Working Class Boy by Jimmy Barnes

This moving and powerful memoir hits home hard. Jimmy Barnes tells the story of James Swan, the son of Scottish parents from Glasgow who emigrated to Adelaide under the ten pound Pom provisions. James Swan's future as a rock star is irrelevant to this story, whose power relies on the drama and tragedy that the boy experienced.

James Swan did it tough, my own family didn't mind a certain amount of dysfunctional behaviour, often fuelled by alcohol, but compared to the liquor-soaked Swan family and their equally alcohol fuelled community, we were the Brady Bunch. Jimmy Barnes tells this stark story with simplicity and grace, not trying to make excuses yet still showing love for his family and understanding of their experiences.

The first volume of two, I look forward to seeing how Jimmy's legacy impacted his career as a rock star and how he learned to overcome his inheritance and become a better man but I cannot imagine the sequel being able to match this raw, beautifully told story of his childhood.

The world without us by Alan Weisman

My first completed book of the year was a re-read of the great thought experiment by Alan Weisman, The World Without Us. The premise is simple, what would happen if humans all died today, in a way that did not involve any collateral damage to the Earth?

Weisman researched deeply and consulted many experts in engineering, biology, nuclear power and other fields to present a picture of what would come next. Fascinating and a brilliant head fake in the Randy Pausch tradition. Weisman's detailed account of a future without people serves to illuminate the impact we are having upon the planet right now as many of the consequences he outlines are consequences that we will have to face up to going forward. It's a book that supports conservation whilst barely mentioning the word.

Clear, concise, elegant, relatively short. A magnificent book and one of my favourite non fiction reads over the last decade.

A Year of books

I inhale words, there's not been a night of my adult life where I haven't read something before going to bed. Once, books held sole place in my nightly Festival of Reading. Those days are long gone, my trusty tablet has intruded into my bedroom and seized control of the reading agenda, just as the Internet bulldozed its way into my daily Reading Festivals and slashed the number of books I read over time. I still read books and by most people's standards, I read a lot of books. For the owner of a rather extensive library, however,  the number has dropped below acceptable levels and my ability to read for long periods of time without stopping has also diminished. Far worse than not being the man I used to be, I'm not the reader I used to be!

It's time, indeed it's beyond time to fight back. I am challenging myself to read more books. I don't know what my baseline is any more, so this year I will set a baseline by recording each book that I read and writing a short review about it.The world, after all, needs to know what my opinions about the things that I read are. Granted, the world isn't aware of this need, but Rome wasn't built in a day.

The ground rules: A book that has been read for the first time or substantially re-read shall be counted and reviewed. Reviews will be short. Picture books do not have to be counted but longer books that I read to Cassie do count. Reviews shall be posted here and on goodreads. This post will be updated periodically with the list of books read and links to the varying reviews.

The use of cliches and other writing shortcuts is permitted.

Triumph of Justice by Daniel Petrocelli, a book review.

Triumph of Justice is a surprisingly readable account of O J Simpson's civil trial. Written by the lead counsel Daniel Petrocelli, the book details the development and prosecution of the civil case against Simpson. 

The evidence against Simpson was overwhelming and Petrocelli details how civil proceeedings work, how Simpson's depositions were used in order to impeach him in court and thus lead to his losing the civil case. 

Enjoyable, easy to read, and left no doubt in this particular mind regarding Simpson's guilt. It's not like there ever was much doubt in the first place! 

** I sometimes make reviews of books on goodreads, the reviews will invariably be pithy and offer little detail or rigorous analysis. I am re-posting them here so I have my own records of what I have reviewed and I may add some commentary here that doesn't fit the review.

On Warne by Gideon Haigh - a book review

Being a cricket tragic and a book tragic means that one ends up reading a lot of cricket books. Gideon Haigh has been writing for 20 years now and the quality of his writing has steadily improved over that period. His initial books were well researched with functional but rarely memorable prose. Over time he developed a reputation as one of Australia's finest cricket writers. With On Warne, Gideon Haigh has produced a little masterpiece including some of the finest passages of cricket writing ever committed to page.

Shane Warne, the modern master of the most difficult art in cricket, leg spin, is a fascinating character. Rather than write a conventional biography of him, Haigh has chosen to write a series of reflections on his bowling and his life, aiming to give the reader a greater sense of the cricketer and the man. He succeeds brilliantly. The paperback edition is covered with laudatory quotes about the book so for someone who's read quite a bit of Haigh's work, the expectations were high. He exceeded them. Easily. He gave a great sense of how Warne worked as a bowler and how it felt to be facing him. His analysis of the crises of Warne's career was enlightening and he demonstrated empathy for Warne without allowing that to interfere with critical judgements when he felt they were needed. 

There's only 200 pages so it's a pretty quick read and a book that I honestly didn't want to end, such was the quality of the writing. Highly recommended for cricket fans and Gideon Haigh fans.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16309930-on-warne