Scribe Publications: New Releases, Latest Scribe News and Henry's Blog

Alom Shaha at Avid Reader Bookshop

2012-02-07T12:02:52Z

Special Radio National live recording with Paul Barclay

Growing up in a strict Muslim community in south-east London, Alom Shaha learnt that religion was not to be questioned. Reciting the Qur’an without understanding what it meant was simply a part of life; so, too, was obeying the imam and enduring beatings when he failed to attend the local mosque. Shaha was more drawn to science and its power to illuminate. As a teen, he lived between two worlds: the home controlled by his authoritarian father, and a school alive with books and ideas.

In a charming blend of memoir, philosophy, and science, Shaha explores the questions about faith and the afterlife that we all ponder. Through a series of loose ‘lessons’, he tells his own compelling story, drawing on the theories of some of history’s greatest thinkers and interrogating the fallacies that have impeded humanity for centuries. Shaha recounts how his education and formative experiences led him to question how to live without being tied to what his parents, priests, or teachers told him to believe, and offers insights so that others may do the same.

Shaha's book, The Young Atheist’s Handbook, is a book for anyone who thinks about what they should believe and how they should live. It’s for those who may need the facts and the ideas, as well as the courage, to break free from inherited beliefs. In this powerful narrative, Shaha shows that it is possible to live a compassionate, fulfilling, and meaningful life without God.

Tickets are $5. Book through the Avid Reader website here

6pm
Avid Reader Bookshop
193 Boundary Road
West End

Date: 1 March 2012

Kim Barker at Avid Reader Bookshop

2012-02-07T11:58:39Z

Special Radio National live recording with Paul Barclay

A true-life Catch-22 set in the war-torn countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, by one of the region's longest-serving correspondents.

Kim Barker is not your typical, impassive foreign correspondent—she is candid, self-deprecating, laugh-out-loud funny. At first an awkward newbie in Afghanistan, she grows into a wisecracking, seasoned reporter with grave concerns about US forces' ability to win hearts and minds in the region. In The Taliban Shuffle, Barker offers an insider's account of the 'forgotten war' in Afghanistan and Pakistan, chronicling the years after America's initial routing of the Taliban.

When Barker arrives in Kabul, foreign aid is at a record low, electricity is a pipe dream, and of the few remaining foreign troops, some aren't allowed out after dark. Meanwhile, in the vacuum left by the US and NATO, the Taliban is regrouping.

Tickets are $5. Book through the Avid Reader website here

6pm
Avid Reader Bookshop
193 Boundary Road
West End
Qld 4101

Date: 20 February 2012

Alom Shaha at the Wheeler Centre

2012-02-07T11:25:24Z

In conversation with John Safran

In The Young Atheist’s Handbook Alom Shaha, a British–Bangladeshi film-maker, science writer and unabashed atheist argues that regardless of the strictness of the traditions you are raised in, it’s possible to live a compassionate, fulfilling, and meaningful life without God. He'll be discussing this, and how atheists can break free from inherited beliefs, with broadcaster and provocateur John Safran.

This is a free event; bookings are recommended. Book through the Wheeler Centre website here

6.15pm
The Wheeler Centre
176 Little Lonsdale Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000

Date: 27 February 2012

Kim Barker at the Wheeler Centre

2012-02-07T11:01:23Z

In conversation with Karen Middleton

Foreign correspondent Kim Barker’s personal account of reporting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, The Taliban Shuffle, is a fiercely honest – and occasionally hilarious – dissection of the absurdities of an intractable conflict. In her book Barker, previously South Asia bureau chief for the Chicago Tribune, abandons the journalist’s conventional poker-faced neutrality for a mordant take on the newest American – and Australian – military quagmire. She will be discussing her experiences with Karen Middleton, author of An Unwinnable War: Australia in Afghanistan and Chief Political Correspondent with SBS television.

This is a free event; bookings are recommended. Book through the Wheeler Centre website here

6.15pm
The Wheeler Centre
176 Little Lonsdale Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000

Date: 22 February 2012

Donovan Hohn at the State Library of Victoria

2012-02-07T10:56:27Z

In conversation with 3RRR's Ben Birchall

Donovan Hohn, author of Moby-Duck: the true story of 28,800 bath toys lost at sea and of the beachcombers, oceanographers, environmentalists, and fools, including the author, who went in search of them will be in conversation with Ben Birchall of 3RRR discussing his very unusual book, environmental issues, and what motivates someone to strive for all the answers.

Free, but please book on 8664 7540
6 for 6.30pm
Readings State Library
Palmer Hall
State Library of Victoria
Cnr La Trobe and Swanston Streets
Melbourne

Date: 29 February 2012

Occupying Wall Street: the inside story of an action that changed America

2012-01-30T00:00:00Z

For two months this fall, Zuccotti Park, squeezed deep in a canyon between bankers’ skyscrapers in lower Manhattan, was the site of an extraordinary political action. Home to the hundreds of anti-capitalist protestors who camped there overnight, and the thousands who visited to join the protest, the park became a magical place: a communion of sharing and consensus in the heart of a citadel defined by greed and oligarchy.

In the early hours of Tuesday November the 15th the occupiers’ camp was destroyed when police swept suddenly into the square, tearing down the tents, library, kitchen and medical centre, and arresting hundreds. For the multitude supporting the action it was a heart-rending moment. But if the occupation at Zuccotti was destroyed that night, the movement it spawned across America has only just begun. Issues of equality and democracy, absent from mainstream political discussion in the United States for decades, are today springing up everywhere.

Now, in a new book assembled by a group of writers active in support of the occupation, the story of Occupy Wall Street is being told. Occupying Wall Street draws on extensive interviews with those who took part in the action to bring an authentic, inside-the-square history to life. In these pages you will discover in rich detail how the protest was devised and planned, how its daily needs were met, and how it won overwhelming support across the nation.

In a vivid, fast-paced narrative, the key events of the occupation are described: the pepper spraying of young women corralled between plastic fences by the NYPD; the mass arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge; the victory on October 14th when an announced 'clean up' of the square was abandoned by a mayor’s office fearful of a PR disaster; and the eventual storming of the occupation that brought it to an abrupt end. Woven throughout are stories of daily life in the square focusing on how the kitchen, library, media centre, clean-up, hospital, and decision-making at the General Assembly functioned, all in the words of the people who were there.

The future course of Occupy Wall Street remains unclear. But one thing is starkly evident: Under the banner 'We are the 99%' the protest has given birth to America’s most important progressive movement since the civil rights marches half a century ago. This is the story of that beginning.

Seize the Day: how the dying teach us to live: new foreword by the author

2012-01-25T00:00:00Z

Marie de Hennezel is a gifted psychologist who works as part of a remarkable team of doctors and nurses in a hospital for the terminally ill. In this eloquent book, she shares her unique perspective on what life and death really mean — and explores how talking about death, and facing up to it, can actually help us to lead more abundant lives.

The men and women who come to the palliative-care unit do not always know that they are dying. It is de Hennezel’s aim to bring them and their loved ones to this knowledge, and then to encourage them to live each day as fully and serenely as possible. Through her insight and humanity, and the unforgettable people she helps, we learn how precious the final days of a person’s life can be and how deeply moving it is to share these moments with someone else.

In an age where people hesitate to talk about dying, Seize the Day lends us the strength to confront the mysteries of death, gives us hope, and celebrates the courage of the human spirit.

Memoirs of an Addicted Brain: a neuroscientist examines his former life on drugs

2012-01-25T00:00:00Z

A gripping, triumphant memoir about the power of addiction and its effect on the brain

Marc Lewis knows addiction: that desperate ambition to get high accompanied him around the world for many years. In the 1960s, Lewis was a teenager in boarding school, experimenting with cough syrup and alcohol to assuage his depression. When he moved to Berkeley, California, the pulsing heart of the counter-cultural movement, he began using LSD and heroin. His spiralling journey of addiction eventually led him to Asia, where he sniffed nitrous oxide in the Malay jungle, took speed in Kuala Lumpur, and lost himself in the opium dens of Calcutta. This was the beginning of his descent into a moonlit world of crime, poverty, and desperation. Returning to Toronto, Lewis lived a double life: by day, he was a psychology student; and by night, he stole from homes and laboratories to get high.

Thirty-four years on, Lewis is a neuroscientist, and he studies the brains of troubled children. But he never forgets that he was once one of those kids — and that, no matter how many scientific conferences he attends, he always will be.

In this mesmerising memoir, Lewis recounts his relationship with drugs from the inside out, giving a revelatory analysis of the chemical changes in his brain that sustained his addiction. This is not just the story of a man who found his calling while fighting a habit that crossed continents and brought him in contact with the wilder edges of life. It is also a penetrating, powerful analysis of addiction, offering a fascinating insight into the human brain, and what drives it to self-destruction.

The Power of Seven Frameworks: the key to business success

2012-01-25T00:00:00Z

Truly great businesspeople become leaders in their industry because of the quality of their ideas. In The Power of Seven Frameworks, bestselling business writer Kazuyo Katsuma synthesises the strategies of the world’s top business thinkers, distilling them into techniques to help you to hone your problem-solving ability and consistently produce exceptional ideas. Katsuma shows how learning to use the power of frameworks will release your creative potential and turn it into successful business practice.

The seven frameworks will help you to:

• interpret information quickly and make fast, effective decisions

• make accurate forecasts about a new business or venture

• communicate effectively with words, diagrams, and images

• understand statistics and use them to your advantage

• turn chance and coincidence into opportunities

As Katsuma demonstrates, the seven frameworks are the keys to achieving success, acquiring inspiration, and finding a healthy balance between work and life.

There Stands My House: a memoir

2012-01-25T00:00:00Z

The first English-language translation of the memoirs of Hans Keilson, one of Europe’s most masterful and remarkable writers

In this unique work, which was composed in the 1990s and only recently rediscovered, Keilson brings back a bygone era in snapshots from a life spanning one hundred years. The external stations of this life — his youth in Brandenburg, his student years and the fast life in Berlin, his exile in Holland, his survival in hiding, and the loss of his parents — are framed by economic crisis, anti-Semitism, and war, but also by friendship, music, and hope. Hans Keilson reveals these themes in gentle, quizzical reflections and fragments, producing an unforgettable portrait of his time.

The memoir is followed by a beguiling conversation about Keilson’s one hundred years of living and writing. It provides an incomparable insight into the man whom The New York Times recently hailed as ‘one of the world’s very greatest writers’.

IMPAC Dublin Literary Award winner The Twin to be made into a film

2012-01-10T11:40:18Z

Next month filming will begin in Holland for a feature based on Gerbrand Bakker's novel The Twin. Bakker's book received international critical acclaim and won the world's most valuable literary prize, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, in 2010. Adapted for the screen and directed by Nanouk Leopold, the film will be distributed by Cinéart and is expected to appear in cinemas in February 2013.

Bakker's latest book, The Detour, will be published in Australia and New Zealand by Scribe in March this year.

Amy Espeseth wins the 2012 CAL Scribe Fiction Prize

2012-01-09T15:19:47Z

Scribe Publications is thrilled to announce that the winner of the 2012 CAL Scribe Fiction Prize for writers 35 and over is Amy Espeseth for ‘Trouble Telling the Weather’. Amy wins $15,000 and a book contract with Scribe. Amy Espeseth’s ‘Trouble Telling the Weather’ is a novel-in-stories that unfolds through the viewpoints of five characters who live in Siren, Wisconsin, and share a difficult past.

The judges were Blanche Clark (Books Editor, Herald Sun), Jon Page (CEO, Pages & Pages Bookstore, and President of the ABA) and Aviva Tuffield (Associate Publisher, Fiction, Scribe). Jon Page praised ‘Trouble Telling the Weather’ as ‘an accomplished and absorbing story that follows a cast of interconnected characters with skill and empathy’.

Blanche Clark said: ‘An assured tone and vivid descriptions bring to life the bleakness and beauty of Siren, Wisconsin, the setting for a poignant tale that compassionately, but unflinchingly, traverses the lives of five characters struggling with racial, economic and social disparity.’

Aviva Tuffield added: ‘Amy Espeseth is such a talented and assured writer, and the links between these stories make “Trouble Telling the Weather” much more than the sum of its parts. I’m very excited that Scribe will be publishing it.’

The other two shortlisted manuscripts in this year’s prize were ‘Manly’ by Andrew Lindsay and ‘The Reflection’ by Hugo Wilcken. We received 175 manuscripts in total from writers ranging in age from 35 to 85.

About Amy Espeseth
Amy Espeseth was born in rural Wisconsin and immigrated to Australia in the late 1990s. Her fiction has appeared in various journals including Wet Ink, antithesis, and The Death Mook. She was awarded the Prize for an Unpublished Manuscript by an Emerging Victorian Writer in the 2009 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards. She is also the recipient of yhe Felix Meyer Scholarship in Literature and the QUT Postgraduate Creative Writing Prize.

Passionate Marriage: keeping love and intimacy alive in committed relationships: New edition

2012-01-03T00:00:00Z

The greatest sexual pleasure and emotional fulfilment in a person’s lifetime is possible in the middle and later years, when he or she has developed a mature sense of self and found genuine intimacy with another person. That’s the exciting message of this daring and pioneering work, which challenges couples to work together on the sexual and emotional blocks that hold them back from total satisfaction with each other.

As you open the pages of this book, you’ll meet couples who share the same predicaments and obstacles as you and your partner. With humour, compassion, and unusual candour, Dr Schnarch and the couples address the intimate secrets of their marriage, revealing ideas and techniques that are directly applicable to your own relationship.

With a new preface by the author for this updated edition, Passionate Marriage is a respectful, erotic, uplifting, and spiritual guide dedicated to making love and intimacy a reality for every couple. It’s a book to read and reread often for inspiration and enlightenment.

Good Health in the 21st Century: a family doctor's unconventional guide: New edition

2012-01-03T00:00:00Z

Western nations are worried about the problems of an ageing population. But if we take into account the health trends in younger generations we arrive at a frightening prediction: for the first time in history, we have produced a generation which may not outlive its parents.

Like a growing number of doctors throughout the developed world, general practitioner Carole Hungerford became concerned about these trends, and began to question a health industry based on a model of 'curing disease'.

The result is Good Health in the 21st Century, an encyclopaedic health guide that provides an extraordinary amount of easily understood information and a radically different way of maintaining well-being. Rejecting the routine cocktails of medication, with their complicated interactions and side effects, Dr Hungerford shows how to provide a chance for minerals, vitamins, and essential fatty acids to do their health-giving work.

The subjects covered in Good Health in the 21st Century include asthma, arthritis, cancer, obesity, and cardiovascular disease, mental health and neurological disorders; hormone-replacement therapy and vaccination; and macronutrients and minerals, vitamins, and essential fatty acids.

This monumental work will be used by parents, patients, and doctors for years to come.

Your Medical Choices: how to decide what is right for you

2012-01-03T00:00:00Z

The essential tools for making the best medical decisions, cutting through the confusion caused by the health-care system, the media, and gaps in our own reasoning

Making the right medical choices is harder than ever. Whether we’re deciding to take a cholesterol drug or choosing a cancer treatment, we are overwhelmed by information from all sides: doctors’ recommendations, dissenting expert opinions, confusing statistics, the advice of friends, and claims on the internet.

Your Medical Choices shows us how to chart a clear path through this sea of confusion. Drawing on scores of patient case studies, as well as insights from psychologists, economists, and other experts, Drs Groopman and Hartzband help us to better assess the impact of our decisions. They reveal how our personal beliefs profoundly influence our choices, and expose the external factors — such as misleading narratives or statistics — that can lead our thinking astray.

When conflicting information pulls us back and forth between options, when we feel pressured by doctors or loved ones to make a particular choice, or when we have no previous experience to guide us through a crisis, Your Medical Choices will prove an essential companion.

Making Your Home Sustainable: a guide to retrofitting: revised edition

2012-01-03T00:00:00Z

In 1991, architect and solar consultant Derek Wrigley moved into a townhouse in Canberra and faced a new design challenge how to retrofit an existing suburban house to use renewable energies rather than fossil fuels. Convinced that building design could do more to achieve sustainability, he developed a series of innovative devices to improve the energy efficiency of the house, and modified the existing design to work harmoniously with the local climate.

The house now generates its own solar electricity, ventilates and cools itself without cost or pollution, and treats its own grey water for irrigating the garden. It quickly attracted visitors who were keen to learn how to apply these sustainable designs to their own homes and wanted to know where to begin.

Making Your Home Sustainable is a practical and easy-to-follow guide for homeowners, builders and architects who are concerned about the effects of climate change and environmental degradation and want to do something about reversing the trend. Derek Wrigley shows how simple modifications to existing homes can help to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and utilise natural rather than imported energies and resources. He clearly explains how to:

Identify retrofitting potential when buying a home; Rationalise energy and water consumption; Provide sunshine in southern rooms, warmth in winter, and cool air in summer; Use ventilation and insulation to reduce the need for artificial heating or cooling; Install a solar hot-water system; Utilise wasted sunlight to heat and illuminate your home; Create a beautiful landscape which also contributes to your household energy efficiency; and *Install reflectors, sunshades, water recycling, heliostats, double-glazing, photovoltaics, water tanks, and other energy-saving and water-saving devices.

With detailed descriptions, 46 photographs, and over 100 diagrams, Making Your Home Sustainable is the retrofitter's bible an ideal, practical guide for anyone who wants to make their home more comfortable and save money on energy bills while increasing the value of their house and addressing the causes of global warming.

Summer Shorts

2011-12-16T00:00:00Z

Summer Shorts boasts stories from six of Australia’s finest writers, showcasing emerging talents alongside established names. There’s whimsical humour, drama, and even a thought-provoking vision of the future.

Whether you’re at the beach, on the train, or just lounging at home on a lazy afternoon, this lively story collection is the perfect e-read this summer.

Authors in this collection: Jon Bauer, Peggy Frew, Melanie Joosten, Cate Kennedy, Meg Mundell, Chris Womersley.

Best Australian Political Cartoons 2011 is almost sold out ... but we have a solution

2011-12-09T11:45:36Z

Due to unprecedented demand, we have sold out of Best Australian Political Cartoons 2011. We can't get a reprint in time, so whatever copies are still in bookshops is all that’s left of the print edition.

But we do have a digital alternative. If you’ve already given it as a gift, you can now indulge yourself by downloading it in glorious colour, exclusively on Apple devices — iPhone, iPad, or iPod — at the bargain price of $19.99.

Who Repo'd My Jet?: the manic millionaires and why they’ll lead us to the next boom and bust

2011-11-28T00:00:00Z

Through intimate portraits of people who are named and on the record, Who Repo’d My Jet? chronicles the decline of the newly moneyed class: their mortgaged mansions, blown-up balance sheets, repossessed Bentleys and Gulfstreams, and wrecked lives and relationships.

But who cares about the sudden discomfort of the rich amidst so much real mass hardship? Aside from eliciting pure schadenfreude, this engrossing book explains the deeper economic shocks that come from such precipitous losses at the top. The wealthy dominated the consumer economy at the beginning of the millennium, and their fall is likely to prolong any downturn. Their increasing vulnerability to the booms and busts of the stock market wreaks havoc on our communities, employment opportunities, and government finances.

With vivid storytelling and insightful analysis, Robert Frank illuminates the impact that the ‘high-beta rich’ have had upon the broader landscape of the global economy. In a time when cycles of wealth are getting faster and more extreme, Who Repo’d My Jet? is a cautionary tale with lessons for every reader.

The Existential Jesus: New edition

2011-11-28T00:00:00Z

Jesus is the man who made the West. What kind of man was he? Is he relevant to a modern world shaken by crises of meaning?

The churches have mainly projected him as Jesus the carer and comforter, Jesus meek and mild, friend of the weak. This is Jesus the Good Shepherd, who preaches on sin and forgiveness. He is Lord and Saviour.

But this church Jesus is not remotely like the existential hero portrayed in the first and most potent telling of his life-story — that of Mark. Mark's Jesus is a lonely and restless, mysterious stranger. His mission is dark and obscure. Everything he tries fails. By the end there is no God, no loyal followers — just torture by crucifixion, climaxing in a colossal death-scream. The story closes without a resurrection from the dead. There is just an empty tomb, and three women fleeing in terror.

The existential Jesus speaks today. He does not spout doctrine; he has no interest in sin; his focus is not on some after-life. He gestures enigmatically from within his own gruelling experience, inviting the reader to walk in his shoes.

He singles out everybody's central question: 'Who am I?' The truth lies within individual identity, resounding in the depths of the inner self. The existential Jesus is the West's great teacher on the nature of being.

This book tells his story, and reveals what he had to say.