On a Wing and a Prayer
Di Websdale-Morrissey
“In 1934, Melbourne’s Lord Mayor announced a London-to-Melbourne air race to celebrate his city’s centenary. The audacious plan captured imaginations across the globe: newspapers and magazines everywhere were filled with it; the world’s pilots scrambled to get sponsorship; and the organisers scrambled to get the rules straight and permission to fly in foreign air space. Sixty-four entrants from eleven countries signed up, but only twenty planes eventually took off on 20 October 1934. The winner arrived in Melbourne seventy-one hours later—but three planes crashed and two pilots died in the attempt.”
I’m not 100% sure what I expected in this book. I initially didn’t pick it up to read because I thought it was a fiction novel and it triggered memories of Jackie Chan’s film, Around the World in 90 Days. However, when I finally picked it up I found an interesting non-fiction about an event I’m sure many people know nothing of!
While the blurb tries to draw in a reader with the fable of Albury saving the Uiver, this is really quite a small portion of the book. The book is written sensitively and clearly, and deals fairly with all of the pilots in the race. Not only does it have the details of the race, it also has the back story and the endings (ie. ongoing lives and deaths of those involved in the race). As usual for many of Text’s books, there are some beautiful colour photographs reproduced lovingly to illustrate and bring the characters to life.
This book is going to suit anyone with a love of engineering, planes and Australian history! It’s written in a nice engaging manner, and even someone like me who can’t care less about history can enjoy it. It’s a very suitable present for the plane fanatic in your life.
Text Publishing | 3rd September 2021 | AU$32.99 | paperback
This is a collection of stories about this family which seem to be in no particular order. The writting style is rather strange and hard to parse. I wish the author had decided one way or another on what tense to use, and whether to use third or first person, and been consistent about the source of the stories.
My beloved author strikes again! Although it sounds similar to Lencioni’s other novel, The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, the two books are substantially different. The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team talks about the qualities needed for a team to work together. It focuses on how to lift other team members productivity by how to interact as a team.
I love this author to start with and couldn’t wait to read it! It lived up to expectations and was a great read. It’s a similar style to the author’s other novels. That is to say, most of the book is a fable and then it had the theory at the end. The fable makes it relatable to the reader. As the reader you can picture the characters in the fable and have likely been in the same situations as them. You get caught up and invested in the characters, also wanting them to succeed. 
This book was just average. I didn’t have any excitement from it or learn anything new. I guess the purpose of the book was to be a ‘only business book you need’ to learn most of what you need to successfully run a business. It’s basically all other business book theories in one. So I guess it did achieve this, and if you think about it like that, then this book is great.
I picked this book up for something lighter to read. This was lighter in comparison to other leadership books where you are constantly learning new things and wanting to implement them. The Beermat Entrepreneur was perfect for this! As you can imagine, the book was in a relaxed style. I could relate and laughed to some of the typical business things that happen at each stage of the business life cycle.
Yumiko has claimed her title of Emotional Female and taken it to the next level. As a patient, I feel most listened to when the doctor seems to actually be 1) listening and 2) can empathize. Yumiko takes us on a frankly uncomfortable journey into the Australian medical system where things are rancid and wrong to the core.
I had trouble with connecting to many of these stories. I am fortunate enough to work in an industry where gender doesn’t matter, and the same is true of my closest girlfriends. In Australia I think we are already very lucky that women tend to be well-protected and well-equipped to look after themselves. There are of course rapes and murders, but that could happen to anyone, not just women (although I admit women tend to be targeted more).
I picked up this book as I was after some actual practical ways to improve myself as a leader and manager. That was exactly what I got! I loved that it had practices to do including a chart of “common mindset” and “effective mindset” for you as a leader to compare yourself in the areas and see where you can improve.