Absolutely awesome South Africa

by Derryn Campbell

224 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 2015

Reviews

[Paul Hyde · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool, easy to read picture book about South Africa

[Cameron Krogh Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun, funny, moving, inspiring and thoroughly informative yet concise guide to everything quintessentially South African. A perfect introduction to the country’s diverse people, history, innovation, nature and more. At several times I found myself moved close to tears when reading the accounts of incredibly strength and courage in the face of adversity during apartheid. If you’ve ever been curious about this part of the world, are planning a holiday and want tips, have just moved here (like myself) and want to gain a basic understanding of South Africa as a whole, or simply want to understand more about the country’s resilience amid its dark history in an easily digestible manner, then I cannot recommend this book enough!

[Joyce Meijs · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is the perfect coffee table book. Have it on display at home. The book took me back years to the time that I live in South Africa. It brings back many beautiful memories of a magnificent Rainbow Nation.

[Langa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Albeit in African time, this review is drafted by a South African male born during the year of the referendum. Yes, that logical referendum which took place in 1992. Having travelled to all provinces of the country before the age of 25 by way of all available transport in the country, except by boat of course because Robben Island isn’t a province–I can safely say that this book is the atlas and GPS navigation system for both foreigners and locals to use. I say this because my brother and I used atlas maps to travel through the country and I think you can understand how spilt coffee or Wimpy milkshake can be when you get the wrong turn as the passenger and the driver just gets livid and starts using the ‘V’ and ‘S’ words on page 23 of the book. The colourful decorations and page designs of the book will certainly keep you enticed while comprehending at the back of your head that this is a very diverse society built up by common differences. I know what you’re thinking... Dr. Christiaan Barnard should’ve performed a transplant for that organ (medulla oblongata) at the back of your head because Absolutely Awesome South Africa is too surreal.
The book covers a whole array of South Africanisms including; the kos, the meneer, the jols, the sport, the botanical wealth, the traditional indigenous garb, the tannie van Viljoenskroon af, the tumultuous political and violent past and present, the wildlife, the language development, tourism, world records, weirdly South African stories and situations, and finally the amalgamation of statistical history with faces to it. No no no, don’t start thinking of reciting ‘one million hundred and twenty thousand six and million’ in your head–I’m talking about real statistics. The bottom line is that the book is factual, inclusive, easy-to-read, credible and dependable as an academic source, easy to understand and it’s not even that long. Moreover, it is a positivist portrayal of the country.
As a personal recommendation I suggest that you look forward to pages 50, 62, 84, 94, 104, 108 (If Tantor knew that service delivery is faster from tree to tree, he wouldn’t be mocking us humans), 114, 166, 172-173 ‘oopsie’, and please spot Jamie Redknapp on page 175. It will take a mammoth task to cover South Africa better than this book, both online and paperback. Derryn Campbell, I salute you–albeit three years later. Does that make you view me as a loudmouth backbencher at the Peace of Vereeniging Treaty who had nothing to do with the war?
God Bless South Africa! Or as South Africans would say, “That fluctuating song bru.” (Nkosi Sikelel’iAfrika)