Come to Think of It: Essays to tickle the brain

This is the third collection of Tony Thomas’s best work. It ranges from zany travels in the PNG Highlands to a reporter’s career highlights and lowlights since he first opened a shorthand notebook in 1958.

With his solid knowledge of the global warming controversies, he mocks the absurdities in essays like Eaten by a tiger? Blame climate change and Green lunacy at the Parkville Asylum i.e. Melbourne University.

You’ll love his affectionate spoofing of air hero Biggles, Germaine Greer and an unlikely Rotarian, Richard Sorge, who was Stalin’s spy in Tokyo. Tony also lays bare a catastrophic Perth dinner party pitting drug-fuelled author Xavier Herbert against future Governor-General Paul Hasluck and author Mary Durack.

His long-researched pieces involve the disastrous 15 months in office of an alcoholic vice-regal couple at WA’s Government House, and Prime Minister Menzies’ support for economy-wide price-fixing cartels (Tony was personally involved in both sagas). Quirky, wide-ranging, packed with insights … here’s a collection to savour.