We're All Going to Die

'All living things are structured for death. It is an intrinsic part of us.’

If the title suggests that this is a morbid book, I can assure you it’s not. We’re All Going To Die is a well-researched, cleverly written book about the inevitable in every living being’s life. This book will enrich your life, for it teaches you to embrace each day and live it as if it was your last; mindfully and with gratitude.

~ The passages shared by Kaminsky about her own life and feelings are candid and brave. She’s not an observer. She is part of it all. ~

Dr Leah Kaminsky has taken four years to write this book. She has gone to great lengths to collect data and information through countless research methods, interviews, and personal experiences about dying from famous and not-so-famous people.  She uses it all to inform and entertain, and teach people to except the word death as part of life.

Kaminsky is one of the many people that live in fear of death. She confesses death has been her greatest anxiety. Writing this book helped her accept the truth and become a more compassionate healer. She delves into the many fears associated with death - including suicide, ageing, Aged Care, and assisted dying-in an insightful and enlightened way.

I found this book inspirational. The passages shared by Kaminsky about her own life and feelings are candid and brave. She’s not an observer. She is part of it all.

Each story and experience has been perfectly positioned so that the whole book is interspersed with surprises that produce gasps of pleasure just when you think you’ve read the best part. The stories amuse, make you reflect, and count your blessings. Lots of extended reading is noted in detail for those interested in more.

So many things about death are hidden from us in dark places.  Kaminsky moves them into the light. I applaud her courage and craftsmanship in creating such an entertaining and informative book about such a difficult subject.

‘Thinking about death and dying is an important part of finding a better way to live.’ Therefore, while the book reminds us how fragile and temporary life is, it simultaneously encourages us to live boldly, and accept the changes that life brings.

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Title: We’re all Going to Die

Author: Dr. Leah Kaminsky

Publisher:  Harper Collins

Publication Date: June 2016   $27.99 RRP

 Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9781460749999

Type:  Non Fiction

Why Did They Do it? Inside the Minds of Australia’s Most Unlikely Killers

Here’s a terrific book for readers who are interested in analysing personalities and their motives, especially where a crime is involved. An investigative journalist and a psychologist have here collaborated to write a book revealing reasons for murders committed in Australia over our more recent past. There’s Kathryn Knight, for instance, who stabbed and skinned her partner with the intention of serving his cooked body to his children, Peter Caruso who bashed his wife to death after almost fifty years of seemingly happy marriage, and eight murderous others. All of their cases have been on the public record, making headlines all over the country.

Why did these people kill (usually loved ones)? Motives differ in each case, but co-writer McGrath shifts most of the blame on personality disorders that all of the killers suffer from. She is at pains to point out that personality disorder is not a mental illness; instead it is a mental disorder (such as avoidant, narcissistic and antisocial borderline personality disorder). All the killers in this book have problems with appropriate response, interpersonal relations and impulse control. People with personality disorders have difficulty dealing with everyday stresses and problems; under stress they try to control an outcome which can lead to an interpersonal crisis – and sometimes to committing hideous crimes.

Of great interest, especially in the book’s introduction, is an insight into the effects of parenting styles; later, as each murder case is analysed, the reader learns about each killer’s childhood, how they were parented and how their life experiences led them to commit the crimes that stunned the nation. In the body of the book, the journalist and the psychologist dissect the crimes, the evidence, the testimony, the confessions and the overwhelming diagnostic evidence to analyse the minds and motivations behind the murders.

The setting out of each chapter is different from the usual, starting with a cast list of those involved in the crime – victims, murderers and relatives and friends. Sub-headings include motive, lead-up to the crime, the murders, the sentencing and the perpetrator’s background. Following this is a diagnostic chart with DSM 5 indicators such as that used by psychologists and psychiatrists when diagnosing mental disorders (and mental illness). Then there’s a timeline of key events. The authors have worked hard – and succeeded – in trying to make the book comprehensive, and yet the whole is easily accessible to any curious lay-person. At the conclusion of each part of the book is an oversight into what we can learn from the murders committed – say, for example, by Robert Farquharson (who drowned his three small sons as an act of revenge against his wife) and John Myles Sharpe (who murdered his small daughter and his wife because she was pregnant and he couldn’t cope with the thought of another child).

In most of the cases written about here, the perpetrator is generally described by people who knew them as average, ordinary or normal. But, as the book reveals, they all carry the burden of disorder. Words to describe Why Did they Do It? Fascinating, well-researched and documented, highly readable, and recommended if you can stomach what some people will do some of the time. 

Reviewed by Di Bates

Title: Why Did They Do it? Inside the Minds of Australia’s Most Unlikely Killers
Author:  Cheryl Critchley and Dr Helen McGrath
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Publication Date:  August 2015
RRP: $32.99
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781743533178
Type: Non Fiction - True Crime

Unsolved Australia

To have a loved one go missing must be one of the worse tragedies that could befall a family or friend; yet in Australia 38,000 people go missing every year. Some of course, return home or eventually make contact with loved ones. But this book, with its sub-heading Terrible Crimes, Incredible Stories, tells of 18 infamous cases of true life from Australia’s past where people, from children to adults, have mysteriously disappeared and never found.  The stories certainly make for gripping reading, but the publication of the book also offers hope. The hope is a reader – or readers -- of this book might have their memory pricked and thus provide further clues to help cold case investigators in their quest to solve find their loved ones – or even the remains of their loved ones.

Author Justine Ford has reported on the top-rating TV series Australia’s Most Wanted; as well, she has covered scores of chilling homicides and missing persons’ cases, has access to police all over Australia, and has interviewed surviving relatives, all of whom want to know the truth so their minds can be finally put to rest.  

All of her stories here are chilling and sad, but perhaps the story which most lingers in this reader’s mind is that of seven-year-old Linda Stillwell who disappeared from St Kilda, a Melbourne suburb, in 1969. Shortly after this, a 21-year old-sailor, Derek Percy, grabbed another Melbourne girl, Yvonne Tuohy, held a dagger to her throat and abducted her. In this case there was enough evidence to convict Percy and he was sentenced to prison. However, detectives then, and decades later, believed that Percy – a vile, sexually violent man – had abducted and murdered other children (perhaps nine of them), including Linda Stillwell.

More than a decade ago, Detective Senior Sergeant Wayne Newman was handed Linda’s case. By this time Percy was in the terminal stages of lung cancer. Faced with the possibility that Percy might confess to his crimes, the cold case detective spent hours by his bedside trying to build up a rapport. Percy denied harming Linda, as well as the other innocent victims whose names were sadly associated with his own. However, he gave enough information for a coroner to decide that Percy had caused Linda’s death even though her body was never recovered.

Not all relatives of missing people are able to have such closure. There are numerous stories in Unsolved Australia where relatives still know nothing about the whereabouts of their loved ones even decades later. But what is obvious in these stories is that there is always hope. The stories are all detailed and fascinating, and it is gratifying to know that detectives still work on cases to try to bring closure to relatives. The book also includes interesting interviews and profiles of personnel in the murder ‘industry’, such as a forensic pathologist, a hair examiner and forensic biologist, an archaeologist, a forensic anthropologist, a defense barrister, a missing person’s counselor and a victims’ advocate and crime crusader.

It is hoped that Ford’s well-researched and well-written accounts will achieve one of the book’s main goals – to have readers come forward to provide evidence which might help to solve at least one of these dastardly and heart-breaking crimes.

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Title: Unsolved Australia

Author: Justine Ford

Publisher:  Pan Macmillan

Publication Date: $32.99 RRP
Format: Paperback

Type: Adult Non Fiction                                                                                                               

Courage Has No Colour: The True Story of the Triple Nickles - America’s First Black Paratroopers

Ten years in the making, this extraordinary and well researched history is a tribute to the Triple Nickles, America’s first black paratroopers. It is the first book on this subject, and is rich with statistics and historical information. Its author is the Sibert Medal winner of Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who dared to Dream.

This valuable historical document showcases the lives of the 555^th Parachute Infantry Battalion that was never called to engage in combat because of their colour. Their strength and determination to be recognized and accepted as American citizens took years of fighting discrimination, segregation, intolerance, bashings and death.  

The artwork included in the book is by Ashley Bryan, now an award-winning children’s book author and illustrator. These paintings were created while Bryan was a stevedore in the Army during WW2. There are also photos, which are few in comparison to what they should be, for black battalion units that fought were ‘left out of the record’. They were ‘never filmed, never photographed, never recognized’ until many years later.

This moving and evocative journey through history filled with courage and strength, will remain unforgettable to every reader who ventures into this narrative. Superbly presented with fantastic prose, it will stay on the owner’s shelf as a reference to all that was and all that wasn’t.

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Title: Courage Has No Colour: The True Story of the Triple Nickles - America’s First Black Paratroopers

Author: Tanya Lee Stone

Publisher: Walker Books $19.95 RRP

Publication Date: November 2012

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 978076366487

Type: Historical Non Fiction  

The Little Vegie Patch Co.

by Fabian Capomolla and Mat Pember

Pan MacMillan. Australian, Nonfiction. Softcover RRP $45.00

Reviewer - Sandy Fussell

The Little Vegi Patch Co. is a gardening guide that focuses on growing vegetables in small spaces.

I wasn’t expecting to learn anything. I already know a great deal about vegetables and container gardening. I have other vegetable reference books but none of them are set out so beautifully or so easy to read and locate information. The photographs are delicious, and the power of a mouth-watering image to inspire a morning working in the garden should never be underestimated.

The vegetable information pages (A-Z of Edible Plants) detail growing guidelines, space considerations, soil preparation and potential problems. Other useful information includes sections on composting, worms, fertilising, water, saving seeds (which I found particularly interesting), recycling and even building a scarecrow.

There are detailed descriptions on how to use small spaces and recycled products – raised beds, no-dig gardening, propagating in toilet rolls and a golf club trellis. The discovery of the ‘spud tower’, a wire cylinder lined with straw and a centre of compost, allowed me to finally grow potatoes in my suburban backyard.

The authors, Fabian and Mat, belong to families who take great pride in their freshly grown produce. The book is filled with personal anecdotes. They admit a passion for home-grown tomatoes, one I enthusiastically share. When Mat’s Italian grandparents migrated to Australia, the most treasured possession was packed in the middle of the suitcase, in a jar, in a jar, in a jar – Nonno’s finest tomato seeds.

This book is a visual feast and a wealth of information. It is an invaluable reference for all things vegetable – small spaces and otherwise. I can’t imagine any vegie gardener who would not love to receive this book as a gift.

Visit the Little Vegie Patch Co. website http://littleveggiepatchco.com.au/ 

Chic on a Shoestring

by Mary Jane Baxter

Simon and Schuster. Adult Non-Fiction. Paperback RRP $29.99

Here is a wonderful book that I just had to possess. Money is a bit tight these days and I love to “collect” things and in my world of recycling and reusing, Chic on a Shoestring is perfect.

Have you got some wonderful outfits in the wardrobe that no longer fit or are a bit unfashionable but you don’t want to throw them out? I have and Mary Jane Baxter has shown me how to give my clothes, shoes, bags and hats a new lease on life. Even my broken jewellery can be created into some wonderful new accessories.

Who knew that an old tie could be reused into a cute purse, or the 60’s pom pom – wow what you can do with them! A change of a few buttons and voilà, your dress, cardigan, jeans or jumper have a trendy new lease of life. There is very little sewing and what there is, is explained step by step in the front of the book. So no excuses!

This is great for new ideas - my cheap plain umbrella has been transformed into a striking accessory for trudging through the rain!

http://www.maryjanemillinery.co.uk/

War Dogs

by Shane Bryant with Tony Park

Pan Macmillan. Australian, Autobiographical. Paperback rrp $34.99

Guest Reviewer – Ian Brown

War Dogs is the story of Shane Bryant who works with highly trained dogs in Afghanistan.

Shane has loved dogs since he was a boy, but never thought about working with them. It wasn’t until after he joined the Australian Army as a 17-year-old and saw a photo of an army dog handler, that he knew what he wanted to do.

He became part of the army bomb squad working with dogs. Eventually Shane tired of army life and joined the NSW Police Force where he again worked with dogs.

After leaving the Police Force he did various jobs, eventually joining a private firm through an old army friend. The firm works mainly with the American Army in Afghanistan, in some of the most dangerous areas in the country. Here Shane became involved with the highly trained dogs that search for bombs on the roadside, in towns, and any area that troops are entering. This is perilous work and quite often Shane has been involved in enemy fire.

The conflict in Afghanistan is a very topical subject and a number of Australian soldiers who have unfortunately been killed by roadside bombs. War Dogs provides additional insight from an unusual perspective as well as an interesting story.

http://www.tonypark.net/
http://wardogs-afghanistan.blogspot.com/ 

Somewhere Down a Crazy River

by Robyn Catchlove

Pan Macmillan. Adult Non-Fiction, Autobiographical, Australian. Paperback rrp $34.99

Reviewed by Barbara  Brown

While reading Robyn Catchlove’s autobiographical Somewhere Down a Crazy River I found myself looking back through my own life with a few regrets. What a fantastic journey Robyn has had. A women in the late 60’s, early 70’s travelling around the Top End of Australia in a fishing boat with her man. Some might call her mad, others brave, but the free spirited “anything can happen” approach of her life is something I envied.

Robyn was born, raised and settled into married life in Adelaide. But the white picket fence and two and a half children lifestyle were not what she wanted. So in her early twenties, Robyn Catchlove went on an adventure, leaving her husband and marriage behind.

When she reached Cairns, fate found her a soul mate, Les Coles, and together they set about building a boat. Not just a fishing boat, but a boat made with their love, wishes and dreams. When the Jean King was launched into the ocean, Robyn and Les’ lives as professional fishermen begin.

What is most inspiring about Robyn’s eight years surviving in a very male dominated world, is her calm acceptance of whatever happens. One minute they are on top of the world and the next they are floating adrift in the oceans of the Cape York Peninsula. There is beauty everywhere Robyn looks and even in life threatening situations, she can still see what makes Australia so wonderful.

Through Robyn’s wonderful and eloquent writing the colours, people and landscape of the Top End are captured so brilliantly that you would swear you have just seen a snapshot of the place.

More Cakes for Kids

The Australian Women’s Weekly

ACP Books (Random House). Adult Non-Fiction, Children's Non-Fiction, Australian. Paperback rrp $29.95

Reviewed by Barbara Brown

This beautifully presented, bright covered, sparkling cookbook was sitting amongst a number of other books on my dining table when my six year old son’s eyes were drawn to it. Soon it was bedtime and the next thing I know he is sitting beside me with More Cakes for Kids in his hot little hands wanting to read it as a bedside story.

Yes it is a cookbook. Yes it is all about making wonderful cakes to delight children. And yes there is something there for everyone. My boy couldn’t decide on which cake he would like for his birthday so he has chosen two! He has even done an A4 drawing of each of the cakes to remind me. I only have six months to create them.

You can never go wrong with a Women’s Weekly Cookbook, the original cookbook is still used in my house, and after looking through More Cakes for Kids I am quite confident that my simple culinary skills will be able to handle all of these cakes. There are 70 cakes to choose from, from a Chicken Cake to Ice-cream Sundaes, from Board Shorts to a Circus Tent. There is even the selection of numbers. All children’s tastes (and some older people) will be happy. My son’s two favourites – the Buzzy Beehive and Tiny Town.

One cake book I would definitely recommend to have in your cupboard – you could even use the examples to create great adult cakes. And all ingredients including decorations are listed in the back with photos and easily accessible from your local supermarket. A template sheet is tucked away nicely in the back sleeve of the book for extra help in your next creation. Let’s get cooking.

GUEST BLOGSPOT - Goldie Alexander

Mentoring Your Memoir


a ‘how-to-write’ and a personal memoir all in one.

Our history is plentiful in stories, but many can be lost if they are not captured in words or images. The more we write and collate, the more our rich cultural and multi-cultural heritage has a chance to survive. But for this to happen, the keeping of personal records is integral.

Many of our older citizens are asked, ‘When you going to write your memoir?’ However, for many the prospect appears too daunting. They have interesting stories to relate, but have never tackled a book length project before. Though they may spend a lot of time telling their stories, collating bits of the past, and even researching the net, when it comes to ‘putting it all together’ they are not sure how or where to begin, much less how to continue.

My personal journey began when a grandson’s questions proved how little he knew about his forbears and even my own history. Given that I am now in my seventh decade, it was time to get it all down. Few will argue that a memoir relies on memory. But memory is a capricious thing that rarely belongs to reason and logic, instead returning to us as a series of dreams and images that may be misleading. For some it can be the very spark of life, others can rarely begin a sentence without a ‘Can you remember when…?’ and ‘When we were young…’

But this is not my experience. Rather I have always tended to live in the present or in my imagination, so when I began my memoir I wondered how much I would recall. But as I kept on writing the incidents returned as if they’d happened only last week… the enjoyment, the pain and above all, the learning about what life has to offer. Yet even those memories have been corrupted by the process of looking back through eyes altered by immense social and technological upheavals. If we were to visit forties and fifties Australia, it would be like entering a foreign country, we would seem to have so little in common.

I am not vain enough to think that my life warrants placing in print or that in any curious way I stand out from the crowd. So my reasons for adding my own life story to this text is that there are three standard questions thrown at writers. Children, who are always more direct than adults, will ask: ‘How old are you?’ To which my jokey response is, ‘Too old.’ The second is, ‘How much money do you make from your books?’ to which my answer is: ‘Never enough.’ The third question that comes from anyone interested in the writing process regardless of age or gender: ‘Where do you get your ideas?’ and this is usually followed up by ‘How do I write my own life story?’

So Mentoring Your Memoir is my attempt to answer those last two questions as clearly as I know how. It’s when I go back into my writing that I begin to realise how much of my early history is in there, and how much it influenced what I later wrote. This is not unusual. Unless writers forage into history or write biography, all use their own experience as material. So it’s not what the narrative is about that’s significant, rather how it is transformed and crafted into something worth reading.

Because I write both fiction and non fiction for adults and children of all ages, plus teach, mentor and take workshops in Creative Writing, this text seemed an excellent opportunity to combine all my skills. Thus this guide also offers a practical and stimulating approach that leads the writer through the creative process from research, structure, crafting, plotting, beginning and endings, to controversial issues and publishing, offering practical hints for both experienced and novice writers, Hopefully, Mentoring Your Memoir will act as a stimulus for those that have still to record a life story.

Goldie is keen to facilitate workshops. More about her can be found on http://www.goldiealexander.com/
www.bookstore.bookpod.com.au/  

Politically Incorrect Parenting

by Nigel Latta

Harper Collins Australia. Adult Non-Fiction. Paperback rpp $27.99

Have you got a child under twelve? Are you pulling out your hair on how to stop these children from driving you around the twist? Are you sick of all those self-help gurus who TELL you what to do? You need to read Politically Incorrect Parenting.

I have one child left in the young mind moulding age and thought I would just skim through this book. I have two older kids and they are fine. Yeah I still have to yell at them to do things, going blue in the face while they just grin and walk away. I don’t need to be told how to raise my kids. I’m doing ok.

Who am I kidding? After reading the Preface I then went to the Introduction, next I found I was hooked into reading all the way through.

Nigel Latta is a Clinical Psychologist but he is also a father and readily admits to his mistakes. There are things in this book, simple things, that I have now tried and my family life is already starting to change. The older two may take a little more “power of persuasion” but I think they will come around.

If you want to know how to get your kids to eat the right foods, stop the yelling and screaming or even just tidy up their room, Politically Incorrect Parenting is the book to read.

Keep an eye out for The Politically Incorrect Parenting Show which will air on Channel Nine later this year.

http://www.goldfishwisdom.co.nz/

Just Kids

by Patti Smith

Allen and Unwin. Biographical, Adult Non-Fiction. Hardback rrp $39.99

Just Kids is the story of two young people on a collision course to find each other in the depths of Brooklyn in the late 60’s.

Patti Smith wanted to be a poet, artist, and performer. Robert Mapplethorpe wanted to find fame as an artist. The androgynous Smith and the sexually orientated Mapplethorpe were two halves of a pod. Empty shells on their own but once joined together an object that could bring life to others and themselves.

The story of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe as two highly successful individuals is well known but Smith’s story of how they met and were part of each other’s push to succeed is something different – unexpectedly sweet and beautiful.

Smith drops famous and some not-so-famous names of actors, singers, writers, poets and muses but her innocence at the time shines through. She was just a kid. To her Jimi Hendrix was simply a man climbing stairs to a party and Janis Joplin a lonely but beautiful woman.

If it wasn’t for Mapplethorpe we may never have heard the wonderful and soulful tunes of Smith. If it wasn’t for Smith we may never have seen what a camera could produce with Mapplethorpe behind the lens. Muses in mirror image. This is a wonderfully heart warming and inspiring story of two highly influential artists of the 70’s and 80’s.

Hoax Cuisine

by Maggie Groff

Simon & Schuster. Australian, Adult Non-Fiction, Adult Other. Paperback rrp $14.99

I had just spent the day organising the local school fundraising BBQ – stood for hours trying hard to please the little ones. Other mums had brought in their homemade delicacies from earthmother kitchens. Not me – I had no time to cook so I brought shop-bought lamingtons (they never even came out of the packaging!). Exhausted, I flopped onto my bed and picked up Hoax Cuisine. Just a quick look to see what it was all about. Perfect timing!

Maggie Groff was obviously speaking directly to me with the comment “Overworked, Under-appreciated.” I read on about the earthmother kitchens (see paragraph above) – hmmm. She was onto my problem immediately…

Then “fake the bake and take the credit” jumped out at me.

Groff invites you to write in the book, make notes and generally fall in love with the book. I did all that, and now can’t live without Hoax Cuisine and Maggie Groff.

Hoax Cuisine – part cheating, part real cooking – is a short cut cookery book for women on the go. There are so many tips and tricks that I can’t decide where to begin. If you have to present a three course meal to visitors, friends, or the worst judges of all, family, then this book will take the fuss out of preparation and presentation. If you have to take a treat to the school fete – there are some great tricks and ideas.

If you have little or no time to be in the kitchen– just do yourself a favour and buy this book! You too can produce 5 star meals. Hoax Cuisine will become your kitchen bible! And the “earthmothers” will embrace you into their world. Faking it has never been easier!

The Life of Akmal

by Akmal Saleh

Random House. Australian, Biographical, Adult Non-Fiction. Paperback rrp $34.95

Some comedians are funny live or on television but when they put pen to paper it just doesn’t work. Akmal Saleh is not one of those comedians. The Life of Akmal is a belly-laugh autobiography of twists and turns that brought Akmal to the stage.

Akmal was born in Cairo in the early 60’s. When he turned 10 he immigrated with his brother and parents and grandmother to Sydney. His family became members of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Australia and Akmal’s life appeared to head towards religion. But questioning his beliefs and those of the church, he loses religion.

At the same time, Akmal tries to please his hard working parents who want to give him the best. They work numerous jobs so that he can attend a Sydney private boy’s school. But Akmal is a human magnet for all sorts of odd people and strange happenings … and he ends up flunking school and wasting his life doing odd jobs. Drifting along with no sense of purpose.

Finally he discovers stand-up comedy. Finally he stops failing.

Akmal Saleh has titled his book in homage to Monty Python’s The Life of Brian, which was the reason he decided on a career in comedy and not religion or drug smuggling.

The Life of Akmal will have you laughing from the first page to the last. The teenage children in my house are fighting over who will read it next. Great idea for a gift for someone who likes a laugh. A little bit or a whole lot.

http://www.akmal.com.au/

Before Your Teenagers Drive You Crazy Read This

Battlefield Wisdom for Stressed out Parents

By Nigel Latta

Harper Collins Publishers. Adult Non-Fiction. Paperback rrp $26.95

Guest Reviewer - Jo Burnell

The title says it all. This book lives up to its name. I love my teenage kids, but there are days when I feel I’ve lost all control. Nigel Latta not only rescued me, but provided plenty of belly laughs along the way.

He’s a Psychologist working with difficult teenagers in New Zealand because he loves it. You can tell by the way he writes. He actually has fun getting round seemingly insurmountable odds.

Not only that, he shares his secrets through easy-to-read frameworks, basic principles and simple plans, but there’s nothing dry between these pages. The Weapons of Mass Disruption that teenagers use to confound their unsuspecting parents were so familiar, I wondered if Nigel had been spying through our kitchen window.

With chapter headings like: The teenage brain: not the whole walnut and Mad Uncle Jack, I knew I was in for an entertaining time. Real kids and families were described to explain concepts, then I was invited to the use the principals and frameworks to solve the described problems. Before reading this book, I would have shrugged and had no clue where to start, but towards the end everything was starting to make sense.

When I now turn to my own kids, life seems so simple. Don’t get me wrong. There are still days when I wonder who stole my kids and replaced them with Mad Uncle Jack and his Crazy Side-Kick. However, I now have a trusty reference guide that hasn’t failed me yet.

http://www.goldfishwisdom.co.nz/

Food for Sports Performance (The Complete Guide to)

Peak Nutrition for Your Sport

by Dr Louise Burke and Greg Cox

Allen & Unwin. Australian, Adult Non-Fiction. Paperback rrp $35.00


Food for Sports Performance was originally published in 1992 and this latest edition has been revised, expanded and updated. Over 500 pages power packed with information that is both insightful and instructional for any sporting person, from swimming, running, cycling to boxing, football, tennis, just to name a few.

You don’t have to be a contender for the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games. If you are keen to improve your performance and want some insider knowledge on the best foods and when and where to have them, Food for Sports Performance is a must for your library.

For sporting adults it is the book they need to read. Although it is not aimed at children it is a good stepping stone to prepare them and the chef of the house, for eating right to achieve the best results. Rehydration, sports supplements and foods, fatigue factors, refuelling, electrolytes and alcohol are discussed. There are tables, case histories and profiles and individual sport tips. This compendium will help answer many of questions.

The authors have professional and hands-on experience. Burke and Cox are both athletes and sports nutritionists who work for the Australian Institute of Sport.

This is one book that should be on every athlete and coach’s bookshelf. As the parent of a child who runs and wants to achieve her best, I’m glad I have it to refer to at any given time.

Wildflower

An Extraordinary Life and Untimely Death in Africa

by Mark Seal

Hachette Australia. Adult Non-Fiction. Paperback RRP $32.99

Guest Reviewer - Jo Burnell

Joan and Alan Root were pioneer film-makers in Africa in the 1960s and 70s. They took us inside termite mounds, over the jungles of Africa in a hot air balloon and swimming with hippos, sea lions and marine iguanas. Alan was usually the on-camera force, but nothing would have been possible without Joan’s amazing organisational skills and courage.

Mark Seal is an investigative journalist who brings the jungles of Africa to throbbing life in Wildflower. I flinch at the injuries Alan and Joan sustained and feel my eyes widen at the incredible adventures they enjoyed on a daily basis. No detail is spared as Mark paints word pictures of both breathtaking beauty and unforgiving landscapes. That was and is life in Africa.

The industrial revolution of flower-growing around Lake Naivasha (Kenya) is also outlined in detail. It’s a story of commercial intrigue, political snakes and ladders and humanity’s struggle to survive. Who are the good guys and bad guys in the imminent death of this irreplaceable ecosystem? It depends on your point of view.

Wildflower is Joan’s story. Shy and retiring in her youth, Joan’s passion for wildlife led her to become a powerful anti-poaching force in her later years. She chose to remain in Kenya in the late 1990s even when several friends were brutally murdered for their strong conservation beliefs. I was mesmerised by the lives these white crusaders led, but what captivated me more was Joan’s unrequited love story.

She was irresistible. Physically attractive as well as having a deep spiritual resilience, I struggled to accept there might not be a ‘happily ever after’ for her. I turned every page, hoping her luck would change.

Rivetting is the only word I can find to describe Wildflower.
http://www.mark-seal.com/

How to Make Money on eBay

by Todd Alexander

Allen & Unwin. Adult Non-Fiction, Australian. Paperback rrp $14.99

I love eBay. I shop on eBay. I have sold my trash and clutter on eBay. But could I really make money on eBay? According to Alexander the answer is Yes.

But… It isn’t as easy as uploading your picture, setting the price and hoping for the best. It’s all about marketing. Unlike taking your goods to the local market to sell, eBay has lots of rules and regulations. However, in the long run, you would probably make more profit selling on eBay than you would at the local market.

Alexander has written a concise and easy to use book with step-by-step instructions on how to set up your eBay business and how to continue running your business profitably – so long as your goods are in demand.

Todd Alexander knows what he is writing about. He has been employed at eBay Australia for eight years and is now Head of Customer Insight, the department responsible for the successful growth and development of sellers. Who better to instruct on the machinations of eBay and selling?

After reading How to Make Money on eBay the only problem is to find what to sell… Anyone got any ideas?

My Nine Lives

by Diane Cilento

Penguin Books. Australian, Biographical, Adult Non-Fiction. Softcover rrp $26.95

Diane Cilento is a wellknown Australian actress of the 1950s and 1960s. She married Sean Connery before he became famous as James Bond. Then left it all to move to Far North Queensland (or FNQ as she calls it) where she built the Karnak Playhouse, a centre for the arts.

The book, My Nine Lives, is about her fascinating life - all nine of them! She was brought up in Queensland, the daughter of two famous doctors, travelled at the age of 15 to London to study ballet but ended up taking acting classes. She married an Italian actor , performed in many plays in London and Broadway, and gave birth to a baby girl. She later married Sean Connery and had a son. After leaving Sean, she moved around England. Eventually to Queensland. She settled in Mossman, north of Cairns, where she built her own outdoor theatre — named "Karnak" — in the rainforest. The venture allowed her to participate in experimental drama and music. Around this time she married the playwright, Anthony Shaffer.

During her many lives Diane searched for her spiritual fulfilment, finally studying under the British mystic and spiritual teacher John G Bennett. From Gurdjieff to Sufism, Diane's journey has been deep, long and amazing.

Diane Cilento is one of those rare people who has followed her heart, in love, in her profession, and in her spiritual life. The journey has led her ever forward into new territory, even to Mecca as a Sufi pilgrim.

I expected to read about an actress who had married a famous actor and lived a glamorous life but I found much more - learning about mysticism and ultimately seeing inside myself.

http://www.karnakplayhouse.com.au/Home.11.0.html

Princess Masako

by Ben Hills

Random House. Australian, Biographical, Adult Non-Fiction. Paperback rrp $34.95



Princess Masako is the fascinating story of the Japanese Royal family, in particular Crown Princess Masako and her husband, Crown Prince Naruhito. It’s a love story but also a tragedy.

Masako Owada was a Harvard educated diplomat, a successful career woman in the competitive world of Japanese government bureaucracy. Marrying the Crown Prince meant sacrificing her career for a life of strict palace protocol - with no real role other than to bear an heir.

For seven years Masako avoided the Prince’s proposal. Deeply in love, Naruhito persisted until they were married in 1993. But this is no fairy tale. The Prince and Princess were prisoners of the Kunaicho bureacrats and the conventions of Japanese royalty. According to the author’s sources, after conversing with Clinton in English and Gorbachev in Russian at a state dinner, Masako was reprimanded and reminded her role was to ‘smile nicely’.

The pressure to bear a son was an enormous strain on the Princess. The 2600-year-old dynasty was in danger of perishing. Although her health was failing Masako eventually bore a daughter. Japan began to consider changing the law of male succession until Nurahito’s sister-in-law fell unexpectedly pregnant at 39, and bore a son.

Today Masako participates in few public duties and is under constant medical care. Officially ailing from ‘adjustment disorder’, she is widely believed to be suffering depression. The one thing that no-one is disputing is Prince Nurahito’s ongoing love for his wife.

Author Ben Hills is a Wakely award winning journalist and a foreign correspondent with over thirty years experience. Having spent three years reporting in Japan, he is an authoritative voice on a taboo subject. The book raises many issues closed to discussion in Japan. Did Masako have IVF? Is she suffering from a mental illness? Are the Kunaicho, ‘the men in black’, to blame for her illness? Although not published in Japan, this ‘unauthorised’ biography generated much controversy. You can read about this ‘second story’ on the author’s web site http://www.benhills.com/.