Book Reviews

Book Reviews: The Second-Best Job in the World: The Extraordinary Adventures of an ABC Cameraman by Julian Mather Published 15 May, 2010

Queenslander Julian Mather spent 20 years at the ABC, principally as a globetrotting cameraman. His dedication to his craft, his bloody-mindedness, personality flaws, opportunities, triumphs and mishaps all feature in this often funny, self-deprecating autobiography. A failure at school, Mather joined the army hoping to become a field photographer. The army turned him into a sniper so he left after three years and secured a technical traineeship with the ABC in the early 1980s. It was nearly three years before he was sent on a shoot, meanwhile gaining experience in every technical aspect of the organisation. This book works on several levels. Not only does the writer describe his development into an award-winning cameraman, he gives us a very entertaining picture of the ABC as a segmented, fractious, yet strangely effective, media empire: ‘The ABC is a collection of departments that don’t talk to each other. They never have and likely never will.’ He is also game to admit his own shortcomings, acknowledging that he can be his own worst enemy. Yet at the end of this engaging book he reveals that he has set up a grassroots children’s charity and we realise that it’sj his life journey that has led to this uplifting conclusion.

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine (March 2010, Vol 89, No. 6) is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2009, Thorpe-Bowker

Jan 17, 2011

"Julian has proved to be not only a talented cameraman, but a talented author as well. His book is highly entertaining, well-written and full of great stories. The little sayings at the beginning of each chapter was a nice touch too. Most made me laugh .... some made me think. This book, I imagine, would appeal to a lot of people, men and women alike. An excellent read!"

Anita from www.goodreads.com

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