Books and Media

my book reviews - ramblings of a pathologically eclectic generalist
a film diary - with brief comments and the occasional review
Australian bookshops and publishers
rec.arts.books.reviews - book reviews on Usenet
Reading Notes - including Harry Potter criticism.

Support my book-buying habit by buying books - or music, etc. - from Amazon

Links and News

a straightforward biographical novel set in Korea in the 1920s, about labour organiser and activist Kang Juryong Capitalists Must Starve (Park Seolyeon) [my review]

worms you don't want to meet Parasites: The Inside Story [my review]

The Human Journey From Ape to Agriculture The Five Million Year Odyssey [(my review)]

Four Colors Suffice: How the Map Problem Was Solved [my review]

"Along the way Wilson develops enough of the mathematics involved to give the reader a broad understanding of how the proof works."

Dr Seuss studied at Oxford! BBC

How to Drive a Nuclear Reactor [my review]

Children of Mars: The Origins of Rome's Empire [my review]

"The Roman Republic was a federation of elite families who worked together for mutual benefit, but in a highly competitive environment"

a nice combination of broad themes and illustrative details, in their social and political contexts Religions of Early India: A Cultural History (Richard H. Davis) [my review]

a novel of an alpine village the mountain above it Great Fear on the Mountain [(my review)]

How Amsterdam Became the Cycling Capital of the World Bike City Amsterdam [my review]

"the interaction of the city's geography, planning and politics with its cycling culture, people, and infrastructure"

short historical essays accompanied by poems The History of Wales in Twelve Poems [my review]

A New History of the Thirty Years War Europe's Tragedy

"a long and involved, but rewarding, account of one of the most traumatic periods in European history"

(For more, see my blog Pathologically Polymathic or the latest book reviews.)

Other Resources

I don't really follow the publishing industry, or the latest in book gossip - I prefer to wait till five or ten years after a book's publication, when the fuss has died down a little and a longer-term perspective is available. If you're after book news I recommend the Complete Review's Literary Saloon, which also has links to other literary weblogs.