Book picks similar to
Scar Tail the Platypus by Steve Challis
animal-fiction
animals
asd-etc
australia
Sounding
Hank Searls - 1982
Troubled and separated from his herd, the whale wants to fulfill his one obsessive desire to communicate with the human race and learn why they can be both vicious hunters and frolicking playmates.Far away, on a doomed Russian nuclear submarine, Lieutenant Peter Rostov, the sonar officer and a classical musician, is spending what he's sure are his last days listening to the beautiful "sounding" of the whale.In the amazing climax to this unique novel, man and whale come together and a magnificent destiny is fulfilled."Searls is remarkably eloquent. . . . you'll stand up and cheer." The Washington Post Book World
The Secret Life of Wombats
James Woodford - 2001
These torchlight adventures have since inspired a generation of scientists, and his research is still considered useful today. In The Secret Life of Wombats, James Woodford pursues Nicholson's story and embarks on his own journey to uncover the true nature of our most intriguing marsupial."Woodford has done the research, he has read widely, spoken with the major wombat pundits and with the lay observers. He has travelled to gain direct experience of all species...I know more about wombats than I did, and retain some stark images which I hope never to lose." - Sunday Age.
Love in a Cloud
Lucy Walker - 1960
Now she thought she knew who her hidden benefactor was -- John Grant, whom she loved at her first sight of him. But her heart betrayed her into a torment of indecision...of clouded love.
100 Facts about Pandas
David O'Doherty - 2009
But only the true panda expert knows: -The age of a panda can be determined by measuring the distance between its nipples -In Egyptian hieroglyphics, the panda symbol means "notwithstanding" -Prince's song "Purple Rain" was inspired by the mixed emotions he feels about pandas Smart, funny, and chock-full of panda pictures, 100 Facts About Pandas will astonish and entertain both animal lovers and everyone who laughed their way through The Book of Bunny Suicides and F U, Penguin.
Bite Me a Memoir
Max Thompson - 2013
Bite Me is a book that will have you laughing out loud, will have you crying until your nose runs, and will have you wondering out loud, “Am I really reading the autobiography of a cat?”Yes. Yes, you are.This is the book Max’s readers have been asking for–from the moment the Younger Human brought him home, through the tortures of the M-Word, living with a dog, and then with Basement Kitty Buddah–this is Max Thompson’s memoirs, in his own words.Sort of.
A Bold Life
Kerri-Anne Kennerley - 2017
But behind the glamour of a public life is a private woman. And a survivor.
A Bold Life
is the tale of a Sandgate girl who chased her dream of being a cabaret star to New York, only to find herself stranded in a violent marriage to a dangerous drug addict. It's the journey of a unique and driven woman who built a remarkable 50-year career in one of the most fickle and male-dominated industries of all, and instigated some of the most iconic moments in Australian TV history along the way.Yet away from the spotlight Kerri-Anne has stared down a series of personal crises with grace and dignity, the latest in 2016 when a freak fall left John, her devoted husband of 33 years, a quadriplegic. On their long road to recovery Kerri-Anne found herself reflecting on a lifetime's memories, good and bad.Honest, fabulous, powerful and poignant, this is Kerri-Anne Kennerley's own extraordinary and inspiring story of
A Bold Life.
Charlie the Kitten Who Saved A Life
Sheila Norton - 2016
Perfect for fans of A Streetcat Named Bob and Alfie the Doorstep Cat.But what could I do? I was just a little cat and nobody ever listened to me. I made a promise to myself that I’d do everything I possibly could to save her, whatever the danger to me, and no matter how many lives I lost in the process...Charlie the kitten would do anything for his human. Having just recovered from a debilitating illness, eleven-year-old Caroline isn’t feeling her best, and the arrival of a new baby only makes her feel even more left out.So when Caroline decides to run away, Charlie follows, vowing to protect her at all costs. But for such a little kitten, it’s a big and scary world outside the comfort of the cottage – how far will he go to save his greatest friend?
Through My Eyes
Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton - 2012
Her body was never found. In a terrible miscarriage of justice, her mother Lindy was wrongfully convicted of her daughter's murder and sentenced to life in prison. It was seven years before the conviction was overturned. This is the true story behind a tragedy whose echoes reverberated around the world."This is the story of a little girl who lived, and breathed, and loved, and was loved. She was part of me. She grew within my body and when she died, part of me died, and nothing will ever alter that fact. This is her story, and mine." – Lindy Chamberlain-CreightonThrough My Eyes features a revised introduction and a whole new epilogue to bring the reader up-to-date with events since the time of the autobiography's first publication in 1990.
Crossing the Line: How Australian Cricket Lost Its Way
Gideon Haigh - 2018
Y’know, it's not within the spirit of the game.’ Steve Smith was not to know it at Cape Town on 24 March 2018, but he was addressing his last press conference as captain of the Australian cricket team. By the next day morning he would be swept from office by a tsunami of public indignation involving even the prime minister. In a unique admission, Smith confessed to condoning a policy of sandpapering the cricket ball in a Test against South Africa. He, the instigator David Warner and their agent Cameron Bancroft returned home to disgrace and to lengthy bans. The crisis plunged Australian cricket into a bout of unprecedented soul searching, with Cricket Australia yielding to demands for reviews of the cricket team and of itself to restore confidence in their ‘culture’. In Crossing the Line, Gideon Haigh conducts his own cultural review – ‘less official and far cheaper but genuinely independent’. Studying the cricket team across a decade of radical change, he finds an accident waiting to happen, and a system struggling to cope with self-created challenges, on the field and in the boardroom. And he wonders: is there even any longer a spirit of the game to be within? Crossing the Line is the first instalment in Slattery Media Group’s Sports Shorts collection, a new series of sports essays published as small-format books. Sports Shorts has been created as a home for ambitious, lively and engaging writing and journalism on sport—work of a scale and scope not suited to the confines of day-to-day journalism. Every instalment will illuminate or entertain, all the while fitting into your back pocket on the way to the game.
Walking with Sausage Dogs
Matt Whyman - 2012
When building a family, they complement the kids. But what happens when things get out of hand? For writer and house husband, Matt Whyman, it's a case of catastrophe management in coping with four children and all the ill-advised animals amassed by his career wife, Emma.
The Patron Saint of Eels
Gregory Day - 2005
When Stellanuova's inhabitants emigrate to Australia in the post World War II migrations of the 1940s, 50s and 60s, the immortal saint is left looking down on an abandoned town. To fulfil his calling, he decides in heaven to migrate with his countrymen and now looks down on the state of Victoria, where he intercedes in matters relating to eels.In the southern Victorian town of Mangowak, Noel Lea lives with the melancholy inheritance of a place undergoing the gentrifications of contemporary Australia. Along with his oldest friend, Nanette Burns, he longs for a time when life was less complex and unexpected magic seemed to permeate the ocean town and its people. When spring rains flood a nearby swamp and hundreds of eels get trapped in the grassy ditches around Noel's family home, he and Nanette encounter the vibrant Fra Ionio and get more magic than they bargained for.A beautifully written, charming and evocative book by Gregory Day, who also authored
Trace
, in collaboration with photographer, Robert Ashton.
Thylacine: The Tragic Tale of the Tasmanian Tiger
David Owen - 2003
But was it a savage sheep killer or a shy, fussy, nocturnal feeder? And did it really drink its victims' blood? Once reviled, feared and slaughtered by government decree, the myth of the Tasmanian Tiger continues to grow. So treasured is it now, the Tasmanian Tiger has become the official logo of the island that wiped it out and a symbol of the conservation movement world-wide.A number of Australian species have miraculously reappeared after being labelled as extinct. Perhaps the Tiger is still with us. And if it's not, can it be brought back by cloning?
The Call of the Wild
Lloyd S. Wagner - 2010
His life changes when he is suddenly kidnapped and sold into service during the Klondike gold rush, for he is made to haul heavy sleds through the deep snow fields. Being in a new environment, he soon discovers his dominant primordial instinct. He learns not only to survive, but also flourishes in it. Jack London's The Call of the Wild is a masterpiece in both its style, which set a standard for generations to come, and for its genre, raising adventure writing to the level of classic literature. While being exciting and entertaining, Buck's story is also intelligent and thought provoking - a story for all ages.
Unsaid
Neil Abramson - 2011
Now, having died herself, she finds that it is not so easy to move on. She is terrified that her 37 years of life were meaningless, error-ridden, and forgettable. So Helena haunts-- and is haunted by-- the life she left behind. Meanwhile, David, her shattered attorney husband, struggles with grief and the demands of caring for her houseful of damaged and beloved animals. But it is her absence from her last project, Cindy-- a chimpanzee who may unlock the mystery of communication and consciousness-- that will have the greatest impact on all of them.When Cindy is scheduled for a research experiment that will undoubtedly take her life, David must call upon everything he has learned from Helena to save her. In the explosive courtroom drama that follows, all the threads of Helena's life entwine and tear as Helena and David confront their mistakes, grief, and loss, and discover the only way to save Cindy is to understand what it really means to be human.
Fallen: The inside story of the secret trial and conviction of Cardinal George Pell
Lucie Morris-Marr - 2019
'Guilty' he pronounced five times. The third most senior Catholic cleric in the world had been found guilty of sex crimes against children, bringing shame to the Church on a scale never seen before in its history. Investigative journalist Lucie Morris-Marr was the first to break the story that Cardinal George Pell was being investigated by the police. In this riveting dispatch, she recounts how the cleric was trailed by a cloud of scandal as he rose to the most senior ranks of the church in Australia, all the way to his appointment by Pope Francis to the position of treasurer in the Vatican.Despite anger and accusations, it seemed nothing could stop George Pell. Yet in 2017 he was charged by detectives, returning to Australia to face trial.Take a front row seat in court with the author as she reveals the many intriguing developments in the secret legal proceedings which the media could not report at the time. Fallen reveals the full story of the brutal battle waged by the prince of the church as he fought to clear his name, including a ferocious bid to be freed from jail. The author also shares her own compelling personal journey investigating the biggest story of her career and the frequent attacks she endured from powerful Pell supporters. This book also charts how Pell's shocking conviction plunged the Vatican into an unprecedented global crisis after decades of clergy abuse cases. It is a vitally important story that will fascinate anyone interested in the failure of the Catholic Church to address the canker in its heart.