The link below is to an article that takes a look at how to create your own reading nook.
For more visit:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/emmacooke24/i-need-a-nook-right-now
Tag Archives: reading
How reading fiction can help students understand the real world
Melissa Tandiwe Myambo, University of California, Los Angeles
The real world is often overwhelmingly complicated. Literature can help. This is true at universities too: courses in comparative literature offer students new insights into their chosen disciplines by unlocking new, varied perspectives.
How can those studying political science truly grasp the terror of living under a dictator? Perhaps by reading Mario Vargas Llosa’s The Feast of the Goat, a magnificent historical novel about the tyrannical Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic. Students who read it are unlikely to forget the dizzying Cold War political intrigues that led the US to first support Trujillo and then implement sanctions against him.
In area studies, students must learn about the politics of postcolonial government. Chinua Achebe’s 1966 novel, A Man of the People, explores how rapidly post-independence revolutionary zeal can turn venal as the corrupt, greedy postcolonial elite seizes the reins of power from the coloniser only to further strangle the majority.
I would suggest that teaching these and other subjects – history, economics, sociology, geography and many others – can only be enhanced by including novels, short stories and artistic feature films. Students will also benefit from learning the methods of critical reading that are inherent to literary study. In this article I will explore why this is the case, focusing largely on the important but contested field of international development studies.
Why development is about more than economics
International development studies cries out for a literary component precisely because it is such an ideological and normative subject. “Development” is itself a term that should demand ideological evaluation. It is more than economics. This is made clear by the UN’s Millennium and Sustainable Development Goals. These reiterate that “development” also focuses on cultural change, such as gender equity through empowering women and girls.
But the syllabus of almost any international development studies course contains a heavy dose of development economists: Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz, Jeffrey Sachs. Or, if the professor is slightly more left-leaning, there will be works by anthropologists like James Ferguson and Arturo Escobar or brilliant political science professor Timothy Mitchell. Why only these? This is an area in which books in the humanities and arts are pertinent, yet one never sees a postcolonial novel on these syllabi.
It is frankly criminal. Development was constituted as a field of study and area of practice during the years of decolonisation after World War II. This was the very same time period which spawned the birth of what is today called postcolonial literature. But international development studies courses seldom broach the fundamental question of what is truly meant by development. Developing to what? For whose benefit? Under whose aegis? This question, however, is interrogated in a vast body of excellent fiction.
I have prescribed Nuruddin Farah’s 1993 novel, Gifts – inspired by Marcel Mauss’ classic ethnography The Gift – to my students. When development aid from powerful countries is donated to impoverished 1980s Somalia, a fine line is walked by both the West which “gives” and the Somalis who “receive.” The book is a long meditation on the tightrope act that teeters between donation and domination. Certainly my students learned more about how it really feels to be the recipient of donor aid from this novel than any of our social science readings, which were mostly written from the donors’ point of view.
Exploring different points of view
This isn’t to suggest that such novels are stand-ins for “native informants”, who are perceived to be experts about a culture, race or place simply because they belong to it. Quite the contrary. They should be read as literature, which literary critics like Mikhail Bakhtin describe as a jumble of competing viewpoints depending on language that always struggles to convey actual truth.
Point of view might be an easier concept for students to grasp at first than Bakhtin’s theory. It is a basic narrative technique that is explored in Literary Criticism 101 because it can change the way a story is told or perceived. In the rich 2006 film Bamako the people of Mali put the World Bank on trial to determine why their poisoned “gift” of development aid has left the country with such a debilitating debt burden.
From the World Bank’s perspective, development might mean one thing but for those “beneficiaries,” it means something quite different. Art has the power to convey that point of view with visceral impact. Isn’t this essential for international development students who aim to help the “other” to “develop”?
Room for myriad insights
The end state of “development,” which is implied but hardly ever explicitly theorised in international development studies, is “modernity” and becoming “modern”. This is a subject on which literature and literary theory can offer myriad insights.
Zakes Mda’s wonderful 2005 novel Heart of Redness depicts the tale of a contemporary village in post-apartheid South Africa. Here, two groups of villagers hold radically different positions on what development means to them. Does it mean street lamps and a casino resort that will bring tourists? Or maintaining a more “traditional,” environmentally-sustainable lifestyle albeit with some “modern” amenities? The villagers’ differing positions are also informed by their different views on their history of colonisation.
History is, of course, essential for understanding any subject. For this reason I’ve not restricted myself to postcolonial literature only in teaching my classes. Robinson Crusoe, first published in 1719, is an excellent novel for introducing the study of British imperialism which is a prerequisite for understanding our contemporary global cultural economy.
Pushing for positive change
In our globalising world, the stakes could not be higher. Many of our students will end up making policy, allocating aid, driving the global economy. They will change the world. Literature and humanistic thinking enable them to change it for the better.
Melissa Tandiwe Myambo, Fublright-Nehru Scholar, Research Associate, Centre for Indian Studies, Wits University, University of California, Los Angeles
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Reading Makes You a Better Person
The link below is to an article that explains why reading makes you a better person.
For more visit:
http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/blogs/why-reading-fiction-makes-you-a-better-person
Schools need advice on how to help students with reading difficulties
John Munro, University of Melbourne
As students prepare to go back to school, it’s estimated that between 10% to 16% of those aged from five to 16 years will have reading difficulties such as dyslexia and inadequate comprehension skills.
All teaching makes particular assumptions about how students tend to learn. For these students, regular literacy teaching will be insufficient. They need alternative teaching pathways.
Despite numerous policies, such as the Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership, and the A$706.3 million spent between 2008-2014 on reading programs to support students, literacy underachievement continues to plague Australian education, suggesting that current interventions are not working for all students. Teachers don’t necessarily know how to teach these children.
The problem is not a lack of research about what works. It is more the lack of guidance for teachers and schools in how to use this knowledge in teaching.
School leaders are responsible for making definitive decisions about educational provision in their schools. They need clear and explicit guidelines on how to choose effective literacy interventions that will work for these students.
Why do some students struggle with reading?
Reading comprehension is a complex process. Students have difficulty comprehending text for several reasons:
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Some don’t know the sounds that make up spoken words (phonological and phonemic skills) or have difficulty saying letter patterns accurately (phonic skills). These lead to word reading and spelling difficulties, or dyslexia.
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Some lack the vocabulary and other oral language knowledge that scaffolds reading comprehension.
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Others have a relatively poor self-concept as a reader. They believe they can’t learn to read and disengage from literacy.
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Some students don’t transfer what they learn about reading some texts to other texts.
Any interventions, then, need to cater for this range of differences.
What’s needed
Research suggests that reading comprehension could be improved by teaching:
- explicitly phonological and phonemic skills
- phonic skills
- how to improve reading fluency
- ways to enhance vocabulary
- paraphrasing
- how to visualise and summarise what a text says while reading, and generate questions
- how to use various idea-organising techniques such as concept mapping to link the ideas in the text.
Teaching the sound patterns and how to say written works is particularly useful for dyslexic difficulties.
Interventions that work
The Early Reading Intervention Knowledge (ERIK) program is an example of how research can be used to develop school-based interventions.
Developed from a large research analysis of the causes of early reading difficulties in the early 2000s, it has been used in grade 1-5 in Catholic primary schools in Victoria.
Students are allocated to one of three parallel intervention pathways depending on their reading difficulty profile; a phonological pathway, an orthographic pathway for students who have phonological skills and difficulty reading letter clusters, and an oral language pathway. Students can move between pathways.
A recent evaluation, available for Catholic Education Melbourne, showed that the three intervention pathways are very effective in improving the reading outcomes of students who underachieve or are at risk of future reading and writing difficulties.
Effect sizes were calculated for eight reading profiles, based on whether the students began with difficulties in one or more of reading comprehension, accuracy or rate. Students with difficulties in two or more areas improved in excess of two years in comprehension and in accuracy. The intervention usually lasted between one and two terms.
Younger students benefited more from the phonological and orthographic interventions while their older peers benefited more from the oral language intervention.
Findings such as these have implications for schools.
How to select the right program for your school
When a school leader is selecting a program to help improve students’ literacy outcomes they first need to ask:
- Does it match the range of ways in which my students underachieve? Students need a program that accommodates their reason for underachievement.
- Does it have multiple parallel literacy learning pathways, and doesn’t assume that one size fits all?
- Does it have explicit teaching procedures for each pathway? How comprehensive and systematic are they?
- Does it provide a means for identifying each student’s literacy learning profile and for deciding the pathway for optimal progress for that student? Or does it assume that all students will best progress by following the same pathway?
- What research supports the effectiveness of the intervention? Does it provide data that show that students of different reading profiles make progress using it?
- Is it based explicitly on an accepted research theory of how students learn to read? Many programs are not based on a rigorously and extensively researched theory.
These are key issues that any school leader who is thoughtfully and responsibly selecting a literacy intervention program in 2016 needs to answer.
Many know their current interventions do not work for all underachieving students. Decisions they make will live with their most academically vulnerable students for years to come. Education providers need to develop clear guidelines to ensure teachers are making appropriate decisions.
John Munro, Associate Professor, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Reading This Year
The link below is to an article that looks at how to reach your reading goals for this year.
For more visit:
http://time.com/4166733/daily-reading-habit/
How Reading Benefits Humanity
The link below is to an article (with infographic) that looks at how reading benefits humanity.
For more visit:
http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2016/01/the-benefits-of-reading-infographic/
Scientists on their favourite science fiction
Michael J. I. Brown, Monash University; Alice Gorman, Flinders University; Bryan Gaensler, University of Toronto; Duncan Galloway, Monash University; Geraint Lewis, University of Sydney; Helen Maynard-Casely, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation; Matthew Browne, CQUniversity Australia, and Rob Brooks, UNSW Australia
Tales of strange alien worlds, fantastic future technologies and bowls of sentient petunias have long captivated audiences worldwide. But science fiction is more than just fantasy in space; it can educate, inspire and expand our imaginations to conceive of the universe as it might be.
We invited scientists to highlight their favourite science fiction novel or film and tell us what it was that captivated their imagination – and, for some, how it started their career.
Bryan Gaensler, astronomer, University of Toronto
Time for the Stars
– Robert A. Heinlein
Long before the era of hard science fiction, Robert Heinlein took Einstein’s special theory of relativity and turned it into a masterpiece of young adult fiction.
In Time for the Stars, Earth explores the Galaxy via a fleet of “torch ships”, spacecraft that travel at a significant fraction of the speed of light. Communication with the fleet is handled by pairs of telepathic twins, one of whom stays on Earth while the other journeys forth. The supposed simultaneity of telepathy overcomes the massive time delays that would otherwise occur over the immense distances of space.
The catch is that at the tremendous speeds of these torch ships, time travels much slower than back on Earth. The story focuses on Tom, the space traveller, and his twin brother Pat, who remains behind. The years and decades sweep by for Pat, in a journey that takes mere months for Tom. Pat’s telepathic voice accelerates to a shrill accelerated squeal for Tom, as Einstein’s time dilation drives them apart, both metaphorically and physically.
This is ultimately a breezy kids’ adventure novel, but it had a massive influence on me. Modern physics wasn’t abstruse. It was measurable, and it had consequences. I was hooked. And I’ve never let go.
Michael Brown, astronomer, Monash University
2001: A Space Odyssey
– Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey encompasses human evolution, space, alien life and artificial intelligence. Despite being released the year before Apollo 11, the Academy Award winning special effects still make its vision of space inspiring. It can be spine tingling when seen at an old fashioned cinema with a wide screen and a 70mm print (such as Melbourne’s Astor).
2001 is also a product of its time. During the 1960s NASA consumed roughly 4% of the US federal budget, and if that had continued, then perhaps the International Space Station would be a giant rotating behemoth seen in 2001. Indeed 2001’s Pan Am spaceplane seems like a natural progression from early (ambitious) proposals for the Space Shuttle.
Technologies in the film are ahead and behind what we have today.
The most memorable (and arguably emotional) character of 2001 is HAL, an eerily intelligent computer that is far in advance of any computer in existence. And yet astronauts on the moon are using photographic film, rather than digital cameras.
Kubrick deliberately made some space travel seem routine, so his space travellers are frozen in 1960s norms. The astronauts are mostly white men, with women mostly relegated to roles such as flight attendants (an exception is a Soviet scientist). Fortunately, in this regard, the 21st century is more advanced than 2001’s imagined future.
Alice Gorman, space archaeologist, Flinders University
Out of the Silent Planet
– C. S. Lewis
The first book of the classic “Space Trilogy” was written 20 years before the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957, the first “world-circling spaceship”. C. S. Lewis was no scientist – he was a professor of Medieval and Renaissance literature – but his deep knowledge of pre-modern cosmology gives his take on space travel a unique flavour. I find myself returning to Out of the Silent Planet and its sequel, Voyage to Venus, over and over again.
In the story, Lewis’ hero, Ransom, becomes a reluctant astronaut when kidnapped by the uber-colonial “hard” scientist Weston for a journey to Mars. Confined in the spherical spaceship, he becomes aware of a constant faint tinkling noise. In the world before space junk, it is a fine rain of micrometeoroids striking the aluminium shell.
Ransom’s “dismal fancy of the black, cold vacuity, the utter deadness, which was supposed to separate the worlds” fostered by modern science, is transformed by the experience of actually being in space.
His revelation is an intimately joyous recognition that space, far from being dead, is an “empyrean ocean of radiance”, whose “blazing and innumerable offspring” look down upon the Earth. He feels “life pouring into him from it every moment. How indeed should it be otherwise, since out of this ocean all the worlds and all their life had come?”
How, indeed, could we not long for space after such a vision as this?
Duncan Galloway, astrophysicist, Monash University
Ringworld
– Larry Niven
It was Larry Niven’s Ringworld that led, in part, to my career in astrophysics.
Ringworld describes the exploration of an alien megastructure of unknown origin, discovered around a distant star. The artificial world is literally in the shape of a ring, with a radius corresponding to the distance of the Earth to the sun; mountainous walls on each side hold in the atmosphere, and the surface is decorated with a wide variety of alien plants and animals.
The hero gets to the Ringworld via a mildly faster-than-light drive purchased at astronomical cost from an alien trading species, and makes use of teleportation disks and automated medical equipment.
The appeal of high-technology stories like this are obvious: many contemporary problems, like personal transportation, overpopulation, disease, and death have all been solved by advanced technology; while of course, new and interesting problems have arisen.
Grand in scope, and featuring some truly bold ideas, Ringworld (and Niven’s other books set in “Known Space”) are as keen now as when they were written, 40 years ago.
Helen Maynard-Casely, planetary scientist, ANSTO
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
– Douglas Adams
Whether you have heard the radio play, read the book or seen the film, this story of a hapless Englishman negotiating his way through the galaxy is an essential piece of nerd culture. I first heard the play as a teenager, and even now not many weeks go by without me delving into sections of this trilogy of five-parts.
As a scientist, my life can seem a little zany to an outsider. When your job does sometimes actually entail reversing the polarity of a neutron flow, you need to look to an even crazier fiction world for your escapism. And for me this book is it. A world where sperm whales and bowls of petunias can appear in space for no reason at all and staggering co-incidences happen every time you power up your spaceship.
BBC
The genius (and I do not use that word lightly) of Douglas Adams’ writing is that the loopy concepts of the book are presented with a thin veneer of “scienceness”, enough to make the fantastical concepts that little more believable. Then he “normalises” it all. A packet of peanuts will help you survive a matter transference beam, for instance.
The heart of this book is its characters, a suite of people/aliens that are echoed in every workplace (certainly every laboratory) across the world. Walk into any science institute and there will be a two-headed power-hungry presidential leader railing upon post-docs, with brains the size of planets, who really wish you hadn’t talked to them about life.
I get the impression that Douglas Adams would not have wanted you to take anything away from this book. But, for me it gives continued inspiration that there is always another way to sidle up to a problem. Most of all though: don’t panic.
Matthew Browne, social scientist, CQUniversity
Consider Phlebas
– Iain M. Banks
I love a lot of science fiction, but Iain M. Banks’ classic space-opera Consider Phlebas is a special favourite.
Banks describes the “Culture”, a diverse, anarchic, utopian and galaxy-spanning post-scarcity society. The Culture is a hybrid of enhanced and altered humanoids and artificial intelligences, which range from rather dull to almost godlike in their capabilities.
Most people in the Culture lead a relaxed, hedonistic lifestyle, going to parties, doing art, taking drugs (which they can synthesise from bio-engineered glands) and generally having fun. The tedious business of actually running the whole show is mostly left up to the most powerful AIs, called Minds, who manifest themselves in the great star-ships and orbitals in which most citizens live.
Of course, it’s a big galaxy, and not everyone shares the Culture’s easy-going approach to galactic citizenship. Consider Phlebas is set against the backdrop of a growing conflict between the Culture and the Indirans, a speciesist, religious and hierarchical empire with expansion on its mind.
Perhaps the best thing about Consider Phlebas (apart from the wonderfully irreverent ship names the Minds give themselves) is the fact that a story from this conflict is told from the perspective of an Indiran agent, who despises the Culture and everything it stands for.
My own take on the book is as an ode to progressive technological humanism, and the astute reader will find many parallels to contemporary political and cultural issues.
Rob Brooks, evolutionary biologist, UNSW Australia
The Truman Show
– Peter Weir
Truman Burbank, played with a delectable balance of animation and pathos by Jim Carrey, lives a confected life as unwitting protagonist in a reality television show. Conceived on camera, adopted by a corporation and manipulated at every stage by the show’s sinister creative genius, Christof (Ed Harris), Truman nonetheless comes to realise that his world is a sham and that almost every interaction he ever had was a lie.
Against the backdrop of Seahaven’s dystopic perfection, Weir exposes prescient glimpses of reality television, surveillance culture and the stalkerish targeted advertising we now find in our social media streams.
It’s like a peppy 1984 but with corporate hegemony replacing the totalitarian state. But I was most gripped by the fresh take on ancient debates about rationalist nature and empiricist nurture.
As a student of behaviour, I’ve always rued the amputation of biology from the social sciences, particularly the wasted opportunity that saw sociobiology turned into a perjorative in the late 1970s, at least outside the study of insect sociality. The rejection of evolutionary thinking as “biological determinism”, and its positioning as opposite to progress and liberation, has always rankled me.
I recall watching the film alone, between conferences, at an ancient cinema in Santa Cruz. What excited me most, and kept me up much of the night scribbling notes that would eventually shape my research direction and lead me to popular writing, was Weir’s clever inversion of the relationships between nature/nurture and determinism/free will.
While Cristof’s nurture tramples Truman’s nature throughout the film, in the end something inherent to Truman sets him free, as he whispers: “You never had a camera in my head!”.
Geraint Lewis, astrophysicist, University of Sydney
The Time Machine
– H. G. Wells
In the decade before Albert Einstein told us that time and space were malleable, H. G. Wells gave us the adventures of the Time Traveller.
We never learn the name of this Victorian scientist, a man who explains “there is no difference between time and any of the three dimensions of space” and builds a machine to explore this new world. It was not from Einstein that I discovered the non-absolute nature of space and time, but from the Time Traveller, and his present-day incarnation, Doctor Who.
The Traveller doesn’t head to past, to be a voyeur at historical events, but into the unknown future. And the future of Wells is not glorious! The Traveller finds evolution has split humans in two, with delicate Eloi being little more than food for the subterranean Morlocks.
Escaping mayhem and heading even further into the future, the Traveller finds the life’s last gasp under a swollen, red sun, eventually seeing the Earth succumbs to final freezing, before he returns to the relative safety of Victorian London.
This scientific vision of the future struck me, and the nature of time has remained in my mind. At the end of the story the Traveller heads back to continue his exploration of the future; playing with the equations of relativity is likely to be the closest I will ever come to realising this dream.
Michael J. I. Brown, Associate professor, Monash University; Alice Gorman, Senior Lecturer in archaeology and space studies, Flinders University; Bryan Gaensler, Director, Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto; Duncan Galloway, PhD; Senior Lecturer in Astrophysics, Monash University; Geraint Lewis, Professor of Astrophysics, University of Sydney; Helen Maynard-Casely, Instrument Scientist, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation; Matthew Browne, Lecturer in Psychology, CQUniversity Australia, and Rob Brooks, Scientia Professor of Evolutionary Ecology; Director, Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, UNSW Australia
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
How to keep kids reading over the Christmas break
Ryan Spencer, University of Canberra
Children who fail to read regularly during long breaks from school will often see their reading ability drop. This is termed the “summer slide”.
Socio-economic status can be a factor – if a child’s household has fewer books to read, then they will have fewer authentic reading opportunities.
But those children who keep up their reading over the summer break are likely to see improvements in in their reading abilities, both in terms of what books they read and how often they interact with these texts.
Some methods of keeping kids engaged in reading are more effective than others.
For example, choosing a book that the child will simply enjoy or find entertaining, rather than treating it as a learning exercise, will more likely keep them interested in reading.
Here are some other ways to help your child enjoy reading over the summer break:
Think of books that will interest your child
Novelty books that incorporate fun into reading are a great way to engage younger readers with useful book-handling behaviours.
Books with interactive aspects such as pop-up displays, lift-up flaps and tactile elements are much more likely to immerse children, and sway them from the notion that “reading books is boring”.
Encouraging children to seek out books based on popular film and television programs is also a great way to extend their interests beyond watching the screen.
After reading parts of these books together, you can discuss with your child how the story varies between the visual and print versions and ask them which they prefer.
Use technology to engage and assist
Reading isn’t just limited to print books alone. Encouraging children to read books on electronic devices can be a way to engage otherwise reluctant children with reading.
Not only are these electronic copies often cheaper than hard-copy books, they also provide other useful features, such as reducing the “hard book” feeling for reluctant readers. Many reluctant readers feel anxious about reading thick books with small print. The eBook removes this as a concern as children can adjust the size of the font with ease and the physical size of the book is no longer a concern. Teachers are already embracing these features in their classrooms to provide engaging and useful reading experiences.
Researchers have demonstrated that struggling readers benefit from the additional features that eReaders provide, such as text to speech, where the eReader will electronically read the text out loud to the reader. Functions such as these are very useful in helping to fill in the gaps in childen’s understanding when they are reading an unknown text.
Read with your child every day
Regular reading routines are essential to developing effective reading habits.
Set aside a time every day when you and your child can read together, and another time when you can discuss your favourite parts of the book.
If you are reading with your child and they come to a word that they don’t know or aren’t sure of, remember the following simple rules:
Wait: Give your child a chance to figure out the word on their own. Don’t be the instant word factory and supply the word – help your child to be a resourceful reader by allowing them time to gather more information and clues.
Ask: Does that make sense? Does the picture give you a clue? Could you read on for more information? Asking these questions reminds your child of the different strategies they can use to figure out what the text is saying.
Then: If the child is still stuck on that word, ask them to skip it and read on. You can always drop that word into the conversation as you turn the page. This supplies the unknown word and has the added advantage of not shaming the child for being wrong.
One of the best gifts that you can give your child over the festive season is to spend time with them finding, sharing and exploring exciting books.
Ryan Spencer, Clinical Teaching Specialist; Lecturer in Literacy Education, University of Canberra
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
How To Read A Book
The link below is to an article that takes a look at how to read a book – what do you think?
For more visit:
https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/how-to-read-a-book/
Summer reading guide from The Conversation’s economists
Charis Palmer, The Conversation and Helen Westerman, The Conversation
Challenging, inspiring and funny: a handful of our economics writers share the favourite books they read this year.
Rodney Maddock, Adjunct Professor of Economics, Monash University
The Courage to Act by Ben Bernanke
Ben Bernanke’s The Courage to Act gives a wonderful insight into the problems he faced in trying to deal with the crisis, around legislative restrictions, and blame shifting amongst the various regulators.
Doing Good Better by William MacAskill
William MacAskill’s Doing Good Better is a great read about the problems with international charities and on ways in which we can do better in providing assistance.
The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood’s The Heart Goes Last was my best novel of the year: she is simply a wonderful writer and this one extrapolates ideas about how a prison might be run for profit, posing a possible end state of privatisation.
Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic
Emma Viskic’s Resurrection Bay is the perfect holiday detective story set; perfect for aeroplanes or the beach.
Janine Dixon, Senior Research Fellow, Victoria University
Creating Cities by Marcus Westbury
Marcus Westbury, founder of Renew Newcastle, identified a problem and set about trying to fix it. An economist would hardly credit the idea that the main street in the CBD of a major Australian town could lie mostly empty, while at the same time property owners were declining genuine offers of business. Without being an economics textbook, Creating Cities gives us insight into the market incentives that lead to this sub-optimal allocation of resources. The book takes the reader on a fascinating journey through the process of renewal of an urban centre. Westbury describes the failure of large, centrally-led projects (think monorail) to revive Newcastle, and the surprising success of individuals and small enterprises in breathing life into the once empty shopfronts.
Melbourne University Publishing
City Limits by Jane-Frances Kelly and Paul Donegan
“A higher proportion of Australians live in cities than almost any other country, and most of our national wealth is generated in them.” There is no question that well-functioning cities are a great enabler of economic activity and provide residents with a high standard of living. However, in cities a diverse range of individuals and agencies operate and respond to incentives which are not always in the interests of the greater good. This book gives detailed and informative descriptions of the state of many Australian cities, and explores the many challenges faced by city planners, residents and businesses alike.
The Economics of Just About Everything by Andrew Leigh
I’ve been lucky enough to hear Andrew Leigh speak on a couple of occasions and he tells a great yarn. His message is clear – economics is about incentives – and he illustrates his point over and over with interesting data and stories to go with it. He dispels the myth that economists are only interested in money. I’ve got this one for my 14-year-old nephew for Christmas this year.
Stephen King, Professor, Department of Economics, Monash University
From Protection to Competition by Kerrie Round and Martin Shanahan
I reviewed this book for an international competition law journal earlier this year. It is a great little book that provides a history of Australia’s attitudes to competition and our competition laws from 1788 to 1974 (the end date is when our current competition laws were introduced). It is a comprehensive work of economic history and also a great “story”. It is easy to forget that for most of Australia’s history businesses happily and legally formed cartels to prevent “undesirable” competition and to harm consumers. It is also interesting to see government responses (e.g. having government owned businesses to try and increase competition – they usually failed). It is a gem that I referenced in my most recent article on The Conversation.
Deborah Ralston, Professor of Finance, Monash University
Melbourne University Publishing
Advanced Australia by Mark Butler
Much of my research over recent years has been on post-retirement and I think this book is a really accessible discussion of the issues involved. Although a sitting member, Butler seems to take a pretty balanced view of how the ageing population is impacting on the economy. His track record as Minister for Mental Health and Aged Care through a period of considerable reform to aged care gives him a fairly authoritative point of view. I really enjoyed his speech on this topic to the National Press Club recently.
Ross Guest, Professor of Economics, Griffith University
Real-world Economic Policy by Jan Libich
This is the best book for me this year. Succinct contributions on a range of topical themes from economists from various fields and persuasions.
Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW Australia
Zero to One by Peter Thiel
Paypal founder and noted venture capitalist Peter Thiel discusses how monopoly is essential for innovation, not the terrible thing economists have always told you.
Destiny and Power by Jon Meacham
Biography of George Herbert Walker Bush (aka Bush 41).
Crippled America by Donald Trump
Just because…
America’s Bank by Roger Lowenstein
How challenging it was to create the US Federal Reserve system.
Catherine de Fontenay, Associate Professor, Melbourne Business School
Poor Economics by Abhijit V. Banerjee and Esther Duflo
In the last decade, development economics has undergone a revolution, led primarily by Esther Duflo, an intense young Frenchwoman who is a professor at MIT. The new approach emphasises using randomised control trials (similarly to medicine) to test the efficacy of different policies, and to build a more accurate picture of the economic challenges of the bottom billion (the poorest billion people on earth). The insights garnered are simply amazing, and will lead to changes in policy that will have a profound effect on the condition of the poor for many decades.
Tim Harcourt, J.W. Nevile Fellow in Economics, UNSW Australia
Why Australia Prospered by Ian McLean
Ian McLean turns economic history conventional wisdom on its head in this thought provoking book.
Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson
Why did the USA succeed while Mexico struggled? Same with Argentina or Australia or Botswana and Sierra Leone? The role of institutions matters. A country needs well defined property rights and democratic rights to succeed.
Korea: The Impossible Country by Daniel Tudor
How South Korea went from one of the world’s poorer nations to an OECD nation in five decades.
Australia’s Second Chance by George Megalogenis
Even better than his first book. Megalogenis looks at the role of immigration in Australian economic development.
The Story of Australia’s People by Geoffrey Blainey
Australia is 50,000 years old, not 230, and Geoffrey Blainey tells us why. Amazing stories of indigenous history and innovation.
Charis Palmer, Deputy Business Editor, The Conversation and Helen Westerman, Business + Economy Editor, The Conversation
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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