Apocalypse Never Why Environmental Alarmism Hurts Us All by Michael Shellenberger

$34.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

Climate change is real but it's not the end of the world. It is not even our most serious environmental problem. Michael Shellenberger has been fighting for a greener planet for decades. He helped save the world's last unprotected redwoods. He co-created the predecessor to today's Green New Deal. And h e led a successful effort by climate scientists and activists to keep nuclear plants operating, preventing a spike of emissions. But in 2019, as some claimed “billions of people are going to die,” contributing to rising anxiety, including among adolescents, Shellenberger decided that, as a lifelong environmental activist, leading energy expert, and father of a teenage daughter, he needed to speak out to separate science from fiction. Despite decades of news media attention, many remain ignorant of basic facts. Carbon emissions peaked and have been declining in most developed nations for over a decade. Deaths from extreme weather, even in poor nations, declined 80 percent over the last four decades. And the risk of Earth warming to very high temperatures is increasingly unlikely thanks to slowing population growth and abundant natural gas. Curiously, the people who are the most alarmist about the problems also tend to oppose the obvious solutions. What's really behind the rise of apocalyptic environmentalism? There are powerful financial interests. There are desires for status and power. But most of all there is a desire among supposedly secular people for transcendence. This spiritual impulse can be natural and healthy. But in preaching fear without love, and guilt without redemption, the new religion is failing to satisfy our deepest psychological and existential needs... ...Show more

Spy vs Spy: The New Age of Espionage: Australian Foreign Affairs 9 by Jonathan Pearlman

$22.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs | Series: AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The ninth issue of Australian Foreign Affairs explores the rapidly evolving espionage threat facing Australia as changes in technology enable malign actors to target individuals, officials, businesses and infrastructure. Spy vs Spy examines how Australian agencies can defend against this attempt to not only steal secrets but also disrupt the workings of government and society. Contents of this issue include- An essay by Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong Andrew Davies on the evolution of spycraft Danielle Crave on cybertechnology and intelligence "The Fix"- a high-profile strategist reflects on how to solve Australia's foreign affairs challenges "The Back Page"- award-winning journalist Richard Cooke dissects key foreign policy terms Correspondence on AFA8- Can We Trust America? ...Show more

Webtopia: The Worldwide Wreck of Tech and How to Make the Net Work by Peter Lewis

$32.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs | Reading Level: very good

Sydney in the 1970s and 1980s was a world of limited choice, one where we all watched the same television programs and the household phone was at the heart of allnetworks people belonged to: family, school, church and the neighbourhood. The arrival of the internet promised a utopian, creative and democr atic future that would break down traditional institutions and replace them with exciting collaborative networks. So how did we end up here? In Webtopia, Peter Lewis draws from his own pre- and post-tech experience and conversations with entrepreneurs, politicians, pastors, parents, teachers and journalists to show us that technology is not the problem. We are. If we fix our relationship with technology, it will be easier to fix our relationships with each other in a fragmenting world. Riveting, engaging and wise, Webtopia traces our digital journey to this point and, fearlessly, marks out the best route from here. 'This book is an encounter with a born raconteur. This makes for a highly readable book, but it also reflects something more profound: that people power the web and modern tech is the embodiment of human genius, human folly and every human choice that lies in between.' -- Edward Santow, Australian Human Rights Commissioner     ...Show more

Cynical Theories by Helen Pluckrose and James A. Lindsay

$29.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

'Exposes the surprisingly shallow intellectual roots of the movements that appear to be engulfing our culture' - Steven PinkerHave you heard that language is violence and that science is sexist? Have you read that certain people shouldn't practise yoga or cook Chinese food? Or been told that being obese is healthy, that there is no such thing as biological sex, or that only white people can be racist?In Cynical Theories, Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay document the evolution and the dogma behind these ideas. While acknowledging the need to challenge the complacency of those who think a just society has been fully achieved, Pluckrose and Lindsay break down how this often-radical activist scholarship does far more harm than good, not least to those marginalised communities it claims to champion. They also detail its alarmingly inconsistent and illiberal ethics. Only through a proper understanding of the evolution of these ideas, they conclude, can those who value science, reason and consistently liberal ethics successfully challenge this harmful and authoritarian orthodoxy - in the academy, in culture and beyond. ...Show more

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

$35.00 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

Not being racist is not enough. We have to be antiracist. In this rousing and deeply empathetic book, Ibram X. Kendi, founding director of the Antiracism Research and Policy Center, shows that when it comes to racism, neutrality is not an option: until we become part of the solution, we can only be par t of the problem. Using his extraordinary gifts as a teacher and story-teller, Kendi helps us recognise that everyone is, at times, complicit in racism whether they realise it or not, and by describing with moving humility his own journey from racism to antiracism, he shows us how instead to be a force for good. Along the way, Kendi punctures all the myths and taboos that so often cloud our understanding, from arguments about what race is and whether racial differences exist to the complications that arise when race intersects with ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality. In the process he demolishes the myth of the post-racial society and builds from the ground up a vital new understanding of racism - what it is, where it is hidden, how to identify it and what to do about it. ...Show more

Quarterly Essay 79: The End of Certainty: Scott Morrison and Pandemic Politics by Katharine Murphy

$24.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

What has the coronavirus pandemic revealed about Scott Morrison, and where is he taking Australia? Epidemics are mirrors. What has COVID-19 revealed about Australia, and about Scott Morrison and his government? In this gripping essay, Katharine Murphy goes behind the scenes to tell the story of the res ponse to the crisis. Drawing on interviews with Morrison, Brendan Murphy, Josh Frydenberg, Sally McManus and other players, she traces how the key health and economic decisions were taken. Her account is twinned with a portrait of the prime minister. She explores his blend of pragmatism and faith, and shows how a leader characterised by secrecy and fierce certainty learnt to compromise and reach out – with notable exceptions. Now, as the nation turns inwards and unemployment rises, our faith in government is about to be tested anew. What does “We’re all in this together” truly mean? Will Morrison snap back to Liberal hardman, or will he redefine centre-right politics in this country? “Morrison’s a partisan, blue team to the core, but his political philosophy is hard to pin down, because it is predominantly trouble-shooting. By instinct, Morrison is a power player and a populist, not a philosopher; a repairer of walls, not a writer of manifestos … [his] conservatism is extreme pragmatism in defence of what he regards as the core of the nation.” —Katharine Murphy, The End of Certainty ...Show more

The Lonely Century by Noreena Hertz

$32.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

A radical call to arms and a bold new vision of how we must act, fast, to reconnect society at individual, government and business level, from a global economist hailed by the Observer as 'one of the world's leading thinkers'. Professor Noreena Hertz has travelled the world to explore the loneliness epi demic first hand: 'renting a friend' in Japan, visiting co-habitation spaces in Israel and trying a week experienced entirely online. From the spread of social media and the rise of AI to the architecture of our cities and the growing elderly population, loneliness is a global issue that is affecting our health and financial security. She takes on a world increasingly dominated by big business and consumerism, and challenges us all - and most importantly, our politicians, business leaders and economists - to take urgent action to ensure we survive and thrive in the centuries to come. The Lonely Century is a bold, game-changing book that has the power to transform how we behave. ...Show more

Why the Germans Do It Better: Lessons from a Grown-Up Country by John Kampfner

$29.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

A provocative and entertaining exploration of the country that Britons love to hate by one of our most respected journalists.

Caste The Lies That Divide us by Isabel Wilkerson

$35.00 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

'The hierarchy of caste is not about feelings or morality. It is about power - which groups have it and which do not' Beyond race or class, our lives are defined by a powerful, unspoken system of divisions. In Caste, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson gives an astounding portrait of this hi dden phenomenon. Linking America, India and Nazi Germany, Wilkerson reveals how our world has been shaped by caste - and how its rigid, arbitrary hierarchies still divide us today. With clear-sighted rigour, Wilkerson unearths the eight pillars that connect caste systems across civilizations, and demonstrates how our own era of intensifying conflict and upheaval has arisen as a consequence of caste. Weaving in stories of real people, she shows how its insidious undertow emerges every day; she documents its surprising health costs; and she explores its effects on culture and politics. Finally, Wilkerson points forward to the ways we can - and must - move beyond its artificial divisions, towards our common humanity. Beautifully written and deeply original, Caste is an eye-opening examination of what lies beneath the surface of ordinary lives. No one can afford to ignore the mo ...Show more

Deep Fakes and the Infocalypse - What You Urgently Need to Know by Nina Schick

$22.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

It will soon be impossible to tell what is real and what is fake. Recent advances in AI mean that by scanning images of a person (for example using Facebook), a powerful machine learning system can create new video images and place them in scenarios and situations which never actually happened. When com bined with powerful voice AI, the results are utterly convincing. So-called 'Deep Fakes' are not only a real threat for democracy but they take the manipulation of voters to new levels. They will also affect ordinary people. This crisis of misinformation we are facing has been dubbed the 'Infocalypse'. Using her expertise from working in the field, Nina Schick reveals shocking examples of Deep Fakery and explains the dangerous political consequences of the Infocalypse, both in terms of national security and what it means for public trust in politics. She also unveils what it means for us as individuals, how Deep Fakes will be used to intimidate and to silence, for revenge and fraud, and how unprepared governments and tech companies are. As a political advisor to select technology firms, Schick tells us what we need to do to prepare and protect ourselves. Too often we build the cool technology and ignore what bad guys can do with it before we start playing catch-up. But when it comes to Deep Fakes, we urgently need to be on the front foot. ...Show more

HOW TO BE AN ANTIRACIST by KENDI IBRAM X

$35.00 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman

$32.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

A Guardian Book to Look Out For in 2020 'Humankind challenged me and made me see humanity from a fresh perspective' Yuval Noah Harari From 'the folk hero of Davos', Fox News antagonist and author of the international bestseller Utopia for Realists comes a radical history of our innate capacity for kin dness. It's a belief that unites the left and right, psychologists and philosophers, writers and historians. It drives the headlines that surround us and the laws that touch our lives. From Machiavelli to Hobbes, Freud to Pinker, the roots of this belief have sunk deep into Western thought. Human beings, we're taught, are by nature selfish and governed primarily by self-interest. Providing a new historical perspective on the last 200,000 years of human history, Humankind makes a new argument- that it is realistic, as well as revolutionary, to assume that people are good. When we think the worst of others, it brings out the worst in our politics and economics too. In this major book, internationally bestselling author Rutger Bregman shows how believing in human kindness and altruism can be a new way to think o and act as the foundation for achieving true change in our society. It is time for a new view of human nature. ...Show more