Most Popular Books by Alex Miller

A deeply personal, behind-the-scenes exploration of Alex Miller''s six-decade writing life. SHORTLISTED FOR THE PRIME MINISTER''S LITERARY AWARDS A Kind of Confession is a secret look into Alex Miller''s writing life, spanning sixty years of creativity and inspiration. As a young man in 1961 Miller left his work as a ringer in Queensland and set out to achieve his dream of becoming a serious novelist. It was not until 1988 that his first novel, Watching the Climbers on the Mountain, was published. Twelve more novels would follow, all bestsellers, many published internationally. This selection from his notebooks and letters makes it exhilaratingly evident that Miller has been devoted to finding and telling stories that are profound, substantial and entertaining, stories that capture both intellect and emotion. Miller''s fascinating life is told in a personal, behind-the-scenes exploration of his struggle to become a published writer, his determination, his methods of creative thought and the sources of his inspiration. His writing, sometimes in anger and despair, sometimes with humour and joy, whether created for publication or for private meditation, is alive with ideas, moral choices, commentary, encouragement, criticism and love.

An astonishing, moving tribute to Alex''s friend, Max Blatt, that is at once a meditation on memory itself, on friendship and a reminder to the reader that history belongs to humanity. SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY AWARD ''Max is haunted by devastating insights. Blatt told Miller that the hardest part of torture was the realisation that the torturer was also your brother. It is the same generosity that makes Max such a compelling argument against narrowness and division. Blatt''s life has deep and wide ramifications. Miller''s intelligent love has created a tale for the ages.'' The Age ''This book so beautifully evokes the power of places in shaping our consciousness and perception As readers of Alex Miller, we feel ourselves to be in the presence of a great heart and a penetrating sensibility, and in the thrall of one of our nation''s most beloved writers.'' Tom Griffiths, Emeritus Professor of History, ANU ''Max tells of Alex Miller''s search -- in turns fearful and elated -- for the elusive past of Max Blatt, a man he loves, who loved him and who taught him that he must write with love. Miller discovers that he is also searching for a defining part of himself, formed by his relation to Max Blatt, but whose significance will remain obscure until he finds Max, complete, in his history. With Max, Miller the novelist has written a wonderful work of non-fiction, as fine as the best of his novels. Always a truth-seeker, he has rendered himself vulnerable, unprotected by the liberties permitted to fiction. Max is perhaps his most moving book, a poignant expression of piety, true to his mentor''s injunction to write with love.'' Raimond Gaita, award-winning author of Romulus, My Father I began to see that whatever I might write about Max, discover about him, piece together with those old shards of memory, it would be his influence on the friendships of the living that would frame his story in the present. According to your 1939 Gestapo file, you adopted the cover names Landau and Maxim. The name your mother and father gave you was Moses. We knew you as Max. You had worked in secret. From an early age you concealed yourself - like the grey box beetle in the final country of your exile, maturing on its journey out of sight beneath the bark of the tree. You risked death every day. And when at last the struggle became hopeless, you escaped the hell and found a haven in China first, and then Australia, where you became one of those refugees who, in their final place of exile, chose not death but silence and obscurity. Alex Miller followed the faint trail of Max Blatt''s early life for five years. Max''s story unfolded, slowly at first, from the Melbourne Holocaust Centre''s records then to Berlin''s Federal Archives. From Berlin, Miller travelled to Max''s old home town of Wroclaw in Poland. And finally in Israel with Max''s niece, Liat Shoham, and her brother Yossi Blatt, at Liat''s home in the moshav Shadmot Dvora in the Lower Galilee, the circle of friendship was closed and the mystery of Max''s legendary silence was unmasked. Max is an astonishing and moving tribute to friendship, a meditation on memory itself, and a reminder to the reader that history belongs to humanity.

A moving novel about storytelling, about truths, and love, from twice Miles Franklin Award winner Alex Miller. ''More than one ghost haunts this tender novel about love in its many guises, condoned and illicit. In his deceptively simple, lucid prose, Alex Miller examines the emotional contradictions inherent in apparent opposites as his central character learns to draw strength and inspiration from unlikely places. Hauntingly beautiful, A Brief Affair will resonate long after its pages are closed.'' Sylvia Martin, author of Ink in Her Veins: The Troubled Life of Aileen Palmer From the bustling streets of China, to the ominous Cell 16 in an old asylum building, to the familiar sounds and sight of galahs flying over a Victorian farm, A Brief Affair is a tender love story. On the face of it, Dr Frances Egan is a woman who has it all - a loving family and a fine career - until a brief, perfect affair reveals to her an imaginative dimension to her life that is wholly her own. Fran finds the courage and the inspiration to risk everything and change her direction at the age of forty-two. This newfound understanding of herself is fortified by the discovery of a long-forgotten diary from the asylum and the story it reveals. Written with humour, sensitivity and the wisdom for which Miller''s work is famous, this exquisitely compassionate novel explores the interior life and the dangerous navigation of love in all its forms. ''...richly satisfying and luminous'' Emeritus Professor, Tom Griffiths

Starting with Frege''s foundational theories of sense and reference, Miller provides an introduction to the formal logic used in all subsequent philosophy of language. He communicates a sense of active philosophical debate by confronting the views of the early theorists concerned with building systematic theories - Frege, Russell, and the logical positivists - with the attacks mounted by sceptics - such as Quine, Kripke, and Wittgenstein. This leads to excursions into related areas of metaphysics, philosophy of mind, and cognitive science that present more recent attempts to save the notions of sense and meaning by philosophers such as Grice, Searle, Fodor, McGinn, and Wright. Miller then returns to the systematic program by examining the formal theories of Donald Davidson, concluding with a chapter surveying the relevance of philosophy of language to the broader metaphysical debates between realists and anti-realists.

A sensuously written, peculiarly Australian novel about the relationship between a painter and his subject. ''A narrow, vertical painting, tightly enclosing the scene. Her pale arm and her pale thigh. Viewed at a diagonal through an exceedingly tall doorway. just a glimpse of something.'' An ageing portrait artist meets a woman who unsettles him, yet inspires him to paint her. Reluctantly, at first, they are drawn together. The ambiguity of the relationship between painter and subject is revealed through Alex Miller''s subtle, sensuous narrative. The artist must watch and wait to trap the shy beast. For the skill of portraiture is in seeing beyond the face, beyond the likeness. ''Like Patrick White, Miller uses the painter to portray the ambivalence of art and the artist. In The Sitters is the brooding genius of light. Its presence is made manifest in Miller''s supple, painterly prose which layers words into textured moments.'' - The Sunday Age ''An awesomely elegant, subtly sensuous, stylish exploration of the inner self of an ageing portrait artist. If there were doubts about the maturity of Australian fiction, this book puts those doubts to rest.'' - Frank Moorhouse and Sue Woolfe, 1995 NSW Premier''s Awards ''The description of the creative process is extraordinary.'' - The Weekend Australian

The Black Hole Book is your guide to the mysteries of Deep Space in astrological interpretation. These celestial powerhouses are revealed as important formative agents, both in our character and in the events unfolding in the world around us. With extensive interpretive material on Black Hole interaction with each planet that can be applied to the birth chart, supported by detailed examples from celebrity charts and current events, The Black Hole Book also delves into cutting edge astrophysical theory to explain the scientific background on how these energy transducers operate and the effect they have in our lives. Whether amateur or beginning student, novice or seasoned astrological professional, The Black Hole Book offers something for everyone, and opens a window into a dynamic level of celestial functioning underpinning the planetary energies of our solar system. Astrologer Alex Miller has encapsulated more than twenty years of active research and counseling with these anomalies to provide a roadmap to the inner workings of that most elusive of celestial phenomena, the Black Hole.

Strangers did not, as a rule, find their way to Chez Dom, a small Tunisian cafe in Paris. Run by the widow Houria and her young niece, Sabiha, the cafe offers a home away from home for the North African immigrant workers at the great abattoirs of Vaugirard who, as with Houria and Sabiha themselves, have grown used to the smell of blood in the air.

Winner of the 2003 Miles Franklin Award. A superbly compelling work of betrayals, compassion, secrets and reconciliation.

Love is complicated. It’s something that takes time and patience to cultivate. Something that needs to be earned. To the young witch Jessica White, love is something that can and should be acquired using magic. Deeply infatuated with Robin heath, captain of her college football team and known playboy, Jessica sets out to turn him into her idealized boyfriend. With the help of her friend Felix, she devises a love spell that will turn Robin into everything she wants him to be. While everything seems to go fine at first, a problem quickly appears: the spell can spread to other people. What starts as a dream come true turns into a nightmare as the spell runs out of control like a plague, turning all those infected into Jessica’s mindless, lovestruck servants. The Love Plague is written by Alex Miller, an eGlobal Creative Publishing signed author.

A profound and moving story about the land, the past, exile and acceptance, this deeply intelligent and thoughtful novel is a worthy successor to Miller''s much-loved and critically admired Journey to the Stone Country.

“Cat o’ Nine Tales” is an engaging memoir of real life experience in the urban trenches of cat rescue work. Nine special felines are profiled in detail, with their life stories and adoptions — or other outcomes — but many others will be met along the way. Liberally studded with candid photos of the cats described, “Cat o’ Nine Tales” chronicles eight years of stray and feral cat life on the West Philly streets, defining the trials and challenges these animals face, as well as the rewards and satisfaction of finding a special cat its “Forever” home.

This ebook is a selective guide designed to help scholars and students of social work find reliable sources of information by directing them to the best available scholarly materials in whatever form or format they appear from books, chapters, and journal articles to online archives, electronic data sets, and blogs. Written by a leading international authority on the subject, the ebook provides bibliographic information supported by direct recommendations about which sources to consult and editorial commentary to make it clear how the cited sources are interrelated related. This ebook is a static version of an article from Oxford Bibliographies Online: Philosophy, a dynamic, continuously updated, online resource designed to provide authoritative guidance through scholarship and other materials relevant to the study Philosophy. Oxford Bibliographies Online covers most subject disciplines within the social science and humanities, for more information visit www.oxfordbibligraphies.com.

A powerful and perceptive novel from two-time Miles Franklin Award winner Alex Miller. ''Miller has created a body of writing that is now acknowledged as one of the great Australian literary achievements of the past half-century.'' - Morag Fraser It''s 1975, and at the threshold of his writing career Andy McPherson is navigating how to be fully present both for his partner, Jo, and their young daughter. When forced to take a part-time teaching job Andy meets Lang Tzu, a charismatic and intriguing man. Andy is drawn deeper into a dangerous relationship when Lang asks him to prove his friendship by brokering a risky deal for a much-desired piece of art. Andy finally consents despite Jo''s opposition. In the process, Andy is in fact negotiating his own deal with himself as an artist and is compelled to face up to the conflict between his conception of art as a creative gift and the realities of the art market. Powerful and perceptive, Miller''s profound and intimate depiction of Jo and her partnership with Andy, and his poignant portrait of Lang''s troubled genius, form the beating heart of this beautiful novel. Praise for A Brief Affair by Alex Miller ''… a moving study of the value of both writing and reading. In many ways it is a distillation of all of Miller''s invaluable fiction.'' - The Guardian ''There''s a seductive, languid poetry to Alex Miller''s writing that gently lulls the reader into his world and makes it a place you never want to leave. There, we are surrounded by a melange of sights, sounds, smells and most importantly characters, a place that is at once embracing and poignantly thought-provoking.'' - Australian Women''s Weekly

Steven Muir, August Spiess and his daughter Gertrude, and Lang Tzu all acknowledge a restless sense of cultural displacement, an ambivalence in their relations with the culture of European Australia. Steven left England for Australia as a young man and his one attempt at returning is unsuccessful. August Spiess, although he speaks frequently of returning to his native Hamburg, fails to make the journey, as does his daughter Gertrude. Lang Tzu''s very name defines his fate: ''two characters which in Mandarin signify the son who goes away.'' The ''game'', however, does have winners. For despite their yearnings for the home of their ancestral dreams, a desire to belong somewhere that is truly their own, none of Miller''s characters leaves Australia, and each in their own way comes to see that to be at home in exile may be a defining paradox of the European Australian condition: the paradox of belonging and estrangement that perhaps lies uneasily at the heart of all European cultures. The Ancestor Game, which Robert Dessaix described as ''one of the most engrossing books I''ve read in a long time'', is an enthralling journey into the ancestral dreams and present dilemmas of a rich cast of characters. ''A wonderful novel of stunning intricacy and great beauty.'' - Michael Ondaatje ''Takes the historical novel to new frontiers. It is fabulous in every sense of the word.'' - Commonwealth Writers Prize judges ''Extraordinary fictional portraits of China and Australia.'' - New York Times Book Review ''A major new novel of grand design and rich texture, a vast canvas of time and space, its gaze outward yet its vision intimate and intellectually abundant.'' - The Age

From the award-winning author of Conditions of Faith and Journey to the Stone Country, Alex Miller''s new novel reveals the inner life of an artist, torn between his obsession with his art and his love of his wife and daughter.

This introduction provides a highly readable critical overview of the main arguments and themes in twentieth-century and contemporary metaethics. It traces the development of contemporary debates in metaethics from their beginnings in the work of G. E. Moore up to the most recent arguments between naturalism and non-naturalism, cognitivism and non-cognitivism. A highly readable critical overview of the main arguments and themes in twentieth century and contemporary metaethics. Asks: Are there moral facts? Is there such a thing as moral truth? Is moral knowledge possible? Traces the development of contemporary debates in metaethics from their beginnings in the work of G. E. Moore up to the most recent debates between naturalism and non-naturalism, cognitivism and noncognitivism. Provides for the first time a critical survey of famous figures in twentieth century metaethics such as Moore, Ayer and Mackie together with in-depth discussions of contemporary philosophers such as Blackburn, Gibbard, Wright, Harman, Railton, Sturgeon, McDowell and Wiggins.

Autumn Laing has long outlived the legendary circle of artists she cultivated in the 1930s. Now ''old and skeleton gaunt'', she reflects on her tumultuous relationship with the abundantly talented Pat Donlon and the effect it had on her husband, on Pat''s wife and the body of work which launched Pat''s career. A brilliantly alive and insistently ene...

From one of Australia''s greatest novelists comes this fine collection, a storyteller''s journey. These short stories and essays, written over the last forty years, comprise an insightful and intelligent meditation on the life of the novelist and the culture of contemporary Australia. Personal and intimate as many of these pieces are, this collection forms a kind of assured autobiography, of the sort that only Alex Miller could write. Alex Miller''s stories are told with a rare level of wisdom and profundity, engaging the intellect and the emotions simultaneously. Stories are, after all, in his blood.

The new novel from Australia’s highly acclaimed literary treasure is an extraordinarily powerful exploration of tragedy, betrayal, the true nature of friendship and the beauty of lasting love “Me and Ben had been mates since we was boys and if it come to it I knew I would have to be on his side.” Bobby Blue is caught between loyalty to his only friend, Ben Tobin, and his boss, Daniel Collins, the new constable at Mount Hay. “Ben was not a big man but he was strong and quick as a snake. He had his own breed of pony that was just like him, stocky and reliable on their feet.” Bobby understands the people and the ways of Mount Hay, while Collins studies the country as an archaeologist might, bringing his coastal values to the hinterland. Bobby says, “I do not think Daniel would have understood Ben in a million years.” Increasingly bewildered and goaded to action by his wife, Constable Collins takes up his shotgun and his Webley pistol to deal with Ben. And when Bobby’s love for Collins’s willful young daughter Irie is exposed, it leads to tragic consequences for them all. Miller’s exquisite depictions of the country of the Queensland highlands form the background of this simply told but deeply significant novel of friendship, love, loyalty and the tragic consequences of misunderstanding and mistrust. Coal Creek is a wonderfully satisfying novel with a gratifying resolution. It carries all the wisdom and emotional depth we have come to expect from Miller’s richly evocative prose.

Ward Rankin had not wanted to be tied to the station; he''d imagined a life of travel and experience but there was no-one else. When his mother died, it came to him, a frustrated man. Ida, his young wife, sees a solution to her own discontent in her growing feelings for the young English stockman Robert Crofts.

Amusement parks have been a staple of California recreation and entertainment for over a century. First appearing along the beaches and multiplying up and down the coast, these parks ignited an industry that has seen tremendous change and innovation. Children''s Fairyland--America''s first theme park--and Knott''s Berry Farm--the first children''s park--set high standards for the amusement world. When Disneyland opened in 1955, amusement parks became destinations in themselves, transforming surrounding communities. Discover how these magical places came to be. Learn little-known secrets of 20 California parks and what makes them landmarks. For guests of all ages, California''s theme parks offer an abundance of entertainment possibilities. 301 color photos provide a unique glimpse into an industry that forever changed family entertainment.

“This thoughtful autobiographical work by an award-winning Australian novelist” chronicles a young author’s adventuresome coming of age (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). In this epic yet intimate autobiographical novel, acclaimed Australian author Alex Miller returns to his fictional alter ego Robert Crofts, the subject of his debut work, Watching the Climbers on the Mountain. To flee his abusive father in the years after World War II, sixteen-year-old Robert leaves his childhood home in London for the Australian Outback. After a sojourn there, Robert moves to cosmopolitan Melbourne where he meets Lena Soren, the woman who becomes the true center of his life. As their intimacy deepens, Lena struggles to free herself from the familial demands and social norms that suffocate her. Very much in love, Robert follows Lena to the end of the earth and back again as their relationship nourishes both his artistic aspirations and her ever stronger sense of self. The Passage of Love is the story of a young man discovering his calling, a young woman pursuing her own destiny, and a modern country struggling to define itself through shifting mores.

"Includes information on all the newest features of Clojure, such as transducers and specs."--Provided by publisher.

An amazing book; a compulsively readable story composed by an award-winning author of brilliant, subtle, compassionate and intelligent language.

In this haunting story, two Australian men are hired to clear the ubiquitous manuka scrub in a bleak and rain-swept New Zealand gully. As their wide open homeland and dreams of teaching the locals how to break in horses begin to seem increasingly remote, the backbreaking, monotonous work and isolation soon take their toll, on body and mind.

Osama bin Laden is Dead is about growing up in a sad little town in the middle of nowhere. It’s about going to high school with a bunch of rich kids who hate you because you buy your clothes at Walmart. It’s about your parents manipulating you into enrolling in a creepy Christian college where morons go to be brainwashed. It’s about dating a girl who won’t put out. Osama bin Laden is Dead is about Mark, a high school senior who can’t imagine how his life could ever stop being pathetic. Mark is neither happy nor well adjusted. He likes to pretend that Osama bin Laden is some kind of anti-Christ superhero who can save him from the bleak hellscape that his life has become. “Osama bin Laden is Dead” is about all of Western civilization crumbling and collapsing on top of you. It’s about war and terrorism and making out with your best friend’s girlfriend on a sticky couch in her basement. It’s about finding a new way to live.

An extraordinarily compressed powerhouse of a novel, at once wholly original, gripping and mysterious. While The Tivington Nott is only Alex Miller''s second novel, it has all the hallmarks of this two-times Miles Franklin winner.

Welcome to the Sunshine State – a white sand paradise that plays host to millions of vacation goers every year. But beaches and sunshine aren''t the only things guests come looking for. In less than 50 years, Florida''s blossoming travel industry has earned recognition as the theme park resort center of the world. Captured with 280 exciting color photos, discover 20 of the state''s unique venues and the attractions that make them famous. From wild African safaris to Hollywood-inspired movie-magic, Florida theme parks offer some of the world''s most diverse entertainment experiences. Whether you''re planning your family''s dream vacation, or just looking for your next big adventure, this guide offers a window into the state''s largest and most exciting industry!

Daily Coding Problem contains a wide variety of questions inspired by real programming interviews, with in-depth solutions that clearly take you through each core concept. You''ll learn about: * Linked Lists * Arrays * Heaps * Trees * Graphs * Randomized Algorithms * Backtracking * Dynamic Programming * Stacks and Queues * Bit Manipulation * System Design

Seeking shelter in a Parisian cafe from a sudden rainstorm, John Patterner meets the exotic Sabiha and his carefully mapped life changes forever.

La última tentación de Autumn Laing es un retrato estoicamente íntimo de una mujer inolvidable llena de pintorescos recuerdos y con una poderosa necesidad de redención. Autumn Laing seduce a Pat Donlon con sus piernas nacaradas y sus ansias de vida y arte. Al hacerlo, no sólo compromete la confianza y el amor que comparte con su marido, Arthur, sino que roba el futuro a la joven y guapa esposa de Pat, Edith, y al hijo que ambos esperan. Cincuenta y tres años después, cascarrabias, atractiva e incontenible, Autumn, con ochenta y cinco años, queda horrorizada al descubrir en su fuero interno la poderosa necesidad de reparar su error. Cuando comienza a contar su historia, escribe: «Todos han muerto, y yo estoy vieja y demacrada como un esqueleto. Aquí es donde comenzó...» Escrita con compasión e inteligencia, esta enérgica sensible y apasionada novela va desnudando la narración para preguntar qué relación guarda esta con la verdad. Opinión: «Alex Miller es una voz imprescindible que Australia ha mantenido en secreto para el resto de nosotros durante demasiado tiempo.» John Banville

"After two separate catastrophes, two very different families leave the country for the bright lights of Perth. The Lambs are industrious, united, and--until God seems to turn His back on their boy Fish--religious. The Pickleses are gamblers, boozers, fractious, and unlikely landlords. Change, hardship, and the war force them to swallow their dignity and share a great, breathing, shuddering house called Cloudstreet. Over the next twenty years, they struggle and strive, laugh and curse, come apart and pull together under the same roof, and try as they can to make their lives. Winner of the Miles Franklin Award and recognized as one of the greatest works of Australian literature, Cloudstreet is Tim Winton''s sprawling, comic epic about luck and love, fortitude and forgiveness, and the magic of the everyday"--

Odin''s Library Classics is dedicated to bringing the world the best of humankind''s literature from throughout the ages. Carefully selected, each work is unabridged from classic works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama.

From the bustling streets of China, to the ominous Cell 16 in an old asylum building, to the familiar sounds and sight of galahs flying over a Victorian farm, A Brief Affair is a tender love story. On the face of it, Dr Frances Egan is a woman who has it all, a loving family and a fine career. Until a brief, perfect affair reveals to her an imaginative dimension to her life that is wholly her own. Fran finds the courage and the inspiration to risk everything and change her direction at the age of 42. This newfound understanding of herself is fortified by the discovery of a long-forgotten diary from the asylum and the story it reveals.