scribepub's reviews
497 reviews

Every insomniac knows how sleeplessness warps and deforms reality. Marina Benjamin anatomises its endless nights and red-eyed mornings, finding a sublime language for this strange state of lack. Her writing is often reminiscent of Anne Carson: beautiful, jagged and precise.
Olivia Laing, Author of The Lonely City

An exquisite meditation on time, the dark hours, and the complexities of longtime love, Insomnia is a poetic journey into the wide-awake, generous, exciting mind of Marina Benjamin. I couldn't put it down, and my own inner world is richer for it.
Dani Shapiro, Author of Hourglass

A sublime view of the treasures and torments to be found in wakefulness. Entertaining and existential, the brightest star in this erudite, nocturnal reverie in search of lost sleep, is the beauty of the writing itself.
Deborah Levy, Author of Hot Milk

Marina Benjamin is the Scheherazade of sleeplessness, spinning tale upon tale, insight upon insight, in frayed and astonishing and finally ecstatic loops.
Francis Spufford, Author of Golden Hill

Benjamin writes beautifully. This is a graceful rumination on the ‘wicked kind of trespass’ that is insomnia, a work cogent and allusive as a lucid dream, a palimpsest of insights to dip into, day or night.
Anna Funder, Author of Stasiland and All That I Am

Insomnia reads with the surreal and suspended cadence of those lonely hours in the night that only the sleep-less experience. It is, therefore, a kind and intimate companion to our meandering, agitated, non-knowing, spiritually naked thoughts at such hours. Keep it by your bedside lamp!
Sarah Wilson, Author of First, We Make the Beast Beautiful

Insomnia is not so much a lament for lost oblivion as a defiant hymn to the wild isle of Insomnia.
Fiona Capp, Sydney Morning Herald

It’s a book about insomnia’s existential and somatic qualities … Insomnia is a striking reminder of how strange we remain to ourselves. We spend a third of our lives in sleep, but our relationship with that condition is, as Benjamin describes it, “perverse” and “fundamentally embattled”. Read this at night at your own peril.
The Saturday Paper

[Insomnia is] a memoir in roving fragments that mirror the workings of a sleepless mind.
Lilly Dancyger, Vulture

A darkly thrilling beauty of a book … Benjamin’s talent is Arachne-like. The materials she integrates are eclectic, and the resulting constructed web of her thoughts is architecturally robust and resplendent with dazzling prose.
Australian Book Review, Tali Lavi

A short, ludic book about long white nights ... [Benjamin] writes feelingly about the frustrations of being awake when you don’t want to be ... Her moans about her futile thought-loops alternate with flattering descriptions of her radiant nocturnal consciousness.
The New Yorker

Velvety ruminations on night wakefulness ... Benjamin’s mind works like a wide-roving trawler that rakes an area repeatedly before moving on to adjacent territory ... Insomnia turns out to be somewhat of a celebration of sleeplessness as well as a lament ... and is filled with memorable images.
Heller McAlpin, NPR

A work that takes its structure from the insomniac’s mind, flitting restlessly between ideas to build what may be described as a philosophical portrait of sleeplessness ... This strange, entrancing book is in many ways a love letter, albeit one to a particularly irritating lover. Benjamin wants, she writes, “to flip disruption and affliction into opportunity, and puncture the darkness with stabs of light”.
Jane McCredie, Weekend Australian

A fascinating and finely written study of one of the best-known social experiments of the twentieth century. Through archive research and interviews with participants, Gina Perry uses her investigative flair to reconstruct the context, characters, and stakes of this strange piece of history.
Darian Leader, Author of What Is Madness?

When the first punch is thrown in the opening chapter, you know you’re in for a wild ride. In The Lost Boys, academic sleuth Gina Perry investigates the back story of a real-life Lord of the Flies study of human behaviour at a summer camp. The fascinating journey — which takes us through the history of psychology, Turkey, and even American summer camps — reads more like a detective novel than a psychological history book.
Susannah Cahalan, Author of The New York Times bestseller Brian on Fire

In The Lost Boys, Gina Perry has created a meticulously-researched, skilfully crafted account of a decades-old experiment that still casts a shadow over the lives of its subjects. This is a fascinating, disturbing and utterly compelling cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific obsession.
Michael Brooks, Author of The Quantum Astrologer's Handbook

In The Lost Boys, Gina Perry returns to the terrain of morally dubious and manipulative psychological experiments.’
The Saturday Age

Fascinating … excellent.
Weekend Australian

Intriguing… Written in an engaging style, it will fascinate both academics and casual readers alike.
Canberra Weekly

Enthralling.
Australian Book Review

[An] excellent piece of non-fiction interrogating one of the most celebrated pieces of psychological research of the mid-20th century.
Herald Sun

An engrossing expose of the Robbers Cave experiment, a classic study in social psychology, was also a fine historical recreation.
Gideon Haigh, ABR’s ‘Books of the Year 2018’

A clear-eyed assessment of a significant chapter in the history of psychology and social science.
Kirkus Reviews

Perry writes about Sherif’s complicated past, why he was able to carry out the test, and how the boys banded against each other at the camp. But she also digs into the theory behind it, which feels spookily relevant now: the idea that we easily pick sides based on arbitrary circumstances, and that can lead to violence.
Outside Magazine, The Best New Books of March

[Perry’s] analysis of Sherif’s scientific process benefits from a distance, seeing revelations that Sherif and his staff were too close to see. It was enthralling and appalling at the same time.
RuthAlice Anderson, Tonstant Weader

This brilliant reexamination of a study that resonates today should interest scholars as well as undergraduate and graduate psychology students.
Library Journal

In assessing the ostensible success of the experiment and the work of Sherif, who emerges as an extremely difficult man, arrogant and conceited, Perry has done prodigious research.
Booklist

[This] long profile of him [Sherif], and description of his experiment, will likely remain unsurpassed.
Publishers Weekly

Enthralling and outspoken.
Andrew Billen, The Times

It’s funny, sad, uplifting and hopeful. Samer Nashef’s writing style is easy for the lay person to understand (his description of how to do a heart transplant is unforgettable) but is also interesting to those who have some knowledge of cardiology ... Whether you work in medicine or are just interested in how heart problems can be corrected by surgery, this is a great read. I read this book in a couple of days because the stories were so varied and enthralling.
Sam Still Reading

There is an irresistible formula to Trace. The bright-eyed investigative journalist teamed with the dogged homicide detective enjoined in the dark art of enquiry — discerning the outline of evidence then calculating the in-between.The experience of Trace reaches beyond a murder mystery to the interior of the craft — ten parts exhaustion and exasperation to one part excitement and enlightenment.And there is more. Rachael Brown engages a time-honoured hard dig with a fresh form that welcomes and involves the reader.This is a special work, a cold case brought to life via the energy of enquiry and, extraordinarily, given its starting point, the redemptive warmth of humanity.
Chris Masters

Trace Trace the book is the story behind the story. Compelling listening turned into compulsory reading.
Andrew Rule

An outstanding work of long-form audio journalism which crossed platforms, revealing an innate understanding of how audiences would wish to interact with the story
Judges’ comments from the 2017 Walkley Awards

The podcast was a hit, and this behind-the-scenes account of her investigation is a detailed, personal and sobering encapsulation of where the case, and those tied to it, currently stand. Trace is both forensic in its investigation and compassionate towards those forever connected to it … Her propulsive narrative and the many unsettling aspects of this still-open case make Trace a standout among true-crime titles.
Books+Publishing

You may know her from the ‘Trace’ podcast but the book is meritorious on its own - excellently written. Gripping but not exploitative or gratuitous like poorly-handled true crime can be. I find myself taking notes of lines and expressions, and I definitely resent having to put it down!
Bri Lee, author of Eggshell Skull

Bearing the traces of its origins as a podcast, Trace is a polyphonic narrative about revisiting the cold-case murder of Melbourne bookshop owner Maria James. The consequences of opening old wounds – for James’ sons, for the original detective on the case and for Rachael Brown as she uncovers new evidence and testimony – are central to the slowly mounting tension and urgency of Trace.
Sydney Morning Herald

It is absorbing, and elicits immense respect for the author. Outstanding investigative journalism is not dead.
Graeme Barrow, Northern Advocate

Brown’s excellent podcast has been transformed into an addictive true-crime book that traces the clues, suspects, and devastation left in the wake of Maria James’s 1980 death in the Thornbury bookstore where she worked and lived. With revelations that upend the 1982 inquiry, this is, nearly forty years later, still a nail-biting case.
Readings ‘Best Crime of 2018’

Trace’s narrative style mimics the podcast form itself – it allows Brown to tell Maria’s story (as well as her own) in multiple voices and from multiple perspectives.
Ellen Cregan, Kill Your Darlings

Rachael Brown achieved an Australian first: turning a number one true-crime podcast into a Walkley-shortlisted book. Trace: Who killed Maria James? is a gripping read.
Astrid Edwards, ABR’s ‘Books of the Year 2018’

The power of this investigation lies in how Brown shines a light on injustices.
Stephanie Van Schilt, Weekend Australian

Brown skillfully balances an impartial, investigative tone with a more personal perspective, notably addressing her own fears of reopening old wounds and becoming overly consumed by the case ... Those seeking concrete answers may not be satisfied—but as true crime enthusiasts know, the thrill is in the investigation.
Publishers Weekly

Where did a DNA-saturated quilt go? Could a priest be to blame for the horrific homicide, or not? In real life, even the best investigators in law enforcement and in journalism can’t always neatly tie up cases with a bow. But it sure is hard to put down this cold-case story.
Booklist

Trace is a brilliant and compelling look into a horrific crime that affected countless lives … Brown’s work enthralls while never forgetting the burden of care.
Lauren O’Brien, Shelf Awareness

Troy Bramston’s biography of Robert Menzies is a very welcome addition to the growing library on Australia’s longest-serving prime minister. As well as bringing new material into the public domain, he provides a most thoughtful and insightful appraisal of Menzies’ character and achievement.
John Nethercote, editor of Menzies: the shaping of modern Australia

If you read one book on Robert Menzies, make this the one. A refreshing look at Australia’s longest-serving PM. A surprising amount of new information for such a historical figure, and an enjoyable and compelling read to boot.
Peter van Onselen, professor of politics at UWA and Griffith universities, political editor for Network Ten, and contributing editor to The Australian

We were all young at the time, even Menzies: but Troy Bramston has caught the flavour of an era he was barely old enough to see. Above all he has registered how Menzies, for all his faults of pomp, circumstance and fervent monarchism, did so much to create the Australia that has since established itself as the envy of the world. After WWII it was Menzies who made sure that a new generation got its education for free. As his reward, the new generation vilified him for the rest of his life. But that’s Australia: a rough diamond that flays you if you hold it tight but lights the way ahead like torch. This is a thrilling book about a thrilling man. He had his faults, but his virtues are the bedrock of our inheritance.
Clive James

Troy Bramston’s book on Robert Menzies was a good read. It contains an interesting series of reflections on Menzies’ relations with other public figures, especially across the political divide. He writes clearly and well. This work is carefully researched.
John Howard

Using unpublished material, Troy Bramston has added significantly to the many known parts of Sir Robert Menzies showing him to be more complex, reflective and intriguing than the versions adopted by the worshippers and the denigrators.
Ian Hancock

Robert Menzies: The Art of Politics is always judicious and balanced, providing a multifaceted portrait of a key figure of Australian history. This is essential reading for students of politics and history, or anyone interested in the Liberal Party and its deep national influence.
Chris Saliba, Book+Publishing

Bramston puts more flesh on his political bones, bringing to life a colourful and controversial man who could be charming, engaging, pompous, and even “progressive’’ in his views … This book is not defined by mere anecdotes (however intriguing) but by an examination of the Australian political and cultural life that shaped Menzies, who was born before Federation in 1894 in the tiny Victorian town of Jeparit. There is a wealth of insights about the forces moulding the young Menzies.
Michael Madigan, Courier Mail

It is a handsome publication, with a cover photo of an avuncular Menzies early in his second prime ministership and gold lettering befitting his historical stature ... Menzies has always been controversial, a hero to some and a villain to others. Bramston steers a middle course, judging him to be more substantial than his critics allow and with more faults than his admirers admit.
Judith Brett, Sydney Morning Herald

Bramston’s success in Robert Menzies: The Art of Politics lies in his transcendence of “partisan ideology or mockery”. He offers not so much a conventional life portrait but, rather, a consideration of what Menzies called the “art of politics”. His interest is in how Menzies “practised politics” rather than the “enduring nature of his policies” ... His book is in some ways reflecting the contemporary yearning for a more substantial political leadership just as much as it is an attempt to get to the heart of what made Menzies tick.
James Curran, Weekend Australian

Bramston has constructed a portrait of the founder of the Liberal party that is at once carefully measured and insightfully nuanced.
Stephen Loosley, The Spectator

There have been at least half a dozen previous biographies of Robert Menzies, but Troy Bramston’s new life of Australia’s longest-serving prime minister is arguably the most attractive combination of research and readability ... This book details his remarkable career and is a very welcome addition to Australian political biography.
Michael Sexton, Australian Book Review

The Australian’s Troy Bramston writes political history with insight and style. His new book Robert Menzies: The art of politics is a shrewd analysis of a “Man of Canberra”.
Graham Erbacher, Weekend Australian

Who knew? This enthralling study tells a deeply human story. The men and women who gave our troops a significant edge in the fight against the Japanese are the genuine heroes in this engaging and exciting book.
Michael McKernn, Author of The Strength of a Nation and When This Thing Happened

This is history and military strategy written at its most engaging.
Waikato Times

The author weaves a true tale of intrigue, remarkable perseverance, urgency and good luck.
Hawkes Bay Weekend

A delightfully and thoroughly engaging story of the emergence of the Australian contribution to the signals and radio interception intelligence … Dufty’s writing style is light and easy to read, reminiscent of other contemporary historical narratives that tell a series of stories, most notably the emphasis of the human story associated with these experiences.
Rhys Ball, NZ International Review

At once touching and exuding charm, this still manages to pack a punch. It’s a study of what can grow from trust and caring despite grief and misfortune, that no matter what stage of life a person is at, rebirth can be unexpected and come in many forms … uplifting and satisfying.
Scott Whitmont, Books + Publishing

The descriptions of landscape, on the plateaus as well as in the deep valleys, have the ring of truth about them that only comes from years of walking the area.
Good Reading

Hare’s Fur is a tale of convalescence, a restrained, moving story about how we discover new meaning in the wake of anguish ... Hare’s Fur is about the inevitable reconfiguring of a life. It shows us that, like Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with seams of gold, we too can mend ourselves, we too can reconnect our pieces.
Jack Callil, Australian Book Review

With luminous prose and ekphrasis, Shearston depicts the ubiquitously relatable challenge of handling change in everyday life. Hare’s Fur is a poignant story of the literal and figurative pottery of trust, friendship and new beginnings, dirty hands and all.
Jeremy George, Readings Booksellers

It’s a gentle tale about grief, hope, love and kindness … The elegance of this novel is in the unfolding; it is in the way each of the characters comes to trust the possibility of a future.
Laura Kroetsch, Adelaide Advertiser

This short novel could well become that literary holy grail: the successful young adult/adult crossover. It would also be a fascinating addition to state high school curriculums. The author of nine novels, Shearston is a fine stylist and an assured storyteller.
Mandy Sayer, Weekend Australian

A wonderful novel.
Jenny Barry, Co-organiser of Bathurst Writers’ and Readers’ Festival, Western Times Bathurst

This is a meditative novel about grief, work, loneliness, trust, and dealing with fragility, whether in pots or in children. Trevor Shearston is meticulous in recording the complexity and detail of Russell’s craft, and the unfolding of the plot is moving without ever sinking into sentimentality.
Kerryn Goldsworthy, Sydney Morning Herald

Drawing extensively on diary entries, papers and personal interviews with Australian soldiers, Gerster paints an intricate portrait of the moral and cultural disorientation felt by the Aussie ‘conquerors’ as they came to terms with not only an enemy decimated by atomic horror but also their own inherent prejudices ... the book is an immense achievement of research and a timely reminder of the tightrope balance of foreign occupation, a message that has particular relevance in today’s post-9/11 climate. It will be particularly popular among avid history readers looking for a new angle on the wartime Australian experience.
Bookseller+Publisher

Robin Gerster is a superb writer and in his hands the numerous anecdotes, incidents and details of the occupation gleaned from extensive combing of archives, newspapers, diaries and novels come to life. In lesser hands, the wealth of individual observations might weigh down the narrative, but one of the strengths of Atomic Sunshine is its concentration on personal encounters and perceptions.
Jeff Kingston, Japan Times

An excellent book, vividly describing a little known episode of Australian history.
Peter Beale, Newcastle Herald

Elegant and sardonic history ...
Hamish McDonald, Sydney Morning Herald

This troubling, significant book offers us a crucible of what Australians can be like in victory over a justly hated enemy.
Barry Hill, The Age

... A well-written and highly readable account of an interesting episode in Australian history and a valuable addition to the growing literature on the history of Australia's relations with Asia.
The International History Review

Gerster, who draws on a rich supply of sources, tells an absorbing story of two nations in a state of change.
Lucy Sussex, The Sunday Age

Gerster’s Travels in Atomic Sunshine is a scholarly, superbly documented study and a narrative written in a highly readable style. It incorporates provocative arguments and sophisticated insights without becoming ‘academic’. It is a book that is bound to become a classic social history of a major era of the Australian-Japanese postwar encounter.
David Palmer, Transnational Literature

In a rich meeting of history and literature, Gerster explores the big issues of race, culture, and national identity as victor and vanquished meet in the aftermath of a world war. The love, betrayal, greed, generosity, compassion, and casual brutality of individuals are his evidence and the strength of his narrative.
Hank Nelson

Robin Gerster’s brilliant account of the little-known story of Australia’s occupation force provides new, and often unsettling, insights into Australian responses to Japan and the Japanese at the end of the Second World War. Amid the atomic wasteland of Hiroshima, Australians and Japanese fraternized across the barriers of language, history, and different wartime experiences. Gerster’s evocative cultural history of Australian–Japanese relations is as hard-hitting as it is perceptive.
Kate Darian-Smith

Gerster has a fascinating story to tell and he has done so in a lively and compelling narrative way that makes Travels in Atomic Sunshine accessible to readers well beyond the historical profession.
Judges’ comments from the 2009 NSW Premier’s History Awards

This is a fascinating study of cross-cultural contact and the ways that World War 2 changed the attitudes of many Australians ... Of particular note is Gerster’s nuanced and careful analysis of fiction and memoir, which allows a candour and intimacy not always accessible in other sources.
Judges’ comments from the Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History

Gabor Maté, MD, skillfully blends recent advances in biomedicine with the personal stories of his patients to provide empowering insights into how deeply developmental experiences shape our health, behaviour, attitudes, and relationships. A must read.
Bruce Lipton, PHD. Author of The Biology of Belief

[An] enthralling exploration of the relationship between stress and disease ... Maté probes deeply into the life histories and psyches of [his] many patients ... What emerges is nothing short of a revelation ... When the Body Says No has the power to change medical thinking.
The Edmonton Journal

This is a most important book, both for patient and physician. It could save your life.
Peter Levine, Trauma Specialist and Author of Waking the Tiger

Gabor Maté’s connections — between the intensely personal and the global, the spiritual and the medical, the psychological and the political — are bold, wise and deeply moral. He is a healer to be cherished.
Naomi Klein, Author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine

‘In this important book, Dr. Gabor Maté combines a passionate examination of his patients’ life histories with lucid explanations of the science behind mind-body unity.
Richard Earle, PHD, Principal of Vital Corporation and Co-Author of Your Vitality Quotient

The interviewees’ stories are often touching and haunting ... Maté carefully explains the biological mechanisms that are activated when stress and trauma exert a powerful influence on the body ... Readers will be grateful for the final chapter ... in which Maté presents an open formula for healing and the prevention of illness from hidden stress.
Quill & Quire

His medical background and lucid writing style make complex biological processes accessible to non-scientific readers.
Th Gazette (Montreal)

When The Body Says No is full of startling insights and hard-won poetry.
Toronto Star

Rare and refreshing … Here you will find family stories, an accessible description of brain development and sound information. You will also find hope.
Globe and Mail

An insightful read that makes you realise that without your health nothing really matters.
The Sun

An emotional account of how unidentified stress provides a foundation for the development of various disease processes … [O]ffers guidance in resolving personal stressors as a means to a healthier life. This book is easy to read and provides valuable information for anyone interested in the mind-body connection.
Choice

In The View from Connor’s Hill, Heard has the distinctive voice of an Australian storyteller, a yarn spinner who can make you laugh on one page and cry on the next.
Carol Middleton, Australian Book Review

With a doggedly simple yet appealing voice, Heard draws the details of bush life with affection and honesty.
Dianne Dempsey, The Age

It is a simple story told with artless humility and great humanity.
Sydney Morning Herald

He has the knack of putting together a compelling narrative, to which he brings sensitivity, feeling for people and the environment, along with an eye for landscape.
John Farquaharson, Canberra Times

This book is a delightful read that anyone brought up in the country will feel an affinity with as he progresses though youthful adventures ... buy it, read it and you will feel part of this lad's life as he grows to be a man — a man called on to fight for his country.
Michael Ray, Book Nook

One of the things that moved me in this book was Barry's description of the trees, and the bush which helped to heal him.
John Morrow, Inverell Times