7 Shouts

Book excerpt: How did U.S. President Barack Obama get so familiar with Australian slang and culture? Perhaps he read Bernie Dowling’s 7 Shouts. President Obama is in the book along with sports Australians really .love, the Melbourne Cup horse race, of course, but also fish throwing and cockroach races. 7 Shouts is a comic cosmic journey to the humorous heart of the Australian soul. There’s science in the Russell Crowe First Law and art as Dowling tries to convince Delta Goodrem to go on a blind date with a disadvantaged teenager. There’s farm animals such as french poodles Fi Fi and Fa Fa which enter the sheep-dog trials. 7 Shouts is based on seven years of Dowling’s award winning newspaper column, updated to 2014. 7 Shouts is a classic contemporary doco of a world gone mad, but still a heap of fun.