"Reading is not a duty, and has consequently no business to be made disagreeable."
- Argustine Birell, 1887
I read those technologically backward things called books. I get them from my local library. I'm lucky enough to have two of them, but Curtin University is where I get my grown up books - they're never as much fun as the kids books I mostly read.
writers
Peter Andrews | Alex Carey | Richard Denniss | Stephen Duncombe | Stuart Ewen | Clive Hamilton | Gustave Le Bon | Russell Mokhiber | Sheldon Rampton | Miranda Seymour | Gene Sharp | Dava Sobel | John Stauber | Joseph Stiglitz | Michael Strangelove | Robert Weissman
books
Back from the Brink: How Australia’s landscape can be saved by Peter Andrews (ABC Books, 2006)
"We need to recognise that plants used to run the system [in Australia] and to understand how and why they did it. Once we’ve grasped that, we then need to reinstate the plants – trees, scrub, weeds – so they can again do the job they did so successfully for so long."
Peter Andrews writes about the good work he is doing in improving his farming practices and sharing his methods with others, but I had a number of issues with inaccuracies in the book, which were compounded by his lack of referencing.
I wrote about one aspect of his book on my blog.
And a reader kindly pointed out that I myself made a spelling error while discussing Andrews' inaccuracies :P
The Empire of Mind: Digital Piracy and the Anti-Capitalist Movement by Michael Strangelove (University of Toronto Press, 2005)
"You are the master of the machine, keep watching TV. No preacher could ever deliver a more comforting message."
I wrote about one aspect of Strangelove's book on my blog.
The Planets by Dava Sobel (Fourth Estate, 2005)
"Venus, the wayward sister, preaches an important cautionary tale to careless humans, for her hostile environment proves how even small atmospheric effects can conspire over time to convert an earthly paradise into a hellfire cauldron [Venus' surface temperature is more than 800°F]"
I love Sobel's writing. Her work is factual, but she always manages to slip in personal stories which fit perfectly with her chosen topic.
Scorcher: The Dirty Politics of Climate Change by Clive Hamilton (Black Inc, 2007)
"By itself a mass of scientific evidence, no matter how compelling, can have no effect; it must influence the views of decision makers, and this means governments"
I wrote about Hamilton's topic on my blog.
Affluenza: When Too Much is Never Enough by Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss (Allen & Unwin, 2005)
Growth Fetish by Clive Hamilton (Allen & Unwin, 2003)
Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture by Stephen Duncombe (Verso, 1997)
"In a society where consuming what others have produced for you – whether it be culture or politics – is the norm, the implications are far-reaching and radical, for doing it yourself is the first premise of participatory democracy."
Duncombe’s research, writing and ideas on zines are impressive. Zinesters might hate me for saying this, but zines are perhaps the pre-tech version of blogs, although they still thrive alongside blogs, and they’re much easier to read on the loo.
Globalization and its Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz (W.W. Norton, 2002)
Stiglitz is a former chief economist of the World Bank, winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001. He discusses "the vast shortcomings of global economic policy."
Corporate Predators by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman (Common Courage Press, 1999)
PR! A Social History of Spin by Stuart Ewen (Basic Books, 1996)
"One was left to ponder whether there is any reality anymore, save the reality of public relations"
Taking the Risk out of Democracy: Propaganda in the US and Australia by Alex Carey (University of NSW Press, 1995)
Toxic Sludge is Good for You: Lies, Damn Lies, and the Public Relations Industry by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton (Common Courage Press, 1995)
The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind by Gustave Le Bon (Dover Publications, 2002) way back in 1895, Le Bon felt "the mob at any moment could seize society and destroy all he held sacred."
This edition is an unabridged republication of a standard English translation of the work originally published in 1895 in France as La psychologie des foules.
The Library of Congress says, it's "brilliantly instructive on the general characteristics and mental unity of a crowd, its sentiments and morality...A must-read volume...for every politician, statesman, investor, and marketing manager" (and anyone else who wants to brainwash :P)
The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp (Porter Sargent, 1973)
"When people refuse their cooperation, withhold their help, and persist in their disobedience and defiance, they are denying their opponent the basic human assistance and cooperation which any government or hierarchical system requires. If they do this in sufficient numbers for long enough, the government or hierarchical system will no longer have power."
