Nonfiction
Working for the Brand: How Corporations Are Destroying Free Speech by Josh Bornstein
In the latest eye-opening Australian nonfiction offering this year, high-profile Melbourne lawyer Josh Bornstein sounds the alarm regarding freedom of expression in the digital age. No, he’s not arguing for what he terms the ‘inanity of free speech absolutism’, rather…
Paris in Ruins: Love, War and the Birth of Impressionism by Sebastian Smee
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Sebastian Smee is renowned for his vibrant portrayal of art history. Unlike some authors, who deliver the past with the enthusiasm of a bored Year 8 teacher, Smee brings events to life vividly, with remarkable energy and…
Travelling to Tomorrow by Yves Rees
You might have heard Dr Yves Rees on their excellent podcast, Archive History, or even heard them talk at Readings. Delightfully, they have made the past their livelihood. Travelling to Tomorrow began as a PhD thesis, but it reads…
Kitchen Sentimental: A Journey to Self-discovery, One Recipe at a Time by Annie Smithers
As a bookseller, one of the ‘perks’ of the job is the pre-publication author events hosted by publishers, exclusively for booksellers. We usually meet at an iconic Melbourne restaurant and chat to an author about their book and its upcoming…
The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise by Olivia Laing
I have always enjoyed the way Olivia Laing writes. Just as mycelium grows from a single reference point outward in many directions, Laing creates a web of insight and interconnections that carry the reader through her curiosity and storytelling. The…
John Berger and Me by Nikos Papastergiadis
The late John Berger will be known to many readers as the pillar of cultural criticism whose 1972 BBC series Ways of Seeing, and book of the same title, are still among the most significant contributions to art theory…
Running with Pirates: On Freedom, Adventure, and Fathers and Sons by Kári Gíslason
When he was 18, Kári Gíslason decided to head off overseas from his home in Brisbane, in part to reconnect with his father in Iceland. His father had an affair with his mother when she was living in Iceland. Married…
The Men Who Killed the News: The Inside Story of How Media Moguls Abused Their Power, Manipulated the Truth and Distorted Democracy by Eric Beecher
Early in The Men Who Killed the News, Eric Beecher wistfully remarks that he worked in a golden age of journalism; as a journalist starting out in the early 1970s, print journalism was at its height buttressed by the…
How to Be a Citizen: Learning to Rely Less on Rules and More on Each Other by C.L. Skach
C.L. Skach is a respected constitutional lawyer; she’s advised governments around the world, including Iraq, on developing their constitutions – rules-based order, if you will. Her career has been based on advising governments on how laws and constitutions could enhance…
Ten Things I Wish You Knew About Your Child’s Mental Health by Dr Billy Garvey
Developmental paediatrician and Melbourne local Dr Billy Garvey may already be known to many through the podcast he co-hosts with his good friend Nick McCormack, Pop Culture Parenting. For those who are not familiar with it, Dr Billy (as…
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