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A fabulous chunk of Australiana in this wide selection of anecdotes compiled by John Laws and Christopher Stewart that ranges through Australia's history: from the First Fleet to the rock 'n' roll of the 1950s, these are fascinating stories that detail the people and events that helped shape the Australian legend. There's heroism, perseverance, strange coincidences genius, tragedy and warfare. And with every tale, no matter how well-known - there was always a little more to it. -
Gerald Durrell's debut book is the chronicle of a six months collecting trip to the West African colony of British Cameroon - now Cameroon - that Durrell made with the highly regarded aviculturist and ornithologist John Yealland between December 1947 and August 1948. Their reasons for going on the trip were twofold: to collect and bring back alive some of the fascinating animals, birds, and reptiles that inhabit the region and secondly, for both men to realise a long cherished dream to see Africa. It's a combination of comic exaggeration and environmental accuracy, portrayed in Durrell's light, clever prose that successfully launched Durrell's career as a writer of both non-fiction and fiction, which in turn financed his work as a zookeeper and conservationist. -
Shocking and scandalous stories of the rich, famous and shameless! 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 at its most raw - that have brought down presidents, prime ministers, clergy and famous people from every walk of life. There's political misconduct; murder and mystery; false prophets; double lives and private perversions of world-recognised names. The scandals 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 often share selfish desires, yet each tale shocks us - sometimes for its audacity, sometimes for its complexity and sometimes for its pure idiocy. When will people who are in high and public positions realise that they shouldn't get involved in illegal activities or naughty behavior? -
The Gay Genius: Lin Yutang
$65.00The biography of Su Tungpo, the celebrated and famous philosopher, poet, artist, government official and gourmand of 10th century China. He was a product of a centuries-old social system - a member of the literati. Taught to absorb the classics of Chinese literature at a young age, he rose to prominence by his remarkable performance at the national examinations, the entry point into a life of participation in the upper levels of the Chinese government. He was outspoken in his criticism of corrupt practices of government officials. From the book: ...an incorrigible optimist, a great humanitarian, a friend of the people, a prose master, an original painter, a great calligraphist, an experimenter in wine making, an engineer, a hater of puritanism, a yogi, a Buddhist believer, a Confucian statesman, a secretary to the emperor, a confirmed winebibber, a humane judge, a dissenter in politics, a prowler in the moonlight, a poet, and a wag. He sounds like someone we'd all love to know. Illustrated with black and white photographs of truly beautiful Chinese art of the period.
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There's scandals and snippets galore in this coverage of the lives and carryings-on of famous, near famous and infamous over fifty years. There's actors and royals, writers and singers and lords and ladies. The Cliveden set (the Profumo scandal...) get a mention, as do Barbara Cartland, Cilla Black, the Astors, Cecil Beaton, Agatha Christie, Richard Attenborough, Mick Jagger, Sir Edmund Hillary... as well as shocking news events such as the sinking of the Titanic. Illustrated with black and white photographs. -
Andrews believed that that the coastal land of New South Wales has some of the most beautiful country on earth. In this book he nostalgically revisited excursions he made as a boy and a young man - the catchments of the Manning, the Hunter and the Hastings rivers. The Manning area, where his great-grandfather was a pioneer was particularly interesting to him and ha special tales to tell - all before the bulldozer and the chainsaw. In the snowland of the Snowy Mountains are Andrews; first forays on skis at the time the Kosciusko State Park was just emerging, and before the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Authority and the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Filled with maps, photographs, sketches and Andrews' poems. -
After only three years of experimentation with the Keyline system, Yeomans self-published this, his first of several books. It is an eye-opening look at how to help land retain all the rainfall it receives, opening the whole soil body to root penetration and releasing the natural fertility of the land. As a mining engineer and gold assayer, Yeomans had developed a keen sense of hydrology and equipment design. Upon his brother-in-law's death in a grass fire, Yeomans assumed management of a large tract of land he later named Nevallan in New South Wales. There he developed improved methods and equipment for cultivation. His designs won him The Prince Philip Design Award Australia in 1974. His Keyline principles or concepts (Keyline Design) have been adopted by farm owners in almost every country in the world. Yeomans' Keyline concepts are now part of the curriculum of many sustainable agriculture courses in colleges and universities across the world. Illustrated with diagrams and black and white and colour photographs. -
Kenneth Williams, star of stage, radio, screen and Carry On put together a collection of witty, wicked put-downs, retorts, comebacks - and all those great responses we never think of at the time! These have been collected from far and wide across the world of film, literature, politics and celebrity. From Dorothy Parker, observing a notorious society flirt: That woman can speak eighteen languages and can;t say 'No' in any of them. Or Groucho Marx, to a delighted author: From the moment I picked up your book until I put it down, I was convulsed with laughter...some day I intend to read it... After W.C. Fields made his feelings about children widely known, he was asked how he really liked children: His response? "Boiled or fried..." Illustrated by ffolkes. -
Whole Life: Morris Lurie
$10.00Morris Lurie, author, wrote more than twenty books including Flying Home, which was selected by the National Book Council as one of the ten best Australian books of the decade. His Twenty-Seventh Annual African Hippopotamus Race was voted by the schoolchildren of Victoria as their favourite story book by an Australian author.
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