Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.

Blossoms in bloom. St Johns Park, New Town. October 2010.

As Friday Book Club rolls around, and I’m nearly done with Nobel Prize winning Hungarian Imre Kertész’s exploration of life in a concentration camp Fatelessness. Nearly isn’t enough though, so we’ll save that for next week.

No, the book under discussion today is Former Cold Chisel keyboardist and songwriter Don Walker's first book, Shots.

In clipped prose, Walker conjures up an autobiography quite unlike the norm. More a series of snapshots with a chronological thread, it traces his early life in rural Australia to his time in the Australian music scene. Life in the bush, a crack at uni, boredom in the public service and a struggling muso stuck in Lodi Adelaide. The gap – much to the dismay of some readers – is the period of success. I’m happy to take Walker’s word that we’d be bored by that.

That said, there’s enough wild times on the road, sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll and hard-living Kings Cross if that’s what you are after. The vignettes are all evoked in a pared-back but creative and captivating manner.

I enjoyed it, you might enjoy it too. Highly recommended.