Recent books read

As well as my usual diet of fantasy, science fiction and young adult stuff I have read some very interesting non-fiction in the past few weeks.

"Dreams from my Father" Barack Obama - originally published in 1995, 2nd edition 2004.

The first edition of the book was published shortly after Obama finished Law School at Harvard.  The story told in it (apart from the epilogue) concludes just before he enters those hallowed halls.

While much of the narrative has been covered in the media (and misrepresented by of course by the Forces of Evil such as Fox News) I found it very interesting to read the detail in his own words.  In the preface to the 2004 edition - just before he assumes the Office of Senator for Illinois - he notes that while he might want to cut 50 pages "possessed as I am with a keener appreciation for brevity.".  He goes on "I cannot honestly say, however, that the voice in this book is not mine ..."

It begins with the death of his Father in Nairobi and then backtracks to the authors childhood in Hawaii and Indonesia.  It then covers his years of college in LA and New York.  The next section deals with his work as a community organiser in Chicago.  I need to read that section again to fully work out what it was that did; it's reassuring that he writes, in introducing this section:

"When classmates in college asked me just what it was that a community organiser did, I couldn't answer them directly/"

It is very interesting to read the description of his various tasks and how the community - a somewhat rugged one on the South Side - react to being organised!

The final section is his first visit to Kenya to meet that side of his family.  It is very interesting as quite a bit of his writing caused me to remember things we did and places we went in Tanzania.  I occasionally wondered as he describes events whether:

1. The Tanzanian view of Kenya was unduly dark; or
2. He wrote to give Kenya the best possible press; or
3. He was extremely lucky to get out of it without bad experiences (although possibly his time on the South Side had given him the necessary survival skills) or
4. All of the above applied.

All in all a very good read about a very interesting life.  As I typed those words I thought of the title of Wilfred Thesiger's book "A life of my choice".   I don't think Obama had the freedom of choice open to Thesiger and some bits of the narrative show things that were not his choice but by and large he made key decisions and followed through on them.  I doubt if he would have passed on any of it.

My only question, which arises in all autobiographies, is how the hell could he recall all this stuff?  I can remember bits and pieces of things that happened in secondary school and thereafter but there are long gaps.  Perhaps he kept a better diary than I did (no a hard ask).

Two Australian travel books

I have put these next two books under this heading as they are both books about travels in remote (or very remote) parts of Australia in the medium term past.  Cutting to the chase, they are both excellent reads: great content and very well written (and particularly in the second case, great illustrations).

"Walking the Flinders Ranges" Warren Bonython 1971

For those not from South Australia a word or two about the Bonython family is due.  In fact this follows on from the reference to Thesiger's "life of my choice".  The Bonythons were one of the 12 Families reputed to run Adelaide and not short of a bob.  That being said they were interesting people with Kym (probably the best know of the clan) being a speedway driver👍 as well as an art collector 👍and monarchist👎.  Warren is best known as an environmentalist 👍👍and long distance walker 👍: his views about the monarchy are unknown to me.

Warren first came to our notice through a TV program about walking the Simpson Desert.  It included a comment about taking along the best tea since a quarter pound of excellent tea weighs the same as a quarter pound of poor tea!  This view is given in his discussion of the food they carried on these walks.

The walks described in this book cover a project of walking the length of the Flinders from Crystal Brook to Mt Hopeless.  Interestingly neither Google Earth nor Google maps offer anything resembling his route, preferring to avoid the ranges and go along roads: wusses! 

As well as the basic narrative of what he did and saw on this series of 9 walks (spread over 18 months) he includes a lot of background from other walks he had done and the history of the area.  In places he revisits he sometimes comments on how his thinking had changed about the environment in between,

As would be expected of an environmentalist he puts in a fair amount of detail about the vegetation and wildlife they (he doesn't walk alone for safety reasons - and to promote domestic harmony).  It is clear that he keeps pretty detailed notes about where we went, including the elevations of key points.  It is instructive to read of him going up 1000' (~300m) in an hour!  He also includes an amount of information about the station owners and their staff he meets along the way.  

We have covered - by car - much of the territory he describes  at least as far as Blinman (walk V) so his perspectives and commentary were particularly interesting.

There are some interesting historical items bringing home that they did things differently then.  As a small example, at the time he was writing the speed limit in SA was 70 mph prima facie.  This meant that if Mr Plod pulled you over for a higher speed you could get off if you could convince the consequent beak that you were safe at the speed.  Thus it is OK for him to write "We were hurrying at 90 mph along a relatively straight piece of sealed road ....".  From my memory of the road to Crystal Brook in the early 70s, the word 'relatively' is quite important!

As usual with travel writing the mistakes (eg not training with enough weight in his pack) and misadventures (an earlier episode where one of his companions breaks his leg in the Gammon Range stands out) make for most amusing reading.

"Journey among Men" Jock Marshall and Russell Drysdale 1962

Russell Drysdale needs no introduction, other than to confirm that he is the famous artist, whose illustrations greatly enhance the book  A J 'Jock' Marshall is a Professor at Monash U and a writer, about the environment, in Australian newspapers.

The journey covered by the book is a trip to the Kimberley in 1961.  Properly speaking it is about three trips: 

1. Part of the group travel 3000 miles from Sydney via Cloncurry and Katherine to Fitzroy Crossing;
2. Others go 2000 miles from Perth to Fitzroy Crossing;
3. They travel as a group around the Kimberley and then back to Sydney across the Nullabor.

The tone of the book is set by them quoting a poster in a pub at Port Hedland that "Whispering Smith had taken out an order restraining Billy the Lurk from taking intoxicating liquor for a period of three months."  While all in the party were male (the book is dedicated "For Bon and Janey  Who were kind enough to stay at home.") females do feature, mainly the wives of station owners - but including a highly amusing story about a woman encountered in Norseman heading for Adelaide.  

IMHO, rather than Thesiger the style of this book is more Eric Newby.  In making that comment I am thinking more of Thesiger's writing as an asetic revealing in tough going rather than Newby doing things for amusement.  This comes out explicitly in the last few pages of Newby's "A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush."  Another possible comparison is Evan Green writing "Journeys with Gelignite Jack".  Deliberately self deprecating and taking the mickey about members of the group who are clearly experts at what they do. 

There are other views about the writing of Marshall and Drysdale: quoting  the Chief Migration Officer at the Australian Embassy in London:

" You .. are writing nostalgically about the Australia of Banjo Patterson, Henry Lawson and the bush balladists of the nineties."

A fair call, which I don't see as any way a negative.  I reckon their style of writing would appeal more to potential migrants than the cultural references sought by the CMO.

I tried to work out who had written which parts of the book but the split wasn't at all clear.  I suspect that it is not an accident that the description of the trip from Sydney concludes with:

" Dom had let the moths out of his pocket in Broome, and was flourishing a bottle of Scotch"

while the Perth leg ends:

".. for Dom had let the moths out of his pocket at Broome, and was brandishing a bottle of Scotch"

I will confess that I burst out laughing quite a few times while reading the book.  Unfortunately I didn't keep notes of the phrases which caused these outbursts.  Mixed in with the humour are comments about the situation on people they meet, both white and aboriginal, and the wildlife they see.  At least part of the rationale for the trip is killing things, primarily for scientific collecting but on occasion for the pot: however it isn't an Audubon style mass slaughter.

A ripper of a book and made particularly interesting by reading it immediately after the Bonython tone.