Our Stories, edited by Ian Wishart

I’ve just finished reading Ian Wishart’s book “Our Stories: The Way We Used to Be: The New Zealand Time Forgot,” (published by Howling At the Moon in 2014) and wanted to share it with you.

It’s actually a collection of newspaper articles written in the 1800s and 1900s. Wishart has searched them out from Papers Past(1), and written his commentary in between the articles.

It was a format I’m not used to, and the age of the articles made them a bit heavy-going, so Wishart’s summarising notes helped a lot. I still loved the way it came together as a simple, honest look at what happened in New Zealand and what New Zealanders used to be like. The chapter called “The Telephone Comes to NZ” was especially amusing.

The whole book comes from Wishart’s viewpoint of discussing history they way it happened, no matter what’s politically correct in our day. He includes things that I’d never heard of, like the tsunami in 1868, and the big Christchurch earthquake in 1888 (read the Oamaru Mail article here).

I liked being able to read a book about New Zealand history from a different perspective, and enjoy the fruits of Wishart’s labours chasing down the old newspaper stories.

…the most fascinating forgotten tales of our past, told through the eyes of the people who were there. (quote from back cover)

So if you are interested in hundred-year-old news stories, or in New Zealand history, or you just love to read Ian Wishart, this is a book for you!

~I did not receive any compensation or reward for reviewing this book~

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P.S. This book review serves as an introduction to my blog, Rhoda’s Reviews

(1) Papers Past is an amazing resource of searchable historical newspapers which have been digitised by the National Library of New Zealand curators.

Climate Change – What Shall We Make of it?

Climate change. We hear about it all the time. From pandas on our breakfast cereal cartons to water temperature instructions on clothing labels, the doomsday message of imminent disaster is being drummed into us from every side and through every medium. The headlines are convincing, and there are always plenty of scientific studies and charts showing steady Co2 level increases, temperature increases, and sea level rises. But could this all be wrong?

Ask, and You Will Receive

I’ll start by giving you something to do: Read Matthew 7:7-12.
Now, I’ve always had this little niggling fear about those verses. I’ve been afraid that I might once pray for something, and never have my prayer answered. But the minister of my home church explained this in a recent sermon…

Today I am guest posting on Danella’s blog, Footprints in the Sand. Click here to read the rest of the post 🙂

Did you watch Ken Ham debating Dr Bill Nye yesterday? You can still watch the debate at debatelive.org. And this afternoon at 2 NZT, Ken Ham and Dr Georgia Purdom will be discussing the debate. (You can see it here.)

One more thing – today it is 174 years since the Treaty of Waitangi was signed! There is a lot of controversy about the signing, translation and meaning of the Treaty. I have read, and can recommend, The Great Divide, by Ian Wishart. I don’t agree with absolutely everything he says, but definitely good reading on the topic of early New Zealand History.

In Christ,
Rhoda