Book picks similar to
Men of the Jungle by Ion L. Idriess


non-fiction
australia
bio-memoir
queensland

Countryman's Lot: Tales from the Dales


Max Hardcastle - 1991
    One day, they'll sell their cramped city-centre antiques shop and the overflowing upstairs flat and relocate to the beautiful Yorkshire Dales. When a smallholding in a remote Dales village comes on the market, it seems like the answer to their prayers.

Marco Polo


Milton Rugoff - 2015
    He returned with stories of exotic people, tremendous riches, and the most powerful ruler in the world – Kublai Khan. The explorer told of inventions ranging from gunpowder to paper money. The intellectual ferment and cultural diversity he described helped move Europe out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance. In his lifetime, people scoffed at his stories. But as this book explains, he changed the world.

Cocaine + Surfing: A Sordid History of Surfing's Greatest Love Affair


Chas Smith - 2018
    The 1960–70s image, bolstered by Tom Wolfe and Big Wednesday, was one of mild outlaws―tanned boys refusing to grow up, spending their days drinking beer and smoking joints on the beach in between mindless hours in the water.But in the 1980s, as surf brands morphed into multibillion-dollar companies, the derelict portrait began to harm business. The external surf image became Kelly Slater and Laird Hamilton, beacons of health, vitality, bravery, and clean-living.Internally, though, surfing had moved on from booze and weed to its heart’s true home, its soul’s twin flame: cocaine. The rise of cocaine in American popular culture as the choice of rich, white elites was matched, then quadrupled, within surf culture. The parties got wilder, the nights stretched longer, the stories became more ridiculously unbelievable. And there has been no stopping, no dip in passion.It is a forbidden love, and few, if any, outside the surf world know about this particular rhapsody. Drug use is kept very well-hidden, even from insiders, but evidence of its psychosis rears its head from time to time in the form of overdoses, bar fights, surf contests, murders, and cover-ups.Cocaine + Surfing draws back the curtain on a hopped-up, sometimes-sexy, sometimes-deadly relationship and uses cocaine as the vehicle to expose and explain the utterly absurd surf industry to outsiders.

Castaway: The extraordinary survival story of Narcisse Pelletier, a young French cabin boy shipwrecked on Cape York in 1858


Robert Macklin - 2019
    He lives in Canberra. In 1858, fourteen-year-old French cabin boy Narcisse Pelletier was aboard the trader Saint-Paul when it was wrecked off the eastern tip of New Guinea. Scrambling into a longboat, Narcisse and the other survivors crossed almost 1000 kilometres of the Coral Sea before reaching the shores of Far North Queensland. If not for the local Aboriginal people, Narcisse would have perished. For seventeen years he lived with them, growing to manhood and participating fully in their Uutaalnganu world. Then, in 1875, his life was again turned upside down.Drawing from firsthand interviews with Narcisse after his return to France and other contemporary accounts of exploration and survival, and documenting the spread of European settlement in Queensland and the brutal frontier wars that followed, Robert Macklin weaves an unforgettable tale of a young man caught between two cultures in a time of transformation and upheaval.

Red Lead: The legendary Australian ship's cat who survived the sinking of HMAS Perth and the Thai-Burma Railway


Roland Perry - 2020
    

Flying the Knife Edge: New Guinea Bush Pilot


Matt McLaughlin - 2015
    ‘Flying the Knife Edge’ is the story of an ordinary man experiencing extraordinary things as a pilot in Papua New Guinea in the 1990s. After an untimely exit from the Royal New Zealand Air Force, New Zealander Matt McLaughlin took a leap into the unknown, travelling to Papua New Guinea to work as a missionary pilot. He soon switched from missionary to mercenary, and over the next three and a half years, as he built up the necessary experience to chase his goal of becoming an airline captain, his life was a rollercoaster ride of adventure, risk, near-misses, and tragedy. Matt lived on the knife edge of bush pilot ops in one of the world’s most dangerous flying environments. Along the way he soaked up some fascinating local history: the country's vital role in WWII’s Pacific Theatre; the disappearance of aviator Amelia Earhart; the chaos of the Bougainville civil war; the Morobe gold rush of the 1930s... “The gap in the cloud became smaller and smaller as I descended, a shrinking tunnel twisting down the gorge. In a matter of seconds I was so low my wheels barely cleared the trees on the valley floor as I passed, and jungle-clad walls closed in on me until I was a mere wingspan from both sides of the valley. And then, in an instant, the gap was gone and I was flying blind. In cloud. In the bottom of a gorge. With terrain on both sides rising thousands of feet above me. Time stopped. The passengers started screaming, anticipating the aircraft impacting the side of the mountain. And their deaths. I had the capacity for just one other thought: Will I hear the sound of the airframe smashing into the trees as we crash, or will I be dead before it registers?”

The New Hustle: Don’t work harder, just work better


Emma Isaacs - 2021
    But on the back of the pandemic, entrepreneur and Business Chicks founder Emma Isaacs believes the hustle is now dead. Moreover, traditional ways of working - long commutes, unproductive meetings and outdated systems of bureaucracy - actually don't work at all.Emma believes we don't have to work harder; we just need to work better. In fact, we can slash our hours, take shortcuts and still get more done - without feeling depleted. By becoming more intentional and reimagining the way we work, we can rewrite the old work rules and reinvigorate our lives.The New Hustle condenses Emma's wisdom into 77 anti-rules for maximum dip-in-and-out efficiency. Drawing inspiration from her team, the member of Business Chicks and the many entrepreneurs and leaders who have graced the Business Chicks stage - from Elizabeth Gilbert to Simon Sinek - she guides us towards embracing radical flexibility, making quick decisions and working smarter, from the emails we craft to the talent we recruit . . . and say no to the things that don't matter, so we can say yes to the things that do.Written with humour, insight and a serving of tough love, The New Hustle is your go-to for more productive, creative and meaningful work by one of Australia's most unconventional and effective entrepreneurs: a bestselling author, mum of six - and a woman determined to start an anti-hustle revolution.Praise for The New Hustle'For anyone who's committed to becoming their best self at work and in life.' - Marie Forleo'Refreshingly original. Makes so much bloody sense!' - Lisa WilkinsonPraise for Emma Isaccs'Emma has an inexhaustible joie de vivre, and she delivers an intelligent guide for a new way of working.' - Diane von Furstenberg'Emma Isaacs is a delight. She is kind, and she is smart, and she is grounded, and she is brave and she is funny.' - Elizabeth Gilbert

Diary Of An 80s Computer Geek: A Decade of Micro Computers, Video Games & Cassette Tape


Steven Howlett - 2014
    The 1980s were certainly loud, often garish and utterly fabulous - no matter how embarrassing the outfits were.There are so many elements, which made the 80s a truly great decade, but one of the greatest contributions, if not the greatest, is the mass introduction of affordable 8-bit home micro computers.These curious machines of geekdom changed the way we regarded computers and technology. No longer were they the sole perverse of tweed jacket clad scientists sporting unruly beards, micro computers were now forming a staple inventory in millions of homes.Much of the technology that we enjoy today, such as desktop computers, notebooks, tablets, gaming consoles and smart phones, all of which are often taken for granted, can be traced back to this innovative decade.If you were a child of the 80s and remember the joy of receiving your very first home computer or maybe a young adult who fondly remembers the excitement, then you will appreciate this unabashed reminiscence of a simpler time whose adolescent technological was on the cusp of great advancements.This book is intended as celebration and reflection of all the computer technology that made the 80s such a wonderful, pioneering period and follows the journey of a self confessed, teenaged computer geek who experienced and enjoyed every ground breaking moment, including publishing his own software.10 Print “The 80s are fab!”20 Goto 10RunAuthor's Comments:The current edition is dated 31st January 2016 and has been edited based on customer feedback.

Nightmare in Jonestown: Cult of Death (Singles Classic)


Time Inc. - 2016
    December 4, 1978.In an appalling demonstration of the way in which a charismatic leader can bend the minds of his followers with a devilish blend of professed altruism and psychological tyranny, some 900 members of the California-based Peoples Temple died in a self-imposed ritual of mass suicide and murder.The followers of the Rev. Jim Jones, 47, a once respected Indianaborn humanitarian who degenerated into egomania and paranoia, had first ambushed a party of visiting Americans, killing California Congressman Leo Ryan, 53, three newsmen and one defector from their heavily guarded colony at Jones-town. Then, exhorted by their leader, intimidated by armed guards and lulled with sedatives and painkillers, parents and nurses used syringes to squirt a concoction of potassium cyanide and potassium chloride onto the tongues of babies. The adults and older children picked up paper cups and sipped the same deadly poison sweetened by purple Kool-Aid.This story is part of the TIME Classic Coverage Collection from Time Inc. This is a reproduction of a story that appeared in the December 4, 1978 issue of TIME magazine. Time Inc. is one of the world’s most influential media companies – home to 90 iconic brands like People, Sports Illustrated, Time, InStyle, Real Simple, Food & Wine, and Fortune. The Spotlight Stories in this collection aim to provide you with a quick read on a single subject, highlighting our readers’ most popular stories and featuring great reporting from our Time Inc. journalists.

Triumph of Justice: Closing the Book on the O.J. Simpson Saga


Daniel Petrocelli - 2016
    Simpson free, Daniel Petrocelli came to pick up the pieces. Outraged by the disastrous miscarriage of justice, the family of murder victim Ronald Goldman sought justice in civil court—their last chance to go after Simpson. To represent them, they hired Petrocelli, a respected attorney who had never before tried a criminal case. In order to win the case, Petrocelli would have to prove that O.J. Simpson was a killer.The physical evidence connecting Simpson to the murders was rock solid, but in the criminal trial, evidence was not enough. To bring the families justice, Petrocelli would have to do something that the District Attorney had not been able to do: confront O.J. Simpson face-to-face.Called “the best book on the subject” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Triumph of Justice is the definitive account of the Simpson murders and their aftermath. In the long, twisted history of the trial of the century, Daniel Petrocelli has the final word.

Waking Up in a Tent: Empty Nest on the Pacific Crest Trail


Laurel Siegel Gord - 2017
    What could possibly go wrong? “What was I thinking? In that moment of madness, I completely forgot that I’m a total wuss, terrified of heights. In my defense, it doesn’t come up much in my city life, although I do need to practice meditative deep breathing on freeway overpasses….” So swept along by the enthusiasm of her usually very predictable husband, a newly retired engineer, Laurel agrees to leave her overly busy life behind, let go of her worries about her grown children, and spend two months hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. She hopes the shared adventure will bring added intimacy to her odd-couple marriage and that time in nature will support her spiritual growth, or at least help her talk some sense into her rampaging inner critic. Despite paralyzing fear, sickness, injury, and hail, the majestic grandeur of the High Sierra did work some kind of miracle. “I picked up Waking up in a Tent, planning to spend a few minutes looking it over. Before I knew it, two hours had flown by and I was halfway through the book. Much of the book’s charm comes from Laurel’s determination to bring a spiritual perspective to hardships on the trail and friction with her husband. It’s not only a great read, but an education in how to maintain a rewarding marriage.” Carolyn Godschild Miller, Ph.D. author of Creating Miracles, A Practical Guide to Divine Intervention “I’ve never been backpacking, but I felt I was there on the trail with Laurel and John, marveling at the beauty around me. Although Laurel struggles, she never takes herself too seriously, and that’s where the humor comes in. I laughed out loud at the depictions of her inner dialogue.” Joan Bell

3000 Facts about TV Shows


James Egan - 2016
    The producers refused. In Doctor Who, the Twelfth Doctor's costume was inspired by David Bowie. In Game of Thrones, Hodor's real name is Wyllis. Matthew Perry plays Chandler in Friends. He says he can't remember a single thing from the show throughout three seasons. In The Simpsons, Hans Moleman has died at least 15 times. Many mobsters contacted James Gandolfini to tell him his performance was excellent in The Sopranos but warned him not to wear shorts in the show. Millie Bobby Brown was 11 when she was cast as Eleven in Stranger Things. The Tourette Syndrome Association praised the show, South Park, for its accurate portrayal of the Tourette's condition. In Family Guy, Meg's full name is Megatron Griffin.

Almost Heaven: Coming of Age in West Virginia


Jerry S. Horton - 2014
    A very well written book that will be hard for anyone to put down!This is a must read.Jerry's interesting and riveting account of his childhood years and transition to a young adult and Infantry NCO are truly endearing! His honest and impelling novel reminds one of why we serve, fight, and are willing to lay down our lives for God, Country, and our fellow man. God Bless the Infantryman!!Thank the Lord for Soldiers and West Virginia !This book is a great read. This honest account of growing up in West Virginia and becoming a Sergeant in Vietnam is sometimes thrilling and sometimes heart wrenching. Through a lot of true grit, thank goodness Jerry Horton survived to tell this story. I highly recommend this book. It is a Winner.This is an inspiring memoir written about a young man coming of age in West Virginia in the 1960's. It is a memoir but also a real thriller story as we follow Jerry from the streets surrounding Lincoln playground to Chicago Steel mills to the French Quarter in New Orleans and to San Francisco in the Summer of Love 1967. The book then moves you to the Central Highlands in Vietnam where Jerry is an infantry platoon sergeant. Jerry's interesting and truthful account of his childhood years and transition to an adult and Infantry Sergeant are truly endearing. It is an honest and compelling story. It gives a first person narrative of hand-to-hand combat in the trenches of Vietnam that can leave you scared, glad to be alive and eternally grateful to those who died for our freedom. Jerry joined the army to simply be able to afford to go to college. Forty years later he has a PhD and multiple degrees but they were earned at a heavy price for this patriot. Jerry shares his experiences in Vietnam in an articulate, honest and direct assessment of his time in Vietnam, the men he served with and the horrors of war. It is an incredible story of leadership and survival.We see Jerry develop as a young boy who is very independent and then see him being schooled on the streets of Charleston, West Virginia learning how to come to grips with the breakup and divorce in his family. He takes refuge in becoming the best he could be as a basketball player on the courts of Lincoln playground. Later we see him leaving home for the mean streets of the Chicago Steel mills and then on to Louisiana where he completes one year of college and then goes flat broke. Then the book shifts to New Orleans Louisiana and the excitement of the French Quarter. Jerry's life is rocked by the turbulent waters in New Orleans; he had no money no plan and is drifting. He seeks out another lifestyle in California hitching to and then living in San Francisco during the Summer of Love 1967. He describes how it was, the music and time and place and he takes you there through his vivid descriptions. Once again, his life spins into turmoil and as he tries to get back on the path to achieve his life's dream of going to college he is drafted in the Army. He finds himself becoming a leader, an infantry sergeant. His goal is to bring himself and his men back home alive, the reader gets the sense that all his life Jerry has been prepared for this moment. The reader is taken through and sees through Jerry's eyes what combat is really like.This story covers much ground and has something for everyone. You live through Jerry 's experiences of what it's like to conquer your own demons, you read about his mother's courage having Jerry in the Salvation Army by herself, the excitement and freedom of the 1960's and you learn what it is like to want something so bad you lay your life down for it. It is a book you truly won't lay down once you start reading.

Faisal


Rebecca Stefoff - 1989
    A biography of the Saudi Arabian king who ruled from 1964 until his assassination in 1975 and who became, during his reign, an important world leader through his control of his country's vast oil resources.

The King: A Biography of Clark Gable


Charles Samuels - 2015
    The book traces Gable's life from its humble, hard-scrabble beginnings in Ohio, to his hard-work and determined efforts to achieve success on Broadway, to his meteoric rise to stardom in Hollywood, his time spent in the Army Air Force in Europe, and his many loves, including Carole Lombard who was tragically killed in an airplane crash in 1942. The King paints an intimate, contemporary portrait of Clark Gable the man, both on and off camera, and ends with Gable's work on his last film, The Misfits, and his subsequent decline in health and his death on November 16, 1960, at age 59.