New to the Paperback - Nonfiction - February 2010
Checklist Manifesto
Atul Gawande
Today we find ourselves in possession of stupendous know-how, which we willingly place in the hands of the most highly skilled and hard-working people. Yet avoidable failures are common, and the reason is simple: the volume and complexity of our knowledge has exceeded our ability to consistently deliver it to people - correctly, safely or efficiently. Atul Gawande makes a compelling argument for the use of a checklist, which he believes to be the most promising strategy in surmounting failure. Along the way, he will show how checklists (which cost next to nothing) actually work, and why some make matters worse while others make matters better. An interesting exploration on the nature of complexity in our lives by the author of Complications and Better.more details...
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Darwin's Armada
Iain McCalman
Darwin's Armada portrays the Darwinian revolution as a collective enterprise forged in Australasian by the work of four men, Charles Darwin, Joseph Hooker, Alfred Wallace and Thomas Huxley. These four remarkable men did what one alone could not – combed the world for evidence of evolution by natural selection, and then fought tirelessly in the social and intellectual battle that followed its famous publication 150 years ago, and in doing so they changed the world. McCalman's work of history reads also as great story of adventure.more details...
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Kill Your Darlings Issue 1
Kill Your Darlings is a new journal of fiction, essays, commentary and reviews. Issue one contains fiction by Kalinda Ashton, Dmetri Kakmi, reviews of some recent books, an interview with Sarah Waters and commentary by Gideon Haigh, Tracy Crisp, Paul Mitchell and others. A welcome addition to the journals shelf.more details...
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On the Future of Conservatism: Quarterly Essay 37
Waleed Aly
In this groundbreaking essay, Waleed Aly begins by unravelling the terms Right and Left, arguing that they have become meaningless - they only foster a political conversation that becomes more about 'teams' than ideas. He discusses neoliberal economics and its corrosive effect on the social fabric, and how, in response, Howard-style conservatism was all too ready to dictate social values, even to the point of prescribing who or what is Australian. Aly discusses what a better conservatism might look like. He draws on the work of conservative thinkers such as John Gray, Owen Harries and even P.J. O'Rourke to sketch the kind of conservatism that seems scarce in Australia, but which would be a welcome presence.more details...
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Pomo Oz
Niall Lucy
Ideas are in short supply and critical thinking is under attack. That's according to Niall Lucy in his latest book, Pomo Oz. Pitting his humour and intellect against the conservative power brokers, Lucy champions the notion that free thought, not free trade, is the basis of democracy. These fresh and provocative essays challenge the reader to engage with the most contentious issues of our times.more details...
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Requiem for a Species
Clive Hamilton
There have been any number of urgent scientific reports in recent years emphasising just how dire the future looks and how little time we have left to act, but around the world few people have truly faced up to the facts about global warming. Hamilton's latest book is about why we have ignored those warnings. It is a book about the frailties of the human species: our strange obsessions, our hubris, and our penchant for avoiding the facts. It is the story of a battle within us between the forces that should have caused us to protect the earth, like our capacity to reason and our connection to nature, and our greed, materialism and alienation from nature, which seem to have the upper hand. Hamilton outlines the 21st century consequences of these failures, and what we can still do.more details...
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Thinking of Answers
A C Grayling
A.C. Grayling is a thinker who believes that philosophy is a natural part of everyday life. This collection of essays has arisen mainly in response to questions posed by readers and editors of a number of publications in which his most recent pieces have appeared. They tackle many of the most fundamental questions faced by anyone who wants to lead a considered life. As in his previous books of popular philosophy, rather than presenting a set of categorical answers Grayling offers, instead, suggestions for how to think about every aspect of a question and then arrive at one's own conclusions. As a result Thinking of Answers is both an enjoyable and inspirational collection.more details...
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