As a migrant to Australia from North-East Scotland, Tom Mann portrays in Launching out from Scotland a unique set of challenges and encounters in Australia and other countries, which include Algeria, the Indian subcontinent, Indonesia and China. The issues Tom confronts concern the cruelty and effects of war, the plight of refugees, homeless children, the growing of poppies for opium, agricultural and village development, land degradation, mental health, suicide, and miscarriages of justice. With a light-hearted approach, Tom makes each situation real to the reader with anecdotes relating to the challenges and personal encounters. Life, Tom has found, is an adventure, of learning, being open, sharing and finding oneself in an ongoing journey that never ceases. Launching out from Scotland shares that passion with the reader. It is an absorbing and inspirational read.