Anyone who saw a Midnight Oil show remembers it. As a poster for a show in Montreal (where one writer described them as the most important band in the world) said: Theyre not punk, theyre not pop, theyre not kidding. By the mid-1980s, music fans in Australia knew they had the best band in the world. They also knew that the very essence of that band, their loudly trumpeted Australian identity that permeated every note of their music, was the very thing that would ensure the rest of the world would never understand them. They were wrong. More than a dozen US and Canadian tours, nearly as many European tours, and tours of South America and South Africa are testament to this. And lets not forget the Top 10 albums and singles, and some of the most glowing live reviews ever written. Grab a large, strong drink, sit or stand in a stable place with something to hang on to, and discover how the world found the power and the passion.

In Burning the Midnight Oil, word-wrangler extraordinaire Phil Cousineau has gathered an eclectic and electric collection of soulful poems and prose from great thinkers throughout the ages. Whether beguiling readers with glorious poetry or consoling them with prayers from fellow restless souls, Cousineau can relieve any insomniac's unease. From St. John of the Cross to Annie Dillard, Beethoven to The Song of Songs, this refreshingly insightful anthology soothes and inspires all who struggle through the dark of the night. These "night thoughts" vividly illustrate Alfred North Whitehead's liberating description of "what we do without solitude" and also evoke Henry David Thoreau's reverie, "Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake." The night writers in Cousineau's vesperal collection range from saints, poets, and shamans to astronomers and naturalists, and tells of ancient tales and shining passages from the most brilliant (albeit insomniac) writers of today. These poetic ponderances sing of the falling darkness, revel in dream-time, convey the ache of melancholy, conspire against sleeplessness, vanquish loneliness, contemplate the night sky, rhapsodize on love, and languorously greet the first rays of dawn. Notable night owls include Rabandranath Tagore, Mary Oliver, Manley Hopkins, Jorge Borges and William Blake.

Life is short, but the short term that is given to us is filled full of crazy adventures. When you immigrate to a new country for a better life; the adventures keep chasing you. As much as the time and space tries to bring you down hard, you deal the same blows back through the humor and try to take it's essence in a good light.

Ayla uses inspiration from nature to tell the compelling story of how she came to be the person she is today. A heartbreaking yet fulfilling journey from destitute to joy, My Labyrinth is a must read in the series of Burning Midnight Oil.

Spa manager and massage therapist Peggy Underwood's new catchphrase is impulse control.

This iconic book covers an iconic tour: when Midnight Oil joined the Warumpi Band to play music in remote Aboriginal communities in 1986. The tour would change Midnight Oil forever and spark the creation of the song 'Beds Are Burning'. Strict Rules is a piece of Australian history and a view on Indigenous issues that is still relevant today.

Seventeen-year-old Kella O'Malley is living through the apocalypse. Maybe. She's definitely running from feral cannibals. When a pandemic begins mutating humans into killers during her spring break in Georgia, Kella joins with a group of teens and twenty-somethings to carry precious CDC data north on the Appalachian Trail. With no cell phones and no clue how far the mutation spreads, their only hope is to stay ahead of the "Hyenas" and hike faster than the world can end. If Buffy the Vampire Slayer had to save the world without superpowers, it would look a lot like this. But even while suffering from epic caffeine withdrawal, Kella is determined to protect her younger brother, keep them both from being eaten alive, and maybe even fall in love before the world definitely ends. "The end times are not what you were expecting," Kella writes in the shelter logbook along the way. "Be prepared for a lot of stomach growling. And a serious lack of condiments." "Also, take note: Cities overrun by feral human cannibals do not make for great spring break destinations. But on the bright side, it's very unlikely now that boredom is what will kill you." "Falling in love is terrifying. It ranks somewhere between murder hornets and being eaten alive by Hyenas." Apocalypse Thoughts is a young adult novel about possible love, possible zombies, and a definite shortage of coffee during the end times.

The provocative, entertaining, impassioned and inspiring memoir of Midnight Oil frontman, environmental activist and politician - a truly remarkable Australian.