2009 Summer Reading List for the Prime Minister
by John Daley
As well as being an important break for many Australians to recharge the batteries, the summer is also an opportunity to catch up with some reading. But our country’s leaders have less time than most to browse and select their books for the beach.
So the Grattan Institute is recommending a list of books which we thought might be useful for the Prime Minister – and the political leaders of all parties at all levels of government – in dealing with some of the challenges facing Australia today. And importantly, they are also a good read.
The list is not intended to be comprehensive, nor do we endorse every word, nor do we suggest that this is all our leaders should read over the summer. For example, we hope that they – if so inclined – read something simply for the pleasure of reading, whether poetry, fiction, history, or palaeontology.
- Radical Hope: Education and Equality in Australia, Noel Pearson (Quarterly Essay 35, Aus, 2009)
- What Makes People Vote Republican?, Jonathan Haidt, The Edge, (US, 2008)
- Ransom, David Malouf (Aus, 2009)
- The Hidden Wealth of Nations, David Halpern (UK 2009, Aus 2010) Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Robert Cialdini, (US, 1984) False Economy, Alan Beattie (UK, 2009)
- Welcome to the Urban Revolution: How Cities are Changing the World, Jeb Brugmann (US, 2009)
- The Tall Man, Chloe Hooper (Aus, 2009)