Book reviews: my Christmas Haul.
Was given 3 books for christmas! What a well trained flatmate I have.
From the Ladybird for Adults series, "How it works: The Dog". This book though delightfully takes the mickey out of Ladybird books - as an example, we are introduced to an allergy dog for people allergic to dog hair. The authors claim to have also written "Cooking Your Cat" but no such book by them exists; they have written "How it works: The Cat". I will probably acquire it.
Written by Barry Jones we have Knowledge Courage Leadership. This is partly a call for a new political party, but mostly a crotchety old man saying 'get off my lawn' and going on about how much better the world would be if that annoying democracy nonsense couldn't influence anything he cares about; he casually refers to Stalin as 'a great man' here. The best bit of the book, and quite good, is a series of character portraits of interesting people he has met over his career. A quite tedious section follows rehashing his glory days fighting against the death penalty, the only notable part being a throwaway line praising Robespierre as an opponent of the death penalty (wait, what?!) The final section of the book is a not-quite-whitewash of the French Revolution.
Finally, a biography:Albanese. Nearly given up for adoption, the story of Albo's early life is a painful tale of suffering caused by his single mother's last minute decision to keep him. (Keeping a running total as the book progresses, I counted 6 families that would have been better off if he'd been adopted).
The bulk of the book is dedicated to his time in politics; it is quite 'Life of Brian' with the call of uniting against the common enemy always being against a different faction of the ALP. It is notable that the final quote praising him on the back cover is from Joe Hockey.
Usefully, a recorded exchange between Albo and Mark Latham helped me understand some of the differences between the inner city Laborites and 'Westies' such as Latham and myself. A fair chunk of the book is dedicated to the fight to save his local football club; it is an interesting look at grassroots campaigning. And finally, there is the hunt to discover his father; a look into genealogical research that I enjoyed.
While the book is a bit of a hagiography I still found it well worth reading; the author didn't let her goal get in the way of writing a good book.
From the Ladybird for Adults series, "How it works: The Dog". This book though delightfully takes the mickey out of Ladybird books - as an example, we are introduced to an allergy dog for people allergic to dog hair. The authors claim to have also written "Cooking Your Cat" but no such book by them exists; they have written "How it works: The Cat". I will probably acquire it.
Written by Barry Jones we have Knowledge Courage Leadership. This is partly a call for a new political party, but mostly a crotchety old man saying 'get off my lawn' and going on about how much better the world would be if that annoying democracy nonsense couldn't influence anything he cares about; he casually refers to Stalin as 'a great man' here. The best bit of the book, and quite good, is a series of character portraits of interesting people he has met over his career. A quite tedious section follows rehashing his glory days fighting against the death penalty, the only notable part being a throwaway line praising Robespierre as an opponent of the death penalty (wait, what?!) The final section of the book is a not-quite-whitewash of the French Revolution.
Finally, a biography:Albanese. Nearly given up for adoption, the story of Albo's early life is a painful tale of suffering caused by his single mother's last minute decision to keep him. (Keeping a running total as the book progresses, I counted 6 families that would have been better off if he'd been adopted).
The bulk of the book is dedicated to his time in politics; it is quite 'Life of Brian' with the call of uniting against the common enemy always being against a different faction of the ALP. It is notable that the final quote praising him on the back cover is from Joe Hockey.
Usefully, a recorded exchange between Albo and Mark Latham helped me understand some of the differences between the inner city Laborites and 'Westies' such as Latham and myself. A fair chunk of the book is dedicated to the fight to save his local football club; it is an interesting look at grassroots campaigning. And finally, there is the hunt to discover his father; a look into genealogical research that I enjoyed.
While the book is a bit of a hagiography I still found it well worth reading; the author didn't let her goal get in the way of writing a good book.