Books Reviews

Recently during my Australian tour I bought two books mainly to understand the culture and the lifestyle of the country. It was a month tour and I was impressed with the people in Australia for their passion and fun. None of the people I met, could portray the so called Australianism. So I wanted to buy a book which should talk about a life of a typical Australian.

The first book I bought was "Spun Out, The shane warne story" written by Paul Barry. I am a big fan of Warne and when it comes to spin bowling he is the man, a true hero. He is my best. So I just went on to buy this book. I bought this book at Sidney domestic airport on the way to Melbourne. But for my sake, it is very disappointing. First of all it is not warne's authorized autobiography. Neither it was approved by Warne. The focus of the context is on warne's off the field controversies. Very few interesting on field/dressing room incidents are there. Later when I checked the review at Amazon, it was suggested not to buy by most of the people. Too bad. Later I got to know that there is Warney's own autobiography which I somehow missed in the book shop.

The second book was "My Safeway Story : Making it Happen by Bill Pratt" . Fantastic book I would say. It is an autobiagraphy written with some good intentions. It is an autobiagraphy of a person who pioneered the super market concept in Australia, mainly in Victoria. he may not be known to the whole world. But he is a true successful businessman. He initially bought a small grocery shop to do a retail business during his school holidays. He turned out to setup three bug super markets later. Then he merged the business with US retails giant Safeway and expanded the business to 1 billian dollar in Victoria. The good thing in his book is his naration. Not only he explained the significant events in his life, he also narrated them with purpose. He wants to give some value for the readers. You will learn a lot from this Book. A true businessman should always be innovative and think step ahead from others. His decision to merge his business with safeway when he was doing well is a surprise for even me. But later he proved it right. He had to fight with the strict retails regulations by that time and he was successfull in amending them by the authorities. There are lot of interesting stories. It is a must read. It gives you a big courage by knowing a man from a little suburb became a billian dollar businessman. If you really want to know the true Australian culture and living style then I would recommend this book. His famous pharase is still blinking in my head.

'nothing comes easy, but there is always a way'