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Archive for the ‘Book Reviews’ Category

Book Reviews

November 18, 2011

Disconnect

Disconnect
Devra Davis
Scribe Publishing  2011
ISBN: 9781921640988
$32.95
288 pp, including index and appendix

This is an important book for the information it provides.  At the same time, it is poorly written and/or poorly edited.  Let me get the negative out of the way first.

Devra Davis is a scientist with a PhD and other written works to her name.  I would have expected her to be clearer and more precise in her use of the English language and clearer in her logical exposition.  I found whole paragraphs repeated in different sections of the book and, in some areas, gaps in explanations of important concepts or data.  The irony in this is palpable: the disconnect of the title refers largely to the gap in what is known by the telecommunications industry and by governments and what is communicated to the public.

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Book Reviews

July 3, 2011

The Book of Lies

The Book of Lies
Mary Horlock
Text Publishing  2011
ISBN: 9781921758102
$32.95
288 pp

Mary Horlock twists her yarns expertly into the strands that form the lay of rope that winds its way through a difficult, interconnected past and present on the Island of Guernsey. She tackles aspects of the Nazi occupation in the Second World War and the struggles of a teenage girl more than forty years later.  Horlock uses her extensive and intimate knowledge of the island and its people, along with an understanding of teenage angst and imagination, to give us an inspired tale of family frictions, loyalties, courage, deception and betrayal, loss, love and loneliness.

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Book Reviews

June 23, 2011

Devil in the Milk

Devil in the Milk
Keith Woodford
Craig Potton Publishing
2007 (updated 2010)
ISBN: 9781877333705
NZ$34.99
257 pp, including index

Most people in Australia, New Zealand, North America and Europe drink cow’s milk, some in large quantities and many from an early age.  What Prof Woodford writes about in this book should therefore be of concern to hundreds of millions of people.  It is a story of research, business, government and vested interests.  Those whose interests seem to be least considered in the way milk is presented to us are the consumers of the milk.

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Book Reviews

June 7, 2011

The Panic Virus

The Panic Virus: Fear, Myth and the Vaccination Debate
Seth Mnookin
Black Inc 2011
ISBN: 9781863955188
$32.95
448 pp, including index

When we are dealing with large issues that have a huge impact on society and the lives of the individuals in that society, it is important that we have available to us books such as The Panic Virus, to assist us in navigating our way.  Vaccination is a global phenomenon with almost global support from governments and the medical professions, from academics and the World Health Organisation.  It also has its many opponents and detractors.  There are powerful and emotional arguments on both sides of the debate.

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Book Reviews

May 16, 2011

Indignez-Vous!

Indignez-Vous!
Stéphane Hessel
(Bilingual edition) translated by Damion Searls
Scribe 2011
ISBN: 9781921844225
$9.95
64 pp

Be Indignant! This is the call to action from a veteran of the World War II French Resistance. This is not a voice coming to us from the past but the current voice of a now still-feisty 93-year-old writing less than a year ago.
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Book Reviews

May 9, 2011

Essays on Muslims and Multiculturalism

Essays on Muslims and Multiculturalism
Edited by Raimond Gaita
Text 2011
ISBN: 9781921656606
$26.95
192 pp

In some respects this is a timely book and at the same time it is a shame it was not available ten years ago, as it may have helped to inform the debate at a time that John Howard was trying to change the values we live by and the understanding we have of those values.

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Book Reviews

April 1, 2011

The good man Jesus and the scoundrel Christ

The good man Jesus and the scoundrel Christ
Philip Pullman
Text 2011
ISBN: 9781921758096
$23.95
245 pp

“Each of us can interpret a story in a different way, depending on our own unique life experiences.  We may disagree with a story, agree with it, or learn something new from it.  An author usually has a purpose for the story, and there are always some sort of underlying values behind the text he writes.”1

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Book Reviews

February 28, 2011

Black Glass

Black Glass
Meg Mundell
Scribe 2011
ISBN: 9781921640933
$32.95
288 pp

Black Glass is gripping, frightening, clever and thought-provoking.  It is written in an unusual style with an unusual structure and I resented every interruption that prevented me from reading it in one sitting.

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Book Reviews

February 22, 2011

Fall Girl

Fall Girl
Toni Jordan
Text Publishing 2010
ISBN: 9781921656668
$32.95
240 pp

Following a successful debut novel with a second one can be daunting for a writer.  With Fall Girl, Toni Jordan has come up with a worthy, well-crafted follow-up to Addition, showing that she has it in her to keep on entertaining us. (more…)

Book Reviews

February 1, 2011

The Force

The Force: living safely in a world of electromagnetic pollution
Lyn McLean
Scribe 2011
ISBN: 9781921640292
$35
400 pp

As Hamlet told Horatio: “There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy”1.  This could be a slogan for much of what affects our lives today.  We live almost constantly immersed in an electromagnetic ‘soup’, but most of us are unaware of it.  In The Force, Lyn McLean renders this soup visible and exposes much of the misinformation and obfuscation perpetrated by those with vested interests.  She compares the current state of denial of adverse health impacts to the situation that for so long surrounded asbestos and tobacco.

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