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A wonderful essay by Kohler of the hows and why of the hellscape that is the housing market in Australia in 2024. Absent political bravery—of the sort totally absent from the world today—I cannot see any meaningful improvements, although I agree with many of the essay’s suggestions and conclusions. 

I’ve never read anything quite like this remarkable book, a sui generis exploration of Herman Meville’s life through a fictional narrative of an academic. The writing is so warm and nuanced and emotive and incredibly moving. And it has inspired me to read Moby Dick, which would be hard to avoid given how warmly this novel deals with Moby Dick. Lovely stuff. 

A fascinating book that genuinely moved my thoughts on a topic: beforehand I would have described myself as quite bullish on space travel and settlement, but through this book’s broad exploration, I am now somewhat more cautious about the whole idea. In particular, I note with appreciation the Weinersmith’s conclusion that we oughtn’t consider space as a solution to the general socioeconomic and political instability that characterises the earth today. Rather, when (or if) we resolve this, then we should ought to pour ourselves into the stars. I did find the humour in this book a little too referential for my tastes in the way that a lot of (self professed) geeky or nerdy things are. There was probably an equal amount of eye rolls to chuckles. Still, even aside from the tone being not to my taste from time to time, I admire this book, its research and the passion that went into it.

A powerful book that focussed on something very universal; life’s purpose. I took a lot from his conclusion that we can only define our own purpose, no one else can define another’s purpose. His views on suffering as a key and essential part of our lives also lit something inside me. Deep and moving. I will say that it is quite unfortunate that he refers to homosexual relationships as “sexual perversion,” but we can understand that as a relic of the era in which the book was written. It is similarly disappointing that he uses ‘men’ to mean people.   

A tremendous piece of original thinking and philosophy. Some ideas were necessarily dense, but Goff’s writing and thought is clear, witty and thought-provoking. I have not landed if I find Goff’s ultimate thesis convincing, but I will be thinking about them for a long time, I suspect. 

Kung’s views on food are fun and his recipes are smartly written. I’m yet to cook anything from the book yet, but I have about 30 or so recipes I’m very excited to make. 

An excellent exploration of creativity and making art. I wish someone had taught me some of this as a kid, so I probably wouldn’t have internalized so many anti-creative sentiments. This is a book that would interest almost anyone, not just those consciously thinking about creating art. The book positions and treats creativity as an essential and necessary skill. Fascinating! 

Few books have made me see the world in such a different way as this brilliant work by Criado Pérez which exposes a historical and continuing inequity – if our decisions are (increasingly) made using data, and if data around women is not only under-collected but more often than not it is simply not collected: an omission that begins to look deliberate in its scale. This has disastrous consequences for human health, happiness, productivity, and welfare. And it’s simply not good enough and we must do better: collect data and challenge the male as default bias. 

A clear, well-written guide to improving writing. I found the studies and examples helpful in understanding the concepts. Useful indeed. 

Decent analysis about the upcoming domination (or not) of AI in our lives. While I thought the actual rules weren’t so useful, I thought the nuance Roose adds in to a debate that is often presented as AI being all good or all bad was what made this interesting to read. 

Firstly, the fat-shaming descriptions of the librarian were painful to read and felt rather at odds with the rest of the book, which is an entirely lovely thing that I couldn’t wait to read every night. If you can overlook the fatphobia, you’ll be delighted by this warm, comforting book.  

Guha puts forward a concise set of skills that we all need to thrive in an increasingly chaotic and uncertain world. This book is smartly designed, readable, and infused with real wisdom and wit. Plus bonus points for Ahona being a fellow greyhound carer and advocate.

A masterpiece. I’ve long admired Professor Beard’s work on Ancient Rome, and this her most recent work is a triumph of delving into the complexity and the fact and fiction of what it was to be a Roman Empire. By taking the Emperors as a category, Beard teases out so many fascinating details and stories, while also being very clear about what we actually know. Fantastic! 

Few people write like Patchett, and so reading this, a collection of her essays, is a true delight. The topics she covers are varied and shine a light on her fascinating life and her evolving relationship with that great old inevitability of life, death! Reading these essays makes me want to be both a better writer but also, and I can think of no better testimony than this, a better person. 

A book that rightfully reminds us that having fun is, in many respects, the point of life. As the pressures of late-stage capitalism conspire to make us think the only thing that matters is productivity, Price (and others) are leading the vanguard of arguing for a better, more fun life.