Cirrus@Austlit

'Physically the book is small, a convenient size for a pocket guide to the night sky. It contains many sky maps, some using the conventional Western astronomical names for constellations, others compiled and drawn by Cairns. They are not simple guides to the sky but rather function to mark out the pathway taken by the protagonists in the dramas described by Bill Yidumduma Harney and recorded by Hugh Cairns. There are many illustrations but the numbering is frustratingly obscure. Even more frustrating was the fact that, despite my carrying the book in a small plastic wallet, it completely disintegrated leaving me with a stack of loose sheets.'  (Introduction)