Mike Joy is a freshwater scientist at Victoria University Te Herenga Waka and an environmental activist renowned for irritating the dairy industry, regional councils and the occasional prime minister. But one of the less expected pleasures of this smartly written memoir is the relating of his rollicking younger years on the way to academic respectability.
You imagine his parents slumped with exhaustion over their questioning, pulleverything-apart child. Fortunately, he learnt how to put things back together and was able to internalise his father's motto of never paying someone to do something you can do yourself.
Joy applied that handiness to his passions: sound systems, vehicles, firearms, and eventually houses and yachts - he owns a 1932 kauri ketch.
A firearm incident was one of many teenage high jinks: Mike plus mates infiltrated an air force base to reach a dump containing guillotined machine guns. With enough such parts, they found, you can build one working gun.
They built a beach buggy from car parts, too, and Joy was arrested because he was driving when the enraged police officer arrived. The local council attested to the boys' actions to repair the damage they'd caused the ground, a grass strip beside a river, but Joy says his lawyer didn't present the letter. Joy was convicted of wilful damage. "I felt incredibly let down by the system that I had believed in," he writes.
Denne historien er fra August 10-16, 2024-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra August 10-16, 2024-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
First-world problem
Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.
Applying intelligence to AI
I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.
Nazism rears its head
Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.
Staying ahead of the game
Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?
Grasping the nettle
Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.
Hangry? Eat breakfast
People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.
Chemical reaction
Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.
Me and my guitar
Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.
Time is on my side
Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?
The kids are not alright
Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.
