Christmas 2011: Gavin Atkins

A Point of View is a reminder in the form of a literary crash tackle that Clive James is, and always has been, one of the world’s great essayists.

An opinion writer who respects you enough to let you draw your own conclusions is a rare and wondrous thing. James has a brilliant way of just suggesting he has an opinion by taking you on what seems like an aimless Sunday drive and pointing out life’s absurdities.  

A Point of View is a perfect summer read, and Santa has been informed that I want Cultural Amnesia from his back catalogue.

By the way, if anyone can provide a decent explanation as to why there is not a huge statue of a stern but benevolent Clive James standing astride the Princes Highway at Kogarah, I want to hear it – and then shower them with abuse.

For something different, if you think you can stand a little science, Radiation and Reason by Professor Wade Allison will open your eyes to the bizarre culture of fear that has developed around everything nuclear, and explains exactly why few casualties will result from the Fukushima accident.