Qualifications
Bachelor of Engineering, Monash University, 1972
Diploma of Education, Rusden State College, 1973
Graduate Diploma of Computing, Deakin University, 1984
Master of Education, University of Melbourne, 1994
Doctor of Philosophy, LaTrobe University, 2013
I completed my PhD at La Trobe University, Melbourne, in the English Program as a non-fiction writer. My field is primary orality – the way cultures store and transmit masses of information when they have no contact with writing. I look at the application of primary orality to archaeology and in a contemporary context. It is the topic of my academic book with Cambridge University Press, Knowledge and power in prehistoric societies. The Memory Code, is for a mainstream audience, published by Allen & Unwin in Australia in July 2016, and then in the UK by Atlantic Books and US by Pegasus Books in February 2017 along with two foreign languages. The audio version is published by Audible.
Memory Craft has just been published in Australia (June 2019) and will be published overseas and in audio in 2020.
I have spent my working career combining secondary teaching, writing and studying. I am now an Honorary Research Associate at LaTrobe University in the School of Arts, Communication and Critical Enquiry. I was awarded an Arts Victoria literary grant for 2015 and an Artist in Residence award for 2017.
Publications
Trade – memory systems
The Memory Code: Allen & Unwin (Aus) and Audible, 2016.
The Memory Code: Atlantic Books (UK), Pegasus Books (US), February 2017.
Translated into Chinese and Czech.
Memory Craft: Allen & Unwin (Aus) 2019.
Memory Craft audio book, Wavesound (2019)
Memory Craft: Pegasus Books (2020).
Songlines: the power and promise: co-author with Margo Neale, Thames & Hudson with the National Museum of Australia (2020).
Academic:
Knowledge and power in prehistoric societies: orality, memory and the transmission of culture, Cambridge University Press, 2015
Grounded: Indigenous Knowing in a Concrete Reality, Rounded Globe, 2016.
Non-fiction, trade, popular science:
The Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal (Aus), Allen & Unwin, 2004
The Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal (US), Basic Books / Thunder’s Mouth, 2005
The Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal, Russian Edition, 2009
Crocodile: evolution’s greatest survivor, Allen & Unwin, 2006
Crocodile: evolution’s greatest survivor (UK), Orion, 2007
Spiders: learning to love them (Aus, US), Allen & Unwin, 2009
Spiders: learning to love them (UK), Orion, 2009
Fiction:
Avenging Janie, Lothian Books, 2003
Non-fiction, Education:
Practical Computing (co-author), Jacaranda-Wiley, 1987
Nuclear Technology (co-author), STAV Publishing, 1991
Lasers, Sunshine Books, 1994
Challenging Minds (Aus), Hawker-Brownlow, 1994
Challenging Minds (US), Prufrock Press, 1996
Mathematics by Computer: Iteration, Wizard Books*, 1996
Motion Kit: Simple Concepts in Physics, Wizard Books *, 1996
Sound and Light, Wizard Books*, 2000
Maths Wizard, Wizard Books, 2000
Motion: Simple Concepts in Physics, Wizard Books *, 2001
Words and Images (co-author), Wizard Books *, 2002
* All Wizard Books publications are now published by Curriculum Corporation.
Multimedia CD-ROM:
Exploring Chaos and Fractals (co-author), Informit, 1994
Online Course Material:
50 Enrichment Units for the Middle Years – EUMY, 2006-8
Magazine and newspaper articles:
Physics and Infinity, Lab Talk, (Science Teachers Association of Victoria), 1984
It’s a Total Internal Reflection, Lab Talk, (STAV), 1985
Book Reviews, Lab Talk, (STAV), 1986/7
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a – total internal reflection, The Australian Skeptic, 1988
Chaos Rules the Classroom?, Classroom 2000, The Age, 1993
Multimedia Authoring, Australian Author, 1994
Managing Change in I.T., The Source, 1996
It’s virtually a school, The Source, 1997
Virtual schooling is online now, News and Views, ICPA, 1997
I.T. and Gifted Students, Gifted, 1998
I.T. and Gifted Students, Vision, 1999
Mirror Gazing: From Critical Reflection Toward Evaluation (co-author), Gifted and Talented International, 2000
How to build a cyberschool that has soul, The Age, I.T. Opinion, 2000
How a native goddess stole my heart, The Age, Extra/Gardening, 2001
Just Killing Time? (co-author), Principal Matters, 2001
The World Skeptic’s Congress, The Skeptic, 2005
Spiders – on the edges of everywhere, Wildlife Australia, 2010
Feminine Magic, The Journal of Performance Magic, 2015
Book Chapters:
Four chapters in Coping for Capable Kids, Hawker-Brownlow, Education, 1993
A Teacher’s Perspective in Geniuses, Prodigies and Savants, Centre for the Mind, 1999
Feminine Magic in Magiculum, EyeCorner Press, 2014
Study Guide:
Australian Biography: Donald Metcalf, Film Australia, 2007
Editing:
Mathematics online units for Britannica.com, 2000
Competitions:
Second Born, 1st Prize, Begonia Writing Short Story Competition, 1992
Conference Presentations and Media
Numerous press and radio interviews were done for The Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal, Crocodile: evolution’s greatest survivor and Spiders: learning to love them. Press and online reviews were universally very good.
I have presented at many conferences in Australia, New Zealand and the US in areas of Gifted Education, Mathematics, Information Technology, Physics, Management of Change and the Science of the Paranormal. I have presented a number of seminars and conference presentations on primary orality and archaeology in Australia and the US.
I appeared in a TV segment for Lawrence Leung’s Unbelievable!, shown on ABC TV, June 2011 which was based on The Skeptic’s Guide to the Paranormal. I appeared in an episode for the SBS documentary, Tales of the Unexpected, also based on The Skeptic’s Guide. It was was aired in 2014.
Speaking engagements for 2016-19 can be seen here.
