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Revamped! - 13th Mar 2017

For those of you who have put off coming in to browse in the music room because of the flood and the lack of carpet - fear no more!

Today a new-ish (well, new to us anyway) carpet was laid and so the salubrious ambience has been restored to our lovely room packed with sheet music, LPs, CDs, and of course books - plenty of them.

Divided into classical, opera, country&western, jazz & blues, and rock & pop, it's a pleasant place to while away a few hours, a lunchbreak or a rainy weekend day. Come on in and forget the flood (as we are trying to).

Middle-Earth - 11th Mar 2017

Middle-Earth Just being added to our catalogue are many titles in the series 'The History of Middle Earth'. Many of these are UK first editions and would be the perfect addition to any dedicated Tolkien fan's collection. 

There are twelve books in the series, which was editied by JRR Tolkien's son, Christopher Tolkien. They are each around 400 pages long and packed with information - after reading this series you're bound to know more about the history of Middle Earth than the average person knows about the history of our Earth!
 

Extinct birds - 8th Mar 2017

Alan Tennyson and Paul Martinson's
Extinct Birds of New Zealand

In New Zealand’s lush rainforests, isolated from the outside world for 80 million years, many extraordinary birds evolved. They included the giant moa, the beautiful huia, and the largest eagle the earth has ever seen. Before human settlement, the islands were completely dominated by birds. Within a few hundred years, a quarter of those birds disappeared forever.

This book brings all these lost birds to life. In rich colour, celebrated painter Paul Martinson depicts each bird in its original habitat. Te Papa palaeontologist Alan Tennyson provides detailed information on the birds as well as a compelling overview of their tragic extinction.

This book is essential reading for experts, students, and anyone interested in this country’s natural history.

Rugby's Strangest Matches - 7th Mar 2017

Rugby's Strangest Matches Rugby's Strangest Matches: Extraordinary but True Stories from over a Century of Rugby
by John Griffiths

Whether you play, referee, coach, write about, film or just watch rugby, you will love this book; the remaining 2% of the popuation who don't fit into any of the above categories will not!

The book covers unusual moments, strange incidents, outstanding performances and occasional violence from 140 years of rugby. It is a fascinating assembly of good, bad and utterly bizarre events. For example:

  • 111 line-outs in one game
  • All Blacks beaten by schoolboys
  • Injured running onto the field
  • Irish team with three pairs of brothers in it
  • An unknown amateur in an England XV (selectors' cock-up)
Read it yourself and then pass it on. You will undoubtedly enjoy the stories of these remarkable rugby moments.

 

Confessions of a Book Addict - 6th Mar 2017

Confessions of a Book Addict A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict
by John Baxter

John Baxter is an Australian novelist, broadcaster and film critic. This book is his story of growing up in 1950s rural Australia when reading books was regarded with suspicion and owning or collecting them was an unheard of eccentricity.

His tales of scouring junk shops, market stalls and auctions will make you smile and his journey from the back of beyond to a penthouse in Paris kitted out with a book collection worth millions will impress you.

His mania for collecting took him all over the world and brought him (and therefore you) into contact with Graham Greene, Kingsley Amis and Ray Bradbury, to name but a few. 

Get yourself a copy - it's amusing, well written, very readable and irresistible for anyone who likes books.

New arrivals - 3rd Mar 2017

When our regular customers come into the shop, many head straight to our "new arrivals trolley" to see what has arrived since their last visit. There are often gems to found lurking on the shelves of our trusty wooden ex-library trolley.

We also have a "Mark Two" new arrivals trolley in the science fiction room so it's a good place to start before you begin scouring the shelves. You may alight upon a real treasure before someone else spots it.

Because Warwick buys a book collection pretty much every week (sometimes more often), there is a constant supply of new arrivals for the trolley.

Warwick tends to sort through the books and either send them for us to cataologue to the online stock or he dumps them onto the new arrivals trolley for us to shelve (hopefuy in the appropriate section).

If you haven't visited the shop or the trolleys, come on in and have a look. There is nothing more satisfying than finding exactly what you've been looking for before anyone else has seen it - or indeed, finding something you had no idea you wanted but now you have to have it. 

 

Celebrate Otago Harbour! - 2nd Mar 2017

Anyone who has cycled, walked, sailed, rowed, paddled or fished their way up or down Otago Harbour will know what a stunningly beautiful place it is - and how unforgivingly stormy, windy and rough it can be at times.

Clearly, those who know the harbour best are the many sailors and fishermen and the dedicated pilots who work on the harbour every day in every conceivable condition. 

David Balderston wrote a book called Come Wind Come Weather: Tales of an Otago Harbour Pilot recounting his years of experience with the Otago Harbour Board. His story covers most aspects of piloting from handling the smallest squid boats to directing the gigantic container ships; from narrow escapes to smooth berthings; in weather calm, clear, foggy or windlashed. A relevant book for all locals and for anyone with an interest in New Zealand ports or pilots.

 

Isaac Asimov - 1st Mar 2017

Isaac Asimov Asimov on Numbers

Everyone knows Isaac Asimov as one of the world's best writers of science fiction but in this book we see another side to him, which (unsurprisingly given the title) is the perfect reading for anyone with an interest in numbers. For example:

  • the importance of zero
  • why computers & people cannot use the same numbers
  • the Asimov series of fractions
  • what infinity really means
  • the story of pi
  • why imaginary numbers are real
  • squaring the circle
  • how to make a trillion seem small
There are seventeen essays on really diverse subjects from the elementary to the esoteric, including googols, T-formations, and a look at our concept of time and why it is structured the way it is. 

Now you can make any would-be mathematician happy with this entertaining and accessible collection of essays.

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