MARK RAY Cricket: A portrait of the game. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
Mark Ray’s third book of cricket photography captures in black and white the majesty of the game in its quieter moments. Top-level cricket in the modern era is all about crash, dash, flash and colour, all delivered at a fast pace. Twenty20 sets the tone with thrilling...
TODD LEY Smashed: Tennis prodigies, parents, and parasites. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Todd Ley’s account of his time as a tennis prodigy may be one of the most important books you will ever read on tennis. Todd Ley was born into a dysfunctional family. His father, who he refers to as ‘Mad Max’, was ‘a traumatised yet charismatic character,...
JONATHAN WATTS The Many Lives of James Lovelock: Science, Secrets and Gaia Theory. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Jonathan Watts relates the extraordinary life of scientist, engineer, Gaia theorist and spy, Englishman James Lovelock. James Lovelock is best known as the ‘father’ of the Gaia theory, which claims that the Earth ‘functioned like an organism to maintain a habitable...
HELEN GARNER The Season. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
Helen Garner’s account of a single season of her grandson’s AFL team is about more than football. Helen Garner may have begun her career as a novelist, but she has long been admired for her non-fiction, which has been defined by its fearless honesty and unflinching...
CHER The Memoir Part 1. Reviewed by Naomi Manuell
Cher is a genuine superstar who has had an extraordinary career across music, film and television. Now her memoir recounts how she got there. Cher prefaces Part 1 of her long-awaited memoir by recalling her reaction to seeing Elvis Presley performing at 1956 concert...
PETER GODWIN Exit Wounds. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Peter Godwin’s memoir charts a life of exile, ranging from the horror of civil war to family eccentricity and life in London and New York. Exit Wounds is a curious title for a memoir, especially when Godwin, early in the book, tells of an illustrated lecture on...
NRB readers’ favourite reviews of 2024
Welcome to our most popular reviews of the year. Is your favourite among them? It’s that time of year when we go through our stats to learn which reviews appealed to readers most. Is one of your favourite books on the list? Or perhaps there are a few titles...
TIMOTHY SNYDER On Freedom. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
Historian Timothy Snyder asserts that freedom is something we must work for – and collective action is imperative to maintaining it. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Timothy Snyder was in Czechoslovakia, working as a graduate student in economics and studying...
SUE PRIDEAUX Wild Thing: A Life of Paul Gauguin. Reviewed by Ann Skea
Sue Prideaux separates the man from the myth in this new account of the controversial nineteenth-century French artist. Who was Paul Gauguin? Was he a ‘colonialist’; ‘the bad boy who spread syphilis around the South Seas’; a ‘defender of native vices’, a ‘subverter of...
JOE ASTON The Chairman’s Lounge. Reviewed by Braham Dabscheck
There’s more to Joe Aston’s book about Australia’s national carrier Qantas than access to a luxury airport lounge. From 2011 to 2023, Joe Aston wrote the highly entertaining ‘Rear Window’ column for The Australian Financial Review, and delighted in exposing the...
DAVID DUFTY Charles Todd’s Magnificent Obsession. Reviewed by Bernard Whimpress
Many great men are remembered for only one thing, and for Charles Todd it is building the Overland Telegraph line from Adelaide to Darwin in the 1870s. David Dufty’s book Charles Todd’s Magnificent Obsession is not a biography but rather a venture story set against...
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