Sign-In
Cart
No Textbook For This: Getting things done in Cape York and the Aussie Outback
Paperback
Business GeneralAustralia & OceaniaTechnology & Engineering
ISBN13: 9781764819602
Publisher: Greg Williams
Published: Oct 10 2026
Pages: 300
Weight: 1.19
Height: 0.82 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
Most people spend their lives following a plan.
Greg Williams spent his creating one as he went.
From growing up in rural Queensland and working tobacco farms to building roads across some of the toughest country in Australia, Greg learned early that life rarely comes with instructions.
Whether he was rebuilding towns after devastating floods, managing multimillion-dollar civil construction projects, flying solo for the first time, staring down crocodiles in Cape York or turning ambitious ideas into thriving businesses, he relied on practical thinking, hard work and a willingness to tackle whatever came next.
Along the way, there were plenty of close calls, colourful characters, hilarious misadventures and lessons that could never be learned in a classroom. There were friendships forged in remote camps, battles won through ingenuity and opportunities created by seeing solutions where others only saw problems.
Told with warmth, humour and refreshing honesty, No Textbook For This is a remarkable account of a generation that built careers, communities and futures with determination, resilience and common sense. It captures a disappearing Australia - one of vast distances, hard work, self-reliance and unforgettable people.
Packed with outback adventures, business triumphs, near disasters and life lessons learned the hard way, Greg's story is proof that sometimes the best education comes not from textbooks, but from experience.
Also from
Williams, Greg
In The Shadow Of The Promised Land: Growing up in the Deep South in the 1950's, 60's, and 70's.
Williams, Greg
Paperback
Mastering Negotiations Through Body Language & Other Nonverbal Signals
Williams, Kristen N.
Williams, Greg
Paperback
Also in
Australia & Oceania
The Secret Life of Lobsters: How Fishermen and Scientists Are Unraveling the Mysteries of Our Favorite Crustacean
Corson, Trevor
Paperback
Island of the Lost: An Extraordinary Story of Survival at the Edge of the World
Druett, Joan
Paperback
Lost Kingdom: Hawaiia's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and Americaa's First Imperial Venture
Siler, Julia Flynn
Paperback
Batavia's Graveyard: The True Story of the Mad Heretic Who Led History's Bloodiest Mutiny
Dash, Mike
Paperback
Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant's Bushveldt Carbineers
Witton, Edward
Paperback
Sea of Glory: America's Voyage of Discovery, the U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842
Philbrick, Nathaniel
Paperback
A Shark Going Inland Is My Chief: The Island Civilization of Ancient Hawai'i
Kirch, Patrick Vinton
Paperback
Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II
Zuckoff, Mitchell
Paperback
Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest
Hoffman, Carl
Paperback
How Chiefs Became Kings: Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawai'i
Kirch, Patrick Vinton
Paperback
Terra in Our Mist: A Tūhoe Narrative of Indigenous Sovereignty and Settler-State Violence
Aikman, Pounamu Jade William Emery
Hardcover
The Reef: A Passionate History: The Great Barrier Reef from Captain Cook to Climate Change
McCalman, Iain
Paperback
Voices Beyond the Grave: Japanese Internment in the French Pacific
Ireland, Benjamin Hiramatsu
Hardcover
The Mana of Translation: Translational Flow in Hawaiian History from the Baibala to the Mauna
Kuwada, Bryan Kamaoli
Hardcover
The Forgotten Children of Maui: Filipino Myths, Tattoos, and Rituals of a Demigod
Wilcken, Lane
Paperback
Double Sunrise: Qantas Empire Airways Indian Ocean Wartime Services 1943-1946
Goodall, Geoff
Paperback
'I buy this piece of ground here': An Italian market-gardener community in Adelaide, 1920s-1970s
Regan, Madeleine
Paperback
Burke and Wills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Australia's Most Famous Explorers
Fitzsimons, Peter
Paperback
The Future Eaters: An Ecological History of the Australasian Lands and People
Flannery, Tim
Paperback
The Myth of the Natural Laboratory: Science, Empire, and Their Derangements on Pitcairn and Norfolk Islands
Young, Adrian
Hardcover
Contaminated Country: Nuclear Colonialism and Aboriginal Resistance in Australia
Urwin, Jessica
Paperback
Beyond the Meeting of the Waters: A Yorta Yorta Life Story
Atkinson, Wayne
Guinness, Catherine
Hardcover
South Pacific Air War Volume 6: Wau to Bismarck Sea, January - March 1943
Claringbould, Michael
Ingman, Peter
Paperback
The Shameful Isles: The true story of North-West Australia's fatal experiment with medical apartheid
Price, David
Paperback
The Road from Coorain: A Woman's Exquisitely Clear-Sighted Memoir of Growing Up Australian
Conway, Jill Ker
Paperback
People Powered Radio: Fifty Years of Australian Community Radio Station 4zzz
Anderson, Heather
Paperback
Clanlands in New Zealand: Kiwis, Kilts, and an Adventure Down Under
McTavish, Graham
Heughan, Sam
Paperback
Pathway of the Birds: The Voyaging Achievements of Māori and Their Polynesian Ancestors
Crowe, Andrew
Paperback
Riots: Returned soldiers and public disorder in Australia at the end of World War I
Skyring, Fiona
Paperback
Empires of Violence: Massacre in a Revolutionary Age
Penn, Nigel
Dwyer, Philip
Mann, Barbara Alice
Hardcover
Feathered Gods and Fishhooks: The Archaeology of Ancient Hawai'i, Revised Edition
McCoy, Mark D.
Kirch, Patrick Vinton
Paperback
Wild Partners: Indigenous Worlds and Industrial Giants in Papua New Guinea
Guinness, Patrick
Paperback
The Battle of the Coral Sea Explained: Expert Analysis of the Pivotal WWII Battle Where American Strength Saved Australia
Lewis, Tom, Oam
Paperback
The Last Tour: Paul and Eslanda Robeson's Visit to Australia and New Zealand in 1960
Curthoys, Ann
Paperback
Aboriginal Mythology: Enthralling Myths, Legends, and Folktales from Ancient Australia
Wellman, Billy
Hardcover
The Southern Frontier: Australia, Antarctica and Empire in the Southern Ocean World
Howitt, Rohan
Paperback
A Holistic Reading of Chronicles with a Samoan Hermeneutic: Reading Jabez in Context
Moleli Alama, Samasoni
Hardcover
Queen Liliuokalani: The Hawaiian Kingdom's Last Monarch, Hawaii History, A Biography
Makana, Kale
Paperback
Scapegoats of the Empire: The True Story of Breaker Morant's Bushveldt Carbineers
Witton, George
Paperback
Aborigine Trail: Trials, Travail, and Triumph Using Psychology with Aborigine Police
Rudofossi, Dan
Moloney, Matthew
Paperback
The White Pacific: U.S. Imperialism and Black Slavery in the South Seas After the Civil War
Horne, Gerald
Paperback
King Kamehameha The Great: King of the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaii History, A Biography
Makana, Kale
Paperback
Under the Mountain Wall: A Chronicle of Two Seasons in Stone Age New Guinea
Matthiessen, Peter
Paperback
The Menehune of Polynesia and Other Mythical Little People of Oceania (Facsimile Reprint)
Luomala, Katharine
Paperback
Miles Franklin Undercover: The Little-Known Years When She Created Her Own Brilliant Career
Davies, Kerrie
Paperback
Drink and Democracy: Alcohol and the Political Imaginary in Colonial Australia
Allen, Matthew
Paperback
So Far and Yet So Close: Frontier Cattle Ranching in Western Prairie Canada and the Northern Territory of Australia
Elofson, Warren
Paperback