Scibooks

Inside Story On Our Gang Nation

SciBooks • Dec 03, 2013

Reviewed by Dr Nick Wilson REVIEW: Patched:  The History of Gangs in New Zealand by Jarrod Gilbert Auckland University Press RRP $49.85 WINNER People’s Choice Award of the New Zealand Post Book Awards 2013 Patched is based on Dr Jarrod Gilbert’s PhD studies in sociology conducted at the University of … Read More

Birds’ Own Stories Captivate

SciBooks • Nov 24, 2013

by Dr Léonie Walker REVIEW: Bird Sense: What It’s Like to Be a Bird by Tim Birkhead Bloomsbury, London, UK, 2013 RRP $24.99 Shortlisted for 2013 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books Professor Tim Birkhead, a behavioural ornithologist, is both an accomplished scientist and a superb communicator. His new book is an … Read More

Molesworth: a story every kiwi should know

SciBooks • Nov 13, 2013

Reviewed by Jane Hall REVIEW: Molesworth: Stories from New Zealand’s largest high country station by Harry Broad.  Photographs by Rob Suisted. Craig Potton Publishing RRP: $69.99 The high country stations of the South Island of New Zealand have a mystic appeal to the males in my family:  huge, tough, rough, difficult country, but fascinating. I … Read More

Would more social housing be enough to make homes affordable?

SciBooks • Oct 16, 2013

by Peter Ellis REVIEW: Homes People Can Afford: how to improve housing in New Zealand Edited by Sarah Bierre, Philippa Howden-Chapman & Lisa Early Steele Roberts Aotearoa  (for New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities, University of Otago), 2013 RRP $30 Homes people can afford is a timely contribution to the debate on what is to be … Read More

Extinct moa brought to life

SciBooks • Oct 09, 2013

Reviewed by George Gibbs REVIEW: Moa: the life and death of New Zealand’s legendary bird by Quinn Berentson. Craig Potton Publishing. 2013. RRP $49.99 Winner  2013 Royal Society of New Zealand Science Book Prize Winner 2013 New Zealand Post Best First Book Non Fiction The bird that fascinated the world ever … Read More

Keepers of natural history

SciBooks • Oct 08, 2013

Reviewed by Jim Hefford REVIEW: The Owl that fell from the sky: stories of a museum curator by Brian Gill Awa Press 2012 RRP $35.00 Ebook $11.99 Natural history museums contain many thousands of zoological specimens and each has a tale to tell – often involving extraordinary people, daring explorations, unquenchable scientific curiosity, and strange coincidences.” Such … Read More

Goat glands, greed and gullibility

SciBooks • Oct 01, 2013

by Alison Campbell REVIEW: Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam by Pope Brock Three Rivers Press, New York, USA (2008) Paperback: 324 pages ISBN: 978-0-307-33989-8 RRP: US$14.95 Goat glands, greed, and the gullibility of others turned out to be a winning combination for John R. Read More

A new book with attitude – but also strong science

SciBooks • Sep 30, 2013

by Tony Blakely REVIEW: Appetite for Destruction: Food – the good, the bad and the fatal by Gareth Morgan and Geoff Simmons Public Interest Publishing, October 2013 RRP $35 Gareth Morgan is known as a smart economist and a bit of a stirrer of public debate. Think domestic cat control to save birds. Think “Big … Read More

Blockbuster will appeal to serious birders

SciBooks • Sep 25, 2013

Reviewed by Alison Ballance REVIEW: Birds of New Zealand: a photographic guide by Paul Scofield and Brent Stephenson Auckland University Press 2013 RRP $59.99 Like many New Zealanders I take a strong interest in our country’s natural history, and if you’re talking about our terrestrial vertebrate fauna then you’re pretty much talking about birds. My bookshelves … Read More