Fine Australiana New Paperbacks

Sydney Morning Herald

Friday September 12, 1986

Reviewed by Margaret Jones

Australia Twice Traversed

By Ernest Giles (Doubleday, Vol I 320pp, Vol II 362pp, cased $39.95)

THIS is the paperback version of the earlier hardcover facsimile edition of Ernest Giles's own journals, or, as Giles puts it himself, "The Romance of Exploration: A narrative compiled from the journals of five exploring expeditions into and through Central South Australia and Western Australia from 1872 to 1876." This edition is well illustrated with maps and drawings, and the decorative jackets show Hans Heysen versions of the country Giles traversed.

Women in the World, An International Atlas

By Joni Seager and Ann Olson (Pan, 128pp, $24.95)

THE joint authors, two North American feminists, carried out this atlas as a Pluto Press project. It illustrates, with maps and graphics, the role of women in the world today as wives, mothers and workers, and in some less likely areas such as crime and fighting. The atlas examines such subjects as contraception, abortion, earnings, job protection, higher education, prostitution and rape, and looks at women's protest movements and channels of change.

A Steele Rudd Selection

Chosen by Frank Moorhouse (University of Queensland Press, 240pp, $14.95)

ARTHUR Hoey Davis, better known as Steele Rudd, is remembered now mainly as the creator of Dad and Dave, two characters that have passed into Australian folklore. His sketches of bush life first appeared in The Bulletin in 1895, and by the time he died in 1935, he had written 24 books which were to be the basis of plays, films and a long running radio serial. Frank Moorhouse, who selected these stories, saw Rudd as a literary hero in his teens, rejected him in his 20s as part of the Bush Tradition, and came back to him in his 30s when he was looking for himself through his origins. "My reaction to reading Steele Rudd again is that he is part of the bedrock of our culture," Moorhouse says.

DEATH of the Rainbow Warrior

By Michael King (Penguin, 254pp, $12.95)

THE sinking of the Rainbow Warrior has produced a small publishing industry of its own of which this is the latest product. Michael King is a New Zealand writer, teacher and broadcaster who has also lived in France, which may give him a special insight into French thinking on such subjects as bombing boats in the harbours of friendly countries. His book claims to give for the first time the full story of the "third team", the bombers who actually sank the Greenpeace vessel and then fled the country, leaving the unlucky Mafart-Prieur duo to take the full blame, and to go to jail.

RSI Explained

By Dr Peter Arndt (Hudson Publishing, 104pp, $9.95)

RSI has been around for a long time, and has been known by such names as Scriveners' Palsy and Cotton Twisters' Cramp. It is still controversial, however, and some medical authorities claim it doesn't exist, while other moves are being made to change its name. Dr Arndt claims that the pain is real enough, and resembles the phantom limb pain that amputees experience. He looks into factors associated with RSI from boredom to smoking, and considers aspects of treatment from acupuncture to ergonomics.

Chinese Soft Exercise: A T'ai Chi Workbook

By Paul Crompton (Unwin Paperbacks, 157pp, $12.95)

MOST visitors to China have seen elderly Chinese in city parks or on riverbanks carrying out the slow, graceful motions of T'ai Chi. Said to promote physical and spiritual wellbeing, it has gained popularity in the West during the current enthusiasm for all things Oriental. Paul Crompton came to T'ai Chi from the martial arts, and his book, which is well illustrated with photographs, includes a section on this so-called "soft" exercise as a system of self defence. He warns, though, that much practice is necessary before you will be able to fell a mugger.