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Sightings of the Sacred

30/9/2016

 
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​Daniel Naudé: Prestel $US55.00/£35.00
 
LONG, wide, curly, straight or curved: the horns adorning the cattle that feature in photographer-writer Daniel Naudé’s dramatically handsome coffee-table book are as spectacular and distinctive as hairstyles or gowns at any red-carpet event.
South African Naudé captures with exquisite artistry the grandeur, grit and grace of his continent’s native breeds, beginning with the traditional Ugandan Ankole.
In its homeland the Ankole is critically endangered, not in the 21st century by trophy hunting – although its outrageously oversized horns are an obvious prize – but by crossbreeding with milk-rich imported Holsteins and wild plains buffalo.
Naudé sets his pen-portrait of present-day Ankole against the void left by the loss of the Watusi (neighbouring Rwanda’s equivalent), the now-extinct cattle whose horns were known to span up to three metres.
Today, populations of Ankole have been established on reserves in an attempt to protect this cultural icon from annihilation.
Off Africa’s east coast Naudé finds on Madagascar another eye-catching breed: the African-Indian humped Zebu.
Living in isolation on the island, the Zebu faces no threat of outbreeding; as the only bovine strain present, it is guaranteed a continuing pure bloodline.
Rounding out the collection, Naudé’s third chapter of portraits is set in India, where Nandi the Bull is venerated as a divine religious being and cattle in general are sacred to hundreds of millions of Hindus. In India he examines the practice of honouring animals as earthly incarnations of the Hindu gods and attends the annual Mattu Pongal festival celebrating the crucial role played by cattle in agriculture.
Naudé describes in words and pictures not only the breeds themselves in all three countries but also their human keepers, exploring the longstanding relationships that bind the species.
The concise text is educational and emotive, the images worthy of being framed and hung on any gallery wall.

The Panama Papers

23/9/2016

 
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Bastian Obermayer and Frederik Obermaier: Oneworld Publications £12.99/$US17.99
 
“INTERESTED in data?” It’s February 2015 and in Germany investigative journalist Bastian Obermayer is presented with what quickly becomes the most daunting yet satisfying challenge of his media career.
Obermeyer is at home one evening when an email arrives from an anonymous correspondent. The writer has something intriguing to offer: records detailing the day-to-day interactions of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. “Mossfon” is one of the world’s most active shell-company providers, generating the link that enables individuals and organisations in closely regulated jurisdictions to “go offshore” in order to conceal their business dealings from former spouses and government authorities alike.
In the ensuing weeks, Obermeyer accepts via encrypted channels of some 11.5 million documents in the world’s biggest ever corporate data leak. More than 214,000 companies are identified and politicians including presidents, prime ministers and dictators are implicated. The names “Putin”, “Cameron”, “al-Assad” and “Gaddafi” surface time and again.
Obermayer is unable to handle this volume of information single-handedly. His solution? To draft in newspaper colleague Frederik Obermaier and expand the search for collaborators around the globe, seeking input from two Australian contacts. Firstly, the “Brothers Obermay/ier” (in reality, they are no relation) approach Irish-Australian Gerard Ryle, head of the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists in Washington DC, who agrees to help assemble a worldwide team to scrutinise the rapidly mounting landslide of material. With Ryle’s assistance they then gain access to Nuix Investigator, sophisticated Australian forensic search software.
Soon almost 400 journalists are dissecting the data, and on April 3 2016 the resulting reports are rolled out simultaneously. It is a tsunami of financial disclosure on a scale not previously imagined, let alone seen.
In another context this could be the storyline of a new Bond thriller but there is nothing fictitious about the so-called Panama Papers and the clandestine machinations they reveal.

Slow Boats to Europe

16/9/2016

 
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​Trevor Cherrett: tbcherrett@btinternet.com £5.00
 
TAKE two adventurous Englishmen, a desire to float clear across Europe and an assortment of watercraft, conventional and otherwise.
The result? The offspring of this rare blending is a highly entertaining travel memoir that is in equal measure informative, instructional and hilarious.
When community planner and long-time recreational sailor Trevor Cherrett and his offsider Pete decide to bring to life their shared dream, neither can foresee exactly how their exploration of three of the continent’s great rivers will unfold. All the pair can say with certainty is that they are determined to see through their pledge to journey together to the far eastern fringe of Europe. Having dismissed the idea of making the trip in a boat of their own, they agree to take a combination of whatever waterborne transport they can secure along the way.
What ensues is a three-year, five-stage pilgrimage from the North Sea to Romania’s Black Sea coast, bisecting the seven countries that hug the banks of a 3500km span of the Rhine, Main and Danube rivers.
The tone of Cherrett’s narrative is set in the opening pages, when an inauspicious start in the Netherlands sees the friends struggle so severely with unfamiliar technology, techniques and language that they risk capsizing the project on their first afternoon afloat.
Cherrett’s pen-sketches of the towns and cities through which the pair sail are lively, colourful and down-to-earth.
He describes with self-deprecating humour and humility the embarrassing, frustrating and heartwarming incidents that eventuate, writing at an engagingly personal level yet providing a thoughtful, sensitive and knowledgeable general commentary on European history, culture and politics in an era of significant change. This context makes Slow Boats to Europe a fascinating insight for sailors and landlubbers alike.
The inclusion of route maps and dozens of photographs throughout the book adds to its appeal.

Bathing and the Single Girl

9/9/2016

 
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Christine Elise McCarthy: Multum in Parvo Publishing US$9.99
 
THINK Sex and the City for the average lonely, directionless suburban woman: abundant sass, bawdy humour and a generous dose of outrageous sexual misadventure but without the extravagances of Manolos, Cosmopolitans and a Manhattan bachelorette pad all apparently paid for by a couple of hours’ work per week.
Ruby Fitzgerald is an actor. Correct that: was once an actor, and might one day be again, if only she can land an audition leading to an actual on-screen speaking role. However, it’s been more than a decade since Ruby last had a proper paying job and her finances are stretched almost as thinly as the wrinkle-free skin on a Hollywood celebrity’s face. Overweight and 40, she knows her odds are close to nil.
Ruby’s quest for love, cash and self-esteem, set against a backdrop of image-conscious LA and supported by a line-up of charismatic oddballs, is close to the author’s heart.
If “Christine Elise” sounds familiar it is almost certainly for the new novelist’s part in the biggest Aaron Spelling TV hit of the ’90s, Beverly Hills, 90210, the series in which she played pill-popping high school wild child Emily Valentine. Less well known is that she cut her writing teeth behind the scenes of the same show, creating characters, storylines and complete episodes.
90210 also introduced Elise (actually her middle name – McCarthy is her surname by birth) to the cast member with whom she would share a five-year real-world relationship: Jason Priestly, at the time one of television’s fastest-rising young stars.
Post-90210 she went on to appear in ER and an array of films, including the one on which this first book is based.
Although fictional, Bathing & the Single Girl draws loosely on the author’s parallel life in the studio fast-lane and on three of her personal passions: photography, dogs and vegan “food porn”.

The Desert Vet

2/9/2016

 
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Alex Tinson: Allen & Unwin $29.99
 
REPTILE collector, camel expert, big-cat doctor, gazelle wrangler, antiques aficionado, father of five: Alex Tinson juggles disparate roles in balancing his career as a veterinarian and researcher with his pride in heading up a happily blended Australian-Emirati family.
Raised on Sydney’s North Shore watching Daktari on TV and reading zookeeper Gerald Durrell’s books, Tinson studied in Melbourne and gained his early vet experience at Bacchus Marsh and Tweed Heads.
While overseeing a Bicentennial camel race across the Outback in 1988 he was approached by a representative of the United Arab Emirates’ ruling family. Within weeks Tinson had relocated to Abu Dhabi and from there to the remote oasis town of Al Ain to hone the crown prince’s stable of racing camels. There he found animals developed over generations to weigh less than a fine-boned Thoroughbred horse. The Melbourne Cup might stop Australia but throughout the oil-rich Gulf countries it’s camel racing that dominates.
Tinson’s story is ripe with exhilarating highs (the births of the world’s first embryo-transfer and frozen-embryo camel calves; a slashing of race speeds by 30 per cent; the advent of the camel ‘beauty’ show) and devastating lows (most notably, losing two babies to sudden infant death syndrome). He details the fervour with which he has pursued the most coveted trophy in the billion-dollar sport of camel racing: the Golden Sword.
Tinson writes candidly of his successes and failures, both professionally and as a husband, son and father. Tinson also delves into the psyche of Bedouin Arab culture: the importance of tradition, the loyalty to family and the laid-back “it’s God’s will” attitude that so surprises many Westerners.
His passion for camels – the animal that has fuelled his life in the Middle East and allowed him to pursue groundbreaking breeding projects in Western Australia, Mongolia, Pakistan and India – is obvious at every stage.

    ' Books are treasure for the spirit and ​the soul. '​
    — VB 2020

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    Book reviews

    WABONGA Press produces an original book review every Friday. Books are chosen from among the latest English-language fiction and non-fiction releases in Australia and internationally.
    Each 300-word review is accompanied by a high-resolution cover image.
    All are available for licensing to print media in selected regions.​For less than the cost of one takeaway cup of coffee each week, a publication can make use of this service to access a new review every seven days, backed by a written guarantee that the same content will not be licensed for use by any direct competitor.
    Please contact Wabonga's publisher, Rosalea Ryan, to discuss how this service can be tailored to your newspaper or magazine.​

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