Writing

I love writing and wish I had more time to do it. I wrote a book about the Internet published in 1997 which sold more than 20,000 copies (it's now out of print). In 2014 I produced a slightly revised version as a historical record. You can read some details and buy a copy here.

In July 2014 I published Volume 1 of Things I Think About, an anthology of articles and speeches from 1999 to 2003. You can see more about this book and buy a copy here.

I am working on two books which I hope will be published later this year or early next year, one about alternative medicine and the other about uncritical thinking. I have another book in the early development stage. It will exploit my experience over many years of management and consulting to highlight some of the things that good business managers don't do.

The third book I published in 2014 is The Bear's Progress – SkeptoBear's World Tour 2004, setting out the adventures of a group who went from Sydney to Las Vegas to attend James Randi's Amazing Meeting in 2004. You can see more about this book and buy a copy here.

In the 2004 Eureka Awards I received three nominations in the categories "Reed New Holland Eureka Science Book Prize" and "Australian Government Eureka Prize for Science Journalism". Unfortunately I wasn't a winner, but there is always another year. (In a moment of alcohol-induced honesty, one of the judges told me that my journalism submissions were excellent but the judges decided that online publications would not be considered, even if the material had appeared elsewhere in print. This policy was changed in later years as it was inconsistent with accepting entries for work that had only appeared on radio, television or film. The book prize was won by an established author for a proposed book on a subject well outside his area of expertise. The winning book was never published.) The Eureka Prizes are a project of the Australian Museum and are Australia's premier science awards. You can read more about the Eureka Prizes here.

In 2019 I fulfilled one of my 2015 New Years resolutions and produced Volume 2 of Things I Think About, covering the period from July 3 2003 to December 2004. You can see more about this book and buy a copy here.

I'm a member of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, which means I have a Code of Ethics to comply with. If you would like me to write for your publication or media outlet please use the email link at the bottom of the page to contact me.

Here are some commentaries and magazine articles I have written. Some of these have appeared in the following publications. (You can see the articles ordered by publication here.)

• 
  The journal of the Australian Skeptics
• 
  Australasian Science
• 
  Australian Doctor
• 
  Issues
• 
  Yahoo!7 News Blog
• 
  MamaMia
• 
  ABC Science
• 
  The Dubbo Weekender
• 
  Oberon Review
• 
  News Of The Area
• 
  Nambucca Guardian
• 
  Oberon Matters

Blogs (now retired)

• Eppur si muove – Things I think about (Archive of posts on my personal blog)
• My Business Blog – Thoughts from the world of technology and business (Archive of my work related blog)

Over there at The Millenium Project

As well as writing for various publications I also write a lot of things at my online magazine The Millenium Project.

Over there at Ausrally.com

My hobby these days is travelling about taking photographs and writing reports about car rallies. You can read these reports here. As well as the event reports I also write an occasional opinion piece.

• Plus ça change, plus c'est la méme chose – What's changed in the game over the years.
• Why is it Calder Fox? – A relevant question
• Sportsmanship – It's just a game
• Virginia & Phil's Excellent Adventure – coping when things go wrong.
• Women Drivers – They aren't as slow as some people claim
• When Things Go Wrong – I suffer a disappointment when I have a problem
• Exciting Times – When too much excitement is almost enough
• Just a couple of anecdotes – I reminisce about driving some cars
• How not to sell a car – When a car yard doesn't want to sell a car
• A bit of nostalgia – A drive in the country brings back memories
• Driving in the country – Watch out for wildlife
• A return of enthusiasm – I get back into a competition after a long time away

Oberon Writers' Group

In 2019 I joined the local Writer's Group, where I'm expected to write something every month for the other members to critique.

• Who's a good boy, then? (December 2019)
• The girl in the iron lung. (February 2020) (I didn't have anything ready for the February 2020 Writers' Group meeting, so I recycled this article from 2013).
• Activities of the Writers' Group were suspended in March 2020 because of the COVID epidemic.
• Women Drivers (February 2021) Another piece recycled from ausrally.com.
• A bad day at the office (March 2021) Recycled from The Millenium Project
• Rally Training Day (April 2021) An article from the ausrally.com web site. A much shorter version appeared in the Oberon Review. (This was going to be my contribution to the March 2020 meeting, but that never happened.)
• Exciting Times (June 2021) Simultaneously published at ausrally.com. Why do things twice when you can do them once?
• Another COVID scare and meetings of the Writers Group were suspended in June 2021.
• By the time meetings resumed in June 2022 I was unretired and had started a new job as a journalist at the local paper. As I'm supposed to be at work at the times of the Writers' Group meetings I probably won't be attending many in the future.

Book reviews

Historical writing

• Making Enemies on the Net (October 1999)
• Awards Presentation – Information Technology – Richmond College of TAFE (May 2001)
• The ACS – Broad and Deep (July 2001)
• Software Quality (November 2001)
• A Different Internet Security Problem – harassment, stalking and identity theft (September 2002)

Columns written a few years ago for the Sydney Business Review

• Superhypeway – Separating the chaff from the chaff (December 1994)
• Bankers – The Mad Banker's Tea Party (February 1995)
• Economists – A Different Universe (March 1995)
• Superannuation – Now you see it, then you won't! (April 1995)
• Tax advice – Spend More to Save More (June 1995)
• Computerspeak – Interpreters wanted? (July 1995)
• Conical Marketing – The paradigm for the 90s, and definitely not pyramid selling (August 1995)
• The way we were – Windows 95 reminds us how little has changed (September 1995)
• Have I got a job for you? – Money for jam in the recruitment business (October 1995)
• Parramatta – Foundation Day 1995 inspires some thoughts about the city (November 1995)
• Avoid clichés like the plague! – Advice for tabloid and TV journalists (December 1995)
• Snake oil alert – Internet experts sprout like mushrooms (August 1996)
• Intranets – More computer stuff you keep getting told you must have (November 1996)

Back in the 90s I wrote a fortnightly column on business matters for the now defunct Hills News local paper, but the paper has gone and the articles are buried in an email system that I might no longer have access to. An archeological dig is planned.

Also, in the 1970s I wrote many articles related to motor sport for car club magazines. There was no Internet or email back then (actually they did exist but ordinary people didn't use them) or word processors or computers that could save things. The technology was manual typewriters punching holes in waxed paper stencils that were then put in a Gestetner duplicator to make copies. There is a box of old magazines in my off-site storage locker and I have a scanner, so maybe one day …