This book gives a great insight into how to build your classroom into a safe scientific space. The chapter on dialogue journals sent not only my science class in a new direction, but also my math class!! What a terrific find!

I was handed this book and was told that it has some of our Family History in it.(i'm part koori) From the moment I opened this book till the last page I could'nt put it down.

"Dirt Music" is more than just a story about a tangled relationship between Georgie Jutland, Jim Buckridge and Luther Fox, it's also a journey to uncover the ghosts of their past. It's a story that is well-written by Tim Winton, without being too artificial or too practical. Sensitive without being soppy; practical without being mechanical.

Through the bleak landscape of Western Australia, we learn that protagonists also have weaknesses and the 'bad' guys also have their own reasons to behave the way they do. This is the reason why I can identify with the characters and understand the way they behave. Having lived in Australia for some years also makes me recognize the 'aussieness' of this novel - it seeps through every sentence that is written: how the locals are afraid of the Asian invasion; how men are suppposed to be men; and many more little themes that are included within the novel. The book is also seasoned with Australian cheekiness and humour which makes it a delight to read - however, that doesn't mean that the book is a trivial read. Tim Winton brings us to scenes and makes us breathe in the surrounding, stand and witness whatever that is happening in the following pages.

I heartily recommend this book to those who want to visit Western Australia, and to read how each character deals with the ghosts of their past. A great read - full stop.

I was amazed at this book, written in such spare prose, so few adjectives.... yet, the characters came alive as I read. In some ways, this was a bit like Hemingway, yet Winton has a voice all his own, Australian, yet universal.

I loved the way the inner life of the characters unfolded, revealing so much through action and reaction. And the environment, the mis en place of Western Australia, added to the sense of place and time these characters lived in, as they struggled to find their place in the world, and with one another.

Luthor is one of the most original characters I've met in a book. He was a revelation. His self imposed trials, endured in the wilderness, at first so meaningless, becomes profound as the experience unfolds for us to share.

Georgie is a woman as lost to her needs, as Luthor is lost in the tropical jungles. No sense of herself, no grasp on what she really wants, her quest to find Luthor is really a quest to find herself.

I just loved this book. I felt I was discovering a fresh and exciting talent during my reading, and only later discovered the wonderful body of work Winton has already produced. He's young, he's talented and this book simply haunts me.

Anyone suggesting yet another book about "the eternal triangle" would normally be sent packing. When the name "Tim Winton" graces the cover, however, a pause to reconsider inevitably follows. Winton's ability to draw characters and evoke imagery has few peers, and he doesn't disappoint here. That the theme is as old as literature and well shopworn fails to erode the quality of how Winton presents it. The triangle here looks a bit unstable - two long, extended sides reaching from a narrow base. The two major sides are Georgie Jutland and Lu Fox. The base is Jim Buckridge, firm and strong in his Western Australian seaside community. His role as base gives him more presence in this unusual tale than might be expected. Winton gives him more presence than ink.

Georgie has been looking for a strong foundation, both emotionally and geographically. She's been in Arabia, America, the West Pacific, all the while seeking some unrecognized resting place. And someone to rest with. Jim's position in the town, his successful fishing operation, and the family stability of two sons [he's a widower] seemed ideal to Georgie. She's been with him for three years, and the ideal image has washed away with the tides. Georgie feels she's on the deep sea - "overboard . . . with nowhere to swim." Itching to leave, yet with nowhere to run, any excuse becomes plausible. The reason she finds is perfectly convincing to her, yet seems specious to anyone not suffering her malaise of spirit. She needs "somewhere to swim," but her sense of direction is missing.

The only buoy to grasp couldn't be a worse choice. It's Lu Fox, the town's blacksheep. Fox, among his other failings, is a poacher. In a fishing community there could be no worse label. Fox also carries an overwhelming burden of grief. That burden is tempered by his needs, which Georgie, alone in the village, perceives almost immediately. Her discovery comes too late as Lu's poaching is revealed and retribution is taken. Lu, in a way possible only in Australia, "goes bush." He disappears from White Point and very nearly from human ken. The loss forces Georgie into decisions about her life, and this time, with unexpected support, she pursues them with vigour.

Winton's powers of imagery and imagination are outstanding. A multi-prize winner, he has justifiably earned an elevated place in the pantheon of current writers. He captures the minds, hearts, lives of his characters with unerring talent. We follow his matchless depictions with a mix of sympathy, horror and fascination. The story is skillfully woven around them. While they may seem out of control at points, Winton guides us through the shoals of their disordered lives like a storm-tossed pilot. The effect demonstrates his surety at conveying feelings of many types and expressions. These are not "simple" seaside folk - their lives, no matter how imaginary, bear telling. Winton has told their stories, for there is more than one, or even three, here, each in their individual voice. It takes a special talent to shift writing styles within a story without losing the reader. As with any Winton book, this one is worthy of repeated reading. Add it to your library.

Imagine growing up and not being aware that you were part aboriginal until the age of fifteen, having been told by your mother that the reason your grandmother was black was because she was Indian. Sally Morgan grew up in Perth, Western Australia in the 50s and 60s, and this is the story of how she eventually went back to discover her grandmother's origins in 1982, and thereby found her "Place". A moving and enriching book, which will have you in tears one minute and laughing the next

Sally Morgan writes from the heart as she explores her family's hidden Aboriginal history in a book that spares no punches. My Place is all about identity and what racism and prejudice can do to a people. The white settlers who colonized Australia have systematically tried to bury the Aboriginal people and their way of life but somehow against all odds they have survived, and people like Sally Morgan are standing up to be counted as the descendants lost tribes of mixed race people who were never given a chance to choose who they wanted to live with. Sally Morgan writes with startling clarity as she describes her childhood with her half Aboriginal Grandmother who would never admit to being native, and often told her Grandchildren to lay claim to an Indian heritage rather than admit the truth. Sally's Grandmother's fears lay deep within her own childhood when she was taken away from her mother, and it was this fear she passed onto Sally's mother who was three quarter's white. Both women were terrified of white authority and the power it had to tear families apart. My Place is a haunting, true story of one woman's search for her roots in a country that saw Aboriginal blood as a taint rather than a celebration. We need more books like this on our bookshelves, and even more people to read them...

I enjoyed "My Place." As an American from the Midwest, the only things I knew about Australia were what I learned in a college foreign politics class centered on Australia and New Zealand. I never sought out more information until I met an Australian friend who inspired me to learn more about his country. And he suggested this book.

I've started reading but just can't seem to finish "The Fatal Shore." But Sally Morgan's book gave me a feeling of reading fiction with some history behind it. I know that all her "facts" aren't to the tee. While I am not Native American, I live in South Dakota, where the Native Americans have been subject to much of the same treatment. This really opened up my eyes of what it must be like to live as Aboriginal, or part Aboriginal, Native American or part Native American in the modern day world. And how we've progressed to get where we are...if you can call it progression.

I think Sally Morgan does a great job of getting you in the story of her growing up, and then tying it all together with the dictated stories from her great uncle, mother and grandmother.

Reading "My Place" has made me eager to learn more about the Aboriginal culture, maybe a deeper knowledge. I believe I really enjoyed this book because it wasn't a straight history book. While it isn't as thick, it reminds me of another text that tells the history of London through a handful of families.

I recommend "My Place." From someone who doesn't have time to read 400+ page books, this one kept me turning the page. It was enlightening

Len Beadell is regarded as Australia's last true explorer. His exploits in building over 6000kms of roads (such as the Gunbarrel Highway) through outback Australia in the 50s and 60s are legendary. This book is about building a road west of Alice Springs, near the Gibson Desert. It includes an account of Australia's longest towing exercise: a bulldozer towing a grader for 800kms at 3kph! A challenge to all who are leading a soft life!

If you are interested in history, treasure hunting, diving, or true life adventure stories, you will enjoy this book! Meticulously researched and intertainingly presented.

Comprehensive field guide covering most aspects of the frogs of Western Australia. Tyler is a well known and much respected herpetologist who has written many books on the frogs of Australia which have become 'bibles' of frog enthusiasts. Highly recommended!

This edition contains all the original prose that we have come to expect from this master of the Western genre. Not a word has been cut! Like a lot of ZGs work from the Thirties, it seems a little dated today, but still worth the time. Be aware that this is not a typical 200 page airport or beach book that you can knock off in a long rainy afternoon. This will keep you busy through several rainy weekends. Think of it as a LONG stroll down memory lane. They aren't publishing books like this any more.

To compare this book to any of these: OLIVER TWIST, LORD OF THE FLIES, THE CHANT OF JIMMIE BLACKSMITH, A FRINGE OF LEAVES, as the publisher's review (below) does, is purely ridiculous. All of these books have thoughtful and interesting characterization, while The Company, by Arabella Edge, does not. They are all studies of the individual within society, and of the way society operates, but The Company is not.

The Company is a fictional recreation of a gruesome historical event. It merely dresses up the event with setting and description, never seeking to explore Cornelisz's psychopathology, and growing very tedious after the first few gruesome murders. Edge seems content to merely tell us Cornelisz is insane - not to explain that insanity or plumb its depths. Cornelisz is insane and he kills people. This is the sum total of the book.

If you want to read something interesting and gripping, something which shows the true depths to which humans can sink, read one of the books so thoughtfully mentioned by Simon and Schuster in their review. Don't waste your money on this one.

This is not really a 'likeable' book, but it is certainly an impressive one. Set in the 17th century, it seeks to chronicle the true events of the final fateful voyage of the merchant ship, the Batavia. The level of research and the imaginative translation of a huge amount of period detail into a vibrant, credible and textured landscape is extraordinary. Tonally and atmospherically it feels like a cross between the moribund amoral worlds of 'Perfume' and 'Lord of The Flies'. It doesn't quite work as an explanation of why the main character did what he did. The psychological analysis is the least persuasive aspect of the novel, not because it is unbelievable, but because it is slightly too knowing in its exposition. The language, however, is a delight. It has a seductive rhythmic quality, often using alliterative lists of unfamiliar things as a sort of literary underbelly to its world. It also balances the old and the modern to create just the right feeling of unease without being over-stilted. Definitely worth reading, but more for its craft than any great illumination of the human condition.

Arabella Edge's The Company (The Story of a Murderer) is a fictionalized account of the wreck of the Batavia in 1629 off the coast of Western Australia told from the point of view of the leader of the mutineers, Jeronimus Cornelisz. It is a well written book that becomes very difficult to read as it progresses and the endless horrors and atrocities continue unabated. As it is narrated by such a powerful character who is presented from the first as evil (mixed with cowardice, a dealy combination) and without any moral compass, the novel does not develop the horrors slowly but simply presents them one after another after another leaving the reader numb. The author is skilled at this piling on of horrors and creates moments of surprise throughout although finding a meaning to all of this terror seems rather futile. This book never reaches the level of Lord of the Flies but is nastily effective, in its own right, at relentlessly showing man's baser nature.