Sunday, 21 July 2013

This Will Probably Only Make Sense to Other Australians

Former Australian immigration Minister (now promoted to Treasurer) Chris Bowen has a new book out. I couldn't believe it when I saw the awful mistakes all over the front cover.



Fortunately, I was able to fix it and let the publishers (Melbourne University) know. The corrected edition is available now.


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4 comments:

  1. jb21 July 2013 at 17:21

    It's a terrible cover. I mean, it's only as bad as every other Australian book about politics, but it still looks appallingly slapdash.

    Not that it matters: it'll be in the bargain bins by Christmas, if not by the election. I've not read it, but then nothing Bowen has ever said has made me think "I'd be interested in reading a whole book you wrote on the quick!"

    And yes, your alternative looks like a more appropriate title...

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  2. JRSM21 July 2013 at 18:04

    Exactly: he hardly seems like the sort of towering political figure whose elegant prose will redefine the political debate for years to come. My only consolation of the imminent Abbott victory was that Bowen seemed likely to lose his seat under Gillard. Who knows what nonsense will happen now.

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  3. Anonymous23 July 2013 at 17:26

    I suspect he's going for the Labor nostalgia factor because the first thing I thought of when I saw that was the old Penguin edition of Gough Whitlam's 'The Truth of the Matter' (google it - very similar red slash). Of course, not everyone has my combination of Penguin tragic/Australian politics tragic.

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  4. JRSM23 July 2013 at 17:50

    It wouldn't surprise me if Bowen saw himself as having Whitlam stature, at least in his own mind.

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