November new releases

This November sees Scribe publish six nonfiction books covering history, politics, our private lives, and life itself. What Is to Be Done is a long-awaited work by Australian Living Treasure Barry Jones on the challenges of modernity, The Palace Letters is the culmination of Jenny Hocking’s decade-long fight to discover the truth behind the Whitlam dismissal, What Is Life? by Nobel Prize–winner Sir Paul Nurse takes on the biggest question of them all, On Getting Off by Damon Young draws from philosophy, literature, and private life to explore the paradoxes of the bedroom, Ruth Bader Ginsburg: a life offers unprecedented insight into a pioneering life and legal career, and the latest installment of Scribe’s Best Australian Political Cartoons takes a penetrating and satirical look at the year that is 2020.

Read about these titles below, and to win a copy head to our Facebook page or Instagram and let us know which one you’d most like to read and why.

What Is to Be Done

A follow-up to the author’s prescient bestseller, first published in 1982, that alerted the public to the likely impacts of information technologies and the emergence of a post-industrial society.

When *Sleepers, Wake!* was released in Australia, it immediately became influential around the world: it was read by Deng Xiaoping and Bill Gates; was published in China, Japan, South Korea, and Sweden; and led to the author being the first Australian minister invited to address a G-7 summit meeting, held in Canada in 1985.

Now its author, the polymath and former politician Barry Jones, turns his attention to what has happened since — especially to politics, health, and our climate in the digital age — and to the challenges faced by increasingly fragile democracies and public institutions.

Read more

The Palace Letters

**A political betrayal.**
**A constitutional crisis.**
**A hidden correspondence.**
Gough Whitlam was a progressive prime minister whose reign from 1972 proved tumultuous after 23 years of conservative government in Australia. After a second election victory in May 1974, when a hostile Senate refused to vote on his 1975 budget, the political deadlock that ensued culminated in Whitlam’s unexpected and deeply controversial dismissal by the governor-general, Sir John Kerr.
Kerr was in close touch with the Palace during this period, but, under the cover of being designated as personal, that correspondence was locked away…

Read more

On Getting Off

**The curious reader’s companion to sex.**
‘Wit, you know, is the unexpected copulation of ideas.’ Samuel Johnson
Why is screwing so funny?
How should we think about our most shocking fantasies?
What is so captivating about nudity?
Inspired by philosophy, literature, and private life, Damon Young explores the paradoxes of the bedroom. *On Getting Off* will f**k with your mind.

Read more

What Is Life?

**Life is all around us, abundant and diverse. It is truly a marvel. But what does it actually mean to be alive, and how do we decide what is living and what is not?**

After a lifetime of studying life, Nobel Prize–winner Sir Paul Nurse, one of the world’s leading scientists, has taken on the challenge of defining it. Written with great personality and charm, his accessible guide takes readers on a journey to discover biology’s five great building blocks, demonstrates how biology has changed and is changing the world, and reveals where research is headed next.

Read more

Best Australian Political Cartoons 2020

**2020, huh! The year in politics as observed by Australia's funniest and most perceptive political cartoonists.**

Fires, pestilence, lockdowns, unemployment, international tensions — now is not the time for jokes! Nah. Laughing in the face of anxiety and horror is our best defence against despair. And this is no time to give our leaders a leave pass for their crimes, misdemeanours, and incompetence. We need the penetrating satirical intelligence and the dark, challenging humour of our political cartoonists more than ever.

Featuring Dean Alston, Peter Broelman, Pat Campbell, Andrew Dyson, John Farmer, First Dog on the Moon, Matt Golding, Fiona Katauskas, Mark Knight, Jon Kudelka, Sean Leahy, Johannes Leak, Alan Moir, David Pope, David Rowe, John Spooner, Andrew Weldon, Cathy Wilcox, and more …

Read more

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

***The definitive account of an icon who shaped gender equality for all women.***
In this comprehensive, revelatory biography — fifteen years of interviews and research in the making — historian Jane Sherron De Hart explores the central experiences that crucially shaped Ginsburg’s passion for justice, her advocacy for gender equality, and her meticulous jurisprudence. At the heart of her story and abiding beliefs was her Jewish background, specifically the concept of tikkun olam, the Hebrew injunction to ‘repair the world’, with its profound meaning for a young girl who grew up during the Holocaust…

Read more

To win a copy of one of our new releases, head to our Facebook page or Instagram. Entries close Friday 16 October.

Sign up for our newsletter

We send out a monthly email with all our book news, author events, competitions, book club notes, and more! Sign up here.

What Is to Be Done

Barry Jones

RRP: $35.00 Pub date: 3 Nov 2020 Category: Impact of science & technology on society Cover view

Quick view

What Is Life?

Paul Nurse

RRP: $24.99 Pub date: 1 Nov 2020 Category: Biology, life sciences Cover view

Quick view

The Palace Letters

Jenny Hocking

RRP: $35.00 Pub date: 27 Oct 2020 Category: Biography: historical, political & military Cover view

Quick view

On Getting Off

Damon Young

RRP: $24.99 Pub date: 5 Nov 2020 Category: Popular philosophy Cover view

Quick view

Best Australian Political Cartoons 2020

RRP: $32.99 Pub date: 1 Nov 2020 Category: Politics & government Cover view

Quick view

Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Jane Sherron De Hart

RRP: $35.00 Pub date: 16 Nov 2020 Category: Jurisprudence & general issues Cover view

HOME

Books

Authors

Blog

Events

About Us

Contact Us

Books

Authors

Blog

Events

About Us

Contact Us

We publish books that matter — narrative and literary nonfiction on important topics, and the best of local, international, and translated fiction.

NO ITEMS

LOG IN