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We’ve previously covered US President Barack Obama’s reading habits. Now Melbourne’s Grattan Institute has released a suggested summer reading guide for the Prime Minister. The thinktank has suggested Julia Gillard read books it believes “say something interesting about Australia and its future”. The books are Judith Brett’s Quarterly Essay, ‘Fair Share’; Jan Gehl’s Cities for People; Michael Wesley’s There Goes the Neighbourhood; an article entitled ‘Balancing the Risks, Benefits, and Costs of Homeland Security’; Matt Ridley’s The Rational Optimist; and Frank Moorhouse’s Cold Light.
You can review the full list here, with profiles on each book. The list is an annual event – here’s last year’s.
What books do you think our PM should read over her summer holidays?
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Amy - Get Shortened
08 December at 01:32PM
I was going to say I'd recommend a podcast or a good album instead, but honestly that doesn't feel right either. What should a suggestion be - instructive? Gillard has probably had her fair share of instruction all year long. Probably all adulthood long. She's not ethically or philosophically naïve, just strategic. She's not bereft of compassion, I don't think, but the daily grind of policy and diplomacy has worn her heart away.
Therefore I'd recommend she read Jennifer Egan's "A Visit from the Goon Squad" and listen to Nick Huggins' album "Five Lights" — two texts that restored some of my hope and warmth of feeling for my feeling humans this year.
Nil
08 December at 01:37PM
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, to remind her how women can be courageous, brilliant and generous of spirit whilst facing great peril and upheaval.
Loulou
13 December at 01:17PM