The meek will inherit all from the motormouths

Short, sharp guidance and observations from a journalist with attitude. All books available from Exclusives

IF YOU READ ONE BOOK THIS WEEK . . .

'Good Bait', by John Harvey (William Heinemann) R195

SOLID police procedural, with two narratives that slowly converge: in Hampstead a young black female DCI investigates the death of a 17-year-old East European boy, while in Cornwall an elderly cop approaching retirement is urged to travel to London to trace a drug addict.

THE ISSUE

AN UNSEEMLY spat has developed over Andrew Duminy's Mapping SA: A Historical Survey of South African Maps and Charts (Jacana), a handsomely illustrated work that, according to the publisher, is "the first survey of the fascinating story of maps and mapmaking in the subcontinent".

Despite favourable reviews, the book has been attacked by a "team" of experts led by Professor Elri Liebenberg, who chairs the International Cartographic Association Commission on the History of Cartography and who claims Duminy's work is riddled with "more than 150" errors.

But when Jacana's Russell Martin sought clarification from her, he received the puzzling response: "I am afraid I cannot disclose the [mistakes] as it constitutes the intellectual property of the relevant authors. The specialised knowledge imparted within the list is grounded in research which is either completed or still ongoing, and of which the integrity cannot be compromised."

All of which makes perfect sense upon learning that Liebenberg is to publish her own history of South African maps. Watch this space.

CRASH COURSE

EXTROVERTS - the polite term for loudmouths, know-it-alls, pushy persons - have a lot to answer for, including, apparently, the global economic crisis. So claims a new bestseller, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, by Susan Cain (Viking).

The book reaffirms a long-held suspicion that corporate and political indabas and "brain-storming" bull-dusters invariably fail to adopt the correct courses of action because they're dominated by aggressive alpha types whose "contributions" obliterate the more reasoned considerations of the quieter types around the table.

Cain argues the rot started with Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. Thanks to that bilge, an age of "character" morphed into one of "personality" and a world where people are judged not by their actions but by how they present themselves.

Will Cain's book change anything? Hmm. Maybe. We don't want to say. Not yet anyway. But think of this: when the shy eventually defenestrate the human resources department, it will be done with reserve. No boorish songs, but a gentle humming to oneself as the blood flows, followed by a cup of tea and a digestive. You've been warned.

THE BOTTOM LINE

"I BEGAN this writing during a time of war, when some who advocated war claimed to find its meaning in Revelation." - Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation, by Elaine Pagels (Viking).

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