Tearing up the rules on political memoirs

Political memoirs are often worthy but boring. Not Bob Carr's. One of Australia's leading politicians tears up the rules. His account plunges into the unintended consequences of politics, the twists and turns, loaded with furious self-criticism. He lashes himself for ignoring a cry from a cell in Goulburn Gaol and berates his failure to convert the country to reduced immigration and population growth.

Revealed, too, is his joy in saving nature, running good budgets, thrashing opponents, surviving against the odds. He talks about not having kids, about outsmarting the conservatives on law enforcement, about forcing the notorious Obeid out of cabinet. He tells how on a whim, in his last days in opposition, he forced a Royal Commission to upend the state's police, describes what he learnt from Neville Wran and how as a kid, from a working class suburb, he was inspired by Gough Whitlam. He celebrates the Olympics;'the world's best ;without the games.

This 'anti-memoir' takes a critical look at the author- his failure to be ignited by sport (except on two notable occasions) and why in politics being true to your quirky self is good advice.

Silence the jet skis! Liberate the dolphins! Take James Hardy to the cleaners! Declare more wilderness!