Free Ebook The Lois Wilson Story, Hallmark Edition: When Love Is Not Enough, by William G. Borchert

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The Lois Wilson Story, Hallmark Edition: When Love Is Not Enough, by William G. Borchert

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About the Author

William G. Borchert William Borchert is the author of The Lois Wilson Story: When Love is Not Enough and teamed with Geno W. to write Sought Through Prayer and Meditation: Wisdom from the Sunday 11th Step Meetings at Wolfe Street Center in Little Rock. Borchert was nominated for an Emmy in 1989 for writing the highly acclaimed Warner Brothers/Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, My Name Is Bill W., which starred James Garner, James Woods, and JoBeth Williams. The film was based upon material gathered from personal interviews and in-depth research. The author began his career as a journalist, working first as a reporter for one of New York City's largest daily newspapers and also for a major media wire service. After writing for a national magazine and creating syndicated shows for radio, Bill became a partner at Artists Entertainment Complex, a new independent film and talent management company that went on to produce a number of box office hits. These included Kansas City Bomber starring Racquel Welch, Serpico starring Al Pacino, and Dog Day Afternoon, also starring Al Pacino. A member of The Writers Guild of America and a director of The Stepping Stones Foundation, the author continues his active writing career. Borchert and his wife, Bernadette split their time between New York and Little River, South Carolina, where they are frequently visited by their nine children and their twenty-three grandchildren. Q. Why did screenwriter Bill Borchert decide to write the biography of Lois Burnham Wilson? A. Shortly after moving into the new home Bill and his wife Bernadette had built in Little River, South Carolina in 2003, and while unpacking boxes in his new office there, Bill discovered some audio tapes he had made some years before when interviewing Lois Wilson for a movie he was writing about the birth of Alcoholics Anonymous. He had all but forgotten them. Sticking one of the tapes into his tape player, he soon came to realize that little of what Lois had shared with him about her own painful experiences that resulted from her husband's terrible ordeal with alcoholism had been used in the film he wrote called, "My Name Is Bill W." the Warner Brothers/Hallmark. Hall of Fame movie starred James Woods, James Garner and JoBeth Williams. And even the scenes he had written that were filmed concerning her experiences and her co-founding the worldwide fellowship of Al-Anon were left on the cutting room floor. As a close friend of Lois Wilson's, Bill Knew her own personal story was moving and powerful and he believed that people the world over needed to hear it. Also, there had been five biographies written about her husband, Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, but not one about her. He felt the telling of her story was long over due. So he sat down and wrote the book, The Lois Wilson Story: When Love Is Not Enough. Author Home Page: http://www.theloiswilsonstory.com

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Product details

Paperback: 424 pages

Publisher: Hazelden Publishing; Hallmark edition (March 29, 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1592859801

ISBN-13: 978-1592859801

Product Dimensions:

6 x 1.1 x 9 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

4.6 out of 5 stars

63 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#80,807 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

I am one of those "very grateful Al-Anon members" whose life was changed when I finally attended my first meeting. Weekly meetings and contact with other Al-Anon members has been a life-saver for me, but it also made me thirsty for information about the group and it's founding members. I've already read "Lois Remembers" and watched the movie "My name is Bill W."...both of which are excellent and highly recommended. The Lois Wilson Story filled in the blanks and really gave me a deeper understanding of the miracle that occurred when Bill W. met Dr. Bob. I wish that everyone who attends Al-Anon would read some of these historical biographies, so that they could see how hopeless Bill and Lois' lives were before they founded the two programs.So many people never get past the feeling that once the drunk takes his last drink everything will be better. Lois discovered, and I have, too, that for the serious AA's, their sobriety MUST be the most important thing in their lives....family MUST be second. Until you understand and accept that, you are going to feel slighted by your AA's involvement with his fellow drunks. Books like this drive home that message.

Actually lots of great ties and references to American history's that made the timeline of Great Depression.I bought this to try to gain some understanding of why alcoholics can't not drink. How losing everything may not be enough. Losing everything 3 times may not be enough. I'm still mystified as I read the 12 steps. Impacting the world, but almost so simple its hard to understand as a nonalcoholic why the steps are the key. Not love of family. Sacrifices made by loved ones along the way. But these steps... If you have had an alcoholic in your life or the life of a loved one, take the time to read this.

It was very interesting. AA and Al-Non has been around forever. Just something that was there all my life, so reading this book has brought to light how it came about. There is much sadness and pain living with someone who is an alcoholic. it is a all consuming disease that affects all that are exposed,The Wilson's journey has provided a program that has helped so many and we are grateful for their sacrifices and perseverance to help the world of alcoholics be a better place.

AA has helped many to stop drinking and more recently stop using. Addiction affects and effects family, friends and associates. It creates an abnormal situation. Bill did help create AA and sell its power throughout the country. That being a given, the author writes as if he knew what people were thinking, doing and feeling. Some of his sources are Bill's own writings which are filled with conflicting facts. Lois was a woman who took on a man who was damaged and in the process she became damaged goods herself. Yet her founding of ALANON created a safe place for those who are dealing with or have had to deal with chemical abusers to meet others wrestling with the same problems. They find that they are not alone and are provided an avenue to share with those who are lesss judgmental than the normal population. For that she gets praise. While the author had access to Lois, I do not think that he strayed outside AA approved literature for his sources and for that reason I am skeptical of the veracity of his work.

Although I'm sure there were times she felt like she couldn't take it any mire, serendipity stepped in and now Al Anon families can heal as well. The alcoholic is a disease but it changes non-drinking family into people they no longer recognize.Thanks to this book which is highly helpful.

A very wonderful book that I will probably read again. I especially like the photos and the fact that Lois was born the same year as both my parents. I find myself comparing Lois to my mother and her parents to my grandparents. The book is very hard to lay down and it overwhelms me that I was actually living in the 1900s when all of this happened.

Clearly written and informative biography that includes AA, Al-Anon, and many of the cast of characters in early program days--as well as Lois herself.

The most incredible accounting of the experiences one has when in love with an addict. I felt as though I were reading about my own life experience with the love of my life who happens to have become addicted to prescription drugs at the hands of a doctor who runs a Pain Management Clinic or, as I would call it, a pill mill. My wife is clean and sober but this doctor has plenty of other addicts who continue to support this criminal. This story is real and allows one to understand the unbelievable gift God blessed the world with through the private struggles Lois and Bill along with Dr. Bob and his wife Anne endured to create programs that save lives and relationships every second of everyday around the world. As a result of their work, miraculous events continue to unfold by those who follow AA, Al-Anon, CoDa, and other related programs today. I loved it as I did the Big Book.

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Free PDF Specter of the Past (Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn #1), by Timothy Zahn

Free PDF Specter of the Past (Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn #1), by Timothy Zahn

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Specter of the Past (Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn #1), by Timothy Zahn

Free PDF Specter of the Past (Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn #1), by Timothy Zahn

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Review

"Zahn turns in his usual high-caliber performance."--Library Journal"Longtime fans should get considerable pleasure from this addition to the saga."--Publishers Weekly

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"Zahn turns in his usual high-caliber performance."--Library Journal"Longtime fans should get considerable pleasure from this addition to the saga."--Publishers Weekly

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Product details

Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages

Publisher: Bantam Books; First Edition edition (September 1, 1998)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0553298046

ISBN-13: 978-0553298048

Product Dimensions:

4.2 x 1 x 6.9 inches

Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

4.3 out of 5 stars

157 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#195,053 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Wish the Thrawn books had been made into movies. Action-filled, fast-paced. New characters and old friends. Light vs Dark. Love Zahn's take on the New Republic's challenges!

This is one of my favorite books of the Star Wars expanded universe. It is written by the forerunner in SW fiction, Timothy Zahn (check out his first Star Wars trilogy, Heir to the Empire). Zahn continues on from the strained relationship between Luke Skywalker and the Emperor's (Former) Hand, Mara Jade. This story is wrought with the fall of the Empire, the rocky state of the New Republic, and the tensions between everyone involved. What I love most about this book is that this is the culmination of the relationship between Luke and Mara. Without giving spoilers away, this is their story. :)

Another well written book by Zahn. I enjoy his story development, and the dialog between characters. There is always more depth to his stories than to many in the Star Wars Universe, with a touch of reality added in. I get tired of the magical, unrealistic endings of a few of the authors in Star Wars. All imperials are incompetent or insane tyrants for example, who self destruct through incompetence. Zahn is able to give depth to all sides which I appreciate. With Zahn, he leads you on a path of discovery through his characters, at the same giving his own flair of intrigue and mystery throughout the story.

...but overall it was pretty meh. There were several 4+star moments, but there were not enough to average out the dull ones. There was minimal character growth on the part of the primaries and the few new roles were sparsely placed, hopefully setup for a larger role in the second book.That brings me to the end of the book, which apparently is in the next installment. I would have been ticked if I bought this as a new release. I mean it's one thing to wait a week to see what happens on a tv show. It's a completely different deal to wait months and months for the second half of a book to come out. This is yet another case of the almighty dollar being more important than the creation of good quality writing.Overall, the read is ok, but not what the first Thrawn set was. It does have fewer of Zahn's quirky dialogs like characters using "Point" as the realization and sudden end of verbal debates, the likes of which seriously annoyed me in the first set. The "ending" of this book leads me to believe the next volume will tie up many of the loose ends Zahn and others left dangling in the vastness of space.

Different conflicts between different species inside and outside of the New Republic, which put a strain on the government. Everyone is looking for their fair share. And the New Republic has made mistakes.

Well, it's part of a duology, so you can kind of expect this book to be incomplete. Like trilogies these days (it seems the art of creating a standalone entry in a trilogy is long dead -- must have died with The Empire Strikes Back), Timothy Zahn clearly wrote one massive book and chopped it in half. It doesn't work.Zahn continues working through his universe, expanding it and detailing characters even more. The kind-of appearance of Thrawn is one of the few things that makes this book work. It's Zahn, certainly not at his finest, but it is classic Zahn. It's definitely a must-read for Star Wars and Zahn fans, but don't expect anything new here.

I really enjoyed this book. I have read most books by this author and he does not disappoint me. I recommend this book to all Star Wars fans.

A slow and tedious slog until the last half of the second book, with none of the magic of the original trilogy.

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Download PDF The Reef: A Passionate History: The Great Barrier Reef from Captain Cook to Climate Change, by Iain McCalman

Download PDF The Reef: A Passionate History: The Great Barrier Reef from Captain Cook to Climate Change, by Iain McCalman

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The Reef: A Passionate History: The Great Barrier Reef from Captain Cook to Climate Change, by Iain McCalman

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From Booklist

Flat-out astonished when he first set eyes on the Great Barrier Reef in 2001, British historian McCalman (Darwin’s Armada, 2009) quickly became concerned about all that imperils the ongoing vitality of this gigantic maze of coral structures and magnificent marine world, especially global warming. Now his mission is to illuminate the reef’s glorious complexity by recounting the stirring, wild, and surprising stories of fraught encounters between islanders and outsiders. He begins with vivid accounts of Captain James Cook’s nearly disastrous reef collision in 1770, followed by the 1802 expedition of Matthew Flinders, “the true European father of the Reef.” Here, too, are beachcombers, artists, a tropical Thoreau, and shipwrecked Barbara Thompson, a nineteenth-century Scotswoman who lived for five years among the Kaurareg people. McCalman also profiles intrepid scientists who advanced our knowledge of reef-building corals and their role in this precious ecosystem, a World Heritage site, from naturalist Joseph Beete Jukes to scandal-evading William Saville-Kent, a pioneer in marine science photography, to today’s ardent reef advocate, Charlie Veron. McCalman’s “passionate history” is a call to save this “fragile global wonder.” --Donna Seaman

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Review

“[Iain] McCalman has written an innovative history . . .His approach is at once episodic and kaleidoscopic . . . McCalman's own passion for the Reef informs the book throughout, whether in his engaging account of sailing through it in a replica of Cook's HMS Endeavour, or in his concluding laments for its environmental degradation . . . For a work about such a vast topic--big in scale, big in its implications for how we hold a planet in trust--The Reef is a compellingly intimate account of human interaction with this slice of nature.” ―David Armitage, Los Angeles Review of Books“By the end of McCalman's transformative book, we feel the full force of this slow-motion emergency. In story after story of fascination and trepidation, in revelations and in requiems, this passionate history brings to life the Great Barrier Reef's magnificent mutability.” ―Rob Nixon, The New York Times Book Review“Reefs, like their terrestrial counterparts, tropical rainforests, are increasingly threatened by human activity; some already exhibit a marked decline. Like rainforests, too, they show exceptional biodiversity, a characteristic which is increasingly valued as an index of the wellbeing of our planet. It is this decline that makes Iain McCalman's The Reef, on the discovery, history and future prospects of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, so timely. It is fascinating because of the wealth of information it contains on both familiar and unfamiliar topics.” ―Andrew Campbell, Times Literary Supplement“A masterly biography of the Great Barrier Reef . . . Mr McCalman's sweeping and absorbing history is well timed.” ―The Economist“Australia's Great Barrier Reef stretches for around 1,430 miles along the continent's northeast coast, encompassing an area roughly half the size of Texas. Those who have dived into its pristine reaches know firsthand that it is one of Earth's natural wonders--a coral world of exceptional beauty and diversity. Yet as Iain McCalman's "passionate history" of the reef makes clear, it is also a stage on which dreams, ambitions, and great human tragedies have been played out. He tells his story by chronicling lives that, either inadvertently or intentionally, have shaped our perception of the coralline labyrinth.” ―Tim Flannery, The New York Review of Books“[An] ambitious, elegant narrative of the Great Barrier Reef and its remarkably drawn-out discovery.” ―Jennie Erin Smith, The Wall Street Journal“Iain McCalman's The Reef, like its subject, builds slowly into beauty, offering an account of the Great Barrier Reef as it exists in culture, language and dream, as well as in marine biology.” ―Robert Macfarlane, The Observer (UK)“McCalman's tone shifts from the boy's own adventure, scientific excitement and scamming of early encounters, to dizzying disaster-epic suspense. But never for a moment does his literary skill falter. His detailed explanation of marine science is a model of translation for the layman. And his respect for Indigenous people is a model of intercultural translation . . . He describes the Indigenous view of events without exoticising the individuals he talks to. Nostalgia permeates the book, for ancestral lands lost and for what we all might be losing now.” ―Miriam Cosic, The Guardian (UK)“Splendid . . . [A] wonderful paean to the Great Barrier Reef.” ―David B. Williams, The Seattle Times“An intimate exploration of the Great Barrier Reef . . . The Reef uncovers personal stories that weave together the biological evolution and human discovery of the Great Barrier Reef culminating in its current state--a World Heritage site in desperate need of protection.” ―The Inquirer and Mirror (Nantucket, MA)“The Great Barrier Reef is both easily understood and awe-inspiring in this history of its discovery, exploitation and beauty.” ―Julia Jenkins, Shelf Awareness“[Iain McCalman's] mission is to illuminate the reef's glorious complexity by recounting the stirring, wild, and surprising stories of fraught encounters between islanders and outsiders . . . [His] ‘passionate history' is a call to save this ‘fragile global wonder.'” ―Donna Seaman, Booklist“McCalman loves the reef and fears for its future . . . [He] selects his subjects judiciously and writes with flair, creating a multifaceted portrait of one of the world's great wonders.” ―Kirkus Reviews“Combining engaging accounts of early explorers with discussion of current scientific findings and their implications . . . McCalman's book will be enjoyed by the general reader, students at the undergraduate level, those interested in the history of science, and travelers to this magnificent region.” ―Judith B. Barnett, Library Journal“Brilliant, beautiful, a hymn to the past, present and increasingly uncertain future of one of the world's greatest treasures. The Reef is necessary reading for anyone who cares about the future of the ocean.” ―James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers“The Great Wall of China is dwarfed to nothingness, along with everything else proud humans have built, by the minuscule polyps that fashioned the Great Barrier Reef. That living reef, the world's largest, is in desperate trouble, the victim of climate change and a melancholy legacy of carelessness, indifference, and greed. The Reef is more than a lament; it is a brilliant history of our long interaction with this precious feature of our world, weaving together coexistence, terror, exploration, exploitation, scientific curiosity, and love. Iain McCalman has a rare gift for conjuring up both famous and forgotten lives and for awakening our wonder.” ―Stephen Greenblatt, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern“Usually a subject of natural history, the Great Barrier Reef finally finds a place in a contradiction fundamental to the history of modernity: the desire to preserve nature while exploiting it for profit. With this book, Iain McCalman cements his reputation as one of the finest historians of our time.” ―Dipesh Chakrabarty, Professor of History, University of Chicago“History doesn't get any more lively than this. A stylish, racing read, The Reef surprises with every turn of the page, investing one of the world's greatest natural structures with human drama. In almost cinematic episodes that veer from scientific epiphany to physical brutality, from the eighteenth century to our own conflicted age, Iain McCalman introduces an amazing cast of characters. In the process--and it's a very entertaining one--he creates an entirely new account of a natural marvel, couched in gripping historical narrative, both witty and rigorously scholarly, sweepingly grand and vividly detailed.” ―Philip Hoare, author of The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea“The magnitude of the awesome Great Barrier Reef is matched here by Iain McCalman's deep exploration of its compelling history and colorful ecology. An important biography of a fragile place.” ―Katherine Harmon Courage, author of Octopus! The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea“In The Reef, Iain McCalman artfully weaves scientific inquiry and historical rigor into the life stories of twenty individuals. As we experience this extraordinary place through their eyes, we come away informed and inspired.” ―Jim Toomey, creator of Sherman's Lagoon and executive director of Mission Blue“No other historian I know brings together exploration, science, the environment, and strange experience with the erudition and the eloquence of Iain McCalman. The Reef is utterly absorbing as well as richly informative.” ―Nicholas Thomas, director and curator of the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge

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Product details

Hardcover: 352 pages

Publisher: Scientific American / Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st US edition (May 20, 2014)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0374248192

ISBN-13: 978-0374248192

Product Dimensions:

6.3 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

3.7 out of 5 stars

31 customer reviews

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#588,841 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

The Great Barrier Reef is something many know exists but few know much about. In Iain McCalman’s book “The Reef a Passionate History” I felt intrigued when I looked at the cover and read the synopsis. Upon opening the book and reading the first few pages I what I was expecting and what I was reading were very different things. The book borders the lines of being a romantic novel from the prospective of a man enamored with tales from Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. I was expecting to gain some insight into the biology and possibly geology of the “three thousand individual reefs, more than nine hundred islands, and thousands of marine species”, as noted in the synopsis. Instead the book dove off into the love life and hardships of the people who tried to study and inhabit the numerous shoals, beaches, and banks of the reef. From the excursions of Captain James Cook, to the studies and preservation efforts of numerous different aristocratic misfits. The book became a rinse and repeat of the same struggle to inhabit the environment and develop an understanding of it with some aspect of romance and the occasional tumultuous skirmish ending in the death of a token character. I was less than enthusiastic to continue reading beyond the first few chapters once the common theme had been recycled. There are few books that grasp their audience and leave them wanting more and there are many that lose their audience after the first few chapters, unfortunately for Iain McCalman, “A Passionate History” was the later of the two.

“The Reef: A Passionate History”, by historian Iain McCalman, would have benefited from a different title. The book is less a passionate history of reefs, and more a history of people engaged in pursuits that they found passionate. The book is filled with dramatic tales, from Captain Cook’s entrapment within the reefs that would later become known as the Great Barrier Reef, to the story of murderous siblings William and Constance Kent’s flight to Australia. While these narratives are ferociously entertaining, they only remotely focus on the science behind reefs. Several scientific accomplishments are described, including the first coral dive, and the origination of underwater photography. However, the majority of the book focuses on theatrical interactions with the native people (either bloodthirsty savages or welcoming familial individuals, depending on various character perceptions) and descriptions of island life as experienced by explorers, colonists, artists, and castaways. A person seeking to learn legitimate coral reef science would not be satisfied with McCalman’s work. Some of this can be excused as many of the characters in this book lived and died centuries before the discovery of much of what modern coral science tells us (the symbiotic relationship between corals and zooxanthellae, for example). However, it seems curious that many of these people would be mentioned at all. For example, the descriptions of Mary Fraser’s alleged abuse at the hands of the natives contributes little to any type of legitimate reef history. In contrast, her dubious account appears to be used only as fodder for a British hatred and fear of the indigenous people found around the reefs. While it can be said that the arrival of these British revenge-seekers may have contributed to the “history” of the reef, it would be on a bare bones scale. Consider it comparable to someone penning “A Book of China”, and mainly focusing on people that arrive in China, with only a minor focus on the history, demographics, geology, etc., of the Asian nation. Also, it seems unnecessary for McCalman to spend so many words on some of these characters. In the case of Mrs. Fraser, a brief introduction would have been sufficient. Only in later chapters does it become clear what the author’s seeming motive is; to seduce readers with imaginative, colorful descriptions of life around the reefs, and arouse in them a sense of wonder and responsibility. The latter parts of the book describe the fragile state of the reefs, despite the earlier apparent hardiness that Captain Cook encountered. Climate change is addressed in “Extinction”, the book’s final chapter, and there one can see the dilemma McCalman faced. Much like reef scientist Charlie Veron, McCalman worried about raising awareness of the reefs, without imparting a fatalistic attitude. The author seems to want people to care about the reefs, and communicate the delicate condition of their survival. He appears to want to reveal the direness of the situation without making readers believe there is no hope. In total, “The Reef: A Passionate History”, is a very captivating read, if one is into on dits and the interactions of scandalous individuals. Iain McCalman is a historian, and boasts of no scientific background. If a reader can take this work as mainly an amusement, with a minor stressor upon global environmental responsibility, they will not be disappointed. However, if a reader is looking for hard-hitting scientific material involving reefs and their interactions, perhaps they should look elsewhere for their literary nourishment.

Iain McCalman’s “The Reef: A Passionate History” is indeed a passionate history. He divides the novel into three parts: Terror, Nurture, and Wonder. Each part focuses on a specific group of people: the Western explorers, the Indigenous people, and the romantic artists, respectively. You are put into the shoes of real life people who had a connection to the Great Barrier Reef, whether they were born to it or called to it. You read about true events that took place, their emotions to said events, and their reactions. If you want to read a book about the science behind the Great Barrier Reef, the species that live within it, and their part in the oceanic environment, I strongly suggest you choose another book. I shall state again: IF YOU WANT SCIENCE (i.e. IF YOU ARE JUDGING THIS BOOK BY IT’S COVER) DO NOT BUY THIS ONE! If you want history, politics, and read about the mind-boggling number of possibilities one can die from a spear (at least one in most chapters), then read this book. The first part, Terror, focuses on the Western explorers. You read of the first Europeans who tried to navigate and map out the Great Barrier Reef and their experiences with the locals, or aborigines. As always, making friends is hard at first (especially when they spear you to death for being ghosts), but with the help of trade and exchange of knowledge, a friendship does occur. Some return to England to say that the aborigines are a monstrous primitive people, like Eliza Fraser. The second part, Nurture, focus on the Indigenous people. You read of the local tribes and how they don’t get along with one another. A Scottish woman by the name Barbara Thompson was shipwrecked alongside one of the islands, was adopted by the head of a tribe (for believing she was the ghost of his late daughter), has a child with one of the tribesmen who rescued her named Boroto (who most likely died from a spear after a “brutal white reprisal conducted in error” against his people. She returns to Europe to return to her life with no intent to discredit the aborigines, but the reporter telling her story decides to make a name for himself and lie about her “abuse”. Also, during a cyclone you read that a man was “killed while trying to rescue his daughter, who was actually already dead, a spear of broken timber driven through her heart.” Just when you thought the author couldn’t write a new way for a man to die from a spear… you are proven wrong. The third part, Wonder, focuses on the romantic artists. You read of men and women who tried to bring an artistic light to the Great Barrier Reef for Europe. This chapter tells the story of men who tried to disprove Darwin and failed; men who tried to preserve the reef by publishing about the reef and creating tourism, which destroys the reef, so they failed; and men and women who tried to bring the science and the arts of the reef together and failed. There is so much politics and failure in this segment you will wind up wanting to spear yourself, which would be the cherry on top for Iain McCalman. In conclusion, if you want to read about the science behind the reef, read another book. If you want to read the personal soap-operas of various people, like the man who fled to Australia to run from the fact he was being charged with the murder of his half-brother, then read this book. If you would also like to learn about the one thousand ways to die from a spear only to read about nine-hundred and ninety-nine just to realize that you are the thousandth, then read this book. Excuse me while I go fashion a spear.

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The Reef: A Passionate History: The Great Barrier Reef from Captain Cook to Climate Change, by Iain McCalman PDF

The Reef: A Passionate History: The Great Barrier Reef from Captain Cook to Climate Change, by Iain McCalman PDF

The Reef: A Passionate History: The Great Barrier Reef from Captain Cook to Climate Change, by Iain McCalman PDF

The Reef: A Passionate History: The Great Barrier Reef from Captain Cook to Climate Change, by Iain McCalman PDF

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