Book Shelf

I would love to have a short review of every book I've ever read. But I didn't start writing book reviews until very recently. Maybe one day I'll go back and re-read everything, taking notes and reviewing them all along the way. You can assume all these are books I enjoyed and that I would recommend. I don't make it to the end of books I don't enjoy and certainly wouldn't bother reviewing them.

Updated: 2025-01-26

(Organised alphabetically by author last name)

What an Owl Knows

Jennifer Ackerman

Date Read: 2024-12-17
Recommended By: I Learned of Jennifer Ackerman when searching 'best books on birds' in 2023. At the time I read it, this was her most recent book.

"If anyone knows anything about anything," says Winnie-the-Pooh, "it's Owl who knows something about something."

I got into bird watching in 2022. I was adamant I wasn't leaving the US to come back to Australia before seeing an owl and was fortunate enough to see one only a few weeks before we left. Unlike one of Jennifer Ackerman's previous books on birds which address many species as a whole, this one is dedicated as the title implies, only to owls. It was a wonderfully articulated tribute to these charismatic birds, touching on topics like their silent flight, owls in mythology, and conservation. I found it to be very well researched and would recommend it to any wildlife enthusiast, not just those who like birds and owls.

The Long Ships

Frans G. Bengtsson

Date Read: 2020-09-27
Recommended By: Michael Lewis when he was interviewed by Tim Ferriss

"Everybody, however, listened with an appearance of understanding, for any man who could not understand poetry would be regarded as a poor specimen of a warrior."

My favourite of the forty-five books I read in 2020 during Melbourne's infamous lock downs. The Long Ships follows Red Orm, named for his hair and his temper, at the end of the tenth century towards the latter stages of the viking age. Initially captured and enslaved following a rival viking raid, Red travels all over a viking-influenced Europe while simultaneously giving insight into how the vikings themselves came to be influenced by Christianity. Lots of action and adventure. It was a wonderful read.

American Gods

Neil Gaiman

Date Read: 2024-09-26
Recommended By: I've been a fan of Neil Gaiman ever since reading The Graveyard Book.

This is a big book, but the pages turned easily. The story follows Shadow as he gets embroiled in an oncoming conflict between the old gods and the new. It took me a little while to catch onto what was happening as the book often meanders between the story in the present and various periods of American history in the past. It was only right at the end, that I understood why this was done and I learned eventually how this tied into one of the major themes of the book, which I thought was an excellent idea, but I unfortunately found the ending a bit underwhelming. That said, I enjoyed being carried along for the ride.

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, And The Teachings of Plants

Robin Wall Kimmerer

Date Read: 2023-03-21
Recommended By: One of the top hits when searching the web for books on sustainability and nature.

"For all of us, becoming indigenous to a place means living as if your children's future mattered, to take care of the land as if our lives, both material and spiritual, depended on it".

'Sustainability' seems to be something of a hot button word these days. But many indigenous cultures have understood the importance of sustainability for thousands of years. Robin Wall Kimmerer is a Native American and a professor of environmental science and forestry at SUNY College. Braiding Sweetgrass is her wonderful collection of stories as a scientist, educator and mother, many of which revolve around the theme of the 'chain of reciprocity.' I was inspired by the synergy between indigenous wisdom and science that was beautifully articulated with masterful storytelling. It prompted me to research further into how many other indigenous and first nations people are light years ahead of science in what they can teach us.

Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, And The Greatest Race The World Has Never Seen

Christipher McDougall

Date Read: 2019-08-23
Recommended By: A gift from my uncle

"Running unites our two most primal impulses: fear and pleasure. We run when we’re scared, we run when we’re ecstatic, we run away from our problems and run around for a good time."

One of my favourites and quite possibly one of the most influential books I've ever read. Many reviews slam the book for its hyperbole but I think anything that gets people thinking more about their health and wanting to move more can only be a good thing. McDougall writes about his experience tracking down the mysterious Caballo Blanco to learn from him the secrets of the Rarámuri (Tarahumara), the greatest endurance runners in the world. The writing is engaging, weaving stories from the past into events taking place in the present. While I didn't recognise it when I first read the book, many of the themes like the celebration of Indigenous knowledge, sustainable and traditional food, and physiological anthropology planted seeds that have set me on the course I'm trying to pursue as a researcher today.

Dark Emu

Bruce Pascoe

Date Read: 2024-10-26
Recommended By: Heard of Bruce Pascoe and Dark Emu for the first time while watching Down to Earth with Zac Efron.

"One of the most fundamental differences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people is the understanding of the relationship between people and land."

This should be mandatory reading in Australian high schools. First and foremost, Pascoe articulates, in wonderful prose, how Indigenous Australians were in fact farmers and a settled society long before European contact and not 'simple hunter-gatherers.' There is a lot we can learn from Aboriginal agricultural practices. But there is another underlying commentary. One of waking up, looking in the mirror, and acknowledging our nation's history. It's entire history - not just from colonisation - because we can't learn all that First Nation's people can teach us until we do.

The Sloth Lemur's Song: Madagascar From The Deep Past To The Uncertain Present

Alison Richard

Date Read: 2023-05-13
Recommended By: I don't remember how I found this book. I must have seen it advertised online somewhere and written it down immediately.

"The idiosyncrasies of Madagascar's animals and plants offer a wonderful array of rabbit holes down which a person fascinated by the natural world could disappear for a lifetime".

Madagascar's extinct mega fauna (as well as its extant fauna) has fascinated me for years. I therefore couldn't resist immediately buying this title online upon discovering it. However, as the author acknowledges early, this is not a book about sloth lemurs. Instead it's a vivid exploration of the natural history of Madagascar. From its beginnings as part of Gondwana all the way to early human colonisation, several crucial factors like continental drift, climate change, and human impact are discussed with their relationship to the changing landscape and biology of the world's third largest island. Professor Alison Richard is a classically trained anthropologist, well known for her studies of the sifaka lemur genus, but her overall knowledge of Madagascar and her story telling ability are phenomenal. I would love to read a book like this about all large islands and continents.

The Year of Living Danishly

Helen Russell

Date Read: 2023-09-20
Recommended By: One of the top hits when googling 'best books on Denmark'.

"If we were ever going to try to lead a more fulfilling existence, we had to start doing things differently. Now."

There's a term mentioned early in this book that I've realised applies to me. 'Scandophile.' In the last two years I've become very interested in the Scandinavian (actually all Nordic countries) way of living. Given that my family and I will be moving to Denmark for a short stint, this title really jumped out at me. If you can get past the, at times, painful attempts at humor, this is quite a wonderful read. Russell takes the reader on a year long journey of discovering Denmark through her eyes, one month at a time, as she tries to discover why this is considered the happiest country in the world. I learned a lot. The chapters on work-life-balance, raising kids and getting hygge were among my favourites.

Useful Not True

Derek Sivers

Date Read: 2024-11-25
Recommended By: Derek Sivers is a bit of a hero of mine and I knew this book was coming. I bought it shortly after it was released in 2024.

"This book is about reframing - changing how you think about something - and choosing a perspective that's useful to you right now, whether or not it's universally true."

Derek Sivers' How to Live was one of the most thought-provoking books I've ever read. I've gifted it several times. I admire his unique take on life and rejection of the status quo. Useful Not True, as he himself puts it toward the end of the book, is like a prequel to How to Live. To adopt new ideas, especially unconventional ones, requires a rethink of what we take for granted as fact. Useful Not True, in typical Derek fashion (short, punchy, to the point), wonderfully articulates this concept.

Just Kids

Patti Smith

Date Read: 2022-11-27
Recommended By: Happened upon it while at the library during a time in which I was listening to a lot of Patti Smith.

"I had no proof that I had the stuff to be an artist, though I hungered to be one."

An 'unputdownable.' A fantastic memoir that does justice to the beginnings of punk in the United States. But this is not the object of the book. It's merely a bi-product of a wonderful recollection of a marvelous friendship between Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe. What really resonated with me was the, almost poverty, that Smith and Mapplethorpe would endure in order to live the life they wanted to as aspiring artists - absolutely unwilling to compromise. Overall, it's a beautiful book.

Walden

Henry David Thoreau

Date Read: 2022-05-11
Recommended By: I heard of this title for the first time when reading Rolff Pott's Vagabonding.

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

I aspire to the kind of life described by Thoreau in this book. Self-reliant and fully independent, but most importantly, unplugged from the materialism that infiltrates and bloats societies by creating an illusory and superficial sense of value. It was interesting to me that Thoreau was writing about such things in the mid 1800s, referring to how people become the product of the expectations of others, rather than forging their own futures in a way that conforms to their own values and sense of identity. This was my main takeaway from the book, given that I too want to create a life for myself and my family that is built on simplicity and quality, as opposed to quantity and complexity.

The Art of Danish Living: How the World's Happiest People Find Joy at Work

Meik Wiking

Date Read: 2024-11-21
Recommended By: A gift from my mother-in-law

A really nice take on the overarching work culture in Denmark and what those of us who don't live there can learn from the happiest people (and in many cases, happiest workers) in the world. While overwhelmingly work focused, I appreciated the occasional tidbits that were indirectly related to work or work-life balance. It's an easy read with wonderful photography that affirmed much of what I've read (and become enamoured by) up to this point about Nordic culture and Denmark in particular.