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Good Reading : October 2017
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GOOD READING OCTOBER 2017 53 The Smack Track Ian McPhedran Ian McPhedran, former defence writer for The Canberra Times and News Corp, writes here about the Australian Navy’s mission to patrol the Arabian Gulf, the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in order to intercept the activities of drug smugglers and dodgy arms dealers over a 25-year period. McPhedran joined the guided-missile frigate HMAS Darwin as an observer to gain first-hand knowledge about how the highly trained crew went about their duties. He didn’t join any boarding crews that searched fishing dhows for contraband, but the boarding crews recounted to McPhedran the clever methods used by the dhow captains to conceal drugs and firearms. The frigate captains could observe the crew’s search from screens on the ship as they looked for anything that seemed suspicious, such as holes drilled in recently repaired sections, freshly painted areas and ice that covered false floor boards. The boarding crews would search for hours and sometimes even days, eventually developing a methodical approach to ensure that nothing was missed. They weren’t always successful, but drugs worth millions of dollars have been taken out of the market. Any damage to the dhow as result of the search was always repaired. McPhedran’s account and coverage of the navy’s activity in the Middle East leaves you in no doubt about the level of professionalism, dedication and training of serving officers and crew. Most of the navy’s current fleet of ships get coverage in the book, as do their officers. This is a worthwhile addition to the author’s other books about our defence forces. ★★★★ HarperCollins $32.99 Reviewed by David Clive GENERAL NON-FICTION WOM word of mouth AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR Dead Zone: Where the wild things were Philip Lymbery As Philip Lymbery – the CEO of Compassion in World Farming – says in the preface of this book ‘in the blink of an evolutionary eye, one particular species has gone from newcomer to the dominant force shaping the planet.’ That newcomer would be us – humans. In the last 40 years, the total number of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish has halved. The author says that the main reason for this huge reduction in animal numbers is our global demand for food. Our preoccupation with feeding ourselves – using largely unsustainable methods – has resulted in the destruction of a huge amount of wildlife. The statistics are scary. Seventy billion far m animals are reared for food each year. Two-thirds of those animals are located in factory far ms. These animals eat food that could otherwise feed billions of hungry people. Most human water use and half of the planet’s usable land mass is dedicated to agriculture. If that doesn’t make you stop and think, then consider that the global livestock population is expected to almost double by 2050. Philip Lymbery says that industrially reared animals emit more greenhouse gases that all the world’s trains, planes and cars combined. Each chapter highlights a particular wild animal – such as the elephant, bison, shrimp, jaguar, penguin, white stork, barn owl and the humble bumblebee – and the impact we are having on it. This wake-up call of a book will open your eyes to how we are changing the face of our world for the worse at a rapid and unsustainable pace. It’s a bleak picture of what we will have left if we don’t change. This book must be read by politicians and anyone else who can reduce our devastating impact on wild animals. ★★★★ Bloomsbury $24.99 Reviewed by Jane Stephens the Arabian Gulf, the Horn of Africa and they looked for anything that seemed suspicious, such as holes drilled in recently repaired sections, freshly painted areas and ice that covered false floor boards.The boarding crews would search for hours and sometimes even days, eventually developing a methodical approach to ensure that nothing was missed. wild things were AFarming – says in the preface of this book ‘in the blink of an evolutionary eye,
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