When they are older, some people want to leave a book as a legacy and a memoir for friends and family. Graeme Talbot is one of these authors. He was a military man awarded an OBE for years of service to the NZDF. A life of adventure, sometimes with kids in tow and sometimes not, but the kids had heard all the stories and, as adults - pestered Graeme Talbot to write it all down. This is the book - produced by BriarsBooks
Because the book was private memoir for the family the author chose self-publishing and a small print run of 40 books.
The front over - showing the author introducing the NZ Defence HQ to the new Styr rifle.
It was a busy and productive life and Graeme had to ransack photo albums, memory and records to bring it all together: the military college at Duntroon, Australia; two years in Singapore, time with UN peacekeeping operations in Bosnia/ Herzogovina and Namibia, and a wide range of appointments in the army and also as a civilian.
A Pretty Good Life came to 150 plus pages, A5 size.
Reading a copy of his book. Note the military demeanour! Graeme said the quality of the book exceeded all his expectations and the family's.
With the UN Peacekeeping Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina
1989 OBE for services to the NZDF
As usual - the author had no idea that his photos were not up to standard for commercial print.
The editing of the scores of photos consumed most of the time spent on the book - apart from being far too small, they demanded all sorts of editing to bring them up to commercial printing standard. It lifted the look of the book from shoddy to professional.
Mine clearance in Namibia