“We didn’t even have iceberg lettuce. Well, we did – but it wasn’t called iceberg lettuce. It was just called lettuce. The reason? There were no other kinds.”

The Land Before Avocado is a book by Australian radio presenter and best-selling author, Richard Glover. In it he explores life in Australia during the time in which he grew up, the mid-sixties through to the mid-seventies. He explains that recent conversations with incredulous millennials about things both common and rare during that time led him to research the accuracy of his memories.

He starts with a clever little warning in the Smart Traveller website style which neatly summarises the land before avocado. And then he goes into detail. He “surfs the sea of happy nostalgia” but wonders if it was really all so great. Apparently, older Australians are particularly likely to say the past was paradise, but maybe that’s because they themselves were then younger, fitter, more attractive, with knees that didn’t creak.

There's plenty in this book that will raise millennial eye brows and stimulate their scepticism, not the least of which being parenting and teaching philosophies that relied on corporal punishment, and the illegality of outdoor tables at cafes. Meanwhile, readers over fifty sagely nod in agreement that yes, they remember it well (if not always fondly), and mentally add their own experiences.

In telling us what there was and wasn’t in the land before avocado, Glover cites many examples about food, clothing, leisure activities, cost of living, and transport, and details some of the hilarious aspects of life in those years. In fact, he lists fifteen things worth reclaiming from the 70s, and many of that vintage will agree.

But, lest we “indulge in deluded nostalgia” Glover also reminds us of the downside: the horrendous road carnage, archaic divorce laws, gender inequality, censorship, alcohol laws that virtually encouraged drink driving and binge drinking, people smoking everywhere, and an attitude to believing adults over children that gave paedophiles free reign. Certainly, if you were homosexual, Aboriginal, a migrant or Catholic, the late 60’s/early 70’s wasn’t such a brilliant place to live.

Glover challenges the belief that things are getting worse, more difficult, and more violent with hard facts, and he ends on a very optimistic note. But this book should definitely come with a warning: Do Not Read This Book whilst consuming food or drink, whilst travelling in the quiet carriage on public transport (as your guffaws may disturb other travellers), and, for readers of a certain vintage, with a full bladder. A hugely entertaining read.

Richard Glover has hit the nail on the head! So much of what life was like growing up and entering the workforce at the end of the sixties.So much for the ' good old days'.

Enjoyable and light-weight review about how things were in my growing up years. Recommend this for the baby boomers who are starting to fade out.