Download or read book A Selection of Smithereens Penguin Special written by Shaun Micallef and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2012-05-16 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Feel that War and Peace went on a bit? Wish there were more laughs in Catcher in the Rye? Then A Selection of Smithereens is for you. These pieces from one of Australia's funniest men (no, not John Clarke) feature the Borgias, Winston Churchill and the history behind cornflakes – and so much more! Fresh from the updated 2011 edition of Smithereens, these six short essays are small, perfectly formed and easily digestible pieces of Shaun Micallef.
Download or read book Utzon and the Sydney Opera House Penguin Special written by Daryl Dellora and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2013-10-23 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jørn Utzon designed the Sydney Opera House so that every element would be in harmony. But its construction, while it began in just that way, ended in complete discord. The visionary state government that commissioned the project was replaced by one that did not appreciate it and stopped funding it. Utzon was forced out. The interiors he planned went unbuilt and rumours were spread about his departure. In this incisive essay, to celebrate the Opera House's fortieth anniversary, Daryl Dellora draws on his own past interview with Utzon to pull those rumours apart. Along with the architect's original intentions, he reveals how misguided was the attempt to thwart one of the modern world's architectural masterpieces.
Download or read book Life in Ten Houses Penguin Special written by Sonya Hartnett and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2012-07-16 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Acclaimed author Sonya Hartnett is firmly Melburnian but has restlessly moved from suburb to suburb in her search for the 'Last House' – that special corner of the world in which to settle and find contentment. Viewing her life and work through the lens of real estate, she vividly recalls the places she has passed through on her way to finding home. Expanding on her 2010 Redmond Barry lecture, this short memoir is a beautifully atmospheric exploration of the idea of home and what it means to be a writer in a City of Literature.
Download or read book One Person One Value Penguin Special written by Bob Brown and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2012-07-16 with total page 19 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The former leader of the Australian Greens, Bob Brown has long been one of Australia's most influential and admired environmental thinkers. Here he outlines the importance of a global, humane approach to the issue of overpopulation. At once compassionate, intelligent and straightforward, this is a valuable and significant extract from Brown's memoir, Memo for a Saner World.
Download or read book Mistakes Were Made Penguin Special written by Liam Pieper and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2015-03-16 with total page 51 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Liam Pieper's made some poor life choices, but he's (usually) meant well. He's tried to write important stories, fight racial prejudice and rescue traumatised puppies. And he's ended up with life-threatening infestations, a punch in the face at a Leonard Cohen concert and brief detention by counter-terrorism experts. Taking us from Nimbin to US border security to the star-studded Chateau Marmont in LA, these four essays are compelling, insightful and very funny. Mistakes Were Made is about the gap between our ideals in life – of love, compassion, ambition – and how things actually play out. 'His writing is electric: charged with meaning and energised by surprising comedic turns.' Weekend Australian 'Charming and amusing.' Sunday Age 'The ability to laugh at yourself is arguably the most valuable quality you can cultivate as a writer, and Liam Pieper has it in spades . . . he does hilarious self-deprecation with considerable panache.' Sydney Morning Herald
Download or read book Is There No Place for Me Making Sense of Madness Penguin Special written by Kate Richards and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2014-04-30 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Almost half the Australian population will experience some form of mental illness in their lifetime yet it is still difficult to find the right treatment and stay well. Kate Richards is well positioned to ask the hard questions about our mental health system. She experienced episodes of depression and psychosis well into her adult life and is a trained doctor. Kate argues for empowering patients and their families to be active members of treatment teams. She challenges the common belief that patients are responsible – even somehow to blame – for the existence of their illnesses and makes a plea for mental health professionals to reach out across the patient–therapist divide and find a human connection. When mental health patients are heard, respected and understood, sustained healing can begin. Kate's experiences are detailed in the critically acclaimed Madness: A Memoir, winner of the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature 2014 nonfiction prize. She is now a full-time writer, working part-time in medical research, and has learnt how to live a happy and productive life with a chronic mental illness. 'With swift, bold brushstrokes she plunges us into [these] fractured worlds . . . These powerful vignettes show those suffering mental illness as ordinary people rather than as statistics or ''patients''.' The Saturday Age
Download or read book The Darkling Sisters Penguin Special written by Dorothy Hewett and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2012-07-16 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A big old Victorian terrace in Jersey Road, Woollahra, is thought to be haunted by the two Darkling sisters from the 1920s. When a young family moves in, dark images of these sisters, and of relationships closer to home, hang over them. Beautifully crafted and keenly observed, this story from Dorothy Hewett's acclaimed collection A Baker's Dozen is a stunning evocation of family, memories and neighbourhood.
Download or read book A Story of Grief Penguin Special written by Michaela McGuire and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2013-09-21 with total page 25 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Jill Meagher went missing and was then found murdered in 2012, the city of Melbourne was shaken to the core. Emotional responses ranged from grief to guilt to rage to defensiveness, but no one was left untouched. The media coverage was unrelenting and overwhelming, constantly updating readers and viewers on the latest awful details, and friends and neighbours couldn't help but discuss it. Here acclaimed writer Michaela McGuire eloquently describes how, as the story continued to unfold, it wove itself through the fabric of the city. A Story of Grief is a deeply moving examination of the act of grief and how the death of someone we don't know personally can still consume us. 'Affecting and thought-provoking.' Newcastle Herald
Download or read book Squeaker s Mate Penguin Special written by Barbara Baynton and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2012-08-15 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Squeaker, a selector, is slowly clearing his piece of the Australian bush. However, lazy and shiftless, he leaves most of the work to his uncomplaining and hardworking mate. When she is crushed under a falling yellow gum, Squeaker responds only with selfish impatience. Taught to endlessly endure by her harsh surroundings, Squeaker's mate carries the burden of her injury quietly, with only her old dog for comfort. Published as part of Barbara Baynton's iconic collection Bush Studies in 1902, Squeaker's Mate is a visceral and lyrical story about the hostility faced by European settlers in the Australian bush during settlement. From an era when literature focused almost entirely on men and male experiences, Squeaker's Mate is an important depiction of the unique trials and strengths of women.
Download or read book The Element of Need Penguin Special written by James Bradley and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2012-08-16 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beneath its peaceful exterior, the city of Adelaide and its surrounding areas have a dark history. From the disappearance of the Beaumont children to the Snowtown killings in the 1990s, it has been home to a long series of brutal and baffling killings and abductions. In The Element of Need, acclaimed author James Bradley uses this long history of violence as the basis of a fascinating exploration not just of his own childhood and adolescence, but of the psychic landscape of this most haunted of cities.
Download or read book Ahead of the Game Penguin Special written by Shaun Micallef and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2012-06-16 with total page 14 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Caspar Jolley is a thrillseeker with a gift for always staying one step ahead. Doctor Evelyn Flowers is a woman of science – and sensuality. Brought together by an off-street speedboat-racing catastrophe, will they be able to overcome a bizarre and confounding injury? Hilarious, inventive and ultimately moving, Ahead of the Game is a brilliant new story from one of Australia's most unique comic voices.
Download or read book Starting Out Penguin Special written by Ita Buttrose and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2013-02-15 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In her extraordinary career, spanning over fifty years, Ita Buttrose has been involved in every aspect of the media, from newspapers and magazines to television and radio and now, electronic publishing. Starting as a copygirl on The Australian Women's Weekly, by the age of sixteen her journalism career was well underway when she was granted a cadetship on the Daily and Sunday Telegraphs. In Starting Out Ita describes discovering her love of journalism and publishing, how she overcame the challenge of being a woman in the workplace in the fifties and sixties, and the excitement of seeing her first byline in print. Starting Out is an engaging and insightful account of the early days of Ita Buttrose's career, depicting events that have shaped one of Australia's most prominent and distinguished women.
Download or read book The Simple Life Penguin Special written by Rhonda Hetzel and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2014-03-26 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rhonda Hetzel feels passionately that living simply leads to a richer, more fulfilling existence. Having made the decision to live frugally, embrace sustainability and opt out of the capitalist consumerist mindset, she set about working out how to achieve her goal, learning traditional skills, reducing her spending and environmental impact and focusing on the simple things that make life worth living: family, friends, and a home-cooked meal. This is the story of her journey and the lessons she has learned along the way. Rhonda relates why she wanted to change her lifestyle, what simple living means to her, and offers guidance to those thinking about taking the same path.
Download or read book Adam s Bride Penguin Special written by Elizabeth Jolley and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2012-09-14 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a small Australian country town, a young woman is accused of the murders of her own daughter and the local rat catcher's wife. As she stands to face the charges in court, a stranger enters, determined to explain her crimes. This masterly story from Woman in a Lampshade perfectly displays Elizabeth Jolley's remarkable talent for character and story.
Download or read book What Would Gandhi Do written by Michael Kirby and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2013-11-15 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Regarded as the Father of the Nation in India and globally as the most successful exponent of nonviolent civil disobedience, Mahatma Gandhi is known as a symbol of wisdom and compassion. Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby, himself a tireless advocate for non-discrimination and human rights, here shows the applicability of Gandhi's views on some of the world's most pressing current issues: women's rights, climate change, animal rights and sex and sexuality. Adapted from Kirby's 2013 University of New South Wales Gandhi Oration, What Would Gandhi Do? shows how remarkably useful Gandhi's insights remain when confronting the world's challenges. 'Cut[s] to the heart of the holy man's ideas and also provide[s] some wisdom for a modern audience.' Daily Telegraph
Download or read book Does Cooking Matter written by Rebecca Huntley and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2014-10-29 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cooking is, for many Australians, a chore. And it's now easier than ever to order takeaway, eat out at an affordable restaurant or buy pre-prepared food. In such an environment, what incentives are there for us to cook meals that get people around the table? Rebecca Huntley, determined to answer if and why cooking still matters to Australians, talks to MasterChef judges, men learning to cook later in life and children first being exposed to the wonders of fresh produce. Does Cooking Matter? is a thorough and engaging examination of our current food culture, and a call to arms to bring Australians back into the kitchen.
Download or read book The Ellis Laws written by Bob Ellis and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2014-11-07 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these witty, outrageous ten laws, the well-beloved gadfly, sage and wordsmith Bob Ellis investigates dislocation and security, competence and charisma, youth and old age. He explains why bicycles encourage premarital sex, moving house too many times drives humans mad, 'the rising price of a roof ' is the root of all economic evil, and, most ominously, 'power flows to the most boring man in the room'. He alleges, pretty persuasively, that all CEOs – except, perhaps, George Lucas – should be sacked, fined or imprisoned. This is a book to cherish, re-read and pass on to generations less informed of how humans were at the turn of the millennium, and how much they got wrong.
