Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa
Best Radio Website
NZ Radio Awards 2009
19 March, 2010
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Seasonal Catalogue
Latest Releases
The Galileo Lectures
This series marks 400 years since Galileo used a telescope to view the solar system and transformed our understanding of earth's place in the universe.
Lecture #1: The Political and Philosophical Uses of Galileo's Telescope.
Presented by Associate Professor Ruth Barton, The University of Auckland.
When Galileo turned his telescope to the stars he saw spots on the sun, mountains on the moon, and moons about Jupiter. The moons of Jupiter, he wrote, proved the glory of the Medici name, but did they prove the Copernican theory that the Earth moved in circles around the Sun as Galileo claimed?
NRP864-1 CD $30.00
Lecture #2: The Mystery of the First Stars
Presented by Dr Grant Christie MNZM, Research Astronomer, Stardrome Observatory.
The first stars formed when the Universe was less than 2 percent of it's current age. At this early epoch the conditions were very different to those that exist now so exactly how these stars got started and what they were like remains a major problem in astronomy. Can we probe this far back in time and shed light on how the first stars formed?
NRP864-2 CD $30.00
Lecture #3: The Search for other Planets, Other Life.
Presented by Alan Gilmore, Mt John Observatory, University of Canterbury.
The realisation that stars are just distant suns, like our own, led to speculation about the existence of other planets, and other life forms. The first extra-solar planet orbiting a 'normal' star was detected in 1996. More than 300 planets have now been identified, and many have been discovered by New Zealand astronomers. But the chances of finding one which has the prerequisites for life are slim, and even if we do find another in "The Goldilocks Zone", the possibility of travelling to it is as yet out of the question. Earth is a very special place indeed.
NRP864-3 CD $30.00
Lecture #4:Comets and Asteroids: Clues to our Origin and Treats to our Survival.
Presented by Professor Jack Baggaley FRAS FRSNZ, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury.
Comets and asteroids provide us with vital clues as to how the solar system was born. small sized asteroids may reach the ground as meteorites, sometimes producing impact craters or exploding dramatically.
Impacts by large comets and asteroids are a very real threat to the survival of mankind. There are international programmes with networks of dedicated telescopes to map the positions of these objects and forecast their future trajectories and approaches to the Earth.
NRP864-4 CD $30.00.
Lecture #5: Neutrinos - Ghosts of the Universe.
Presented by Dr Jenni Adams, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury.
More than 50 trillion solar neutrinos pass through your body every second!
Abundant but elusive, these particals have truly amazing properties and provide a new way to look out at objects in our galaxy and beyond.
NRP864-5 CD $30.00.
Lecture #6: The Square Kilometer Array.
Presented by Brian Boyle, Director, Australian National Telescope Facility.
Stretching over a continent and comprised of over 5000 antennas, the Square Kilometre Array is proposed to be the world's largest radio telescope and one of the most ambitious pieces of scientific infrastructure ever built.
It will address some of the key questions of 21st century astronomy and physics and act as a scientific icon for generations to come. New Zealand has the opportunity to join in Australia's bid to host this mutli-billion dollar telescope.
NRP864-6 CD $30.00
NRP864 6 CD boxed set $75.00.
The Ballad of Bantam Billy - Book
The political life and times of Bill Perkins
Bill Perkins' workmates down a Lancashire coal mine gave him the name 'Bantam Billy'. He was only 5 foot 11 inches tall and he was a fighter - a fighter for socialism which he believed was the only way of alleviating the harsh working and living conditions of the working classes in industrial Britain of the 1900s. Bill's politics led him to jail and hunger strike in World War I and eventually to a new life in New Zealand. Bill's story is told by his son Jack, long-time presenter of the Spectrum documentary series.
18 pages.
ISBN 9780473156916 $15.00
On Safari with Lynn Freeman
Lynn goes on safari in the Serengeti and the Masai Mara national reserves and visits the De Wildt Cheetah Sanctuary. Here she tells us of her journey.
NRP831 3 CD set $60.00
Pathfinders
By Keith Richardson
Two documentaries featuring members of the British Pathfinder squadron whose job was to pinpoint enemy targets for following Allied bomber crews in the 1940s.
Pathfinders 1 - Lighting the Way
These were the men who lived from hour to hour, mission to mission, their lives a seemingly endless succession of nights of extreme danger.
The Pathfinder squadron was the first to any designated enemy target, lighting the way for the following bomber crews.
It was the bravery and skill of the Pathfinder squadrons Bomber Command, and their air and ground crew that finally allowed the Allies victory over Axis forces.
The Pathfinders were an elite group of Allied and Commonwealth airmen. Sadly only a handful remain.
This is their story.
CD0701 CD $30.00
Pathfinders 2 - Lighting The Way To Ultimate Victory
This particular production details some of the daring missions those men undertook including the controversial bombing of the historic city of Dresden. There is also mention of the famous 'Dambusters' raid, although the Pathfinders as such were no directly involved.
CD0903 CD $30.00
The Fall of the Families
By Phillip Mann and presented by Dick Weir
The Fall of the Families
This is the sequel to Phillip Mann's Master of Paxwax. The many voices of Dick Weir are back recounting the epic as it unfolds. Pawl is happily married not realising that the aliens are grooming his as their human ally.
10 CD boxed set CD0902 $75.00
Master of Paxwax
The human race controls the galaxy having ruthlessly dominated all alien life during the period of history known as the great push.
10 CD boxed set CD0803 $75.00
Not Out, No Ball, Over! written by Jack Perkins
This book is a collection of the Bearded Inswinger's anecdotes and obeservations from 2008. His often ascerbic observations on the game blend with a rich store of cricketing memories, lending a whimsy which readers are sure to find entertaining.
JP01 Book $20.00
Central Otago Rail Trail
It has caught on as a tourist attraction in a way that few people expected. Todd Niall from 'Summer Report' completes this epic cycling odyssey. Parts 1-9.
SR2009 2 CD's $50.00
Earthworks
This is a six-part series that explores, reveals and celebrates all the many factors that support life on this planet.
Part 1: Sol Invictus
We start right at the beginning - the beginning of the universe, and we'll understand how our sun came to be, how it works, how it's put together and how it warms, sustains and threatens the planet Earth.
NRP851/1 CD $30.00
Part 2: The Air That We Breathe
We consider the different layers of our atmosphere, to find out what they'er made of, how they were formed and how they work together to keep us comfortable, cosy and alive - at least for now.
NRP851/2 CD $30.00
Part 3: Cool, Clear Water
Here we follow a water molecule (called Tinkle) as it travels through the freshwater cycle. We'll discuss droughts and floods, life on other planets, and we'll journey across frozen lakes and up huge glaciers. But most of all, we'll find out why water is simple, crucial and beautiful.
NRP851/3 CD $30.00
Part 4: They That Go Down To The Sea
Our planet's oceans are perhaps the greatest potential natural resorce we have, and yet we literally know more about the far side of the moon or the surface of Mars than we do our own ocean floors. Here we go down, deep, deep down, all the way through the most alien place on Earth, full of strange creatures, extreme conditions and remarkable facts - the ocean!
NRP851/4 CD $30.00
Part 5: In The Belly of the Beast
We explode into the air above one of the most dangerous landscapes on Earth, the Taupo Volcanic Zone, right through the middle of a super volcano! We'll learn about the earth's crust and the destructive forces that shape it.
NRP851/5 CD $30.00
Part 6: Bringing it All Back Home
As the old joke goes, if it moves, it's biology; if it smells, it's chemistry; and if it doesn't work, it's physics. But it's fair to say that science has changed greatly in recent times and the traditional disciplines seem to be giving way to a more interdisciplinary, problem-based approch to specific questions.
NRP851/6 CD $30.00
NRP851 boxed set of 6 CD's $75.00
Funky Chicken Farm
We set up a backyard chicken coop and leisure area by converting an old playhouse into a coop, whacked a few warratahs around, attached some chicken wire and bought 6 highlay birds from a battery chicken farm. It's our way of fighting back against rising food costs. From This Way Up.
CD0901 2 CD's $60.00
New Flags Flying
Written and told by Ian Johnstone
Narrated by Ian himself this reading tells of his family's arrival in Fiji, starting work encouraging regional broadcasting, some of the problems involved, the development of tourism and finally, looking back on expatriate life and change in the South Pacific.
CD0805 $30.00
Wrestling with God
Written and read by Lloyd Geering
"I am my Life story, as yet open-ended and unfinished.... thus to find out who I am, I must recall the story of my life as clearly and honestly as I can"
A wonderfully candid reflection on the life of one of the 20th century's theological trailblazers.
CD0804 3 CD's $60.00