Like Tolstoy's "War and Peace", most Australians claim to have read - or at least know of - the 1964 book "The Lucky Country" whose title became a nickname for Australia and thus became the most misused quote since Donald Horne had meant the title to end with a question mark.
The opening words of the book's last chapter make this abandonedly clear: "Australia is a lucky country run mainly by second rate people who share its luck. It lives on other people's ideas, and, although its ordinary people are adaptable, most of its leaders (in all fields) so lack curiosity about the events that surround them that they are often taken by surprise."
Finally, Ian Lowe has corrected this long-standing error by naming his book "The Lucky Country?" It's 1,056 pages shorter than "War and Peace" which should be encouragement enough to read this must-read book.
It's $29.95 at DYMOCKS but I found it in Vinnies' "white" section for $2.
