As a young woman barely out of boarding school in Toowoomba, Tana Douglas stuck steadfastly to the rule: ‘Never let them see a sign of weakness.’ Photograph: Supplied
Before Tana Douglas was 21, she had worked with Carlos Santana, Neil Diamond and Iggy Pop. A new memoir from the world’s first female roadie recounts a life “often silly and frequently dangerous”. But as Jenny Valentish notes, Douglas has more to offer than just a catalogue of mad adventures (secret pregnancy and peltings with live fish notwithstanding). “In recent years there has been a barrage of self-help books by former Navy Seals, applying their hard-fought techniques of leadership, discipline, problem-solving and survival to the lives of us everyday civilians. This could serve the same purpose – a kind of Gaffer Tape Your Life.”