Reid All About It

Mensun Bound – The Ship Beneath the Ice: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance. Pb. $37.00.

On 21 November 1915, Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, Endurance, trapped in Antarctic pack ice for nine months, finally sank to the bottom of the Weddell Sea. On 5 March 2022, Endurance was rediscovered at a depth of 3,000 metres. She had waited some 38,328 days. The three-masted, wooden vessel was intact, upright on the seabed in an astonishingly well-preserved state. The author, a marine archaeologist and expedition director, gives an exciting and informative account. It was complemented by Frank Hurley’s original 1914-15 photographs from the wreck.

Earl Swift - Across the Airless Wilds: The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings. HC. $53.00.

Just over 50 years ago - on 12 December 1972 - the Apollo 17 Lunar Rover – driven by astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, came to a halt at Nansen - Apollo Crater [Moon Coordinates 20.11°N 30.53°E]. As they gathered soil samples - at 7.6km from their Lunar Module - our species reached its outermost limits of human travel. The final three Apollo moon missions [15,16, and 17] have long been overshadowed by the glory of Apollo 11 and the rescue and return of Apollo 13. These space pioneers now have the vivid and fascinating narrative that their extraordinary achievements deserve. They represent the pinnacle of human space exploration until we land on Mars.

Simon Morrison – Mirror in the Sky: The Life and Music of Stevie Nicks. HC. $40.95.

The death of singer Christine McVie in November 2022 brings the [for me] melancholy realisation that – after 45 years - this may spell the end of the British – US band Fleetwood Mac. Although with this protean musical outfit, one is never entirely sure. That said, this study of the life and musical legacy of McVie’s “soul sister”, Stevie Nicks - by a Princeton Professor of Music, no less - and author of earlier works on Russian Ballet and the composer Prokofiev – arrives at a very opportune time.

Sebastian Payne - The Fall of Boris Johnson: The Full Story. Pb. $37.00.

“Hasta la Vista, Baby!” In July 2022, this final sign-off concluded Boris Johnson’s turbulent three-year, 44-day [2019-2022] British Prime Ministership. A celebrity politician who had planned a 10-year dynasty in power was brought undone by numerous scandals, most notably the COVID lockdown breach dubbed “Partygate”, which saw him fined by the police. Other sins were a chaotic method of governing, “blagging his way through”, lack of attention to detail, miscommunication and no real support.

Despite Johnson’s electoral success and his “getting Brexit done” mantra, once divisions within the government spread to the Cabinet, he was doomed. A lively and detailed account of a Prime Ministership that was always destined – the author suggests - to come to a sticky end.

Niki Savva – Bulldozed: Scott Morrison’s Fall and Anthony Albanese’s Rise. Pb. $29.99.

Contrary to revenge traditionally being a dish served cold, Niki Savva’s merciless dissection of Scott Morrison - the Prime Minister, his personality, his decaying government, its electoral demise and the advent of Anthony Albanese is served up piping hot. She despises Morrison - “a deeply flawed personality, a duplicitous, damaged leader with limited horizons and appalling judgment” - as well as the current right-wing populist complexion of the Liberal Party. Morrison’s political decline is contrasted with a professional Labor Party campaign that learnt from the mistakes of 2019 and was united with a single-minded pursuit of power.

Her unrivalled access to Canberra insiders and gossip makes this a detailed, compelling narrative.

Until next time, Stephen

Colours of Film

The use of colour is an essential part of film. It has the power to evoke powerful emotions, provide subtle psychological symbolism and act as a narrative device. In this book, Charles Bramesco introduces an element of cinema that is often overlooked, yet has been used in extraordinary ways. Using infographic colour palettes, and stills from the movies, this is a lively and fresh approach to film for cinema-goers and colour lovers.

The Dialectic of Creativity

Various Authors

Why are we creative? Why are we not?

Hermann Vaske explores these questions in conversations with the most influential creatives of our time, identifying the stimuli as well as the beta blockers, the killers of creativity. Often it is those very blockages, the threats to creativity that allow it to thrive. A dialectical synthesis of opposites. Today, as we are facing an existential threat to our planet, it is time to come up with new ideas, more creative than ever.

Jordie Albiston has combined daily snapshots from Australian photographic pioneer Frank Hurley’s Antarctic diaries into a moving poetry collage. This volume, comprising about 120 poems, offers a portrait of Hurley as photographer and as man, at the end of the heroic era of exploration. Albiston explores the idea that historical narratives can yield a strange and unexpected power when subjected to the pressures of poetic form, and in this way she brings Hurley’s thoughts and actions to life in a manner never seen before.

Princesse de Clèves

It might be that Madame de Lafayette’s novel of passion is one of the greatest in the genre. It has generated in John Watson a response in iambics, which seem in English the only way this expressive grandeur can be attempted. Watson has in the past been drawn similarly to the ancient texts of Daphnis and Chloe and Tristan, where passion is also the currency. The Princesse de Cleves may well be his most sustained success.

Highly Recommended

NANGAMAY dream MANA gather DJURALI grow

A ground-breaking collection of First Nations Australia LGBTQIA+ poets, writers and storytellers published to commemorate Sydney WorldPride being held on the unceded lands of the Gadigal, Cammeraygal, Bidigal, Dharawal and Dharug Nations. Edited by Alison Whitaker, Gomeroi poet and academic, and Steven Lindsay Ross, Wamba Wamba writer, curator and producer.

Dominic Dromgoole has created a radical and fresh canon. He begins in New York in 1963, as Lorraine Hansberry remakes American theatre And then, as the lights go up, we find ourselves in Renaissance Florence, watching Michelangelo’s David being hauled into the Piazza della Signoria. It tells of times when ‘the air between people seems to alter’ as art achieves profound change. An adrenaline-charged rollercoaster through history’s seismic first nights, exploring how individual artists can change and shape the story of culture.

On Sun Swallowing

A sweet and bloody collection of poetry, dancing in the spaces between skinned knees and red wine, satin and switchblades, rosaries and Dionysian ecstasy. Warren’s writings are haunted by the ghosts of girlhood, god/s, lovers and the landscape of childhood, but Warren is unflinching - she haunts her ghosts in return, with sharp lyricism and cutthroat vulnerability. It explores shadowy emotion, at times in a whisper, at times in a scream.

The Book of Falling

To fall is to be human. We fall in love, fall asleep, and fall from grace. And in this epoch that we have called the Anthropocene, we are witnessing nothing less than the fall of nature. This extraordinary collection, covers the full tragicomic spectrum of falling- from pratfalls to tragic demises, from accidentprone parents to ruinous celebrities. It is a collection that welcomes its readers, even as it plunges them into new ways of understanding the beautiful, fallen worlds that we inhabit.

Abbeville Press

$90.00 HC

Pictures of the Floating World

A new staple volume on Japanese art, in an eminently giftable format. In this attractive volume, Sarah E. Thompson provides a highly readable overview of the cultural and artistic history of ukiyo-e, showcasing 120 exceptional prints from the museum’s world-class collection, by masters including Utamaro, Hokusai, and Hiroshige. She explores each of the principal genres in turn: beauty and fashion, the kabuki theater, landscape, nature, history and literature, and fantasy.

Noguchi

p. 23

$99.00

A tribute to strong women by renowned Aboriginal women artists from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands of South Australia. This book will accompany the national regional touring exhibition which features contemporary paintings, moving-image and sculptural works in tjanpi (desert grass) from the collection of the Art Gallery of South Australia, as part of AGSA’s acclaimed Tarnanthi exhibition program.

Nansen Photographs

teNeues

$135.00 HC n the late 19th century, the Norwegian Artic explorer Fridtjof Nansen undertook a pioneering expedition: he wanted to reach the North Pole with the specially designed ship Fram. The Nansen Photographs recounts this expedition, from the launch in 1890 through to the end of Nansen’s international lecture tour in 1897, using original photographs alongside personal diary entries from Nansen and seven of his crew members.

Making Modernism

$60.00 HC

Käthe Kollwitz, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Gabriele Münter and Marianne Werefkin are among the exceptional artists associated with the emergence of Expressionism in Germany in the early decades of the 20th century. As women, they were expected to marry and raise a family; some chose to, some did not. As ambitious artists, they wanted to work. As they rose to these challenges, their art further undermined conventions. These dramatic modernist compositions, with their fluid brushwork and bright hues, push at the boundaries of form, colour and spiritual meaning.

Certain to become the definitive book on Noguchi’s multidisciplinary career this publication encompasses the entirety of the artist’s work in sculpture, ceramics, photography, architecture, design, as well as his playscapes, gardens and stage sets for modern dance and theatre performance. Brimming with stunning imagery, it explores his creative process and lesser-known aspects of his practice, his engagement with a wide range of mediums and cultures, and his innovative achievements over six decades.

Abandoned

Photographer Eric Hubolow captures the melancholic, haunting beauty of decaying structures across the US. From coast to coast, in big cities and small towns, forsaken factories, churches, prisons, schools, theaters, and more reveal forgotten American stories. Arranged according to the functions these buildings served - living, learning, healing, praying - Abandoned is a memento mori for industries, communities, and empires.

William Morris Masterpieces of Art

A new edition highlighting the designs and patterns of William Morris which informed the visual style of the twentieth Century. Many of us probably know him best, however, from his superb furnishings and textile designs, intricately weaving together natural motifs in a highly stylised twodimensional fashion influenced by medieval conventions. This publication offers a survey of his life and work alongside some of his finest decorative work.

Art: The Definitive Visual Guide

Spanning 30,000 years, from cave paintings to contemporary art, this stunning chronological exploration of every major artistic movement introduces the major milestones of each period, from the tomb paintings of Ancient Egypt, Qing Dynasty Chinese art, through to 20th century Cubism and African art today. Discover all you need to know about art history in this definite guide.

Enchantment

After years of pandemic life - parenting while working, battling anxiety about things beyond her control, feeling overwhelmed by the news-cycle and increasingly isolated - Katherine May feels bone-tired, on edge and depleted.Could there be another way to live? Blending lyricism and storytelling, sensitivity and empathy, May’s book invites each of us to open the door to human experience in all its sensual complexity, and to find the beauty waiting for us there.

I Don’t Need Therapy

Most of us tell little white lies all the time. Whether it’s ‘I’m five minutes away’ or ‘It must have gone to my spam folder’, most of these fibs are harmless. But what if you realised that you weren’t just lying about the little things, but the big ‘life’ stuff too? In this hilarious warm hug of a book, Toni exposes the lies she has told herself about who she is and what she is capable of, inviting you on a riotous romp that will make you laugh, cringe and cry.

Heart to Heart

From His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Mutt’s cartoonist and award-winning author Patrick McDonnell comes a powerful and timely gem of a book on how to heal our relationship with the planet and each other. Told with whimsy, wisdom, and warmth, this beautiful book is deceptively simple in its approach and all the more powerful for it, as it elegantly and decisively conveys a message of joy, hope and change.

You Are Not Alone

When Cariad was just fifteen, her dad died. She became the person-whosedad-had-died; a grief mess. Years later, she began trying to unravel this tightly wound grief. What effect had it all had on who she was? She started Griefcast, the podcast that talks openly, honestly and at times cheerfully about life’s most difficult moment- its end. This collection of witty insights and lessons is for anybody who has felt lost in grief, who wants to help someone struggling, or just wants to understand this life a little better.

The Swedish Art of Ageing Well

This wise, funny and practical book shows us how to prepare for and understand the ageing process, and the joys and sorrows it can bring. While Margareta still recommends downsizing and decluttering (your loved ones will thank you!), her ultimate message is that we should not live in fear of death, but rather focus on appreciating beauty, connecting with our loved ones, and enjoying our time together.

Reclaim

The relationship between trauma and mental health is becoming better recognised, but survivors and professionals alike remain confused about how best to understand and treat it. In this groundbreaking book, Dr Ahona Guha explores complex traumas, how survivors can recover and heal, and the nature of those who abuse. By emphasising compassion above all, Dr Guha calls for us to become better informed about perpetrators and the needs of victims, so we might reclaim a safer, healthier society for everyone.

Make it Meaningful

Debbie Haski-Leventhal

When she was five, Debbie’s parents found solace from a family tragedy in joining the Kabbalah Centre. To Debbie, though, it increasingly resembled a cult, and – after years of abuse at eighteen she left, devastated and isolated, searching for meaning in her life. Today, she is a professor who specialises in finding meaning in our personal and professional lives. In this book, she shares her own and other people’s stories to explore ideas of purpose, impact, values, and resilience.

Psychology at the Heart of Social Change

To create a world in which people thrive, we need to know what thriving is. Over the past century, psychotherapy - and its parent discipline, psychology - has built up a rich, vibrant, and highly practical understanding of human wellbeing and distress. This book shows why we need, and can create, a progressive politics that is profoundly informed by insights from the psychotherapeutic and psychological domain, moving us from a politics of blame to a politics of understanding.