Books reviewed by Paul Talbot

The Bastard’s a Genius – The Robert Clifford StoryThe Bastard’s a Genius – The Robert Clifford Story

by Alistair Mant
published by Allen and Unwin
RRP $29.99 (254pp; 235mm x 155mm)

It was during the late ’90s that Alistair Mant published probably his most significant work Intelligent Leadership. This was a management text, put before a group I was part of, examining the characteristics of leadership – in both business and political spheres – which delivered superior outcomes.
Mant drew on the experiences of many different leaders to demonstrate his hypothesis, one of them being Robert Clifford in a chapter titled “Bob Clifford: the ingenious ‘dunce’”. The chapter examined the genesis and growth of Robert Clifford’s remarkable Tasmanian business, International Catamarans, or Incat as we now know it.
In this new book, published in July this year, Alistair Mant gets the chance to renew his acquaintance with Robert Clifford and explore his life as a biographer, not a management guru. It is not surprising that Mant’s respect for his subject has grown over the duration of his authorship of The Bastard …, even though he already had high regard for Clifford as a uniquely successful inventor, designer and successful leader.
However this is not a usual type of biography. I don’t know that I know much about Robert Clifford’s personal life after reading the book. But it becomes clear very quickly what a unique thinker he is. Mant does reveal details of his subject’s upbringing, including his difficulties with formal education. And he explores the amazing array of successes the young Clifford achieved, remarkable in an environment of the high expectations of the most important figure in his life, his father, and the freedom that he was given to meet those expectations.
By the time Robert was part of his father’s working environment, their collaborative approach often had Robert as the authority figure. At this time his father Fred recognised Robert’s unique skills and coined the phrase that became the title of the book.
The bulk of The Bastard’s a Genius tracks the highs (mostly) and lows (seldom) of Robert Clifford’s business – the high-speed catamaran building company, Incat. Mant takes the company from its fledgling origins as a post-Derwent Bridge collapse ferry operator to the giant of world manufacture of high-speed catamarans.
The growth of this business mirrors the growth in size and complexity of the craft built by Robert Clifford and Incat from the first huon pine model of a wave-piercing catamaran to the behemoth 112 metre aluminium ferry in a remarkable chronicle of Robert Clifford’s single-minded drive and achievement.
In a sense, Alistair Mant has revisited his management roots in writing this biography, but the story is nonetheless engaging. Robert Clifford is an Australian of whom we should be proud and Alistair Mant shows us the way.

The Wavewatcher’s CompanionThe Wavewatcher’s Companion

by Gavin Pretor-Pinney
distributed in Australia by Allen and Unwin
RRP $29.95 (336pp: 210mm x 140mm)

Described as possibly the “most entertaining textbook ever written” (Independent) this author’s earlier book, The Cloudspotter’s Guide, developed something of a cult status and spawned the Cloud Appreciation Society. The Author also co-founded the Magazine, The Idler, which “defends the noble art of doing nothing”.
Now that should give you a sense of the quirkiness that this book might deliver. As well as being a cloud enthusiast, this author is besotted by waves, in all their shapes and forms. From brain waves, shock waves, radio waves and Mexican waves, Pretor-Pinney discovered the essential beauty of them all. The book starts out with wave watching for beginners and takes the final step of studying ocean waves, up close and personal, in the surf on Hawaii’s north shore.
His purpose? Well it is deeply informing and entertaining exposé, which you won’t consume in one sitting.