Sven Klinge is the author of the most comprehensive cycling guide books in Australia. By combining cycling with walking treks, he has explored over 300 of Australia's National Parks and State Forests. Born in Sydney and educated at the University of Sydney, Sven now divides his time between accountancy and other writing projects. CYCLING THE BUSH: 100 RIDES IN NEW SOUTH WALES is a fully revised edition, with dozens of new rides, and many others updated to take into account new management policies and conditions. The range of rides includes short one day trips around Sydney to extended overnight cycling/walking expeditions in remote and rugged wilderness areas. Almost all of New South Wales' major national parks are covered, including nearly 50 rides in the popular Blue Mountains alone. Other chapters centre on the wild Morton National Park, the picturesque Barrington Tops, and the great alpine ranges of Kosciusko. From mountain lookouts to secluded beaches, from pristine rivers to limestone caves, from cliff-lined gorges to snow-gum forests, this guide covers 100 of the most exciting mountain and touring bike adventures available to the cyclists in New South Wales and the ACT. Each ride incorporates data on distances, height variation, transport, access, track and rides grades, facilities, map references, and special equipment needed. Extensive information is provided on geological, biological, and historical aspects of natural, Aboriginal, and colonial features along the rides. There are chapters devoted to the development, mechanics, and maintenance of the mountain bike, in addition to sections covering accessories, riding techniques, first aid, food, equipment, photography, and camping. In COMPACT, LIGHTWEIGHT FORMAT, this guide should be POCKET EQUIPMENT for every cyclist and bushwalker wishing to discover this exciting way of venturing into the most diverse parks system in Australia.

I must say that I am not a very superstitious person; however, regardless of that fact (and state of mind one could possibly say), I am interested in superstitions on the fact that they have been part of human culture (and the human psyche) for quite some time and some of them are now so ingrained in culture that in order to fully understand this culture in question; well, then one needs to understand this cultures superstitions. This book, i.e., A Dictionary of Superstitionsby Iona Archibald Opie (Editor), Moira Tatem (Editor) does an good job of explaining various superstitions from the obvious (number 13, walking under ladders et al.) to the more bizarre (confirmation is supposed to be good against rheumatism). Highly Recommended.

In this fascinating book, Kevin Foster looks at the ways in which Britain experienced the Falklands war. He makes sense of the vast number of accounts, and of the various themes rehearsed.

The Thatcher Government portrayed its decision to fight, and its conduct of the campaign, as expressions of the essential national character, the 'true Britain'. The mass media at once swung into line. In fact, the war primarily served a purpose hostile to the nation, Thatcher's political survival.

Government and media equated Argentina's initial recovery of the Islands with the Nazi invasion of Poland, as they immediately identified the war with the Second World War, and Thatcher with Churchill. They saw the Falklands as the image of Britain, a ravished island Eden. They ignored the harsher similarities, of economic dependence, under-investment and social inequality.

The media depended on the military for information, which turned the journalists into what one called 'troopie groupies'. The media became a single, responsible voice speaking for 'our common cause'. According to their account, 'our' Government never faltered, 'our' flawless heroes carried out a perfect campaign. On the other side, their corrupt, undemocratic Government and its murderous thugs waged a campaign of Latin incompetence.

The war was supposedly unavoidable. There was no alternative; the British Government, guileless innocent in a naughty world, was forced into war by the Satanic enemy. Our supreme temptation was the serpent 'appeasement', diplomacy a cunning trap set by wily foreigners. Peace demonstrators were described as pro-fascist, dissenters as collaborators. In practice, this meant rejecting in principle all ceasefire proposals and negotiations; it meant war without compromise. The only acceptable ethical outcome was the enemy's total surrender.

Government and media celebrated the war as the source of national salvation, even, in Thatcher's memoirs, of world salvation. War was rebirth, welfare, humanitarianism.

This presentation of the Falklands war has become the media model for all subsequent wars. Kevin Foster's book is a model of sanity; its publication now is especially timely.

Foreign Mud -- the phrase means "opium" in Chinese -- is a history of the commercial and diplomatic events that lead to the Anglo/Chinese Opium War of 1839-1842, when England attacked China to open up the latter to British trade. Author Collis tells the story with dry humor and copious quotes from contemporary Chinese and British documents, which document the cynicism and incomprehension reigning on both sides of the conflict. According to the back cover, historian A.J. P. Taylor called Foreign Mud: "A wholly admirable book, admirable as a work of history and admirable as a literary entertainment." For once the blurbs are right.

After reviewing the various theories about power relations between the City and British upper class, authors analyze history of British investments across the globe: Asia, Africa, Latin America, Canada to name a few. They show how both City and British upper aristocracy rather than the British industrialists shaped British imperial strategies.

They demonstrate how the main Imperial and Overseas investors in are the British upper class while City professionals and middle class invest mainly in Britain and Europe. The City was used to channel British old money across the globe.

Main beneficiaries of those imperial and overseas investments are people with political power, the Lords. These in turn shape British imperial policies to fit their investments, building the British Empire along it.

But all locations are not equally influenced by them. Canadian financial markets in the interwar period for instance move according to interest rate of the dollar and pound. If dollar interest rate is lower than pound interest rate, then American influence is larger in Canada. Otherwise British influence dominates.

A detailed study about relation betweens upper classes and imperialism even if authors focused their attention on relations between the City and British Aristocracy adequatly naming it 'Gentlemanly Capitalism'.

We have just returned from Glasgow (8/1/02) and used this guide extensively. Our favorite series is published by Cadogan and if you know the style and approach of Caodgan you will know the style of this as well: literate; enough information but not too much; fascinating detail; and, plenty of opinion and humor. The matrix which show the major attractions (museums, churches, etc.) by walk should be a mandatory part of every walk oriented guide.

We enjoyed Glasgow in ways never anticipated and this excellent guide was the reason.

This is a comparataive study of halfway houses in Great Britain. While completed in the 1960's it breaks ground in that it studies the effect of 25 small instituions environments on the movement of mental patients back into independent living. It is a seminal work in that uses a scaled measurement of each centers' social environment to determine how it influences patient move to and fro from hospital to independent living. If a copy is not available through the market, one may be borrowed from the author, or a xeroxed copy made at cost. Authors' e-mail (rza@uclink.berkeley.edu)

I had to read this book for a college history class I took. It was good and interesting reading for something that was required. Even if you don't have to read this book for your Tudor/Stuart History class, take some time out and read it! You'll definitely be rewarded with a great sense of history and accomplishment.

Guy Bransby seems to me to be more typical of the British gentleman-adventurer officer of the 19th Century than of the national servicemen and the time servers in obscurity so common in the last fifty years and in today's service. He spent most of his serving time in the "backwaters" of empire as a light infantryman and an advisor. He was seconded to Vietnam with the New Zealanders, served on the NW Frontier, in Yemen, and on attache duty. Newly returned to England, newly married, and seconded to the RAF Regiment as a trainer.(for those of you who are not familiar with this unit, it's composed of "blue men in khaki togs", and is light infantry, combined with local air defense) tasked with keeping bad guys (Spetsnaz and SAS types) off the flight line and out of the hangers. Now Bransby as a long-service officer is taking orders from some others twenty years younger.And he is content to fill out his time. But, due to his facility in Latin American Spanish gained as an aide to a Uruguayan general, he is chosen to head a team of interrogators in the Falklands. This is the story of his adventures and mis-adventures. Well told tales and with a wry humour which serves him well. If you like tales of interesting service this is for you. Carter Rila

As one of the co-authors of this book, I naturally rate it highly ;-) But honestly I think it will be of interest to many people - from academic colleagues with an interest in how higher education systems develop and change in the light of changing circumstances to the more general reader who wishes to understand why there is so much fuss about a name (university vs polytechnic/college) in higher education circles.

The chapters making up the three system-specific sections are written by authors with different perspectives - one from the government/system level and two from the institutions' perspective in each section. These are well related to each other and the general theme of national higher education reform by the editor Prof David Teather in his introduction and conclusions.

I commend the book to anyone interested in how university systems develop and the responses of governments and institutions to demands for change and reform in higher education.