It’s been another challenging year for the public sector, and we’re sure you’ve done your share of tough work.
If you’re fortunate enough to be able to take a break and switch off over summer, it’s a great time to read something new to expand your horizons and get you thinking differently.
The ANZSOG team has put together a list of recent non-fiction and fiction books we’ve enjoyed this year, covering the rise of China, technology, strengthening democracy, true crime, leadership and some novels you can get your teeth into.
Happy reading, and we’ll see you next year!
Non-Fiction
The Mushroom Tapes by Helen Garner, Sarah Krasnostein and Chloe Hooper
The murder trial of Erin Patterson drew global attention to the fatal outcome of a family lunch in the little town of Leongatha. The mix of jealousy, revenge, marriage, money and murder, and the strange woman at the centre of it all, proved irresistible. Three of Australia’s finest non-fiction writers sat through the trial, and this book combines their reflections on justice, truth, and human complexity, and adds a more thoughtful perspective to the torrent of media coverage.
Earthquake: the election that shook Australia by Nikki Savva
If you’ve read other books by Nikki Savva – former journalist and advisor to Peter Costello – you’ll know what to expect from her analysis of the 2025 Australian election: new insights from key players, a razor sharp dissection of what went right and wrong, and an understanding of how politics works from the inside and the significance of this campaign in the broader story of Australian political history
Breakneck: China’s quest to engineer the future by Dan Wang
China is run by engineers, the Western world is run by lawyers. Journalist Dan Wang uses this insight to structure his exploration the rapid evolution of China’s state-led industrial and technological landscape, its dominance of manufacturing and the limits of the Chinese model. Touching on the one-child policy, regional differences in China, and his own experiences as the child of Chinese migrants growing up in America this book provides a balanced view of China’s growing influence on geopolitics.
Apple in China by Patrick McGee
An exciting and extraordinarily detailed account of how Apple harnessed Chinese manufacturing to become the world’s most profitable phone company – at the cost of becoming dependent on the power of an authoritarian government. As well as an insider account of how giant global companies (and their supply chains) operate, this book explores the effects of globalisation, the tensions between economic growth and human rights, cultural differences between China and the West, and shows that no company, no matter how big, can afford to ignore politics.
Night People by Mark Ronson
Mark Ronson produced Amy Winehouse’s album Back to Black and had a megahit of his own with Uptown Funk, but this memoir focuses on his chaotic and hedonistic life as a New York Club DJ in the 1990s. If you know the era, you’ll recognise the names and music that he drops, and enjoy this tale of youthful irresponsibility, and what happened before the scene got stale.
How to Save Democracy in Aotearoa New Zealand by Geoffrey Palmer
Democracy may appear healthy in Aotearoa New Zealand but former Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer argues that its institutions are weakening, and it is not immune from the authoritarian movements sweeping the world. Palmer offers rare insights into the machinery of power and its vulnerabilities, and rather than surrendering to pessimism, he presents a roadmap for renewal based on vigilance and increased civic awareness and participation.
A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern
This autobiography of former NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reflects on her efforts to develop a leadership grounded in courage, empathy and collaboration, challenging traditional notions of authority. It covering her response to the Christchurch mosque attacks, the COVID pandemic and her efforts to develop long-term responses to climate change and child poverty, and what it was like to become a first-time mother in the public eye.
The Australian Wars by Rachel Perkins, Stephen Gapps, Mina Murray, Henry Reynolds
This recently-published book expands on the groundbreaking SBS TV Series that provides a thorough account of Aboriginal resistance to Australian settlement and the sweep of massacres, guerilla warfare, and resistance by Indigenous nations to colonial occupation of their lands. It blends personal testimony, historical analysis, and cultural insight, to challenge the myths of peaceful settlement and honour the courage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Strong Ground by Brené Brown
What kind of leadership do we need in uncertain times? US leadership coach Professor Brené Brown delivers a call to reimagine the essentials of courageous leadership, and reclaim focus and drive success through connection, discipline, and accountability. She looks at the skill sets and mindsets we need moving forward, including the capacity for respectful and difficult conversations, strategic risk-taking, paradoxical thinking, and situational and anticipatory awareness skills.
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
New Zealand diplomat Sarah Wynn-Williams realised in 2009 that Facebook was the future, and her best chance to change the world for the better. This book explores her time as the company’s director of public policy, her relations with senior executives, and her growing disillusionment. It exposes the insular, unaccountable culture of the social media giant, and the damaging role it played in global politics in the 2010s from the Rohingya Genocide to the USA’s 2016 election.
Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly
Having (almost) all the world’s music available through your phone may sound like a miracle for those of us who grew up on FM Radio, but is convenience blinding us to the long-term damage Spotify and its algorithms are doing? Liz Pelly digs into the notoriously opaque music business and examines both sides of what the company calls its two-sided marketplace: the listeners who pay with their dollars and data, and the musicians who provide the material powering it all. She uncovers how the new model sidelines artists, exacerbating inequalities, and chronicles artist-led movements for a more sustainable system.
Fiction
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan
Set in a flooded, geographically fragmented 22nd century Britain this novel by master Ian McEwan looks back to our present as a golden age of freedom and possibility. A scholar at a future university stumbles across a clue that may lead to a great lost poem, and what follows is a quest, a literary thriller and a love story, set amidst the ruins of civilisation.
Will There Ever Be Another You? by Patricia Lockwood
A writer loses her grip on reality after succumbing to COVID-19 in New York. Hilarious and deranged, this novel, by one of the most perceptive chroniclers of the online age, captures a creative mind short-circuiting with metaphors misbehaving, syntax boiling over and fiction pushed to its limits.
Katabasis by RF Kuang
In a parallel world where magic is real, two rival Cambridge University students must journey into hell (literally) to rescue the star professor they exploded in an experiment gone wrong. Mixing fantasy, a sustained satire of the ambitions of the academic world, and a tale of unresolved attraction, this clever and surprising novel asks if the pursuit of knowledge is really worth it.
The Vanishing Place by Zoe Rankin
Growing up with her younger siblings in the unforgiving New Zealand bush, Effie believed their parents had cut them off from civilisation because they loved Nature. She never suspected that their reasons might be more menacing. Now, when she learns the only witness to a murder is a little girl who looks just like her, Effie is compelled to return to the scene of her troubled childhood. This NZ author’s debut thriller, about love, loyalty, family and survival, has gained international attention.