Last month I went to the opening of a rather marvellous and moving exhibition at Melbourne’s Immigration Museum. The exhibition, They Cannot Take the Sky is based on the book of the same name (edited by Michael Green, Angelica Neville, André Dao, Dana Affleck and Sienna Merope). Like the book, it’s been put together by a group of people with a lived experience of immigration detention. Twenty-four asylum seekers share their stories (through short videos and audio): their journeys, their experiences in immigration detention, and life after release. Some remain in offshore detention: they share their hopes for the future, despite their ongoing incarceration. Their testimonies are shocking and at times hilarious, surprising and devastating, but above all, they show people with ordinary aspirations to a life free of tyranny and persecution. Victoria’s Minister for Creative Industries, Martin Foley, gave an impassioned speech about the need for the immigration debate to be reset, at a time when the whole world is facing dislocation. The exhibition and book were produced by Behind the Wire (founded in 2014), an ongoing oral history project documenting the stories of the men, women and children detained by the Australian government after seeking asylum in Australia. They’ve also collaborated with the Wheeler Centre to produce a podcast, The Messenger, comprising conversations between Melbourne journalist Michael Green and a Sudanese refugee, Abdul Aziz Muhamat, currently detained on Manus Island.

The exhibition is on until 2 July, the book is available from Readings and you can hear the podcast on the Wheeler Centre website (or subscribe on iTunes).

I hope, like me, you’re discovering some inspiring new books. I’ve had a great time over the last few months being reenergised by reading. It makes me realise what a privileged position I’m in, to have access to so many wonderful books – though I’m also a bit daunted by all those I won’t be able to read. Anna Low is on the board of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation with me; she’s also a great bookseller with a wonderful bookshop in Sydney’s Potts Point. At our last meeting, she raved about Bill Hayes’ Insomniac City. Hayes was the partner of famous neurologist Oliver Sacks in the years leading up to his death, and a New York newcomer. The book is about New York and about love. It’s funny, fascinating, poignant and wise: and at the end, incredibly sad. What more could you want from a book?

I also read The Upstarts (about Uber and Airbnb) by Brad Stone, author of The Everything Store (about Amazon). It’s a fascinating account of these two companies. They started with quite different philosophies, but ended up doing similar things. Airbnb wanted to bring the world together; Uber wanted to exploit and profit from the inefficiencies of the taxi industry. I only discovered Uber recently – and was seduced by its beautiful technology. But after reading Upstarts, I deleted my app. Though Stone admires Uber and what it’s achieved, what comes through in the book is its utter ruthlessness in pushing its agenda, no matter what the cost to the community. CEO Travis Kalanick is so convinced of Uber’s benefits that the cultural and economic histories of a community are irrelevant to him, as are its laws.

The power of books is that they can change agendas: can make people rethink and reimagine their world. I’d love to hear about the books that have done this for you recently!

Mark Rubbo