aboriginal

Rough Guide to Australian Aboriginal Music
$14.98
Nice variety of tracks and instruments; male and female vocals. I'm extremely impressed with the notes as well as the "extras". This version contains a data track, some Rough Guide book content, a competition and other items on the CD if you stick it in the computer. Very thorough!

Mind Ware Aboriginal Mosaic Coloring Book
$9.99
I love this whole series because it is a perfect fit for tweens and kids off to college. Its more difficult and that is what is great about it. The paper is thick and can be done is a variety of inks and pencils. If you have fancy pens this will work out well. Micrifine pens and would work well with this one. Gel ink that stays on top of the paper works well but it is far and away the best in high quality color pencil. I would add paper to protect the artists pages from being smudged because it is a BOOK. I like that this has design work that is unique and gives the viewpoint of global art. I have not seen one like this before.

A great camp gift, away at school, or just sitting on the beach or in a plane. Not for anyone under age 9 that wants to savor each drawing- if you are buying this for liitle kids I would make a copy and let them have fun with it in a regular paper and not just hand them this book as a collection. For college kids its a great way to rest the hard working side of the brain and let creative thought back in and just chill out in the land of coloring.

Voices of the First Day: Awakening in the Aboriginal Dreamtime (Inner Traditions)
$29.95
Well well well, I fully expected to find a five star reader rating here. I guess I forgot that these types of different, forward-thinking books polarize people so much. I too have seen Aboriginals in Northern Arnhem Land as well as in the pub in Katherine, and I am sure that many Americans have seen drunken Indians wandering zig-zagged down the side of the road. We can all see what have become of these cultures since being raped, pillaged and tempted by European settlers. They stood not a chance - even the Aboriginal communities that did not want any "aid" from the Australian government were forced to take it - and became addicted to refined wheat, sugar and a new 'easy' way of life. Talk about the Sirens' calling sailors to their deaths. Alcohol has had the most devastating affect on their lives of all our influences. It is interesting to note that kava is strictly illegal in Australia: This is a easily grown root that can be crushed and drunk to produce a mellow high, and does not induce the same ill-effects to Aborigines as alcohol.

Anyways, Lawlor talks of pre-contact Aboriginal culture. If he wanted to do a book on post-contact culture, derrrrr, it would be a different book.

The book that he has written is packed with insight and the information provided within is the sort of stuff that could change your life if you just stay open to it. You may not agree with all of it but it doesn't make the rest a lot of baloney. I have just finished reading it a second time and there is just soooo much to this book. Yes it has been compared with Mutant Message (which I didn't like at all) but this is the real deal. I don't want to be too effusive but it has changed the way I perceive the world on a daily basis.

To all the nay-sayers: there must have been something in that culture to have not self-imploded after tens of thousands of years. It is always hard to loosen the grip on a static world view that we have held onto so tightly - even when it is increasingly obvious that it no longer works.

Dreamkeepers: A Spirit-Journey into Aboriginal Australia
$18.00
One of the best i've read recently, so much so I was almost sorry to reach the end. Arden spins the non-fiction tale of his journey through the Australian outback to hear Aborigines' tales of mystery, in the stories of their ancestore; and tragedy, in the segregation and near-annihilation suffered by them, although the tale also had laughs. A trip!