Blog Archives
Feathers and fins, Janet Hunt
Kakapo: Rescued from the Brink of Extinction Alison Ballance Craig Potton Publishing, $49.99, ISBN 9781877517273 The Tasman: Biography of an Ocean Neville Peat Penguin Books, $62.00, ISBN 9780143011385 Time was when “non-fiction” meant staid, largely black-and-white books on a…
Tagged with: Alison Ballance, Craig Potton Publishing, Issue 94, Janet Hunt, Neville Peat, Penguin Books, Winter 2011
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Doing our fair share, Tim Hazledine
The Carbon Challenge: New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme Geoff Bertram and Simon Terry Bridget Williams Books, $39.99, ISBN 9781877242465 You will remember Pascal’s Wager. Blaise Pascal (1623-62) was a French mathematical prodigy and philosopher who suggested that even if…
Tagged with: Autumn 2011, Bridget Williams Books, Geoff Bertram, Issue 93, Simon Terry, Tim Hazledine
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Hotting up, Karen Hartshorn
Melting Point: New Zealand and the Climate Change Crisis Eric Dorfman Penguin Books, $37.00, ISBN 9780143008682 There are several worthwhile reasons for a book such as this to exist. Firstly, there is no longer any serious scientific debate about whether…
Tagged with: Eric Dorfman, Issue 86, Karen Hartshorn, Penguin Books, Winter 2009
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Felling a forest giant, Janet Hunt
Kauri Keith Stewart Viking, $60.00, ISBN 9780670045525 Keith Stewart’s Kauri is the latest in a succession of publications about this iconic tree, following books by esteemed natural history writers A H Reed, J G Erne Adams, Gordon Ell and others…
Tagged with: Autumn 2009, Issue 85, Janet Hunt, Keith Stewart, Viking
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
With backpack and library card, Chris Maclean
Going Bush: New Zealanders and Nature in the 20th Century Kirstie Ross Auckland University Press, $39.99, ISBN 978186904246 If I have read about 50 pages and still not been drawn into an author’s world, then I usually put the book…
Tagged with: Auckland University Press, Autumn 2009, Chris Maclean, Issue 85, Kirstie Ross
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Strictly for the birds, Steve Braunias
Charles Fleming’s Cape Expedition Diary: Auckland Islands, 1942-43 Mary McEwen McEwen Associates, $40.00, ISBN 0473113848 Strange to think that the welcome swallow – a common sight everywhere in the North Island, and absent only in Fiordland and parts of Southland…
Tagged with: Charles Fleming, Issue 84, Mary McEwen, McEwen Associates, Steve Braunias, Summer 2008
Posted in History, Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in History, Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Why we are here, Bernard Carpinter
Looking for Darwin Lloyd Spencer Davis Longacre Press, $39.99, ISBN 0781877361227 Science has somehow acquired an almost inhuman reputation. Scientists are regarded as dry, dusty specimens, cut off from society and probably working on projects that will cause more harm…
Tagged with: Bernard Carpinter, Charles Darwin, Issue 81, Lloyd Spencer Davis, Longacre Press, Winter 2008
Posted in History, Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in History, Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
On a wing and a prayer, Christine Johnston
How to Watch a Bird Steve Braunias Awa Press, $24.99, ISBN 9780958262965 Steve Braunias is preaching to the converted in the case of this reviewer, who lives within cooee of native bush and shallow water. I can admire white-faced herons…
Tagged with: Awa Press, Christine Johnston, Issue 80, Steve Braunias, Summer 2007
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Posted in Natural History, Non-fiction, Review
Boudicca does it for a jar of mead, David Hill
A Short History of Sheep in New Zealand Richard Wolfe Random House, $29.99, ISBN 1869418204 Instructions for New Zealanders Richard Wolfe Random House, $34.99, ISBN 1869418506 The Smell of Powder: A History of Duelling in New Zealand Donald Kerr Random…
Tagged with: Australian National Maritime Museum, David Hill, Donald Kerr, Exisle Publishing, Issue 79, John Dunmore, Nicola McCloy, Random House, Richard Wolfe, Spring 2007
Posted in History, Natural History, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology
Posted in History, Natural History, Non-fiction, Review, Sociology