The World From Down Under

by George Negus

George tackles the big issues of the day, the things which concern, perplex and provoke us. George takes on climate change, poverty, war, indigenous affairs, politics, philanthropy, the role of women – and some lighter stuff. He talks about how Australia is regarded by the rest of the world and how the rest of the world is seen by us. He draws on his own travels and his extensive journalistic background, and he brings in some of the things he has learned from the world’s movers and shakers. He will tell you what you wanted to know about world’s big issues – and all the things no-one else has told you.

Genres: Nonfiction, Australia, Biography

320 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2010

About the author

George Edward Negus was an Australian journalist, author, television and radio presenter specialising in international affairs. He was a pioneer of Australian broadcast journalism, first appearing on the ABC's This Day Tonight and later on 60 Minutes. Negus was known for making complex international and political issues accessible to a broad audience through his down-to-earth, colloquial presentation style. His very direct interviewing technique occasionally caused confrontation, famously with Margaret Thatcher, but also led to some interviewees giving more information than they had given in other interviews. Recognition of his unique skills led to him hosting a new ABC show, Foreign Correspondent, and Dateline on SBS. He often reported from the frontline of dangerous conflicts and described himself as an "anti-war correspondent" who wanted people to understand the reasons behind why wars were senseless. He was awarded a Walkley Award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism. He presented 6.30 with George Negus on Network Ten. He remained a director of his own media consulting company, Negus Media International until his death in 2024.

Reviews

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luckily I'm familiar with George Negus' long-winded dialogues as this book is written exactly as he talks. It's a bit of a slog sometimes but he is interesting and thoughtful when questioning his interviewees. The timeline jumps all over the place too and as they are a series of short articles he does repeat things every now and then. Despite this, I enjoyed the book but do advise to read in Negus' voice if you know it.

[Ernest · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's tragic when a talented nice person such as George Negus writes a total bollocks of a book such as this.
George believes he has insight into BIG world events, because he is a friendly intelligent and well paid media personality. He has often been given a budget to fly around the world to meet important people. Maybe this means he is important too.
Mr Negus has worked for successful television programs that cover important events. Apparently these programs explain and communicate to us lesser mortals insights that divine providence has managed to gift to a chosen few.
Unfortunately being blessed with the ambrosia of immortal wisdom has a curious effect on Mr Negus's manner of expression.
The convoluted sentence structure that Mr Negus uses is like a mongoose wrestling with a cobra. Somebody will win and a point might be made,but it's exhausting to watch at best. At worst, the hokey chummy manner of expression is a bit like listening to someone you know talk about something you've both experienced and so it's okay to start at the middle or even the end, go back to the start, and then remind you that we've both been there, so, hey, enough said and let's have a drink.
You know the friend who tells a joke from memory, but they've left out the bits at the beginning that make the joke work at the end? So they tell you to forget what was said, start again and then go straight to the punchline. Personally I find this way of talking distracting from the purported purpose of discussing humanities weird propensity to cause itself needless grief.
If the world was only intelligible through the insights of joke mangling journalists, murders and mayhem might be a more popular option for everyone.
This is of course only my opinion, and I'm somebody who has zero experience in meeting the movers and shakers of our times. I have no contact with important people and perhaps some would say only a vague connection to common and garden variety reality. My intelligence is limited to rearranging the re-runs of the X-Files into coded beacons of light that allow the Andromeda Galaxy to tell me a better recipe for tomato soup.
I trust that one day Mr Negus writes a book that has a disciplined editor to slash through the fluff, nail down the facts and get to the point. That book I might even read, because this book I didn't.
*By the way, if you like Mr Negus you might love this book anyway, and if he sues me for my money, he'll be able to buy maybe a digital radio. No, I can't say my assets will buy him a fancy wide screen television so that he can watch himself on endless reruns. Sorry about that George.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read once that Putin, when asked what he thinks of Australia, replied: "I don't". And while there's an upside to being forgettable, having Negus run his ruler over our place on the world stage made for appealing reading.