An author’s busy week – Matthew Wright
“If you know nothing more about Rutherford than his existence as the man on the hundred dollar note,and some nebulous idea about ‘splitting the atom’, strap in!” – Benjamin R. Dickson, New Ze…| Matthew Wright
In the past ten days or so I’ve been involved with a rapid-fire series of interviews and bookshop talks featuring my new book, Ernest Rutherford and the birth of modern physics. It’s out now in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, and is due to be released in the United States on 11 November. One … More Putting the pieces together, using Frank Zappa as inspiration| Matthew Wright
“If you know nothing more about Rutherford than his existence as the man on the hundred dollar note,and some nebulous idea about ‘splitting the atom’, strap in!” – Benjamin R. Dickson, New Ze…| Matthew Wright
1 post published by Matthew Wright during October 2025| Matthew Wright
My latest book is being published next week in the United States, Britain, Australia by Scribe and in New Zealand by Oratia. Ernest Rutherford and the birth of modern physics explores the way our c…| Matthew Wright
It’s September, and this is my first blog post for 2025. Why? Because reasons. My priority this year has been book writing. And I’m delighted to say that my latest book is being release…| Matthew Wright
Here we are at the end of 2024 already. Blink, and the year’s gone, it seems. For me it’s been a very busy year – so busy, in fact, that I’ve had no time for blogging and very little for any sort of social media. This year I’ve published three books: (1) the 330,000 word … More Nearing the end of 2024| Matthew Wright
My long-standing history of Hawke’s Bay is out this month in new edition. It’s been in print and selling steadily since 2017. This new edition is in full colour, with full revision of everything from the 1950s onwards and a major update covering the cyclone that devastated Hawke’s Bay in February 2023 New colour pictures … More The history of Hawke’s Bay – third edition| Matthew Wright
My next major book, Those Who Have the Courage, the history of the Royal New Zealand Armoured Corps and predecessor forces, is being released on 3 April by my publishers, Oratia Books. At 648 pages and 350,000-odd words backed by 3,320 endnotes it’s the largest book I have written. It is also my 64th book. … More Those who have the courage| Matthew Wright
I visited my home town of Napier a few weeks back and was stunned by the obvious poverty now evident across the place – this in the past twelve months, since a disastrous cyclone. This much poverty hasn’t generated that quickly, but it’s as if the cyclone made it visible. There are homeless people trying … More A visit to art deco central – and its poverty| Matthew Wright
This week’s obscure English word is gazump. It’s generically used to mean an action by one person that defeats the action of another, usually in business. It has a particular meaning, though, from real estate practises. Specifically, it describes the act of cheating a buyer after an agreed price has been reached, usually by accepting … More The obscure word of the week is gazump| Matthew Wright
I have not blogged much in the past couple of years. Why? Many reasons, including workload. There’s also the inescapable social fact that written long-form blogs are well past their heyday. B…| Matthew Wright
