Image of cover of book The Language-Lover’s Lexipedia by Joshua Blackburn, reviewed by Ann Skea in the Newtown Review of Books.

JOSHUA BLACKBURN The Language-Lover’s Lexipedia. Reviewed by Ann Skea

by NRB | 5 February 2026 | Non-fiction | 1 Comment

Joshua Blackburn has compiled a treasure-trove of the humorous, the obscure, the trivial and the surprising in this survey of our language. The Language-Lovers Lexipedia: An A to Z of Linguistic Curiosities began as a quiz game invented by Joshua Blackburn to relieve...

Image of cover of book Woodside vs The Planet: How a company captured a country by Marian Wilkinson, reviewed by Braham Dabscheck in the Newtown Review of Books.

MARIAN WILKINSON Woodside vs The Planet: How a company captured a country. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck

by NRB | 3 February 2026 | Non-fiction | 0 Comments

Australian governments are addicted to fossil-fuel exports that harm the climate and return little to the country. How did this happen? In this Quarterly Essay Marian Wilkinson examines Australia’s contribution to global warming and greenhouse pollution, in particular...

Image of cover of book Rock Art and its Legacy in Myth and Art by Christoph Baumer and Therese Weber reviewed by Ann Skea in the Newtown Review of Books.

CHRISTOPH BAUMER and THERESE WEBER Rock Art and its Legacy in Myth and Art. Reviewed by Ann Skea

by NRB | 29 January 2026 | Non-fiction | 0 Comments

This account of ancient rock art in Eurasia, Arabia and the Sahara attempts to discover the beliefs of the people who created it. This is a big, beautiful and fascinating book. It is a weighty tome, not just because there are large colour images on most of its glossy...

Image of cover of book When Australia Became A Republic by Esther Anatolitis reviewed by Braham Dabscheck in the Newtown Review of Books.

ESTHER ANATOLITIS When Australia Became A Republic. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck

by NRB | 27 January 2026 | Non-fiction | 0 Comments

Esther Anatolitis reveals just how closely Australia’s constitution ties us to the whims of the English monarch, and makes the case for change. It is a safe bet that, other than constitutional lawyers and the odd eccentric, most Australians have not, and probably...

Image of cover of book City of Others by Jared Poon, reviewed by Robert Goodman in the Newtown Review of Books.

JARED POON City of Others. Reviewed by Robert Goodman

by NRB | 22 January 2026 | Fiction, SFF | 0 Comments

Set in Singapore, Jared Poon’s first novel is fantasy fiction that asks whether our brains only register what we want to see around us. Over the last few years there has been a proliferation of Asian authors drawing on their own cultures to make significant inroads...