On Hope (On Series) by Daisy Jeffrey

$16.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs | Series: On Ser.

As extreme weather becomes the norm, scientists agree that our climate is changing. But it seems too many of our leaders aren't listening to the science and are failing to act. In On Hope, one of the lead organisers of the Australian Climate strike, 17-year-old Daisy Jeffrey shows how ordinary people a re fighting back and demanding we address climate change to help save our planet. Daisy was at the centre of a movement that joined people together to drive change. She reveals what prompted the action, what she and her friends believe and why she is choosing hope over indifference and standing up to speak truth to power. ...Show more

Quarterly Essay 77: Cry Me a River, The Tragedy of the Murray-Darling Basin by Margaret Simons by Margaret Simons

$22.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

The Murray-Darling Basin is the food bowl of Australia, and it's in trouble. What does this mean for the future - for water and food, and for the people and towns that depend on it? In this Quarterly Essay, acclaimed journalist Margaret Simons takes a trip through the basin, all the way from Queensland to South Australia. She shows that its plight is environmental but also economic, and enmeshed in ideology and identity. Her essay is both a portrait of the Murray-Darling Basin and an explanation of its woes. It looks at rural Australia and the failure of political processes over the last few generations to meet the needs of communities forced to bear the heaviest burden of change. It considers corruption and resource politics, drought and climate change.   ...Show more

The Dragons and the Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West by David Kilcullen

$35.00 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

Soldier-scholar David Kilcullen shows what opponents of the West have learned during the last quarter-century of conflict. Just a few years ago, people spoke of the US as a hyperpower -- a titan stalking the world stage with more relative power than any empire in history. Yet as early as 1993, newly app ointed CIA director James Woolsey pointed out that although Western powers had 'slain a large dragon' by defeating the Soviet Union in the Cold War, they now faced a 'bewildering variety of poisonous snakes'. In this book, Killcullen explains what happened to the 'snakes' (non-state threats, including from terrorists and guerrillas) and the 'dragons' (state-based competitors such as Russia and China). He explores how enemies learn under conditions of conflict, and examines how Western dominance over a very particular, narrowly defined form of warfare has forced adversaries to adapt in ways that present serious new challenges to America and its allies. State and non-state threats have increasingly come to resemble each other, Kilcullen argues, with states adopting non-state techniques and non-state actors now able to access levels of precision and lethal weapon-systems once only available to governments. A counterintuitive look at this new, vastly more complex environment, The Dragons and the Snakesnot only reshaped our understanding of the West's enemies' capabilities, but also shows how we can respond, given the increasing limits on US power. ...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

On Secrets (On Series) by Annika Smethurst

$16.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs | Series: On Ser.

Foot Work - What Your Shoes Tell You about Globalisation by Tansy Hoskins

$32.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

In 2017, 64 million pairs of shoes were manufactured across the world every single day. They have never been cheaper to buy, and we have never been more convinced that we need to buy them. Yet their cost to the planet has never been greater. In this urgent, passionately argued book, Tansy Hoskins opens our eyes to the dark origins of the shoes on our feet. Taking us deep into the heart of an industry that is exploiting workers and deceiving consumers, we begin to understand that if we don't act fast, this humble household object will take us to the point of no return. ...Show more

Going Dark: The Secret Social Lives of Extremists by Julia Ebner

$29.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs | Reading Level: near fine

By day, Julia Ebner works at a counter-extremism think tank, monitoring radical groups from the outside, but two years ago, she began to feel that she was only seeing half the picture. She needed to get inside the groups to truly understand them. So she decided to go undercover in her spare hours - late nights, holidays, weekends - adopting five different identities, and joining a dozen extremist groups from across the ideological spectrum. Her journey would take her from a Generation Identity global strategy meeting in a pub in Mayfair, to a Neo-Nazi Music Festival on the border of Germany and Poland. She would get relationship advice from 'Trad Wives' and Jihadi Brides and hacking lessons from ISIS. She was in the channels when the alt-right began planning the lethal Charlottesville rally, and spent time in the networks that would radicalise the Christchurch terrorist. In Going Dark, Ebner takes the reader on a deeply compulsive, terrifying, illuminating journey into the darkest recesses of extremist thinking, exposing how closely we are surrounded by their fanatical ideology every day, the changing nature and practice of these groups, and what is being done to counter them.   ...Show more

On Obsession (on series) by Malcolm Knox

$16.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs | Series: On Ser.

Part of a series that pairs leading Australian thinkers and cultural figures with important themes in life, this essay contemplates obsession. Discussing topics such as love, Marcel Proust, soul mates in fiction, numerical palindromes, and bloodlines, among other fixations, this personal examination exp lores the fine line that divides enthusiasm from obsession and wonders if obsessions lead to a retreat from life. ...Show more

Rebel Ideas - The Power of Diverse Thinking by Matthew Syed

$22.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

Where do the best ideas come from? And how do we apply these ideas to the problems we face - at work, in the education of our children, and in the biggest shared challenges of our age: rising obesity, terrorism and climate change? In this bold and inspiring new book, Matthew Syed - the bestselling aut hor of Bounce and Black Box Thinking - argues that individual intelligence is no longer enough; that the only way to tackle these complex problems is to harness the power of our 'cognitive diversity'. Rebel Ideas is a fascinating journey through the science of team performance. It draws on psychology, economics, anthropology and genetics, and takes lessons from a dazzling range of case-studies, including the catastrophic intelligence failings of the CIA before 9/11, a communication breakdown at the top of Mount Everest, and a moving tale of deradicalization in America's deep South. It is book that will strengthen any company, institution or team, but it also offers many individual applications too: the remarkable benefits of personalised nutrition, advice on how to break free of the echo chambers that surround us, and tips on how we can all develop an 'outsider mindset'. Rebel Ideas offers a radical blueprint for creative problem-solving. It challenges hierarchies, encourages constructive dissent and forces us to think again about where the best ideas come from. ...Show more

The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis by Christiana Figueres

$27.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

The Paris Agreement was a landmark for humanity. In this timely and important book, two of the principle creators of that agreement show us why and how we can now realise its' promise. I hope it is widely read and acted on' Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger o f Peace The Future We Choose is a passionate call to arms, written by former UN Secretary for Climate Christiana Figures and Tom Rivett-Carnac, her UN political strategist. They outline two scenarios for our future: how life on Earth will be by 2050 if we fail to meet the Paris Agreement climate targets; or how it will look and feel to live in a carbon neutral, regenerative world. Each of us must confront the crisis head on, with determination and optimism. Practical and empowering, The Future We Choose features ten things we can do today to make a difference. The Future We Choose is for all of us, teenagers to adults, who feel powerless to stop the climate emergency. This is the final hour: it can be our finest hour. We can solve our climate emergency, but we must act now. ...Show more

The Relationship Is the Project: Working with Communities by Jade Lillie (Editor); Kate Larsen (As told to); Cara Kirkwood (As told to); Jax Jacki Brown (As told to)

$29.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

A new ‘right now’ resource to help artists, cultural workers and organisations better engage with community-based projects There is increasing demand on artists, institutions and organisations to work well in community-engaged contexts, but few resources or training opportunities are current ly available to develop the sector's capacity in this area. The breadth of the advice shared in this non-academic, practitioner-led book includes insights into the ethics and logistics of working in community contexts – from collaboration and leadership to platforming and duty of care. Contributors include Genevieve Grieves about working in First Nations contexts; Caroline Bowditch on access and disability; Dianne Jones, Odette Kelada and Lilly Brown on racial literacy; Ruth De Souza and Robyn Higgins on cultural safety in the arts; as well as Esther Anatolitis, Adolfo Aranjuez, Paschal Berry, Lenine Bourke, Tania Cañas, Rosie Dennis, Alia Gabres, Eleanor Jackson, Samuel Kanaan-Oringo, Fotis Kapetopoulos, Kate Larsen, Lia Pa’apa’a, Anna Reece, Daniel Santangeli, and Jade Lillie herself. ...Show more

The System: Who Owns the Internet, and How It Owns Us by James Ball

$29.99 AUD

Category: Current Affairs

The internet is a network of physical cables and connections, a web of wires enmeshing the world, linking huge data centres to one another and eventually to us. All are owned by someone, financed by someone, regulated by someone. We refer to the internet as abstract from reality. By doing so, we obscure where the real power lies. In this powerful and necessary book, James Ball sets out on a global journey into the inner workings of the system. From the computer scientists to the cable guys, the billionaire investors to the ad men, the intelligence agencies to the regulators, these are the real-life figures powering the internet and pulling the strings of our society. Ball brilliantly shows how an invention once hailed as a democratising force has concentrated power in places it already existed o that the system, in other words, remains the same as it did before. ...Show more