Ainsworth Heritage - A specialist heritage and archaeological consultancy

I recently attended an Australia Day BBQ, hosted by another local Heritage firm, where one thing was in evidence more than any other: The staff were happy to be there, very relaxed and had a great relationship with the owner of the business.

Too often in modern business, the way to keep staff happy is lost along the road to workplace efficiency, profit and corporate image.  When you have to actively try to make your staff happy, or like to tell everyone what a great work environment, (or some other such management term for it), you provide, then you have probably missed the point and are likely tolerated by your staff at best, loathed at worst.

Having now seen a few of our industries consultancies from the inside and been told about many others, it is clear where I plan to work from now on and where I will recommend young and aspiring students to work as well.  Recent conversations with some in the industry, have only highlighted the danger of getting lulled by the big talk and working for the wrong company.

So, in the end, I am glad there is another consultancy in our area where the environment is casual but professional, work is enjoyable and the staff are happy.  The more of that type of environment that can be fostered, the more up and coming students will find work environments that will help them to excel and not to become jaded and disappointed with their career choice.

If you are like us, you like to read books.  We thought that we might list a few of the books we have read lately and tell you a little about them.  Some were good, some were average and some were absolutely fantastic.  This is Part III of what will probably be a many part series!

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution – Richard Dawkins

This book opens by telling us that 40% of the American public, and a frightening and growing number of misguided people in the UK, believe in Creation “science” and that the world was made 6000 years ago.  This would be hysterically funny if it was not true.  These are the same nutters who want to make the world in their image.  Richard Dawkins, a biologist by trade, is terrified by the thought that people still deny evolution as a scientific fact.  He has endeavoured to ensure that all of evidence for evolution is set out in one clear volume, which anyone can pick up and understand.  His style is light and enjoyable and the book puts to shame anyone who thinks Dinosaurs walked with man in the recent past.  Books like this should be required reading for those in science classes. If people want to learn about the religious views of the world’s formation, they should join a theology class.  This book is an insightful and thoroughly interesting read and makes you thankful to live in a country where evolution is taught in science classes and mythology is left to the theologians.

Office Wit & Wisdom – Tracey Turner

This is an often hysterical analysis of life in the office environment, described in this book as “unmitigatedly ghastly”.  It is a clever and funny book which takes joy in completely pulling and putting down the bastion of modern society: the modern office.  From creating a CV and being interviewed for a job, right through to office politics, the meaningless nature of job titles, open plan office hell, IT departments and a handy ID guide to ‘Office Types’, if you have ever worked in an office, this is bound to make you chuckle, groan and nod in agreement.  A lighthearted book that will bring hours of amusement in the office (and may also be a good and pointed present for your boss next Christmas!).

Eats, Shoots and Leaves, The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation – Lynne Truss

Though this is another amusing book, written in a clever and witty manner by possibly the most anal person on the planet, it is also actually a very useful book if you struggle with common grammar.  Most of Gen X and some of Gen Y went through the Australian school system when the government, in all of its wisdom, decided to take grammar out of the school curriculum due to the misguided belief that kids would just pick it up as they went (yes, whilst they just pick up a second language and a trade skill along the way too!).  Unfortunately, these same kids are now near-constant proof that that belief was wrong; there is an entire generation of adults still struggling to know when to use an apostrophe, the difference between a colon and s a semi-colon and what a verb even is (this gets even more confused when ridiculous modern management terms such as “chunk it down” are introduced.  You can’t ‘chunk’ something down!  Chunk is not a verb, you can’t do “chunk”).  So, into the realm of dry, over processed and way too lengthy grammar how-to books comes this gem – a funny, easy to read and, most importantly, easy to understand and apply book about modern grammar.  If they made this a textbook at schools, I’m sure literacy rates would multiple – it has become an office bible!

This is Part II of an ongoing list of a few of the books we have read lately and.  Some were good, some were average and some were absolutely fantastic.  This is Part II of what will probably be a many part series!

Bismarck – Edward Crankshaw

This one was a little harder going, it does not flow like the two books mentioned above, but nevertheless, provides a detailed picture of the life and motivations of the man who helped shape late nineteenth century Europe.  If you’re a novice in history, this one will be a struggle, but if, like me, it is a period that you have not delved into before, this is good place to start your education about this awesome political animal.  This book, and I suppose any work describing Bismarck’s life, is as good an education in successful politics as would be a study of Caesar or Churchill.

The Liberators: Inside the Soviet Army – Victor Suvorov

and Inside the Soviet Army – Victor Suvorov

Victor Suvorov (that’s not his real name) defected from the Soviet Union in the late 1970s and began to write about his former home and occupation.  His two books on the Soviet Army, that deal with everything to the reasons for the military districts to the way a cadet is called up, are startling.  Many of us remember the image of the Soviets during the Cold War, however, what we did not truly appreciate at the time was the horrid reality for those on the other side of the Inner German Border.  Suvorov’s books are rough and ready, no literary master works, but they present a detailed picture of the hard, strange and ever depressing life of the Soviet Soldier.  The books also show the madness of the Soviet system at its height, with some chapters leaving you wondering how the hell this super state survived for as long as it did.

The Cold War: A Military History – David Miller

I am a bit of a Cold War buff; I have really got into studying it, especially the military side of it and that is why this book, I believe, is one of the best starting points for someone seeking to learn about this interesting period.  David Miller presents his book as a primer on the military situation and development of this period of world history and he does a good job.  He presents what can be very detailed and confusing topics (trust me, some are when you get into the detail) and presents them in a clear and brief fashion that allows the novice to understand the basic themes and influences of this major period or our recent past.  Additionally, this book provides you with the ability to move on into more detailed areas that interested you, whilst not being overwhelmed by the myriad points of view that exist.  If you ever want to learn about the military history of the Cold War, this is the place to start.

The Greatest Lies in History – Alexander Canduci

Following along with the swathe of other books that are sample bags of history, as the one mentioned above, and many others that are about now, this one looks not so much at the event, but more so how each was manipulated to suit the needs of a particular group of people.  Canduci starts with the Battle of Kadesh, that masterpiece of Egyptian spin that Ramses nearly got away with and then moves forwards in time.  Canduci breaks his book into Spin and Doublespeak, Passing the Buck, Official Lies and Cover Ups and Acting Under False Pretensions.  Within each of these four areas he examines examples from ancient time until today.  The worst thing about this book is that the common man has learnt nothing in five millennia.  We still believe what we are told and the vast majority are just happy to believe what they are told without any evidence and not question, a point that the next book is desperate to stop.

If you are like us, you like to read books.  At least I hope you do, as it’s one of the best ways to open your mind to other ideas and recognise those that are just plain mad and avoid them.  The nice thing about that is that if you do not agree with the ideas you can call the book whatever you like and not walk away with your teeth in a cup.

We have a lot of people who use this site who are not heritage consultants or history buffs, but who do have an interest; and they just don’t know where to start.  We thought that we might list a few of the books we have read lately and tell you a little about them.  Some were good, some were average and some were absolutely fantastic.  This is Part I of what will probably be a many part series!

It Doesn’t Take A Hero – General H. Norman. Schwarzkopf

I found this little gem in a second hand bookstore in Byron Bay.  General Schwarzkopf’s autobiography is a well laid out and interesting story about a man who rose to the top of his profession whilst gaining the respect of his peers.  This is in no way a dry military history or whining self justification, it is a matter of fact story that takes you from his days as a boy in the Middle East, through West Point, Vietnam, the Cold War and Operation Desert Storm. The book allows readers that are unfamiliar with the military to come to a clear understanding of why someone would join the Army and what would drive and motivate them throughout their life there.  For those who do like military history, this is a book that is critical to the understanding of the Coalition campaign in the Gulf in 1991, providing the reasoning behind the actions and plans that led to one of the most successful military campaigns in history.

Castles of Steel – Robert. K. Massie

I like reading military history, as this list will show, but occasionally you find a book that truly makes the era it described come to life.  Castles of Steel is one of those very rare books that you just keep reading until you fall asleep sitting up with a crink in your neck.  The follow on to his book Dreadnaught, which described the naval arms race prior to World War I, Castles of Steel provides an in depth picture of the personalities, powers and machines that influenced the naval actions of World War I.  But that is not the strength of the book; Massie writes in a ways that is more akin to a good fiction story, never dull and always building to a climax.  Additionally, Massie is able to boil down the always complex people, actions and ships to the most simple descriptions that still maintain the critical elements that defined them.  This means that both an expert on the time, and a novice with no idea, can both experience the full benefit of this excellent history.

The Trafalgar Companion – Mark Adkin

A lot of histories are called comprehensive.  This one sets the bar.  There is comprehensive text or comprehensive illustration, rarely both.  This tome, and it is a tome, is one of the most remarkable books I have ever had the pleasure to stumble across.  Commissioned for the 200^th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, it examines in intricate detail every facet of naval technology, organisation, construction and multiple other areas in a way that makes this a reference book for many subjects.  Additionally, the life of Lord Nelson and several other battles, including the methods for fighting them, are included.  No expense was spared in the production of this book and it shows, as I have never come across such an amazing work of both history and art.  One thing this book does do is make me want to get my hands on the Waterloo Companion.

Encyclopaedia Idiotica: History’s Worst Decisions and the People Who Made Them – Stephen Weir

This is one of the best historical snippet books I have ever read.  Weir takes some of the most outrageous and appalling events in history and examines which of the seven deadly sins or three cardinal virtues motivated the proponents and led them, and many innocent people, to ruin.  This is a serious book that in no way takes itself seriously – something that adds to its impact.  Weir starts with Adam and Eve, passes through Rome and a few other places along the way, gets stuck into Winston Churchill and finishes with corporate greed.  This is a very well thought out and presented book that, despite often having a light and tongue in cheek tone, is a book that make you think very deeply on the motivations of those who have the power and circumstance to change history and the fates of many.

These days when people ask me to describe myself, I like to tell them that I am a little to the left of weird – it’s a lifestyle choice.  At this point, most people grab their children and walk hurriedly away and those who stay turn out to be interesting people who it is a blast to get to know.

Most of this last group work in Heritage and Archaeology.  Long days in the sun, being cooped up in confined spaces and staring at the detritus of human existence has an odd effect on people.  There are two recognised ways of dealing with this.

Go completely nuts and have yourself committed.

Or

Go completely nuts and develop a speciality.

Every single one of us in this industry has a speciality.  Of course we stir others for theirs, calling them odd, strange and crazy and try not to giggle when they launch into a description of a strange detail, so specific that it makes your eyeballs itch.  But then you do it yourself and you get laughed out of town too.

But these specialities are what make heritage consultants interesting people, at least to the other inmates of our profession.  My esteemed, learned and completel insane colleague has a rare and untreatable disorder involving a love of nails (rusty if possible), fences (preferably derelict) and heavy machinery, the last of which really unsettles a lot of males who think pretty young women have no idea about that sort of thing.

My own specialities range to being able to identify aircraft and ships from World War I to the present at a glance; funnily enough, something that actually came in useful once or twice recently.  Because as you will see, the defining characteristic of the Mk VIII Spitfire, which incidentally was the first mass produced version to see service with the RAAF…you get the point!

You can also stop laughing now.

It is these specialities that define us, much as we don’t want them to.  You hear comments like “You know that nail girl? Ask her,” or “Go see that Cannon guy, what’s his name?” or if “you need to know something about historic bricks, then see that guy.”  These are titles that established heritage professionals will carry to the grave, even if everyone else thinks that knowing all about minute fishbones would cure insomnia.

But if you ever become known as That Brick Guy or The Ceramics Girl, you will know that you have reached the top of your profession.  People are now recognising you as the authority on the topic and the person with the expertise on certain subjects.  And that’s kind of cool.  I hope that one day I become That Guy in some obscure and strange speciality.  It might make non-heritage people a little less likely to run when they meet me.  Or not.

So embrace your Inner Weird, wear it on your sleeve and enjoy the fact that your inner weird is what makes you a good consultant and a future respected and knowledgeable specialist of our industry.