Review: You Don't Have to Have a Dream by Tim Minchin

I have a nephew graduating from high school in 2026 and I've always loved the graduation addresses that sometimes go viral around this time of year. Favourites from the past have included: The Commencement Speech at the University of the Arts in 2012 given by Neil Gaiman and best remembered for the key message of 'make good art' and the Class Day Address at Columbia's School of the Arts given by David Sedaris in 2023. There are plenty more and occasionally I'm inspired to venture down that rabbit hole again for a little inspiration.

Tim Minchin is an Australian musician, comedian and actor and was awarded the Order of Australia in 2020 for his contributions to the performing arts. He's given an address to graduates on three separate occasions and in this book, You Don't Have to Have a Dream - Advice for the Incrementally Ambitious by Tim Minchin you can read them. In basic terms, there's one about being human, one about being a musician and one about being an actor.

Illustrated by Andrew Rae, each speech is accompanied by an introduction and the content surrounding the essays tie it all together. The speeches are as follows:

• Nine Life Lessons delivered to University of Western Australia, 2013
• The Trick delivered to The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, 2019
• You've Always Wanted to be an Actor delivered to Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, London 2015

I've just had a look and these speeches are all available to watch on YouTube for those so inclined and they each contain a few pearls of wisdom like this one:

"A famous bon mot asserts that opinions are like arseholes, in that everyone has one. There is great wisdom in this... But I would add that opinions differ significantly from arseholes, in that yours should be constantly and thoroughly examined." Page 38

In his address You've Always Wanted to be an Actor, Tim tells his audience unapologetically that if they want to make a career as a musician or an actor they need to spend all their time, energy and money getting good at it. They also need to figure out what it is that they're good at. Amusingly, Minchin gives an example by sharing his own strengths:

"The thing I am best in the world at is being a science-obsessed uber-rhymey polemicist pianist singer-satirist wanker." Page 82

Classic! Ultimately however, the language and messages the book contains are clearly aimed at university graduates and understandably best suited to those in the arts industry. This means it won't make an appropriate graduation gift for the recipient I had in mind but was an enjoyable read none the less.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

Review: The 500 Lunches Effect by Nick Bendel

* Copy courtesy of Publish Central *

When I learned Nick Bendel had lunch with 500 different people over the course of a few years and wrote about his experience in a book, I had to read it! At first I was deeply curious about The 500 Lunches Effect - How Social Courage Changes Everything by Nick Bendel. Would the author provide highlights in chronological order, group the conversations by person, occupation, theme of conversation, level of impact or something else entirely? Turns out it was something else entirely and Bendel takes the helicopter view to set out the life lessons he learned about social courage as part of this mammoth social experiment.

Inspired after reading 100 Lunches with Strangers by Kaley Chu, Nick Bendel decided he wanted to go one step - or 400 steps - further and have lunch with 500 strangers. He contacted Kaley in August 2019 and flew to her city to meet up with her for his very first lunch of the experiment. One down, 499 to go! Bendel points out that Kaley's immediate acceptance was an anomaly and that he rarely received an acceptance or even a reply to his invitations.

"During the six years it took to complete the project, I sent thousands of cold messages on LinkedIn* and email. Roughly 90 per cent never replied. Over the years, fewer than a dozen people responded to explicitly decline. Everyone else simply didn't answer. But eventually, 500 people said yes. And those 500 yeses changed my life." Page 16

I found it interesting that some of the lunch guests the author thought would be impressive weren't. And some of the people he had low expectations of ended up teaching him something important. There was no way of predicting which conversations would be challenging or profound, and people who looked accomplished and successful on paper often disappointed him in person. Bendel shares that a few conversations shifted his thinking entirely and a handful of them even changed the trajectory of his life.

Several themes kept showing up, and essentially:

"People want to feel seen. They want to feel heard. They want to feel interesting, valued and safe. When those conditions exist, trust forms quickly." Page 24

Nick Bendel was a socially withdrawn introvert and he takes the time to reiterate that this project didn't automatically make him into a gregarious extrovert. He's noticed some people wait for the confidence to act in a social setting, whereas he's now of the opinion that you need to act before feeling confident and that confidence will follow.

Bendel also advises that the more times you do something, the less difficult it feels and after reaching out to strangers on a regular basis, this act of social courage began to feel routine to him as time passed. As a consequence, his ability to tolerate mild discomfort improved and his threshold for social discomfort shifted which unlocked behaviours for him that would previously have felt out of reach.

The author offers advice on how to start a conversation and equally points out what 'not to do' which often causes more social anxiety. Much of it makes sense to me but could be life changing for readers who live in their head, focus on trying to impress a person they're in conversation with or lose time worrying about how they're coming across instead of relaxing and being present in the moment.

I did find myself wishing he'd included the content of his cold call lunch invitations in full as an appendix to the book. I'm sure every reader would be curious to see his approach and find out if he tweaked his invitations as the years ticked by. I also wanted more details on the 500 lunch participants and a breakdown of stats for those into that sort of thing would certainly have earned the book another star in this review. Definitely two missed opportunities in my opinion.

Reading The 500 Lunches Effect so soon after Once Upon a Stranger - The Science of How 'Small Talk' Can Add Up to a Big Life by Dr Gillian Sandstrom turned out to be a good move as they complement each other with surprisingly little overlap.

I think I'm warming up more and more to the idea of stunt non fiction like this where a person makes a commitment to take on an unusual and extremely challenging experiment for a fixed period of time or until a specific goal is met and then writes a book about their experience. Another stunt fiction book I've enjoyed is 365 Thank Yous - The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life by John Kralik and The 500 Lunches Effect is an excellent addition to this sub genre of non fiction. 

The 500 Lunches Effect - How Social Courage Changes Everything by Nick Bendel will appeal to readers looking to expand their social and/or professional circle who perhaps lack the incentive, motivation, courage or communication skills to do so.

* Hopefully I'm not the only one who read this and rushed to check my LinkedIn messages just in case Nick Bendel had asked me to lunch and I missed it.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Actually Delicious One Pot Cookbook by Poppy Cooks

Online sensation Poppy O'Toole changed the way I roast potatoes forever and her cookbook The Potato Book - 101 Recipes from the Potato Queen by Poppy Cooks is never far from reach. So when I saw her latest temptation entitled The Actually Delicious One Pot Cookbook by Poppy Cooks available at the library, my taste buds were already salivating as I hit the reserve button.

This bright and enticing hardcover book is divided into chapters by protein - poultry, beef, pork, fish etc - with one chapter dedicated to sweet treats and a special chapter devoted entirely to potatoes, because obviously!

The first recipe we tried was the 'Candied Bacon Mac & Cheese' and it was as scrumptious as it sounds and would have been even better if my husband had let me use smoked streaky bacon instead of short cut bacon with the fat removed.

Next up we're looking forward to sampling Poppy's recipe for 'Saus-y- Pas' (tomato sausage pasta); 'Sausage Pasta' (similar but different); and 'Peanut Chilli Noodles'. The photos are terrific and there's a real variety of dishes on offer to cater for all tastes.

Published in 2025, The Actually Delicious One Pot Cookbook by Poppy Cooks is recommended for home cooks who love to cook in one pot and who aren't afraid of a little cheese and pasta.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

Review: Old Vintage Melbourne - A Culinary Chronicle by Chris Macheras

* Copy courtesy of Scribe Publications *

Old Vintage Melbourne - A Culinary Chronicle is the third book in the Old Vintage Melbourne series by Chris Macheras and this time the author is turning his seasoned eye to Melbourne's rich food and drink culture over the years. Pleasingly dished up in alphabetical order, the author presents approximately 120 culinary venues across Melbourne, comprising everything from hotels, restaurants, pubs, bars, cafés, markets and even a caravan.

It was pleasing to see so many family owned businesses continuing on from generation to generation, while others evolved and changed hands over the years. It was always sad to learn a venue or building had been demolished in the name of progress, especially the Federal Coffee Palace and Menzies Hotel. Meanwhile, fire destroyed some of the venues included in this book while others closed down in 2020 during the pandemic and failed to open again. The foreward by Stephanie Alexander was enjoyable but an index at the end would have been a very welcome addition.

I enjoyed lingering over the photographs and wondering how many special events had been celebrated there; first dates, marriage proposals, business deals, birthdays and anniversaries, along with the inevitable hangovers, relationship breakdowns and seedy workplace Christmas parties. Not to mention the staff waiting tables, pouring drinks and making delectable meals in hot kitchens.

Enhancing the reading experience were the inclusion of items from some of the venues like menus, matchbooks and coasters, all supplied by Di Sandilands from Pubcrock. The photographs for each location appeared to come from a variety of sources and I especially enjoyed reading the appetising contents of the few menus included.

Many of the venues I have visited came in the latter half of the book, with the Limerick Arms on Park Street in South Melbourne; the Mitre Tavern (where we attended a weekly trivia night for several years); Planet Hollywood; The Cuckoo; Vlados and the Windsor Hotel to name a few.

Many years ago I regularly visited the Manchester Unity building to see a chiropractor but had never heard of the murders that took place there so I had to set this lovely large hardback edition aside to find out more about the three jewellers who were killed during a diamond heist in 1978.

Many of the photograph captions didn't include years which was disappointing, but I'm assuming this information just wasn't available in the archives from which they were sourced. Unfortunately, the book could have done with a tighter edit of the image credits accompanying each of the venue profiles. The profile page for Donovans in St Kilda credits a photo that isn't included. The Gaylord Indian Restaurant in Tattersalls Lane features a scrumptious looking photograph of a feast for the taste buds but mentions it pictured on the right, despite it being on the left. The book states the price of a dish relative to 2025 when the book was published just a few days ago, which was another lost opportunity for accuracy and relevance. I noticed a further typo and another image credit error while reading, giving me the impression the book was either rushed to print or poorly edited which is a real shame.

The research behind Old Vintage Melbourne - A Culinary Chronicle is vast, with contributions from many of the family run businesses no doubt taking a determined effort to track down. The profile on milk bars was the most nostalgic given I grew up in a general store and I enjoyed seeing the signage, decor and fashions captured in the photos that span many decades.

Old Vintage Melbourne - A Culinary Chronicle will be a trip down memory lane for many Melbournians and visitors to this great city and is a terrific snapshot of the past. Reading it made me hunger for some of the menu items, and wish I could browse the buffets and perhaps even kick up my heels to the live music on offer back in the day.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

See my other reviews in the series:
Old Vintage Melbourne ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ in 2021
Old Vintage Melbourne 1960 - 1990 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ in 2022

Review: The Land And Its People by David Sedaris

The Land And Its People by David Sedaris came out in May 2026, and in my opinion the only way to enjoy his entertaining essays and reflections on life is to listen to the man himself on audiobook. This latest offering was recorded live between November 2024 - February 2026 with the majority of the essays recorded in January and February of this year.

I had the pleasure of seeing David Sedaris live in Melbourne in February 2025, and it was there that I heard his work entitled Goodyear (about his close friend Dawn and a tyre) and Good Grief (about the chemo cape). It's possible we were also treated to My Finances in Brief and the essay titled And Your Little Dog Too contained in this collection.

I later learned that Sedaris read from draft and unpublished essays during the Melbourne performance I attended so I guess it's a matter of course for these works to feature in a book at some point. I'll admit being a little disappointed to find so much overlap and decided I'm happy to wait for his next book instead of going to see him again in Melbourne in January 2027.

In The Land And Its People, I enjoyed the Care and Feeding essay where Sedaris recounts his experience as a carer for his husband Hugh following his hip replacement surgery and while I believe he also performed this in Melbourne it could have changed a little since then and I didn't mind hearing it again.

The author's obsession with Duolingo and the unique way he interacts with the language bot was new to me and very entertaining. When living in France with Hugh, David spent years learning French and studies other languages including German, Japanese and Spanish and 'has' to Duolingo every day. I share his love of word play but the way he interacts with AI makes me wonder whether he does it purely for his own enjoyment or with the additional knowledge that it also happens to make for a terrific story.

My favourite chapter was Enough is Enough with plenty of relatable and chuckle worthy moments and I also loved Punching Down, eliciting much mirth when I listened to it again with my husband.

The Land And Its People is the latest book by David Sedaris, and while I've read and reviewed seven others - see the list below - I still haven't read all of his work. Give me time though, I don't think I'll ever tire of his droll sense of humour and satirical observations delivered in his inimitable style of storytelling.

Other titles I've read and reviewed by David Sedaris (in the order I read them), include: 

Calypso

Naked

Me Talk Pretty One Day

Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls

Happy-Go-Lucky

Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

Review: Slime by Susanne Wedlich

Slime - A Natural History by Susanne Wedlich has been translated from German by Ayça Türkoğlu and is a scientific exploration of all things slimy. Susanne Wedlich is a freelance science journalist and quickly defines slime for the reader as an extremely aqueous and viscously fluid hydrogel, which - under certain conditions - can also bear the properties of a solid.

Later on, she defines slime even further as follows:

"It's the default term for unknown but sluggish fluids or creepily soft solids. It's a thing in between and a feeling and a description of materials, but there is not one prototypical slime. Depending on origin and function, it hides behind a multitude of pseudonyms like gel, biofilm, mucilage, glycocalyx, but also in ecological communities like biological soil crusts, or in phenomena like marine snow." Page 49

Wedlich also explains that slime is a biological substance with physical properties and biological functions while also being a phenomenon - or an idea - which repels and disgusts.

I was hoping the book would consist of an even mix of science and cultural phenomenon, but it's safe to say it was almost all natural science. The author offers a few references to modern culture, with the slime in Alien and The Matrix movies instantly evocative.

"It's no surprise that their uses in nature are extremely varied, including as lubricants and adhesives, tailor-made for the species and organism. Slime is also essential, selectively permeable barrier inside the human body and elsewhere, allowing in nutrients and other desirable visitors, but stopping pathogens and pollutants in their tracks." Page 43

A large part of the book is spent offering examples of species using slimes as lubricants, adhesives, modes of transport and more, and I found myself continually putting the book down to investigate further. I could definitely do without knowing there are spiders in aeroplankton over Greenland - spiders, in the air!! - or that pearl fish live inside the anus of sea cucumbers but loved learning about marine snow. Another interesting rabbit hole involved hagfish, when the author tells us that the US Navy is trialling the use of military lab-grade hagfish slime to stop suspicious ships in their tracks without using force. Now I'd love to see that!

The relatively new discipline of 'mucomics' is research into the ability of slime to be used in the development of new technologies. Historically, slime has been used in all sorts of ways and in Germany and pre-industrial Sweden, the black slug was used as a lubricant on carts.

"When the dry axle began to squeak, a slug would be placed on the wheel hub and crushed as the carriage continued on its way." Page 55

Ewww! Elsewhere, I enjoyed the mention of The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey which is a book I still think of every now and again, despite having read it way back in 2011.

I didn't know deserts and dry regions are covered in a mucilaginous surface which counters erosion and evaporation and that disturbing the soil is like ripping the protective skin layer off, with serious consequences. I learned that even the sea has a skin composed of a delicate layer of gel just a fraction of a millimetre thick.

If Wedlich has an agenda here, it's definitely the importance of the environment and the damage human beings are doing to it. She makes her case firstly by laying out the facts, like explaining that diatoms release at least 20 per cent of all the oxygen we breathe, then pointing out how vulnerable they are to changing temperatures.

The author points out that forest clearing, over-fishing, rising temperatures, acidification and pollution are wiping out species and decimating food webs all over the world. In addition to mass extinctions and the global biodiversity crisis, the author gives us a new reason to care about this, mucomics. If species are wiped out before we can study them, then not only do we lose the opportunity to potentially develop new medicines, we could also lose the opportunity to develop new technologies, based on their unique biological properties.

Much of the content focusses on marine science and I occasionally found the content dry, despite the frequent references to dripping and sticky slime. I was hoping for more about the cultural significance of slime but didn't find it here.

Slime - A Natural History by Susanne Wedlich will appeal to readers with an interest in popular science and the environment.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

Review: The Greatest Traybake Cookbook Ever by John Gregory-Smith

It's time to find a few new favourite recipes to change up the dinner menu here at Carpe Librum and I kicked off my culinary search with The Greatest Traybake Cookbook Ever. John Gregory-Smith is a chef, TV presenter and best-selling author specialising in Middle Eastern and North African cuisine and this is his eighth cookbook.

So far, we've tried 'Elektra's Greek Chicken Traybake' and 'Spicy 'Nduja Cannelloni', and they were both delicious. Made using fresh lasagne sheets, the cannelloni instantly become a new favourite and we've made it twice since then. There were a few key ingredients we didn't have - like the nduja paste - but we made do with sweet chilli sauce instead. Has anyone tried 'nduja paste? What's it like?

I don't know about you, but I prefer to borrow cookbooks from the library as they're often expensive, take up precious bookshelf space and I never know if there will be any recipes worth keeping or making again.

The book promises 100 effortless traybake recipes using supermarket ingredients, yet of the two recipes I’ve made so far, one calls for an ingredient I couldn’t find in Australia’s biggest supermarket chain; so there's that.

We're looking forward to trying the author's recipe for the 'Baharat-Spiced Chicken with Sweet Potato Wedges' and 'Quick-Cook Lamb Ragu' next.

The Greatest Traybake Cookbook Ever by John Gregory-Smith was published this year and is recommended for basic home cooks who like the idea of cooking a main meal in one oven tray.

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

Review: Sleep First by Dr. Jemma King

* Copy courtesy of Wiley *

It's been 10 months since I last read a book on sleep, so when I received an offer to review Sleep First - Sleep Smarter, Think Sharper, Feel Better by Dr. Jemma King I was quick to accept. The book was off to an excellent start and I was very pleased to see the author quoting from historian Roger Ekirch within the opening pages and the fact that he uncovered hundreds of references to 'first sleep' and second sleep' in pre-industrial era documents.

"You've probably heard the compelling story about how humans 'naturally' sleep in two distinct chunks during the night. According to this theory, before the Industrial Revolution ruined everything with electric lights and rigid schedules, people would go to sleep soon after dark, wake up in the middle of the night for an hour or two of quiet activities (prayer, sex, contemplation, light chores), then drift back into a 'second sleep' until dawn. It's called biphasic sleep." Page 3

This is one of my favourite facts about sleep and it's one that isn't widely known. I wish more people knew about this natural phenomenon and that waking up at 3AM is entirely normal. Furthermore, acceptance of this ancient human biology will aid those feeling anxious about waking through the night, fearing they won't fall back to sleep and will feel tired as a consequence the following day.

I particularly enjoyed the chapter entitled 'Choosing the Fire: Special Forces and Elite Athletes' where the author outlines her experience working with the Australian Special Forces and the experiments she conducted during the Commando selection process.

Dr King provides a useful list of self talk and the harm it does and offers helpful alternatives you can try instead. Each one begins with a belief - like "I'm not tired yet" - and then encourages the reader to 'Try this instead' and explains 'Why it works'. This is effective, however the headings are around the wrong way. This proved confusing until I noticed the editing error and it's a shame because some of the suggestions are really great but their impact may be lost with the interrupted flow.

I haven't seen this in many of the books I've read before about sleep, but Dr King includes a chapter on sleep and technology, covering the pros and cons of wearable devices that can track sleep as well as other technology aids and devices that can aid in a good night's sleep. I was very interested in smart mattresses and rocking beds and plan to look into these a little more after writing this review.

My key takeaway after reading Sleep First - Sleep Smarter, Think Sharper, Feel Better by Dr. Jemma King is a consistent wake time. The time I go to bed and read is very consistent, but my wake time used to vary widely. Before reading this book I'd already started to trial a more consistent wake up / get up time regardless of the level of activity or pain experienced the day before. The author does an excellent job of explaining the importance and benefits of doing so and here's just one reason:

"Researchers have calculated that if everyone just adopted a sleep routine covering the same 7 hours each night, population-wide mental disorder rates could drop by 23 per cent through the simple low-cost act of going to bed and waking up at consistent times." Page 91

Sleep First - Sleep Smarter, Think Sharper, Feel Better by Dr. Jemma King is recommended for anyone wanting to improve their sleep quality. If you struggle to get to sleep or stay asleep, suffer from chronic tiredness or insomnia or you're just interested in learning more about sleep and maximising your quality of sleep - sleepmaxxing, it's a thing - then there's plenty to learn here. You can even read the first chapter for free. Oh, and did I mention she's Australian?

Sleep well tonight!

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!

Review: Privacy by Molly Young

Privacy by Molly Young is a chapbook in diary entry form about her pregnancy. At just 80 pages long, it's based on a journal the author started keeping when 16 weeks into her pregnancy in an attempt to be a participant-observer in the process. The well written entries feel like a combination of journal, essay and memoir rolled into one. I've seen Privacy referred to as a chapbook and a zine, but the author calls it a zine so let's go with that.

In the Preface, Young notes there are many books about birth and motherhood but wonders why there are so few about pregnancy. While considering why that might be, I also found myself pondering her choice of title and whether it could be a play on the words private and pregnancy.

Young has been published in the New York Times Magazine and her literary writing style and distinct sense of observational humour had me smiling and chuckling as I was reading. Here's a taste:

"Noticed that “prenatal” and “parental” and “paternal” are anagrams. Made a list of Things That Are Delivered: Babies, mail, speeches, verdicts, messages, pizza." Page 53

Young reads and comments on an 1882 manual called Enlightened Woman and pamphlets from the 1940s to humorous effect. Covering her pregnancy from 16 weeks until the the baby is born and can almost roll over at 8 weeks old, Privacy is a quick and entertaining read. 

While it's difficult to categorise, what's clear is that this is an intimate look at one woman's pregnancy as it happens. With deeply personal observations about the mental, emotional and physical nature of pregnancy, Privacy has broader appeal than women who have given birth or might do so in the future. Recommended to me by a male reader, I don't have children - and I'm past the childbearing age - yet was easily able to appreciate the content Young has generously decided to share with us.

I hope Molly Young has continued writing in her journal about becoming a mother as her unique and witty observations about parenthood would be worth checking out in the future. Thanks to Sam for the recommendation!

My Rating:

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Carpe Librum!