Recalling Childhood

Edited by Nicholas Tarling - Contributions by Elizabeth Arndt; Jake Dailey; George Dibley; Paul G. Halpern; B. A. Hussainmiya; Pradeep Kanthan; Colin Mackerras; Ruth Malcolm; Shakila Abdul Maman; Ooi Keat Gin; Hajar Abdul Rahim; Kenelm Robert; Georg Schmid; Sigrid Schmid-Bortenschlager; Kobkua Suwannathat-pian; Lorraine Wheeler; Rupert Wheeler and Wang Gungwu

What can you remember of your childhood? This was the question put to a number of ‘seniors’ asked to start from as far back as they could get, and go as far as the onset of adolescence. Their answers are in this unusual book.
Topics naturally include their physical self; their parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, playmates, teachers, classmates, pets; their manners, training, rewards and punishments; food; play, toys; likes, dislikes; schools, kindergarten, elementary; outings, holidays, travel; notable experiences; dreams, nightmares, pleasures, fears.
They were also invited to give an account of their physical surroundings, their home, and the context of everyday life, what they took for granted; and to draw attention to a past in which so much of what is now common was then absent: TV, cell-phones, ubiquitous motor cars, air travel.
The question was directed to and accepted by people from a number of countries and with a range of experiences. Several are or were academics, and the introduction contains some comments on memory and points to commonalities among the remembered experiences, as well as differences. But the book is mainly for the general reader, who may want to ask: what can I remember of my childhood? - Let me try!

Hamilton Books

Pages: 246 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7618-6946-7 • Paperback • July 2017 • $40.99 • (£35.00)

978-0-7618-6949-8 • eBook • July 2017 • $38.50 • (£30.00)

Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs, Body, Mind & Spirit / Inspiration & Personal Growth, Self-Help / Personal Growth / Memory Improvement, Family & Relationships / Life Stages / Later Years, Psychology / Memory

Recalling Childhood

Paperback

eBook

Summary

What can you remember of your childhood? This was the question put to a number of ‘seniors’ asked to start from as far back as they could get, and go as far as the onset of adolescence. Their answers are in this unusual book.
Topics naturally include their physical self; their parents, siblings, grandparents, friends, playmates, teachers, classmates, pets; their manners, training, rewards and punishments; food; play, toys; likes, dislikes; schools, kindergarten, elementary; outings, holidays, travel; notable experiences; dreams, nightmares, pleasures, fears.
They were also invited to give an account of their physical surroundings, their home, and the context of everyday life, what they took for granted; and to draw attention to a past in which so much of what is now common was then absent: TV, cell-phones, ubiquitous motor cars, air travel.
The question was directed to and accepted by people from a number of countries and with a range of experiences. Several are or were academics, and the introduction contains some comments on memory and points to commonalities among the remembered experiences, as well as differences. But the book is mainly for the general reader, who may want to ask: what can I remember of my childhood? - Let me try!

Details

Hamilton Books

Pages: 246 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-0-7618-6946-7 • Paperback • July 2017 • $40.99 • (£35.00)

978-0-7618-6949-8 • eBook • July 2017 • $38.50 • (£30.00)

Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs, Body, Mind & Spirit / Inspiration & Personal Growth, Self-Help / Personal Growth / Memory Improvement, Family & Relationships / Life Stages / Later Years, Psychology / Memory

Author

Nicholas Tarling is an octogenarian. A graduate of Cambridge University, he is an Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Auckland, and still attached to its New Zealand Asia Institute, his main field being the history of Southeast Asia. He is grateful to Ooi Keat Gin and to Rupert Wheeler for their help in extracting the memories of others as well as cudgelling their own.

Table of Contents

Introduction (Nicholas Tarling)
1. Memories of my Childhood in the Black Forest (Elizabeth Arndt)
2. Childhood in Iowa (Jake Dailey)
3. Altar Boy (George Dibley)
4. Memories of Childhood (Paul G. Halpern)
5. The Java ‘Podiyan” of Maligawatte: my early life (B.A. Hussainmiya)
6. Memories of Childhood (Pradeep Kanthan)
7. What Mattered was Europe and its Music – an Australian Childhood (Colin Mackerras)
8. Memories of Childhood (Ruth Malcolm)
9. Growing Up in Penang (Shakila Abdul Maman)
10. Childhood Memories (Ooi Keat Gin)
11. My Childhood Memories (Hajar Abdul Rahim)
12. Where it Began (Kenelm Robert)
13. A Reconquest of Memories (Georg Schmid)
14. Divide Austria (Sigrid Schmid)
15. Memories of my Childhood (Kobkua Suwannathat-Pian)
16. Fair-Haired Cherub (Nicholas Tarling)
17. Was it all those Years ago? (Lorraine Wheeler)
18. Memories of Childhood (Rupert Wheeler)
19. Childhood Memories to the age of 12 (Wang Gungwu)

Recalling Childhood

Recalling Childhood

ALSO AVAILABLE