Books

Scott L Montgomery, Daniel Chirot Princeton University Press A broad survey of the ideas that have driven modern history since the 19th century—and on account of which millions of lives have been changed for good or ill. According to Montgomery (Does Science Need a Global Language?: English and the Future of Research, 2013, etc.) and Chirot (Contentious Identities: Ethnic, Religious and National Conflicts in Today’s World, 2011, etc.), both professors at the University of Washington, these ideas are fourfold, resting in the single persons of Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and Charles Darwin, and then in the struggle between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton over the nature of the new republic that would grow from certain parallel and antecedent ideas. The first two are economic in nature, the third biological, and the fourth political. But all are political, of course, and the authors nicely move to depersonified history by examining deeper values: the idea embodied by Smith, for instance, that “individuals should have the freedom to make all essential decisions affecting their material and moral lives.” The authors’ argument is fluent and mainly unobjectionable; as intellectual historians, it is their bread and butter to maintain that ideas matter, and the ideas they enumerate have inarguably “structured the modern world.” Their later elaborations sometimes seem a stretch, if by modern world one means modern ideas, which would discount some of their cases. The book is academic in outlook and attitude and sometimes in execution. The prose is accessible, though, and the narrative is well-written, made more interesting by the authors’ willingness to tangle with tough constituencies and mount tough arguments—against, say, the narrowness of religious fundamentalists or the aridity of “postmodern pedagogy and scholarship,” with their lamentable habit of reducing the love of and insistence on reason as a species of evil. […]

Tim Flannery, Text Publishing A decade ago, Tim Flannery’s #1 international bestseller, The Weather Makers, was one of the first books to break the topic of climate change out into the general conversation. Today, Earth’s climate system is fast approaching a crisis. Political leadership has not kept up, and public engagement with the issue of climate change has declined. Opinion is divided between technological optimists and pessimists who feel that catastrophe is inevitable. The publication of this new book is timed for the lead-up to the Climate Change Conference in Paris in December 2015, which aims to achieve a legally binding and universal agreement on climate from all the nations in the world. This book anticipates and will influence the debates. Time is running out, but catastrophe is not inevitable. Around the world people are now living with the consequences of an altered climate—with intensified and more frequent storms, wildfires, droughts and floods. For some it’s already a question of survival. Drawing on the latest science, Flannery gives a snapshot of the trouble we are in and more crucially, proposes a new way forward, including rapidly progressing clean technologies and a “third way” of soft geo-engineering. Tim Flannery, with his inimitable style, makes this urgent issue compelling and accessible. This is a must-read for anyone interested in our global future.

Text Publishing What will Australia be like in 2047? Good question, who can possibly know? However Claire O’Neil federal Labor member for the seat of Hotham and Tim Watts federal member for the Labor seat of Gellibrand are doing some projecting  in their book Two Futures – Australian at a Critical Moment. How will society be? Who is treated unfairly, who is equal? How will we make money; to be precise what will drive economic growth? The book is full of questions and challenges that we all need to face and it is good that politicians have combined their passion and vision to work together on setting us all a challenge. We, the reader, can think about these issues too. It’s a bit like sitting round a table with Claire and Tim and providing input into the visions and pictures for tomorrow. In this agenda-setting book, these two young parliamentarians take the long view. They identify the dramatic changes looming on the horizon and outline creative ideas for tackling them. Fact-driven and progressive, optimistic and impassioned, Two Futures begins the debate about the decades ahead that we need to have. ‘A refreshing look at the big issues in the decades ahead.’ from the Foreword by Laura Tingle, Political Editor, Australian Financial Review ‘An insightful contribution to the policy debate about the future of our country.’Catherine Livingstone, President, Business Council of Australia ‘A must-read publication from two talented federal members concerned about a better and fairer future for Australia.’ Steve Bracks, former Premier of Victoria

Go Set a Watchman is a novel by Harper Lee published on July 14, 2015, by HarperCollins in the United States and William Heinemann in the United Kingdom. Although publicised as a sequel, It is actually the first draft of Lee’s first and (until 2015) only other published novel, the Pulitzer Prize-winning To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). The title comes from Isaiah 21:6: “For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.” It alludes to Jean Louise Finch’s view of her father, Atticus Finch, as the moral compass (“watchman”) of Maycomb, and has a theme of disillusionment, as she realises her father’s bigotry. The book’s unexpected discovery, decades after it was written, together with the exceptional renown of the author’s only other book, an American classic, caused its publication to be highly anticipated; Amazon stated that it was their “most pre-ordered book” since the final book of the Harry Potter series in 2007, and stores arranged all-night openings from midnight to cope with expected demand. The publication also sparked controversy over the circumstances of its publication due to Lee’s health, contradictions to the discovery story, and questions as to whether Lee had the ability and desire to authorise publication. The novel follows an adult Scout Finch (referred to using her given names “Jean Louise”) who travels from New York to Maycomb, Alabama, to visit her father, Atticus Finch, 20 years after the events of To Kill a Mockingbird. According to the publisher, Scout “is forced to grapple with issues both personal and political as she tries to understand her father’s attitude toward society and her own feelings about the place where she was born and spent her childhood.” Go Set a Watchman includes many of the characters from To Kill a […]

By Jeremy Balkin Investing with Impact: Why Finance Is a Force for Good outlines the roadmap to reinvigorating a skeptical public and demoralised financial services industry by making the case that, contrary to popular misconception, finance is not the cause of the world’s problems; in fact, it can provide the solution. Author Jeremy Balkin presents the case that the finance industry can improve the state of the world by positively influencing the allocation of capital. Investing with Impact explains the methodology of Balkin’s 6 E Paradigm, opening the toolbox to this revolutionary framework for the first time. In so doing, Balkin expands the impact investment universe, enabling mainstream capital to flow where opportunities generate positive investment returns and have demonstrable social impact. Described by the Huffington Post as the “Anti-Wolf of Wall Street,” Balkin is challenging the status quo on Wall Street by leading the intellectual debate embracing the $1 trillion frontier impact investment market opportunity. The book demonstrates conclusively that, if we can change the culture in finance, we can change the world for the better.

Some books just remain, no matter when you read them. It doesn’t matter. They are beyond time perhaps. The Catcher in the Rye is one such book. I have heard a lot of people say a lot of things, about it, however to me it still remains special. Why, you ask? Maybe because I read it at sixteen. Maybe because I read it when I was away from my family – the plot had some perspective I think. I didn’t want to be Holden, but certainly thoughts drifted in the manner he thought. J.D. Salinger knew what he was doing I think while writing this novel. What he didn’t know was the reaction or strings of actions would be created by this book. The Catcher in the Rye is not just another novel. It is the voice of several generations of teenagers in the sense of the world. It is the world of angst and no sense of direction. Or maybe it is the voice of intellectualising everything or trivialising it all. Holden Caulfield is more than an icon. He is someone who is trying to make sense of his life and life around him. It might appear to be as simple as this, when it is not or may be it is. He encounters people – different people as he takes off from his fancy school Pencey Prep and takes on his journey in New York City. This is where it all begins or almost. Originally, the book was banned in most schools in the USA. It was because of its vulgar language, which honestly I did not have a problem with then or now. To me the writing is just surreal, even after rereading it after fourteen years. It just manages to evoke the same sentiments in me […]

Take a closer look at the world of Tony Blair, whose private financial dealings within a complex web of business relationships he tries to keep hidden from the public eye. Since leaving office in 2007, the secretive empire of Tony Blair has grown exponentially. As a businessman he has been unprecedentedly successful for a former public servant, with a large property portfolio and an estimated £80 million of earnings accrued in just a few short years. But how has he managed to achieve this? Being an ex-Prime Minister comes with certain advantages, and besides his excellent state pension and 24-hour security team, Blair enjoys the best contacts that money can buy—as do those willing to pay him for access to them. Consequently, Tony Blair Associates’ clients can be found around the world, and include the morally distasteful presidents of Kazakhstan and Burma. There is also Blair’s role as special envoy in the Middle East. While his record as a peacemaker is in doubt, the position has brought him into contact with a variety of oil-rich potentates in the region who now number among his most profitable clients. Blair Inc.: The Man behind the Mask takes a close look at the world that Blair attempts to hide from scrutiny—his own. From the complex financial structures he uses to hide his profits—and the amount of tax he pays—to the multiple conflicts of interest produced by his increasing web of relationships, this book attempts to expose the dubious private dealings of this very public figure. About the Authors Francis Beckett is a journalist, broadcaster, playwright, and historian. He is the author of 16 books, including Marching to the Fault Line, Money Makes You Happy, andThe Survivor: Tony Blair in Peace and War. David Hencke is a journalist and writer, and was named Political […]