kapuscinski s beginnings as an inexperienced young Polish journalist and reveals what drove him throughout his extraordinary life. At every encounter with a new culture he is curious and observant, thirsting to understand its history and its people. Everywhere and always, he has with him his travelling companion, The Histories by Herodotus. Here in his final book the thoughts of Kapuscinski and Herodotus, though separated by twenty-five centuries, are intertwined to produce a unique work of reportage and insight.more details...
more History...
Voyages Of Discovery
Tony Rice
Ten of the most significant natural history expeditions spanning three centuries are documented in this beautifully illustrated book. Sir Hans Sloane's journey to Jamaica in 1687; James Cook's perilous Pacific crossings; and Darwin's historic voyage aboard the HMS Beagle are three of the journeys shown with images drawn from the Natural History Museum in London. The stories behind the images - of explorers, naturalists, artists and photographers - entwine into a fascinating study of human achievement and natural wonder.more details...
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