 Word On Books
with Jeremy Fenton
Thai Die
By Greg Fleet
Published by Random House Australia
 In 1989 Australian
comedian Greg Fleet set off for an adventure in Thailand. Before walking on Thai soil for a day he was being set up for an intricate and stomach-churning
confidence trick that would end in Fleet's mother being cheated of $4500 in gold, and Fleet himself a nervous wreck.
To describe too much will ruin the book (and it's such a short book there's not too much to ruin), but it involved a card game and a naïve
Australian who thought he was helping a poor local family.
Being a distillation of his show of the same name that premiered at the 1995 Melbourne Comedy Festival (and that has successfully played the comedian's
Mecca of Edinburgh), Thai Die makes for an amusing read.
It's a little like having a script to the show, only some of the jokes look a lot flatter (and cruder) on the written page. But Fleet readily acknowledges
himself that the humour is a bit on the nose: "Exaggeration, not sarcasm, is in fact the lowest form of wit."
Because of the throwaway nature of the book it comes as a shock that Fleet actually delivers an emotionally moving end, one in contrast to the fact the
he has repeatedly laughed his way through a series of life and death escapades.
Fleet is an idiot, in the rare and best sense of the word. Thai Die is recommended reading (in a very offhand and slight way).
A Life of Extremes
By Jeff McMullen
Published by Harper Collins
 Jeff
McMullen's 2001 biography, A Life of Extremes, has been updated and re-released this year.
The book is aptly titled as McMullen has indeed experienced a life of extremes, both personally and professionally. Personally he has had the heartbreak
of his father's alcoholism and the loss of his mother through an accident, while as a journalist he is well respected for his work as an ABC foreign
correspondent and reporter on Four Corners and 60 Minutes.
He's covered such stories as the uncovering of the 5300-year-old iceman in Tyrolean Alps, the Rwandan genocide, the Godmen and Women of India, and
the Dumarget slaves in the Philippines (to name but a few of the subjects he's investigated). This latest edition of A Life of Extremes also includes
a new chapter added after the events of 11 September, 2001.
It is probably one of McMullen's strongest points as a journalist that he manages to enjoy himself and make the most of life wherever he is on the
planet. He often contributes meaningfully to those whose lives he touches, and his stories have been some of the biggest around (like uncovering the truth
about the so-called missing American POWs in Vietnam).
Structured by topic rather than as a linear narrative means that the book can be dipped into via subject without missing too much of importance that
came previously. Some readers will bristle at the insertion of bits from his actual journals of the time (not to mention the poetry), but overall the result
is satisfying.
Whatever your tastes, A Life of Extremes is a big book that covers enough topics to interest just about anyone in some way. It's not in the same
league as other biographies of Australian journalists (like Phillip Knightly or Mungo MacCallum), but is still compelling and enjoyable reading.
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