Popular Non-Fiction Recent Picks

January 2010

The title-underlined links will take you directly to our catalogue.
Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.

The great crash of 2008, by Ross Garnaut with David Llewellyn Smith.
"The great crash of 2008 was one that no one saw coming, or, if they did, they ignored the warning signs. Ross Garnaut, respected economist and author of the "Garnaut Climate Change Review", takes us through the recent boom and the global imbalances that led to the bust. He presents a whole-world view of reasons for the downturn, from good, old-fashioned greed and rampant speculation, to the imbalances in global capital flows. Crucially, he sets out how we might seek order in the wreckage in a world forever changed. What are the geo-economic and geo-strategic implications of such a wide-ranging crash, and how do we restore development in this changed world? The book will also include the impact of the downturn on climate change, economic policy and ideology." (Amazon)

Conquering carbon : carbon emissions, carbon markets and the consumer, by Felicia Jackson.
"...We need to alter our relationship with carbon by learning how best to manage and prevent the loss of our resources in order to increase our sustainability. "Conquering Carbon" provides a clear overview of the role of carbon and the direct effects of our relationship with it. By providing a historical overview of global warming and key issues, examining the key players in the carbon market and looking at countries, companies and consumers' actions and the reasons behind these decisions, "Conquering Carbon" allows people to take action on an individual basis, which author Felicia Jackson argues is the ultimate consumer act. Understanding the role of carbon, its price, the market and the power of the consumer gives an individual the chance to affect the development of climate change legislation and political will. This book allows us to use the power of our wallets to influence the choices that corporations make." (Amazon)

Occult America : the secret history of how mysticism shaped our nation, by Mitch Horowitz.
"It touched lives as disparate as those of Frederick Douglass, Franklin Roosevelt, and Mary Todd Lincoln--who once convinced her husband, Abe, to host a séance in the White House. Americans all, they were among the famous figures whose paths intertwined with the mystical and esoteric movement broadly known as the occult. Brought over from the Old World and spread throughout the New by some of the most obscure but gifted men and women of early U.S. history, this “hidden wisdom” transformed the spiritual life of the still-young nation and, through it, much of the Western world. Yet the story of the American occult has remained largely untold. Now a leading writer on the subject of alternative spirituality brings it out of the shadows. Here is a rich, fascinating, and colorful history of a religious revolution and an epic of offbeat history." (Amazon)

On monsters : an unnatural history of our worst fears, by Stephen T. Asma. (2009)
"...Exploring philosophical treatises, theological tracts, newspapers, pamphlets, films, scientific notebooks, and novels, Asma unpacks traditional monster stories for the clues they offer about the inner logic of an era's fears and fascinations. In doing so, he illuminates the many ways monsters have become repositories for those human qualities that must be repudiated, externalized, and defeated. Asma suggests that how we handle monsters reflects how we handle uncertainty, ambiguity, insecurity. And in a world that is daily becoming less secure and more ambiguous, he shows how we might learn to better live with monsters--and thereby avoid becoming one." (Amazon)

Make money, not excuses : wake up, take charge, and overcome your financial fears forever, by Jean Chatzky. (2008)
"Today, more than ever before, wealth is something every woman has the power to create. Yet Jean Chatzky constantly hears all the excuses why women can't and don't master their money. Now, she reveals the secrets and the strategies she created to take control of her own money - strategies through which she gained her "money confidence" It's time for you to find yours!" (Book jacket)

Global depression and regional wars, by James Petras.
"These extraordinary times unprecedented in modern history are marked by a worldwide depression and regional wars involving all the major imperial powers.... Petras provides clear insight into how the ramifications of the world depression and regional wars that originated in Washington and on Wall Street are extending throughout the world, provoking popular challenges especially in Latin America, while reinforcing the belligerency and increasingly fascistic nature of the state of Israel. He demonstrates how unending wars and a deepening capitalist depression have demolished the ideology of free market neo-liberalism and forced to the forefront the need for structural changes. He points out how the collapse of the capitalist free market and the need for large-scale, long-term interventions by the state have once again raised the question of whose interests states are presently promoting, and whose interests in actuality they should serve. Both in the United States and Latin America, center-left regimes are proposing economic reforms to try to save the capitalist system. However the deepening crisis is raising the prospect of mass support for 21st Century socialism, which focuses on public investment, ownership and control." (Amazon)

Presence of mind : New Zealand in the world, by Terence O'Brien.
"Notwithstanding New Zealand's discrete place and relative isolation in the world, what was once termed the 'tyranny of distance' applies no longer to the country's external relations. There is a pressing need for New Zealanders to have a deeper understanding of the forces that drive global trends and developments, from which their nation is not immune. " (Book jacket)

Our choice : a plan to solve the climate crisis, by Al Gore.
"It is now abundantly clear that we have at our fingertips all of the tools we need to solve the climate crisis. The only missing ingredient is collective will." (Amazon)

Empire of illusion : the end of literacy and the triumph of spectacle, by Chris Hedges.
"Pulitzer prize - winner Chris Hedges charts the dramatic and disturbing rise of a post-literate society that craves fantasy, ecstasy and illusion. Chris Hedges argues that we now live in two societies: One, the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world, that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other, a growing majority, is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic." (Amazon)

The code-breaker's secret diaries : the perilous expedition through plague-ridden Egypt to uncover the ancient mysteries of the hieroglyphs, by J.F. Champollion ; decipherer of the Rosetta stone.

The clean industrial revolution : growing Australian prosperity in a greenhouse age, by Ben McNeil.

America and the world : conversations on the future of American foreign policy, by Zbigniew Brzezinski, Brent Scowcroft.
"Moderated by David Ignatius", (Book jacket)

Storms of my grandchildren : the truth about the coming climate catastrophe and our last chance to save humanity, by James Hansen ; [illustrations by Makiko Sato].

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