Download or read book The Simple Life Penguin Special written by Rhonda Hetzel and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2014-03-26 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rhonda Hetzel feels passionately that living simply leads to a richer, more fulfilling existence. Having made the decision to live frugally, embrace sustainability and opt out of the capitalist consumerist mindset, she set about working out how to achieve her goal, learning traditional skills, reducing her spending and environmental impact and focusing on the simple things that make life worth living: family, friends, and a home-cooked meal. This is the story of her journey and the lessons she has learned along the way. Rhonda relates why she wanted to change her lifestyle, what simple living means to her, and offers guidance to those thinking about taking the same path.

Download or read book Rudd Gillard and Beyond Penguin Special written by Troy Bramston and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2014-04-30 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The controversial legacy of the Rudd-Gillard governments, along with Labor's 2013 election defeat, looms large over the party. Labor risks years in the political wilderness unless it can reinvent itself. What did it get right, where did it go wrong, and how can it regain the trust of voters? Troy Bramston uses new in-depth interviews with Kevin Rudd and Bill Shorten, the advice of Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, and insights from Julia Gillard's inner circle to look at Labor in power and its pathway back to government. With previously unpublished documents and revealing observations, Rudd, Gillard and Beyond is the first book to provide a post-mortem and a roadmap for vital reform. 'Troy Bramston has become the chief chronicler of the Australian Labor Party, an authority on its bloody past and oracle of its uncertain future. Rudd, Gillard and Beyond is Bramston's sixth book on this grand old party and it cements his place as one of our most insightful political historians.' Richard Ferguson, The Australian 'A short but powerful read highlighting the faults of the previous Labor Federal Government and the wider problems that currently plague the party.' Matt Pengilley, Good Reads 'This is a very good book, a very good book, and Troy Bramston has some very good gets in it.' Paul Kelly, Sky News 'Rudd, Gillard and Beyond is compulsory reading for anyone who has an interest in Australian politics.' Graham Richardson, Sky News

Download or read book Is There No Place for Me Making Sense of Madness Penguin Special written by Kate Richards and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2014-04-30 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Almost half the Australian population will experience some form of mental illness in their lifetime yet it is still difficult to find the right treatment and stay well. Kate Richards is well positioned to ask the hard questions about our mental health system. She experienced episodes of depression and psychosis well into her adult life and is a trained doctor. Kate argues for empowering patients and their families to be active members of treatment teams. She challenges the common belief that patients are responsible – even somehow to blame – for the existence of their illnesses and makes a plea for mental health professionals to reach out across the patient–therapist divide and find a human connection. When mental health patients are heard, respected and understood, sustained healing can begin. Kate's experiences are detailed in the critically acclaimed Madness: A Memoir, winner of the Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature 2014 nonfiction prize. She is now a full-time writer, working part-time in medical research, and has learnt how to live a happy and productive life with a chronic mental illness. 'With swift, bold brushstrokes she plunges us into [these] fractured worlds . . . These powerful vignettes show those suffering mental illness as ordinary people rather than as statistics or ''patients''.' The Saturday Age

Download or read book Mistakes Were Made Penguin Special written by Liam Pieper and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2015-03-16 with total page 51 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Liam Pieper's made some poor life choices, but he's (usually) meant well. He's tried to write important stories, fight racial prejudice and rescue traumatised puppies. And he's ended up with life-threatening infestations, a punch in the face at a Leonard Cohen concert and brief detention by counter-terrorism experts. Taking us from Nimbin to US border security to the star-studded Chateau Marmont in LA, these four essays are compelling, insightful and very funny. Mistakes Were Made is about the gap between our ideals in life – of love, compassion, ambition – and how things actually play out. 'His writing is electric: charged with meaning and energised by surprising comedic turns.' Weekend Australian 'Charming and amusing.' Sunday Age 'The ability to laugh at yourself is arguably the most valuable quality you can cultivate as a writer, and Liam Pieper has it in spades . . . he does hilarious self-deprecation with considerable panache.' Sydney Morning Herald

Download or read book The Ellis Laws written by Bob Ellis and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2014-11-07 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these witty, outrageous ten laws, the well-beloved gadfly, sage and wordsmith Bob Ellis investigates dislocation and security, competence and charisma, youth and old age. He explains why bicycles encourage premarital sex, moving house too many times drives humans mad, 'the rising price of a roof ' is the root of all economic evil, and, most ominously, 'power flows to the most boring man in the room'. He alleges, pretty persuasively, that all CEOs – except, perhaps, George Lucas – should be sacked, fined or imprisoned. This is a book to cherish, re-read and pass on to generations less informed of how humans were at the turn of the millennium, and how much they got wrong.

Download or read book Does Cooking Matter written by Rebecca Huntley and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2014-10-29 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cooking is, for many Australians, a chore. And it's now easier than ever to order takeaway, eat out at an affordable restaurant or buy pre-prepared food. In such an environment, what incentives are there for us to cook meals that get people around the table? Rebecca Huntley, determined to answer if and why cooking still matters to Australians, talks to MasterChef judges, men learning to cook later in life and children first being exposed to the wonders of fresh produce. Does Cooking Matter? is a thorough and engaging examination of our current food culture, and a call to arms to bring Australians back into the kitchen.

Download or read book His Broken Angel written by Beth Ciotta and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-05-07 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the author of Her Sky Cowboy comes a sexy new novella about rebellion, redemption, and the healing powers of love and tolerance amid budding global chaos. Doc Blue has never had it easy. Born a Freak, the offspring of a Vic—a native Victorian—and a Mod—a time traveler from the future—he’s lived on the fringes of society, hiding his true identity and preternatural healing abilities from even his closest friends. His brief support of the Freak rebellion has only left him with even more problems, losing him both his job and one of his greatest allies, the Sky Cowboy, Tucker Gentry. So when Tuck’s kid sister, Lily, ends up blinded in an air skirmish on her way from America to England, Doc jumps at the opportunity to be the one to rescue her and use his powers to mend her wounds. Curing Lily proves harder than anticipated, and Doc realizes that to restore her sight he will have to spill his biggest secret and embrace his Freak nature like never before. But, with Lily’s help, Doc may be able to reach the full potential of his abilities, heal Lily’s broken heart, and learn, finally, how to open his. Includes a preview of the next Glorious Victorious Darcys novel, His Clockwork Canary.

Download or read book What Would Gandhi Do written by Michael Kirby and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2013-11-15 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Regarded as the Father of the Nation in India and globally as the most successful exponent of nonviolent civil disobedience, Mahatma Gandhi is known as a symbol of wisdom and compassion. Former High Court Justice Michael Kirby, himself a tireless advocate for non-discrimination and human rights, here shows the applicability of Gandhi's views on some of the world's most pressing current issues: women's rights, climate change, animal rights and sex and sexuality. Adapted from Kirby's 2013 University of New South Wales Gandhi Oration, What Would Gandhi Do? shows how remarkably useful Gandhi's insights remain when confronting the world's challenges. 'Cut[s] to the heart of the holy man's ideas and also provide[s] some wisdom for a modern audience.' Daily Telegraph

Download or read book Take Your Best Shot Penguin Special written by Jacqueline Kent and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2013-08-28 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No Australian prime minister has had to face such a difficult and challenging political environment as did Julia Gillard. Her impressive legislative record was overshadowed by pitched battles with jealous rivals and a remarkably hostile media, as well as her own struggles to communicate effectively with the public. Following her successful The Making of Julia Gillard, award-winning biographer Jacqueline Kent analyses our first woman prime minister's tumultuous term in office, drawing on a range of views and including an exclusive new interview with Gillard herself. Take Your Best Shot is an insightful, revelatory and immensely readable account of Julia Gillard's leadership – and its abrupt ending.

Download or read book Women of Power written by Torild Skard and published by Policy Press. This book was released on 2015-03-09 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE 2015 Do women national leaders represent a breakthrough for the women’s movement, or is women’s leadership weaker than the numbers imply? This unique book, written by an experienced politician and academic, is the first to provide a comprehensive overview of how and why women in 53 countries rose to the top in the years since World War II. Packed with fascinating case studies detailing the rise to power of all 73 female presidents and prime ministers from around the world, from 1960 (when the first was elected) to 2010, the motives, achievements and life stories of the female top leaders, including findings from interviews carried out by the author, provide a nuanced picture of women in power. The book will have wide international appeal to students, academics, government officials, women’s rights activists and political activists, as well as anyone interested in international affairs, politics, social issues, gender and equality.

Download or read book The Leadership Capital Index written by Mark Bennister and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-05-26 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Leadership Capital Index develops a conceptual framework of leadership capital and a diagnostic tool - the Leadership Capital Index (LCI) - to measure and evaluate the fluctuating nature of the leadership capital of leaders. Differing amounts of leadership capital, a combination of skills, relations and reputation, allow leaders to succeed or bring about their failure. This book brings together leading international scholars in the field to engage with the concept of 'leadership capital' and use and apply the LCI to a variety of comparative case studies. The book provides an important, timely, and innovative contribution to the now flourishing academic discipline of political leadership studies. The LCI offers a comprehensive yet parsimonious and easily applicable 10 point matrix to examine leadership authority over time and in different political contexts. In each case, leaders 'spend' and put their 'stock' of authority and support at risk. United States president Lyndon Johnson arm-twisting Congress to put into effect civil rights legislation; Tony Blair taking the United Kingdom into the invasion of Iraq; Angela Merkel committing Germany to a generous reception of refugees: all 'spent capital' to forge public policy they believed in. The volume examines how office-holders acquire, consolidate, risk, and lose such capital, and concentrates predominantly on elected 'chief executives' at the national level, including majoritarian and consensus systems, multiple and singular cases, and also examines some presidential and sub-national cases. The Leadership Capital Index is an exploratory volume, with chapters providing a series of plausibility probes to see how the LCI framework 'performs' as a descriptive and analytical tool.

Download or read book From Despair to Hope written by James Arvanitakis and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2016-05-16 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A few days before the terrorist attacks in Paris, a car bomb exploded in Beirut killing dozens. Though this may happen on the other side of the world, deep divisions occur that are exploited here for political expediency. Strangers are no longer people reading quietly on the bus, but potential threats. How can we respond? James Arvanitakis argues that one way forward is through acts of kindness and embracing hope. Hope here is not passive, but an active hope that emerges through our actions.

Download or read book A Cursed Moon written by Cecy Robson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-12-03 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meet the furry big brother that the Wird sisters never had… Bren is a cocky, brash hound of a werewolf who loathes the idea of belonging to Aric’s pack—much less finding a mate. But Bren’s hotheaded behavior lands him in the doghouse when he defies Aric’s authority in front of his pack, bringing up a sore subject that’s bound to make the Alpha wolf’s blood boil… Luckily for him, no one can stay mad at Bren and his wild charm for long. And when some frightening ghosts launch a hostile paranormal takeover, Bren will team up with Celia Wird to take down the evil ghouls before they hurt someone they both love… Includes a preview of the upcoming Weird Girls novel Cursed by Destiny!

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Australian Politics written by Jenny M. Lewis and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-10-20 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oxford Handbook of Australian Politics is a comprehensive collection that considers Australia's distinctive politics— both ancient and modern— at all levels and across many themes. It examines the factors that make Australian politics unique and interesting, while firmly placing these in the context of the nation's Indigenous and imported heritage and global engagement. The book presents an account of Australian politics that recognizes and celebrates its inherent diversity by taking a thematic approach in six parts. The first theme addresses Australia's unique inheritances, examining the development of its political culture in relation to the arrival of British colonists and their conflicts with First Nations peoples, as well as the resulting geopolitics. The second theme, improvization, focuses on Australia's political institutions and how they have evolved. Place-making is then considered to assess how geography, distance, Indigenous presence, and migration shape Australian politics. Recurrent dilemmas centres on a range of complex, political problems and their influence on contemporary political practice. Politics, policy, and public administration covers how Australia has been a world leader in some respects, and a laggard in others, when dealing with important policy challenges. The final theme, studying Australian politics, introduces some key areas in the study of Australian politics and identifies the strengths and shortcomings of the discipline. The Oxford Handbook of Australian Politics is an opportunity for others to consider the nation's unique politics from the perspective of leading and emerging scholars, and to gain a strong sense of its imperfections, its enduring challenges, and its strengths.

Download or read book The Craft of Governing written by R.A.W. Rhodes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-08-02 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Bargaining and puzzling; power and thought; dealing and agonising; compromise and commitment. These are two sides of political practitioners whether politician, public servant or campaigner. Understand the interplay and we can, just sometimes, make sense of the real world we seek to interpret.' Patrick Weller's observation comes from half a century of contemplating politics in action. The question of how government works lies at the heart of political science, and it has also been the career focus of this pioneer in the field. The Craft of Governing offers a tribute to the contribution of Patrick Weller to Australian political science, with chapters from leading political commentators including Michelle Grattan, Peter Shergold, Bob Jackson and James Walter. Contributors consider the role of the prime minister, approaches to studying executive government, the continuing significance of senior public servants and the nature of leadership in public bureaucracies. They also reflect on how insights from the study of domestic public policy can be applied to international organisations, challenges faced by Westminster democracies and approaches to political biography. The Craft of Governing is an invaluable resource for readers interested in approaches to studying politics and the development of political science as a discipline.

Download or read book Leadership Performance and Rhetoric written by Adam B. Masters and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-08-16 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines both the rhetorical content of contemporary public leadership and the leadership methods pioneered by early English statesman Sir Francis Bacon. In particular, it considers the use of public rhetoric to defend leadership legitimacy in six case studies, drawing on leadership contests in recent Australian political history. The authors map out the complex language of leadership in contemporary politics through chapter-length portraits of the inter-related political rhetoric of prime ministers Rudd, Gillard, Abbott and Turnbull, plus former foreign minister Bob Carr and indigenous leader Noel Pearson. The process is a novel application of leadership analysis derived from the political philosophy of Francis Bacon, who emerges as a founder of the study, and indeed practice, of political and public leadership. The book will appeal to students and scholars across the fields of political science, communication and rhetorical studies, and political history.

Download or read book My Penguin Year written by Lindsay McCrae and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2019-11-12 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A "remarkable memoir" (Nature) of life with an emperor penguin colony, gorgeously illustrated with 32 pages of exclusive photography For 337 days, award-winning wildlife cameraman Lindsay McCrae intimately followed 11,000 emperor penguins amid the singular beauty of Antarctica. This is his masterful chronicle of one penguin colony’s astonishing journey of life, death, and rebirth—and of the extraordinary human experience of living amongst them in the planet’s harshest environment. A miracle occurs each winter in Antarctica. As temperatures plummet 60° below zero and the sea around the remote southern continent freezes, emperors—the largest of all penguins—begin marching up to 100 miles over solid ice to reach their breeding grounds. They are the only animals to breed in the depths of this, the worst winter on the planet; and in an unusual role reversal, the males incubate the eggs, fasting for over 100 days to ensure they introduce their chicks safely into their new frozen world. My Penguin Year recounts McCrae's remarkable adventure to the end of the Earth. He observed every aspect of a breeding emperor's life, facing the inevitable sacrifices that came with living his childhood dream, and grappling with the personal obstacles that, being over 15,000km away from the comforts of home, almost proved too much. Out of that experience, he has written an unprecedented portrait of Antarctica’s most extraordinary residents.