Burning Bush: A Fire History of Australia (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Book.)

Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK IS TOO LONG!
Review: Everything about Australia's fire history from its geologic origins to the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires can be found in this book. Perhaps a little too much. We learn about everything from the Flora and Fauna of the continent, to aboriginal fire practices, to modern fire fighting techniques. If one wishes to know about all of this, then the Burning Bush is an indespensible source. For those with more narrow interests, be weary. I bought the book to learn about the major fires that have devastated the country periodically. The accounts are there, but the first one appeared 220 pages into the book! All of the accounts combined cover only around twenty pages. Readers with similar interests will find the book to be a 400 page yawn. Pyne would have been better served to narrow his focus a bit. It's all there, but more than most other books the reader will want to refer to the index rather than slog through each page.

Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK IS TOO LONG!
Review: Everything about Australia's fire history from its geologic origins to the 1983 Ash Wednesday fires can be found in this book. Perhaps a little too much. We learn about everything from the Flora and Fauna of the continent, to aboriginal fire practices, to modern fire fighting techniques. If one wishes to know about all of this, then the Burning Bush is an indespensible source. For those with more narrow interests, be weary. I bought the book to learn about the major fires that have devastated the country periodically. The accounts are there, but the first one appeared 220 pages into the book! All of the accounts combined cover only around twenty pages. Readers with similar interests will find the book to be a 400 page yawn. Pyne would have been better served to narrow his focus a bit. It's all there, but more than most other books the reader will want to refer to the index rather than slog through each page.