Book reviews: June 2020
3 min read
Our staff and contributors share their latest favourite read from the bookshelf
Pick of the month
Autopia
Jon Bentley
Allen & Unwin
RRP $39.99
Reviewed by Claire Smith
Cars are one of the most significant human creations. They changed our cities. They changed our lives. They changed everything. But in the next thirty years, this technology will itself change enormously. If Google get their way, are we all going to be ferried around in tiny electric bubble-cars? Or will we watch robots race a bionic Lewis Hamilton?
And what about the future of classic cars? In Autopia, TV presenter and journalist Jon Bentley celebrates motoring’s rich heritage and meets the engineers (and coders) who are transforming cars forever. From mobile hotel rooms to electric battery technology; from hydrogen-powered cars to jetpacks, Autopia is the essential guide to the future of our greatest invention. Fully designed with illustrations and photographs, this will be the perfect book for car and technology enthusiasts everywhere.
More good reads
Wonders Of The World
Lonely Planet
RRP $49.99
Reviewed by Claire Smith
From Antarctica and the Amazon to Victoria Falls and the Great Wall of China, Lonely Planet’s Wonders of the World showcases 101 spectacular sights – and how to experience them on any budget. This beautiful book is both inspiring and practical, with expert advice, best-value itineraries, beautiful photography, and local secrets. And best of all, New Zealand is represented by Stewart Island and Milford Sound. The book also features human-made wonders that people may already know, such as the Taj Mahal and Angkor Wat and includes guides to each of these wonders, with recommendations on the best times to visit, how to get there, and where to stay and eat.
Duped – The True Story behind Predator Free New Zealand
Les Kelly
Self-published
$25 plus postage
Reviewed by Tony Orman
In 2008, Marlborough conservationist Les Kelly and a team of like-minded committed individuals set out to find a way to achieve Predator Free NZ (PFNZ). Their aim was to achieve this without using 1080. The author says their vision named Predator Free NZ was hijacked by a combination of bureaucrats and untrustworthy individuals who stole not only the intellectual concept but also the name.
He further adds that two successive governments sabotaged his team’s PFNZ concepts and plans while setting up their own project that unlike PFNZ, uses 1080. Les pulls no punches in caning the previous and current government and organisations in his book.
There are 82 chapters within the 277 pages, which makes for emphatic messages from short, punchy chapters about key points and also makes it easy reading.
A Lifetime in Galápagos
Tui de Roy
Barteman Publishing
$59.99
Reviewed by Lisa Potter
With tourism and travel at a grinding halt, this visually arresting book is the next best thing to visiting an exotic island. Author Tui de Roy has a fascinating life story, having left Europe with her family aboard a banana boat, before a new life of self-sufficiency on Galapagos. With hundreds of photos taken over the course of her childhood into adulthood, this is a truly engaging insight into the spectacular inhabitants of this corner of the world.
As magnificent as the photos are, it’s an equally absorbing read of an extraordinary upbringing. From flamingos and ocean creatures to unusual reptiles and living volcanos, this is a world worth exploring.
We have a copy of A Lifetime in Galápagos to give away this month.
Enter here and fill in the competition form.
Deadline: 30 June 2020
