Non-Fiction

Non-Fiction

On The Ashes by Gideon Haigh

Reviewed by Gerard Healy Gideon Haigh could theoretically open the batting for Australian cricket writers and the bowling for the English cohort, he’s that good. He’s also a very versatile writer full stop. In this collection of writings about the cricket tests between Australia and England starting in 1882, he covers an eclectic range of

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Non-Fiction

Blurb Your Enthuiasm by Louise Willder

Reviewed by Richard Tutin Looking for a new book to read is not easy. Within our favourite genres, there is so much choice. How can we decide before forking out our hard-earned cash and then find that our choice wasn’t as inspired as we thought it was? The answer lies in in a paragraph or

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Non-Fiction

Formula One Down Under: Australian Grand Prix History

Reviewed by Richard Tutin It’s always interesting when a governing sports body calls its prize event a circus. It can mean one of two things. They may be referring to the event’s peripatetic nature as it travels the world through the year, or it could refer to the behind-the-scenes dramas and semi-dramas that assist the

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Non-Fiction

Crickonomics by Stefan Szymanski and Tim Wigmore

Reviewed by Richard Tutin I don’t think Australian cricket lovers have really come to grips with the depth and diversity of the modern form of the game. Though they are familiar with the traditional cycle of tests, one day internationals and now T20, they may not be aware of how many countries field teams and

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Non-Fiction

Greatest Moments in Australian Sport by Mark Beretta

Reviewed by Richard Tutin Australians love their sport. Television and streaming networks pay big money to get the rights to broadcast all forms of sport from cricket and football through to car racing and the summer and winter Olympics. Some networks specialise their focus on one or two different formats. Others such as the Seven

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Non-Fiction

Wildlife in the Balance by Simon Mustoe

Reviewed by E. B. Heath Animals aren’t commodities; they are the sole mechanism that delivers human life support.  Conservation can’t succeed until we’ve had this conversation, until everyone learns this. In The Foreword to Wildlife in the Balance, Ian Redmond OBE, Ambassador to the UN Convention on Conservation, writes:  Wildlife in the Balance is perhaps

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Non-Fiction

How Many More Women? by Jennifer Robinson and Keina Yoshida

Reviewed by Gail McDonald This is a powerful book which details the many examples of what happens once a woman makes a complaint of sexual assault. The authors looked at the incidence of these happenings around the world with many of those noted in the book being very high-profile cases. The authors also note that,

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Non-Fiction

The Quicks by Robert Drane

Reviewed by Richard Tutin  It is often said that cricket is a gentleman’s game. Whoever believes that doesn’t understand cricket’s true nature. When an opening batter takes their crease, and they look up waiting for the bowler to send one down, it is not a quiet sedate ball that will come towards them. It will

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Non-Fiction

ABC of Australian Cricket by Ken Piesse

Reviewed by Richard Tutin Cricket is much more than just a game that we watch. To some it’s a way of life. In the ABC of Australian Cricket Ken Piesse tells some of the stories, real and apocryphal, that demonstrate the love and passion that cricket lovers have for their favourite game. These stories have

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Non-Fiction

Daughters of Durga by Manjula Datta O’Connor

Reviewed by Margaret Elizabeth Today, right now, you could be living or working next to a woman suffering from domestic violence. A woman who needs your help. Daughters of Durga: Dowries, Gender Violence and Family in Australia (2022) exposes the causation of dowry-based violence perpetrated against women from Southeast Asia. Women living in Australia. Professor

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Non-Fiction

What Just Happened?! by Marina Hyde

Reviewed by Antonella Townsend  Chinese curse:  May you live in interesting times. Humour is a non-contact sport in Britain, I think they are pushing for it to be included in the Olympics, in which case Marina Hyde will certainly win gold.  I haven’t relished reading political and cultural commentary so much since the late, very

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Non-Fiction

August in Kabul by Andrew Quilty

Reviewed by Norrie Sanders The withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in August 2021 left a vacuum that was instantly filled by the Taliban – intimidating militia who had been forcibly ousted from government two decades before. In the preceding days and weeks, many of the 5 million residents of Kabul lived with unremitting chaos

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Non-Fiction

If Nietzsche Were A Narwhal by Justin Gregg

Reviewed by E. B. Heath Whatever is done for love always occurs beyond good and evil. Nietzsche, F. W. (1894) As far as this reader is concerned Justin Gregg is preaching to the choir in his conviction that cognition and the subjective experience of animals are much the same as humans, albeit not as complex. 

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Non-Fiction

Le Fric: Family, Power and Money by Alex Duff

Reviewed by Richard Tutin I don’t think that too many people watching the Tour de France on their electronic devices or are lucky enough to stand roadside on the route of one of the stages give much thought, if any, to the behind-the-scenes makeup of the race itself. They see the riders giving their all

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Non-Fiction

So you want to Live Younger Longer by Dr Norman Swan

Reviewed by Clare Brook An author that provides readers with scientific research concerning health and wellbeing and can be simultaneously amusing is clearly a gifted communicator.  Dr. Norman Swan has achieved this in his latest book. So you want to Live Younger Longer? is packed with a wide range of material.  First off it’s all

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