Nonfiction
Many Things Under a Rock: The Mysteries of Octopuses by David Scheel
Early on in Many Things Under a Rock, author and marine biologist David Scheel describes a colleague’s first encounter with a huge and curious octopus, effortlessly conveying the enigmatic beauty and wonder of the event in less than a…
Prudish Nation by Paul Dalgarno
With a title like Prudish Nation, you could be forgiven for thinking that Paul Dalgarno’s latest book is a work of observation coming from a position of judgement. However, you would be wrong. In fact, it could be said…
What’s For Dinner? by Jill Griffiths
This nonfiction account by journalist and self-confessed food-obsessive Jill Griffiths is a deep dive into some of the biggest issues around agriculture, food production and food consumption in our increasingly complex world. Tackling the topic with a journalist’s eye and…
Man-Made: How the Bias of the Past Is Being Built into the Future by Tracey Spicer
Whether AI is something you are not interested in, or if it’s something you want to know more about, Tracey Spicer’s Man-Made is essential reading. I first started to think about the implications of Artificial Intelligence when I heard a…
The Queen Is Dead by Stan Grant
When Queen Elizabeth II died, Stan Grant was asked by the ABC if he would present the coverage that evening. He said no: ‘I cannot mourn the White Queen.’ For Grant, the Queen signified the Whiteness that had justified the…
Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity by Ellen van Neerven
This extraordinary blend of cultural studies, memoir and poetry explores a broad spectrum of subjects centred around sport and identity. With their first book of nonfiction, award-winning writer Ellen van Neerven casts a wide net over subjects as varied as…
Australian Abstract by Amber Creswell Bell
The introduction to Amber Creswell Bell’s new survey of Australian abstract art begins by parsing a loose definition of the form. Abstract art is nonrepresentational, nonfigurative, nonobjective, a language for ‘the other’. It is a process that cracks open the…
Rethinking Our World: An Invitation to Rescue Our Future by Maja Göpel (trans. David Shaw)
Humankind is in the midst of environmental and social crisis. Business as usual is not an option. Dr Maya Göpel is a political economist who is motivated to impel her readers to question the very rules and concepts upon which…
The Power of Trees: How Ancient Forests Can Save Us If We Let Them by Peter Wohlleben
The latest book by bestselling German author of The Hidden Life of Trees is a fascinating deep dive into the latest research from the world of forestry, including how trees are adapting to climate change, and what we can…
Hanging Out: The Radical Power of Killing Time by Sheila Liming
Hanging out is to be in the moment, to become engaged with our less-than-perfect, or maybe just-perfect lives, without feeling constrained by the demands of work. Hanging out is discouraged by a constant engagement with social media and the digital…
Browse our reviews by category
