Natural gain covers the two centuries of the farmland in the southern of Australia. It is focus in the pastureland. It is about the conquest of unexplored continent and the resolve of the problems of once of the more poor land of the world. The fundamental of the book is that agriculture is a part of the ecosystem, and the evolution of the agriculture is the evolution of the ecosystem. Although there is losses and gain. Today the grass is greener than ever in southern Australia, the erosion is low, the soils have more nitrogen and phosphorus, and more carbon sequester. The diversity of plants is higher, sometimes are good for farmer other times weeds, but it is higher. The sheep and cattle are feeding with pastures, that it is the best "ecological" feed for these herbivores. These results have been made by the constant labor of no well know farmers and researchers. It is a historical agricultural book. Also it is a summary of the history of a New Continent based of natural gain.

It is a practical book for farmer, students, researchers, practitioners of agriculture and historian.

...and it's dedicated to me, so I kind of had to read it. Still, I'm glad I did. It was more interesting than I expected, discussing the evolution of settlers to being "native" to North America and the Antipodes. About a chapter into it, I stopped reading out of fillial duty, and kept going because I was interested. (How could I resist the events on-board the H.M.S. Bounty being described as "a crisis in labor relations"?)

Now, I'm going to have to read his other books. So, in my unbiased opinion, buy lots of copies so that I can go to grad school.

Few Americans know that the United States still owns a relic from the Age of Colonialism below the Equator, and that this "possession" is not faring so well after 101 years of benign neglect. Congressman Faleomavaega is a gifted writer. Few people could cram quite so much information into 142 pages and still have the result highly readable. But it's not a happy story when for 51 years the proud people of American Samoa had their Governor appointed by the US Navy, and then for another 26 years their Governor was always a personal friend of the Secretary of the Interior. Yet the author is basically an optimistic person, and he continually cites the many accomplishments of Asian and Pacific Island Americans, and the success of local initiatives in agricultural development, commercial policy, and educational achievement.

I was really surprised that a Member of Congress could endorse the pagan and gruesome Ritual of the Tatau. The current medical literature suggests that severe physical punishments during initiation rites can be life threatening. And then after such a persuasive plea for Americans to take Pacific policy seriously, the Congressman asks for only half a loaf. After 101 years of being required to be Americans, the people of American Samoa deserve Commonwealth or Statehood status. If their price for joining the Union is permanent protection of the Samoan tradition of communal property ownership, it is doubtful that very many Americans would object.

A very detailed account of one of the many unanswered and unknown battles of the First World War. A good introduction and build up to a historical scene very few people in the world can locate. The Nek is also one of the prime reasons why Australia's ANZAC Day is so coveted. This book has every explanation towards every step of this frightful battle of the Gallipoli campaign of 1915. It is also a great description of trench warfare back then and how men had to endure knowing that death was certain.

After reading The Nek, I am highly grateful to be living in the generation that I am in. You get an utmost respect for Australians and a clear understanding of why they celebrate ANZAC Day. Being an American I only wish that Americans could celebrate the true meaning of Veteran's Day and other holidays where sacrifice was involved, instead of a BBQ or a day at the beach.

The author of this book, Catherine Bull, is the Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Melbourne. She has a distinguished career as a consultant practitioner and subsequently at Queensland University of Technology, in Brisbane. She holds a masters degree from the University of Melbourne, and a doctorate in design from the GSD at Harvard, USA.

For many people, Australia is somewhat of an enigma- seemingly generously endowed with natural resources, enjoying a mild climate and fine cities, yet it is left conspicuously 'unpopulated'. When asked about this, my best response is to say that the enticing shots of Sydney Harbor in the tourist brochures are but one aspect of a wondrous and intriguing landscape. I suggest they venture further afield, out west, beyond the package tour sites, and imbibe some of the quotidian landscapes of Australia- the suburbs, the country towns, the surf coasts, the eucalypt forests: these are places of every day landscapes. But exactly where: Australia is such a huge country?

With this book by Professor Bull in your backpack, and with sufficient time and resources, you could make a grand journey of revelation- and find in every corner of the Australian continent, some revealing place to explore. The book shows and discusses a very diverse range of landscape design projects, from Darwin in the north to Launceston in the south (but don't miss out on Hobart- arguably one of the most captivating urban settlements in the world), from Perth in the south-west to Palm Cove in the north-east, and many places in between.

One particular aspect of these projects is that most of them are about public use areas, in the 'public realm', that is, free and open to the community. Certainly there are private gardens of merit in Australia, but arguably the projects shown in this book represent a far more important aspect of Australian culture: the quality and amenity of public spaces. This reflects a fundamental attitude and belief, that the ordinary lived -in public places are important, cherished and worth protecting. Despite contemporary pressures for reduced government spending and privatization of public assets, this commitment is generally being maintained. Perhaps for visitors, this is one of the joys of visiting places such as Sydney Cove, illustrating a principle that is not irrelevant to Korean cities.

There are certainly some gaps in the coverage of the book. It under-represents the influence and value of recent immigrant cultures from south-east Asia, which is very apparent in the larger cities. Aboriginal cultural traditions are minimally represented. I doubt that these omissions reflect the overtly retrograde mode, recently seen in contemporary Australian social and political processes! Some of the more remote locations, such as the Kimberley region in the north-west, or the west coast of Tasmania, regions where there are significant landscape projects, would have been valuable additions. But this is a small quibble, there are so many possibilities, and the projects that are included are many and varied.

From this book, it appears that Australia is seemingly and somewhat belatedly finding its bio-social 'space'; and this through landscape projects. By this I mean that, in many of the projects, both 'natural' space and 'social' space can be discerned as melding and complementary. It may even be said that, in many of these projects, landscapes are prompting or initiating a pivotal re-orientation in Australian's cognition of itself.

The quintessential project that illustrates this point is the Riawunna Aboriginal Studies Centre, at the University of Tasmania's Launceston campus (p. 148). This tiny space, as much community facilitation as a design, by Sinatra Murphy and Urban Initiatives, exposes an essential primordial relationship of culture and environment. The design was developed with the Aboriginal community. But, as importantly, it addresses the wider immigrant community. We see a landscape of rocks, stone, shells (middens) and plants. In lesser hands, this may have amounted to a parody, but here it elicits recognition. We understand a representational space about extended time (dreamtime?), adaptation and subsistence with resources, and opportunity for social connections.

On the other hand, at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra, in the Garden of Australian Dreams, there are a plethora of memetic signs, but not much signified. (p. 144). There is a cacophonous assemblage of words and objects- representations of the settlement of other places; the intent however is obscured by reliance on semiology which engages the viewer through metonymy, a trompe-l'oeil of signs, which verge on mere verbiage. The 'marking out' of the garden also downplays a pivotal aspect of the process of occupation of land in Australia, then and now, and that is the overt 'ethnic cleansing' which was and is a fundamental aspect of the European occupation of Australia. In this context, the naming of places, which is emphasized in the garden, whether using European names or under official policy employing Aboriginal names, is relatively unimportant. I am also drawing a direct analogy between the historic 'ethnic cleansing' of Aboriginals and the current incarceration of recent immigrants; both processes directed at ensuring a white (only) occupation of preferred localities. But I guess that's an argument for another day.

For these reasons, Professor Bull's book is far more that an inventory for a tourist, and I really should not suggested that. The fundamental value of the book is the way in which it points toward designed landscapes as a vital aspect of self-cognition for Australians and along the way, it captures the knowledge and innovation, at the hands of landscape practitioners and clients, which make it possible.

This can be seen in the final chapter in particular. Professor Bull concludes the book at a high pitch indeed. Between the lines of the placid prose there is an impassioned plea, for what the author lays out is a challenge. Professor Bull asks for - and seeks positive answers through designed landscapes- a society that understands and enjoys its diversity and capacities, its natural processes and cultural adaptability.

Ms. Johns has insightfully juxtaposed major landscape works into a visual feast. For those who cannot travel to such faraway places, this catalog offers us a treat in travel as well as important understanding of the artistic talent responding to local settings and influences. Descriptions of the paintings and biographical anecdotes are superbly presented.

This book covers every aspect of travel in New Zealand. Especially helpful for the first time traveler are the maps of the north and south islands at the beginning of the book which list the pages where information on the major tourist attractions can be found. Powell tells you what he likes and what he doesn't like and alerts you to the typical tourist traps that all serious travelers wish to avoid.

This book is full of wonderful and beautiful pictures. The book captures the true beauty that NZ has to offer on all the islands. I like how the book is divided into subjects like forests, mountains and lakes, farmlands and coasts. Fabulous book to see things as they really are and to appreciate the beauty the country has to offer.

The News They Didn't use! The following review is an essay based on my points towards the great novel, 'The news they didn't use'.

The Novel, 'The News They Didn't Use', by Stephen Measday, is a story about a young boy about the age of 15 who discovers an interest in the news and the media. Rick Street one day offers to be his local town's correspondent. His manager likes the boy's style when he soon finds out that there is no dramatic news in his town and he decides to report some news that interesting and funny. During the school holidays Rick gets an opportunity to take part in a television news programme. When he finds out that the programme's ratings are going down he comes up with a great idea to get them up again. Things go weirdly wrong when the whole of New Zealand and Australia (Australasian author) go mental over this show.

One reason why I found the novel appealing is because I am interested in the news media as well, so I found it quite awesome to go behind the scenes of a television station's shows. It was cool to be able to understand what happens behind the camera. Now whenever I watch the news on television I am amazed and fascinated by what I don't see and how much effort and people go into producing the final product. This was one of the reasons to why I enjoyed reading the book.

Another reason why is that the main character in the novel, Rick, is a growing teenager like me (except for the growing part) . Everything that Rick was going through in life is in some way linked to me. For instance; girlfriends, Rick gets a girlfriend in the story and the author describes his dates with her and good times/bad times with her. I really liked him as a character because of his age and personality; he likes the same things I do, like tennis and being a broadcaster. This is another reason why I could link myself to the novel and enjoyed reading the story.

The book has a great storyline. The author introduces the characters and the scene well and produces an interesting, but keeping it realistic, plot. For example; he gets kidnaped, but doesn't survive a 1000m fall onto concrete after losing a pack of Siberian wolf-hounds, which the kidnappers release because he escaped from an electric fenced cage with a lion in it. Because opf this reality and great plot I didn't find the book boring and repetitive which I do in others.

Stephen Measday is an Australasian author, born and raised up in Australasia. I liked this because it is nice to see a New Zealander or Australian going out there and writing a book. (Because I am a New zEalander and we don't have that many stars out there) Also some words which we might read in an American or English book could not exist in our language. Also she talks about incidents which I am aware of, eg: A recent rain crash in Wellington. She also speaks of places in Australia and New Zealand, which is cool because if you have been to that place it is nice to be able to link your experience to that described in the book.

The book wasn't too long and so you didn't get bored of the novel and the characters. It is short and easy to read as well. The vocabulary used in the novel is not too hard whilst remaining a great read, this also means that when I read it late at night, which is what I do, I don't get too tired and bored with the lack of understanding in the novel.

Overall I really liked this book and recommend it to anyone of any-age. Even my 40 year-old mother read it and enjoyed it. Although I strongly and particularly recommend it to young adults and so too does the author.

This is such an easy read, you just can't wait to read more. She has a great way with words. This tale tells the story of Maisie's life from when she was a child, travelling around Australia in the early years with her family. Mum cooking in the most raw conditions and children sleeping on a piece of canvas stretched between four rough hewn pegs to keep them off the ground away from the creepy crawlies and cold. She ended up in the Northern Territory, running her own pub at a time when women publicans were really unheard of. Maisie gained the respect of many locals and travellers alike, a hard working woman, with a great generous heart. I work in a public library, where i saw this book censored by a reader. She was an elderly woman who disliked greatly some of the words Maisie used in her book. To the average wide reading person, the words were what we see every day but this lady took it upon herself to black out all the words she did not like with a black texta colour. At least she did not deny doing it when approached! although she did not like me giving her a small telling off for censoring the book. Anyway, back to the story, if there are any others like me who dive on anything set in early Northern Territory, outback life, grab this, you will love it. Up there with the good ones, like Tom Ronan and Tom Cole.