Richard Thwaites was a regular book reviewer for The Canberra Times newspaper 2008-2013.
Reviews posted here were published in The Canberra Times Panorama literary pages, unless otherwise noted.
THE PHYSICS OF WALL STREET: A Brief History of Predicting the Unpredictable, by James Owen Weatherall, Scribe, 286pp. Reviewed: 27 July 2013 The daily value of your superannuation or other financial investments is now determined by algorithms and strategies that…
THE UNIVERSE WITHIN, by Neil Turok, Allen & Unwin, 294pp. Our oldest creation stories try to describe the universe in the language and ideas available to our ancestors. Later ancestors developed ways of thinking more systematically, some of them developing…
FLINDERS: The Man who Mapped Australia, by Rob Mundle, Hachette, 386pp. One could niggle that Matthew Flinders (1774-1814) did not “map Australia”, but he was the first known European to circumnavigate the coasts of both the mainland and Tasmania, completing…
MURDOCH’S PIRATES by Neil Chenoweth Allen & Unwin, 402pp. This book reads like a spy novel, but the combatants work for private corporations, not states. There are no innocent parties, only winners and losers, in a world where law is…
GITTINS’ GOSPEL: The economics of just about everything by Ross Gittins Allen & Unwin, 312pp. Reviewed: 24 November 2012 If you are suspicious of the economic claims and counter-claims of our politicians and lobbyists, then you enjoy reading Ross Gittins.…
OCEAN OF LIFE: How Our Seas are Changing, by Callum Roberts, Allen Lane, 390pp. Reviewed: 15 September 2012 The deafening political noise around atmospheric carbon emissions can distract us from the even more critical state of our planet’s oceans. The…
UNDERGROUND OVERGROUND: A Passenger’s History of the Tube, by Andrew Martin, Profile Books, 304pp. Reviewed: 25 August 2012 The public transport system of a city tells you a lot about the civic culture of the place. To use public transport…
THE CHINA CHOICE: Why America should Share Power, by Hugh White, Black Inc.,190pp. Reviewed: 11 August 2012 Hugh White is ANU Professor of Strategic Studies and one of the heavyweights of Australian strategic policy discussion, but this book barely touches…
64 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW NOW FOR THEN How to Face the Digital Future Without Fear by Ben Hammersley Hodder & Stoughton,434pp. Reviewed: 4 August 2012 I suppose the future has always been alarming for those who thought much…
THE BIG HANDOUT How U.S. subsidies and corporate welfare corrupt the world we live in and wreak havoc on our food bills Thomas Kostigen, Scribe, 288pp. Reviewed: 21 July 2012 Nobody spruiks the principles of Free Trade more strenuously than…
