Buy a Book for the Nerd In Your Life

I’m a bit of a nerd (perhaps a geek or a dork, or all three), and I’ve selected a few books from the shelves that would be excellent as a nerdy gift. Note bene!

Tools Of War: The Weapons That Changed The World, by Jeremy Black
“Firing 20 arrows a minute, English archers at the Battle of Cre`cy launched a million deadly missiles from their longbows…”
This book is perfect for the history nerd in your life. The sweeping narrative style never gets boring but allows for a lot of historical trivia, too. There are lots of perfect little nuggets of information on warfare and weaponry from prehistory to the 21st Century. Just right to offload while you’re watching an ABC documentary.

Understanding Beer Making: Brewing The Perfect Beer, by Grant Sampson
When conversation about historical weaponry or US Presidential Trivia runs dry (there are only two US Presidents buried in Arlington National Cemetery — can anyone guess who they are?*), geeks like to talk about beer. There’s a lot of science to beer: the taste, the head, the barley, the glucose, yadda yadda yadda. So if you’re a culinary geek or someone who just likes to drink, this is a perfect summer book. Learn how to brew your own beer… with science!

Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
Perfect holiday reading! This never boring book tells us why Europe and the Near East are the cradle of our society. Perfect food for thought and discussion for budding historians, geopoliticians, biologists and scientists. From the author of The Third Chimpanzee. Curl up in bed and wrap your opposable thumb and ex-brachiating arm around this one!

Richard Feynman and modern physics by James Gleick
Not just atomic bombs — there are bongo drums involved too. A great gift for any budding physicists out there, or anyone interested in a biography with pith. Someone should direct a biopic about this guy!

The Devil’s Music: In The Eye Of The Hurricane, by Pete Davies
Think Twister. It certainly “sweeps” you along! (Bad pun intended).

- Agnes.

*Kennedy and Taft

Year Of Wonders – Geraldine Brooks

 This book was chosen as Notable Book by both the New York Times and the Washington Post.

On the frontispiece Brooks quotes a poem by John Dryden recounting “…When spotted deaths ran arm’d through every street” — a vision of the plague striking London in 1666. He called this poem the Annus Mirabilis, The Year of Wonders. This titular “year of wonders” is obviously a thread that runs strong through the book. We follow the protagonist, Anna (a housekeeper in the small mountainous village of Eyam) through the plague year of 1666 and beyond. In the beginning  the plague is only vaguely referred to, but as you work through the book the historical detail becomes more precise and very graphic. I was intruiged by the fact that the plague was bought to Eyam via an infected bolt of cloth. The ending isn’t disastrous but Brooks doesn’t sell it out to the cheap trick of a happy ending, either. As a whole the book manages to remain realistic through a sweeping, dramatic narrative.

In summary: A good read, well-researched, an interesting and breathless book by an Australian author.

 If you like this book, we have some other books in stock that you might like:

Wrack by James Bradley, a gripping historical mystery set in New South Wales.

Foreign Correspondence by Geraldine Brooks.

In The Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant, set in 16th Century Venice.

  L’Yan recommends this book for people who like Salley Vickers, Kate Grenville, David Malouf and Valerie Anand.

Agnes

I Am Ned Kelly — John Molony

“Almost every Australian knows the name ‘Ned Kelly’. Few know more than the basic facts…”

In this selection off our Top Shelf, historian John Molony explores the circumstances surrounding the life and death of Ned Kelly. It’s part work of scholarship and serious biography and part speculative fiction. Take a look at this excerpt from the dust-cover:

“On the eve of his hanging, his mother, a prisoner in the same Melbourne Gaol, said to him, ‘Mind you die like a Kelly, son’; he had certainly lived like one. This is the story of Ned Kelly, of his people, who were destined to poverty, degradation and rejection, and of the land that made a legend of him.”

Our copy is a first edition in very good condition, for $25. It surely is an important milestone in Ned Kelly scholarship, but this is no dry historical tome. The early chapters outline Ned Kelly’s childhood without slipping into a laundry list of woes. The book doesn’t seek so much to explain Ned Kelly’s actions as to catalogue them in a very erudite fashion. An enjoyable book for any lover of Australiana or real life crime!

Stephenie Meyer – The Host

This story is a wonderful idea, but it is quite poorly executed. Firstly, the plot is mindnumbingly predictable.  Secondly, the characters are infuriatingly cliched, from the big tough “villain” that comes good in the end (don’t worry, I’m not giving anything away here, as this is predictable too), to the typically sexy love interest and the bee-yootiful narrator. Yawn. Lastly, I do not understand Stephenie Meyer’s fixation on young girls having relationships with older men. (Even though I am one of these girls myself. How hypocritical of me. Oopsie.)  The whole book stinks of formula writing – “dark” themes, “forbidden” lurve etc etc etc. But I guess if you’re onto a good thing, why not stick with it. It seems to work for her!

Yet despite all of the things I disliked about the book (including its creepy cover with an eye that follows you around the room!), I must admit, I didn’t hate it. I could hardly put it down. It is a monster of a book and I was able to read it in two days, around work, which doesn’t often happen. I felt an odd kind of affection for it, and even though I was reading it for work I also felt like I wanted to keep reading it, even though it irritated me. Now that’s a powerful book. With, might I add, not one spelling or punctuation error that I noticed. Hurray!

Verdict: not just for diehard Stephenie Meyer fans (I haven’t read Twilight or seen the film). But you need to be patient and somewhat forgiving. And remember it was written for a teenage market. You might just enjoy it, as I surprisingly did.

L’Yan

Khaled Hosseini…

L’Yan has read The Kite Runner. Magda has read A Thousand Splendid Suns. We both agree: an author worth a look.

Blue Mountains Dreaming – Eugene Stockton (ed)

Edited by Eugene Stockton

In 1788 the Aborigines of the Blue Mountains had had no contact with Europeans; within 30 years almost all of them had disappeared.
Of the generations of new Mountain dwellers who followed, few appreciated the Aboriginal heritage of the region, even though evidence of their presence was known from the Nepean River and the adjacent escarpment.

Increasingly however, widespread discoveries of art sites, occupation shelters, stone tools, axe-grinding grooves and stone arrangements, research into the journals and early writings of European explorers and settlers, and the compilation of oral histories, are providing a rich, if incomplete, account of the former existence of the Gundungurra and Dharug in the Blue Mountains.

This book gathers together the current information about Blue Mountains aborigines. It provides a fascinating account of lifestyles, languages, legends and European contact.
Available at JimmyDs Bookshop.

Blue mountains climber – Lincoln Hall

In May 2006 Lincoln Hall, who lives in the Blue Mountains, was thought to have died on his way back down Mt Everest. He was left behind by his fellow climbers, only to be discovered next morning by another party. Before that he had made an attempt on the mountain in 1984.

” it was the goal of a small team of Australians. They planned a quick, lightweight ascent of an unclimbed route without oxygen. But their battle with storms, avalanches, extreme cold and thin air meant they soon began to run out of time. WHITE LIMBO is a compelling story of danger and the incredible limits of human endurance. Published more than two decades ago, it continues to be a true adventure classic.” From Booktopia

Retail price new $19.95 our price recycled $12.00

This book has SOLD

‘Anonymous’ (Nikki Gemmell) – The Bride Stripped Bare

This is the only book written in second person that I have managed to read to completion. Whilst the style can sometimes feel forced and a little pretentious, especially in the nuuuumerous sexy bits, it is worth holding onto this emotional rollercoaster for dear life. It is outrageously honest, sexy, chilling, sad, and beautiful, as is all of Nikki Gemmell’s writing. If you haven’t tried her, give her a go. My favourite of hers is ‘Shiver’.
L’Yan