Short takes: Non Fiction

Reviewed by MARGIE THOMSON

Peter Hillary and John E. Elder: In the Ghost Country

This is an extraordinary book, crying out to be read by anyone who has ever wondered what it is like to be Peter Hillary (son of the famous ... ) and life-long adventurer in his own right, or who has ever marvelled at the physical experiences and psychology of those who choose to go into life-defying environments at the extreme edges of the world where "if you sit down you die".

Primarily, this book tells the story of Hillary's media spot-lighted expedition across the Antarctic to the South Pole in the summer of 1998-99, in company with two other men. It tells how the relationships between the "team" went from dodgy beginnings to acrimonious end, and of the incredible loneliness of being out on the ice for three months in hostile company.

To compensate, Hillary turned inward, to his own memories and imagination, and we learn what a fertile place a mind can be as he keeps company with ghosts of former climbing companions and even, most poignantly, with his beloved mother.

Luckily, and ironically given the subject matter, the two voices in this compelling book work like a dream team, complementing each other, weaving overview and history with immediate, personal reminiscence. You won't find a better armchair adventure than this.

(Random House, $34.95)

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Jenny Robin Jones: Writers in Residence: A Journey With Pioneer New Zealand Writers

Convinced that it's the personalities of New Zealand's earliest writers that laid the groundwork for this country's literary tradition, Jenny Jones has written an engaging book, comprising 21 short biographies of people who came here (or, as time marched on, were occasionally born here) throughout the 19th century.

Often, they weren't writers as we think of them today, but livers of life, adventurers, missionaries, traders, explorers who happened to write about their experiences. Jones is an exhaustive researcher (her bibliography and notes go on for pages), but her light touch, obvious enjoyment of her subject, and eye for amusing detail lift these historical figures off the page and into our imaginations. Take Frederick Maning, for instance, an early trader on the Hokianga, husband of a Maori chief's sister, judge of the Native Land Court and author of Old New Zealand: A Tale of the Good Old Times.

He emerges as a real character, a "veracious Pakeha", bursting with mischief and stories. He told John Logan Campbell it didn't suit him to come to Auckland, as "when a fellow comes to town he has to wash his face and hands at least three times a week", and made up wonderful stories about lollipop trees for his children.

Or Jessie Mackay, who "felt injustice everywhere as a personal assault" and wrote a scathing poem about the military expedition sent to arrest Te Whiti's followers at Parihaka. This book looks a little stolid, but Jones' material is anything but.

(AUP, $44.99)

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Dave Gunson: New Zealand Wildlife

Dave Gunson, well-known wildlife artist, came to New Zealand as an adult, fell in love with our flora and fauna, and has since illustrated many books with his skilful, beautiful paintings and drawings. This latest one feels a very personal project, bringing together not only new illustrations but some of his all-time favourites as well. It's a very appealing book, pleasingly idiosyncratic and full of a sense of Gunson's personal relationship with his subjects in the little anecdotes he tells about this plant, or that shell, or that place.

Children and adults will each find something to wonder at here. For me, though, the book slightly missed the mark in a design sense -- the run-on text detracts from the focus of each page.

(Penguin, $45)