Entrepreneur, adventurer, philanthropist ... Australian icon Dick Smith shares his extraordinary life story for the first time. 'Part Bear Grylls, part Bill Gates, but 100% Aussie larrikin. Dick is a great innovator, philanthropist and adventurer, who in my eyes can do no wrong.' - Paul Hogan 'Businessman, adventurer, philanthropist . . . Dick Smith is a true Australian legend.' - Greg Mortimer OAM 'I have been charmed by good fortune to be born in Australia in the 1940s. I have lived through a time of great prosperity and every day I am reminded of my good luck.' Dick Smith is a remarkable and proud Australian. He has been part of our national consciousness for over fifty years as an innovative and astute businessman, a ground-breaking adventurer, a generous philanthropist and a provocateur for the causes he feels deeply about. Yet, despite his great successes and achievements, Dick has remained down to earth and close to his roots. So how did the young boy who was one of the most academically hopeless in class become the national living treasure he is today? And what was it within that kid with a speech impediment that allowed him to create three successful businesses, and take on some of the world's greatest and most dangerous aviation challenges? In My Adventurous Life, Dick shares his inspiring story and the lessons he's learned about staying true to yourself. He has welcomed the freedoms that wealth brings, but has found the simple life more fulfilling. His responsibility is to the world and the people we share it with.
In 2011 the world's population exceeded 7 billion. Each year we add nearly 80 million people and by mid-century we will require twice as much food and double the energy we use today. Australia will be deeply affected by these trends - we have the fastest growing population of any developed nation.These are the staggering facts that confronted Dick Smith. They set him on his crusade to alert us to the dangers of unsustainable growth. They are the facts that have convinced him that if we are to ensure the survival of our civilisation and the health of the planet then we must put a stop to population growth, now.As our cities continue their unrestrained growth, as we battle daily on crowded public transport and clogged freeways, and as we confront the reality of water and power shortages, Dick challenges the long-held myth that growth is good for us. But more importantly he offers ways for us to re-invent our economy, to reassess the way we live and to at least slow down that ticking clock. This is a provocative, powerful and urgent call to arms.
A candid and very funny memoir from beloved children’s book author Dick King-Smith. Before he was a children’s book author, Dick King-Smith was a soldier, a farmer, a salesman, a factory worker, and a teacher. But he was always a devoted family man who loved the countryside he lived in and the animals he kept. In this insightful memoir, Dick King-Smith recounts the joys and failures of his life with equal humor and candor. And he remembers a delightful cast of animal characters–from Anna, the dachshund who turned out to be just stubborn, not deaf, to the 600-pound pig Monty, who liked to be scratched on top of his head, to Wilhelmina, a pet badger who was fond of love bites. As readers delight in recognizing the inspiration behind many of Dick King-Smith’s books, they’ll also see how a collection of experiences made a man a writer.
Balls Pyramid is a ripping yarn of drama, danger and persistence. A tale of a playboy boat owner, an eccentric expedition doctor who kick-started Dick's first successful business, the 'extinct' stick insect and gripping accounts and photos by the world's best mountaineers. It's also a love story, inspired by the honeymooners that Dick and fellow Scouts witnessed on nearby Lord Howe Island.Balls Pyramid details Dick's battle to keep a special dream alive as bureaucrats moved in to ban climbing the stupendous spire. This carefully researched, entertaining story tracks the evolution of Australian climbing over half a century and an all-consuming passion for Australia's greatest rock spire.A4 size, hard cover with glossy slip jacket, 264 pages, 82,629 words, richly illustrated and designed with over 250 photographs and illustrations.
Real executives talk about how Six Sigma changed their organizations for the better Backed by the real-world experience of executives who successfully implemented Six Sigma, this book shows how this powerful, data-driven quality improvement methodology can improve the learning cycle and financial and corporate reporting, as well as strategic planning, customer demand issues, and more. Case studies and interviews provide real-life best practices that make the implementation process that much easier for managers. The authors are Six Sigma experts affiliated with PricewaterhouseCoopers and here present an innovative examination of this powerful and popular methodology.
Written by the well-known adventurer, entrepreneur and publisher of TAustralian Geographic' and the TAustralian Encyclopedia', this large-format book recounts the author's circumnavigation of the world via both poles, the first time this feat has ever been achieved. Beautifully illustrated with over 360 photographs, it includes maps, and appendices of the log of the expedition and the aircraft used.
Dick B.'s second great discovery concerned the contents of the spiritual journal that Anne Ripley Smith had kept, shared, and used to teach Bill W., other AAs, and their families the underlying principles of A.A. The notebook lay unnoticed by historians and AAs alike even though it held the key to what early A.A. was really like--as related by the lady who was there as teacher, founder, and recorder. Dick B. is a writer, historian, Bible student, retired attorney, and active recovered member of A.A. He regards the Anne Smith discovery as perhaps the greatest of his historical finds and subjects in helping AAs to recover today.
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