Right Story, Wrong Story: How to Have Fearless Conversations in Hell – Indigenous Tools for Bridging Social Divides Through Dialogue and Deep Listening

by Tyson Yunkaporta

Continuing the work of the well-received Sand Talk, Tyson Yunkaporta casts an Indigenous lens on contemporary society, challenging us to find our way onto the right track.

Sand Talk, Tyson Yunkaporta’s bestselling debut, cast an Indigenous lens on contemporary society. It was, said Melissa Lucashenko, "an extraordinary invitation into the world of the Dreaming."

Right Story, Wrong Story extends Yunkaporta’s explorations of how we can learn from Indigenous thinking. Along the way, he talks to a range of people including liberal economists, memorization experts, Frisian ecologists, and Elders who are wood carvers, mathematicians and storytellers.

Right Story, Wrong Story describes how our relationship with land is inseparable from how we relate to each other. This book is a sequence of thought experiments, which are, as Yunkaporta writes, "crowd-sourced narratives where everybody’s contribution to the story, no matter how contradictory, is honored and included…the closest thing I can find in the world to the Aboriginal collective process of what we call 'yarning.'"

And, as he argues, story is at the heart of everything. But what is right or wrong story? This exhilarating book is an attempt to answer that question. Right Story, Wrong Story is a formidably book about how we teach and learn, and how we can talk to each other to shape forms of collective thinking that are aligned with land and creation.

Genres: Nonfiction, Indigenous, Audiobook, Australia, Philosophy, Social Justice, Nature

304 pages, Hardcover

First published October 23, 2023

About the author

Tyson Yunkaporta is an academic, an arts critic, and a researcher who is a member of the Apalech Clan in far north Queensland. He carves traditional tools and weapons and also works as a senior lecturer in Indigenous Knowledges at Deakin University in Melbourne. He lives in Melbourne.

Reviews

[Cassie Renais · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I did, and part of that is because of the way Tyson relates information. I think it's an ambitious idea, to essentially talk to the reader and process information within a relationship; but it's hard to have a conversation when you can't ask questions, or clarify, or offer your own thoughts on the matter under discussion. I listen to audiobooks expecting to be educated by experts or authorities, not offered half-formed arguments and personal reflections on big topics and ideas. That being said, Tyson's musings are always interesting and I don't regret spending the time listening to them; I just wish I could follow along a little better with a different structure, or a clearer understanding of what is actually under discussion. Because the narration is a bit all over the place, there were bits that I really didn't like, and bits that I really did, and bits that felt recycled from Sand Talk. Half the time, I had no idea what idea, exactly, we were supposed to be exploring. I almost DNFed after 2 chapters, but am glad I pushed through for topics in the 2nd half.

I think the main takeaway for me was to be wary of information that is out of context and without relationships. Right story should always be grounded in relations, whether that's with the land, family, other stories and narratives, or objects. Wrong story supports division and isolation - much misinformation and disinformation does this.

Overall, if you're new to Yunkaporta's work, Sand Talk is much more accessible and a better place to start, but this book is still an interesting place to while away a few hours as well.

[Text Publishing]

The following book reviews have been shared by Text Publishing – publisher of Right Story, Wrong Story

‘Yunkaporta’s writing style is disarming in the best way possible, never speaking to the reader with anything except earnest camaraderie and effortlessly weaving between corny jokes, mythological allusion, and rigorous cultural theory…Right Story, Wrong Story, at its core, is an invitation to sit, listen and share space in your head with another human being for a while. It’s compelling, it’s refreshing and it’s something I would recommend to anyone disillusioned with modernity and looking for a new perspective.’
Readings Monthly

‘The scope of his intellect is breathtaking…Each chapter requires careful reading, then a pause to reflect and digest the ideas and information.’
Good Reading

‘There is so much to learn about Indigenous thinking and Yunkaporta is determined to make sure all of that knowledge is shared with the world. Right Story, Wrong Story, is the perfect gift for the insatiable knowledge seeker in your life.’
WellRead

‘Engaging and generous…An ideal gift for anyone feeling disillusioned by the state of the world.’
West Australian

‘It will take many re-readings to understand everything Yunkaporta is trying to say in this amazing essay, but it is a journey I am more than willing to join him on.’
Otago Daily Times

[⚫㊐✨Heather Mc Erlean❦㈦㊏ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found "Right Story, Wrong Story" to be a bit scattered in thought. I enjoyed Tyson Yunkaporta's first book, "Sand Talk" better. Still, "Right Story, Wrong Story" was written similarly. Both are like someone's musings. Think of a time when you were lying in bed and couldn't stop thinking about getting to sleep. These two books remind me of that effort to sleep when you cannot stop thinking. No, there is no way for others to participate in this conversation you have in your mind. So, when you read the book, you don't get to add what you think or how you feel or ask any questions. You get a great sense of what Yunkaporta thinks about these different issues.

The second half of the book is much better than the first. Yunkaporta did a superb job presenting the issues he and other Aboriginals feel they must face. My favorite part was with Katherine and the bee "talk." Yes, the bible gets a mention here where bees are concerned.

The pandemic changed a few things. Yunkaporta speaks a lot about this time. It was a life-changing period for many people and even for businesses. Culture has been forever changed by the pandemic. Our responses to each other have differed over the pandemic. Introspection became a constant for many of us with so much more time on our hands, particularly solitary time.

Overall, I recommend this reading and enjoyed it tremendously. It wasn't as good as "Sand Talk," but it rates high up there.

[Be Nice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tyson Yunkaporta is one of the most important First Nations writers and Australian academics of our time in my view. I’ve read a few things written by him in recent months and he talks about a complex and troubling issue with the sensitivity and cultural insight it deserves.

We’ve just experienced a few very difficult months in Australia. Reading this book is my attempt to understand why and how, and will be the focus of my reflection during the week of silence requested by people I have the utmost respect for.

After the week I will write a careful review of this book which explains why I see it as part of an important conversation in the Australian context.

[John Belchamber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book before Christmas and loved it even more than Sand Talk.

Tyson inspired me to read Dante and then return to the book. Second time round I listened to the audio book read by Tyson himself. Wow, he really brings the book alive with his enthusiasm, various character voices and the parts where he goes off script to add things he’s thought about since writing the book.

Bravo Tyson 👏👏

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book as much as I enjoyed Sand Talk. It is written in a similar style, so if you didn’t enjoy Sand Talk then you probably won’t enjoy this one.

Yunkaporta writes about Koori concepts and ways of thinking. He doesn’t seem to translate them into equivalent European concepts, although it might seem that way because of the way they fall strangely into white fellas understanding. There are many incongruencies between white fellas and Koori understandings.

An example of that is the concept of real property. The European concept of property is about ownership, exclusive use and partitioning it off from others. The Koori concept of property seems to be about belonging to the land, including all other beings who belong to the land. It is an inclusive concept of real property.

It sounds lovely, but it is very uncomfortable to white fella’s sensibility. If you don’t believe me try imagining including others in your ownership of your property and taking down your fence to allow others to belong. It’s a challenging exercise, and this book is full of such challenges.

But maybe, this is something that we, white Australia, has to work through to achieve true reconciliation.

[G Batts · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to label this stream of consciousness pop-sci.
The reading experience was like being privy to someone's 3am thoughts where they win imaginary arguments against their detractors and solve all the world's problems. Tyson Yunkaporta maintained a constant "yeah, nah" tone the whole book, which makes it feel like you're being assaulted with ideas the whole time.
There were many interesting ideas presented and it was genuinely thought-provoking. I think I would have enjoyed the experience more if I dipped in and out over a period of time. Alas, as I'd hired the book from the library I read it cover-to-cover.
Overall a worthwhile but exhausting read.

[Steven Kolber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book rather like intellectual jazz, and just list improvisational jazz I found it annoying and underwhelming. Some really good bits, and interesting ideas but lots of so-so stuff in between. Rather like a second book syndrome, where the first book was a banger, and the second one comes perhaps too quickly. I’m not super clear what the message of the book was meant to be, but it would have benefited from a rather closer edit, or some clearer kind of message than: things are complicated, but have good intentions.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stop here and just get this book and read it. Audiobook would be cool because, in his own voice, the humour and self-deprecation comes through loud and clear. But it’s still there in the text - a devastating but somehow still encouraging journey that is a descent into the various circles of a downunder Dante’s Inferno, that is still very much all of our hells whether we may be hell-creators, fellow-travellers or hell-survivors or (more probably) all of the above. It begins with some wonderful “yarning” with kin close and more geographically distant that nuance and complicate the familiar narrative of those eager to treat indigenous knowledge as an extractive resource to inform a kinder, gentler colonial “machine-gun hand”, but then engages more directly with the author’s more personal descent into these difficult journeys, the cost to him and all of his kin. But the long-term cost to us all in attaching so blindly to Wrong Story is always clear and present, as are the enduring if fleeting, often ghost-like manifestations of Right Story if we could pay attention to the land and the Lore (such as remains). Looking forward to Snake Talk, the next in the trilogy.

[Varó Eszter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book felt like a Hieronymus Bosch painting in a rant format. It's beautifully saturated, intense, angry and gentle at the same time.

Or like an Arthouse movie that doesn't have a plot that you could describe to someone you'd recommend it to, but you definitely would want them to watch it.

Or like bouldering/climbing for the first time, when the next day you notice soreness in muscles, you weren't even aware you had.

It's intinate and (in)formative at the same time. It doesn't demand or expect anything of you, and yet you find yourself wanting to move mountains.

The idea of connecting/describing objects/weapons that he associates with specific societal issue clusters makes it come alive in a 5D animistic way. It tickles more senses, than one is used to when reading.

I fell in love with this guy a bit, and, sure, it's more about what he stands for, not the person per se, so now I'm "braiding" my own traditional whip (in my culture we use wips, not boomerangs) thinking about right stories to tell... I'd thank him for the inspiration, if I could.

[Malcolm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved Sand Talk but didn’t follow any of this one …

[Beef · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the listen, a lot of great thoughts that I probably missed. Would like to get the book in my hands next time I visit it

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wrong story. It necessarily must be, as it was produced by an individual through a relatively isolated process; it represents only a single perspective. Even when the book shares the perspectives of others besides Tyson Yunkaporta, the sharing is his, has been filtered through Yunkaporta's understanding and captured in his context. That means it can only be wrong story regardless of its contents.

In [my previous book] Sand Talk I told a story about education, and it was true, but on its own it can only ever be wrong story. To become right story, it needs to coexist with opposite narratives that are also true, weaving a more diverse and robust understanding.

Yet Yunkaporta lives in two worlds at once, is a part of two cultures--his Aboriginal Australian one and the world's dominant one--and he has produced this book as an attempt to bridge between them. He is using wrong story to try to convey the essence of right story, as understood by Indigenous cultures. Information--knowledge, wisdom--can only be right story when it is communal, is the product of many people with diverse experiences and perspectives in relationship with each other. Right story can only exist between people, in the interactions, and can't come from a single source. It is never fixed or static, constantly adapting. It also must include non-human perspectives, those of animals, the land, and nature. It is a collective story, found in the patterns among us, in our processes of relating.

Attachment to a singular narrative is like pinning an insect to a board and measuring it: if you aren't watching it in flight, you're missing the point.

The book's subtitle is How to Have Fearless Conversations in Hell, and Yunkaporta roughly structures it after Dante's narrative journey through hell in the Divine Comedy. He uses "hell" as a metaphor for the Western culture that is currently the controlling narrative for our world and interactions. He uses right story, the knowledge and processes of his Indigenous culture, to consider the various levels of hell and how we might learn to do things differently. He also does his best to demonstrate the workings of right story in how he has written the book. He calls the book a yarn, his term for conversation among a group of people sitting together sharing stories. He considers the book a conversation between himself and readers, regularly referring to "us-two" as a pronoun for him and his reader. Each chapter includes at least one description of his dialogue with another thinker where they have put their ideas in play with each other and considered each others' viewpoints. Yunkaporta's language is a free-flowing weave of conversational, academic, dialogue, folksy, and storytelling. Because collective Indigenous knowledge is oral and relies on memory tools like repetition and mnemonics, including physical items inscribed with metaphorical, meaning-containing symbols, Yunkaporta also crafted a traditional artifact for each chapter and he records each crafting process as it relates to the knowledge.

Remember, we're partners in this heretical act of looking out at the world together through a glitchy Indigenous lens and riffing on what we see there. We're inquiring through Indigenous knowledge, not about it, and this is a deeply unsettling and unpopular process in a world that gobbles up minority narratives and wisdom like chocolate-covered strawberries and macadamias.

I found this book to be both a challenge and a delight. It was a challenge to get my head fully wrapped--at least somewhat wrapped--around Yunkaporta's ideas and concepts because they are such a departure from the ways we have learned to think and understand. Yet yarning with him was a pleasure because he is such a good tour guide and interpreter. Patient readers will find many rewards and will find themselves expanded by it. I particularly appreciate that Yunkaporta is the opposite of backward-looking: he is not yearning for return to a mythically perfect past or bemoaning all the ways we have already messed things up, he's trying to find a way forward by putting our worldviews into dialogue with each other. He's trying to find ways to apply wisdom learned in the past to our future in order to change our current trajectory. He is both a guide and a fellow traveler, inviting readers to join him.

A living culture is one that is in a relationship of exchange with other cultures. When cultures are damaged by separation, they can recover through such exchange. It's not about turning back the clock, but more like what my friend Douglas Rushkoff the media theorist calls 'retrieving forward'.

A few more quoted passages to let Yunkaporta speak for himself:

There is deep-time story in the echinoid, though, in the intelligent pattern its embodied knowledge left on that stone, and it has been working on me for a few decades now, driving me towards inquiries into distributed cognition and the way true narratives are created over time from an aggregate of viewpoints, including the ignorant ones. . . . Every viewpoint is ignorant, really, in one way or another. Combined over time, in right relation within and across generations, these diverse ignorances create right story.

-----

Us-two, you and I meeting in these pages, we're here to find what is useful and interesting in dialogue. We're not here to score points in a culture war. If I'm talking about failing global institutions and destructive empires, that's not about individuals or communities or cultures--it's about systems and structures that we are all required to live under at this moment in history, and most of us are intensely unhappy and terrified about it all. I'm not sitting down here with you clutching my historical IOUs; I'm here to share some stories, patterns and systems that might be helpful in the next few decades (and even centuries).

-----

Our ancestors, our gods, our prophets, our country, our spirit, our cosmos--however we want to see the community of entities beyond our waking sight . . . All they can do is nudge us-all towards the pattern of creation to find our symbiotic roles within it, in annoyingly vague and non-linear ways that can only be perceived through constant connection with the land and collective processing of that relation.

-----

Schrodinger's wombat is like the expansion pack for that psychotic thought experiment. This is how it works. A wombat is in a hollow log, and we have to decide whether it is alive or dead. However, because the log is not an enclosed system, we are aware of the thousands of exchanges of energy, matter and information between the log and the surrounding country. We see what the insects are doing, the fungi on the log and surrounding trees, how the wombat behaves in that particular season. We see its fresh scat on a nearby rock. We feel the wind direction and the recent tracks that tell us about the animal's behavior and condition. We see no sign of recent snake activity (although you're never more than ten metres away from a snake in the bush). We see a thousand things and know that the wombat is alive and inside the log. We see this because we are not only thinking about the log and what might be inside. Rather, we are an integral part of the dynamic system of that country, which is observing itself through our relationship. So we share in the exchange of energy and information in that system and are therefore not intervening in the system from the outside.

-----

In this sense, there is nothing spiritual or religious about Indigenous knowledge, which is just a peer-driven process of coming to understand all your relations (human and non-human) within creation. But how can we define this process without grounding the description in opposition to spirituality, science or religion? All stories are welcome around our fires, even those that define us as pagan, heathen, other. In the end, our knowledge is human knowledge, accountable to community, ancestors, descendants and the eternal Law of the land. . . .

Authentic science is a genuinely collective commons of knowledge, although it is often defamed by the extractive disciplines as being corrupt and monolithic. I've done this myself, spending half my career depicting science as hostile to Indigenous methods of inquiry in an I am not them, therefore I am kind of way.

But what is science? It is a community with a long lineage, comprising members of almost every culture on the planet, collectively sharing inquiry in rigorous, rule-governed ways, with peers reviewing peers in distributed networks of autonomous institutions that aren't controlled by any single, centralized authority. That also sounds to me like a fairly good description of Indigenous knowledge processes. It has been a mistake for me to divide myself into different parts so I can interact with this infinitely diverse community that I thought was my enemy. Us-two have probably both done a lot of this in our lives and work, dis-integrating ourselves and our relationships for no good reason.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Tyson and have so much respect for him. Like many others, I found the narrative style and structure difficult to get through and ended up reading this over a long stretch of time, picking it up and putting it down again. Which probably isn’t the worst way to read this kind of book, letting the ideas wash over you. I struggled to follow big chunks of it but still found it a worthwhile read and I’m glad I persisted and will probably read all of his work. Some interesting ideas about how Western capitalist, colonial society has bred misinformation that is spread through narratives told without the necessary context, interconnected perspectives and relations. I love the way this man’s brain works even if I don’t entirely understand it.

[Ren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A challenge (perhaps?) with this book is that Tyson Yunkaporta isn't here to tell us what we should all be thinking and doing. He's not some didactic guru here to save us from ourselves. He doesn't 'grapple with' complexity so much as acknowledge it and give it a friendly wave. That's a hard place to sit. I'm planning to go back and read this book, because I listened to the audiobook and I think the two would be quite different experiences. I highly recommend the audiobook, as it's read by the author and he brings some really important inflection into the reading, his personality burns through the words, and he adds a couple of asides and even calls out a logical fallacy he didn't notice whilst writing the book.

[Michelle Abel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wild ride (us-two in the canoe). So many ideas, stories and interesting people. Heart-breaking, funny, informative, brilliant, cynical, honest, and deadly serious. The audiobook was like going on a personal journey with Tyson himself, and I deeply appreciated the work done in the final chapter to check in on my personal safety after so much time exploring wrong story. I don’t get it all, but that’s the point. I will revisit the printed book again and again to help it all sink in, and commit to trying to find/make/respect right story as much as I can.

[Katie Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was chaotic. I enjoyed the stream of consciousness adventure. It felt more half baked than sand talk, it was a bit like reading a diary, or being in a confessional.

I get the sense it was deliberately less polished and messier, it wasn’t designed to comfort or educate. It was an exploration. And like reality rather than fiction things didn’t necessarily tie up in a neat bow.

I would definitely recommend reading it. But I can’t say that I enjoyed it per se. Or did I? I don’t even know…

[Jenny Kirkby · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. To me this was like an in-depth yarn when I am a little intoxicated. I don’t really understand everything discussed (but think that I do), and I walk away with a lot of feelings and believe I will be a better person for it. Like ‘Sand Talk’ this is a book I’d like to visit again in the future.

[Ian McLeod · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really engaging and entertaining read despite being about dead serious topics. Framing the topics in the view of a yarn, as a dialogue, and not a debate, made it understandable and easier to dive into the topics of the book.

Overall it's very interesting and should be read!

[Karly Learmonth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do yourself a favour and listen to the audiobook version - it's brilliant.

[Alex]

DNFing in the interest of clearing out my currently-reading shelf. The little I did read was interesting. I'll come back to it!

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep. Go slowly. Sit with the ideas and remember that it's an opportunity to experience a new cultural perspective.
Great listening to him read it, too. It stems from oral tradition, after all.

[Jacob Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterpiece

[Jorien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thought provoking. New insights and a real testimony to there is not one truth with a writer who is extremely self reflective and open.

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book lit up my brain. It's shifted the path of my thoughts. I'll come back to it again in a few years.

I liked the parallels with Dante's Inferno and the way Yunkaporta made real objects to hold and help to tell the stories. I love the idea of physically making things to assist the thinking and writing.

There were lots of parts where I didn't quite understand what he was trying to communicate, but lots to learn from it anyway.

"In my community, yarning is like conversation, but with the futile and passive-aggressive parts removed. The closest equivalent in western culture I can find is thought experiment, which is a ritualised crowdsourced narrative where everyone contributes their insight to the story and every contribution is honours and included, no matter how contradictory these points of view might seem."

"I have no map or story for this foolish narrative of the hero's journey (just a few notes from my friend Dante), and I don't know what kind of person you are, so we're steering into a storm here like a couple of drunks who met at a tavern and stole a boat together."

"Consider the possibility that you're nothing without your relations. All your kin - human, non-human, plant, animal, place, blood, water - all these familial links contain your thinking and character, the things you have always imagined to be occurring inside your fabulous individual mind. Ponder the notion that there is almost nothing you can learn about ants by examining a single specimen in a Petri dish. It's a good frame for thinking, realising that even an entire ant colony can;t yield much useful insight unless you know the system of seasons, waterways, species and symbiotic relations in which that colony sits."

"While the scientific method has unlimited potential to explain the universe, it is limited in what it can tell us about ourselves. [Nicholas Gruen] says the project of defining and shaping human social relations and collective meaning based solely on science has had catastrophic results."

"When cultures are damaged by separation, they can recover through such exchange. It's not about turning back the clock, but more like what my friend Douglas Rushkoff the media theorist calls 'retrieving forward'. One of my Elders taught me twenty years ago that this process is called kangk nanam nyiingk inam. A very simple translation of this is 'old way new way'."

"[Michael Grobbe] says that when you are using deductive logic the land goes still and waits for you to leave. When you shift your thinking, it starts moving again and brings teachings to you."

"You might frame this as cultural appropriation by European invaders lusting after native trinkets, or you might frame it as settlers and First peoples working together to restore their habitats and bring everyone back under the Law of the land again, to halt the destruction of all life. I'll leave it up to you to decide which lens is more useful at this point in history."

"The land itself will administer justice when we fail to meet our obligations as a custodial species (or at the very least, considerate guests). It can take hundreds of years for the Law of the land to terminate a community that continues to break the Law, as can be seen in all the histories of the rise and fall of civilisations. Every civilisation based on extraction, infinite growth and expansion is terminated in this way, and it is a punishment that is inescapable. Nobody can escape the laws of physics, so it is a good idea to adhere to First Law wherever possible, no matter what your culture of origin. First Law always means nothing is created or destroyed, but just keeps going around if you look after your place, whether you're an Elder or a physicist."

"There's a red-eye crow on the powerlines outside my window in the city...I think he knows I'm losing my mind, and this amuses him. It's rare for an English word to embody something in the land perfectly, but in this case 'chortling' is the best word in the universe for this bird is doing right now."

"He has lengthened my life a couple of times (for which I remain belligerently ungrateful)."

"I need to avoid talking to Americans while I'm in the middle of psychotic breaks from now on. Statistically, the majority of them think it's devils and angels (not turtles) all the way down and I'm not doubting their belief - I just need something a little less causally creepy to think about right now."

"We respect his authority but that doesn't mean he's our boss! Power is separate from authority, and we hold that power together as equals. So we show each other our sticks and Dean tells me what he's made for me. At least I think he's made it for me. It might be one of those situations when you assume somebody has brought something for you, but really they were just showing it to you, and you say, 'Oh, thank you,' and now they're too embarrassed to contradict you and they have to go along with calling it a gift. I hope so' I really love it when that happens, that unwritten English law that has permeated almost everywhere in some form or other, the law of 'avoid social embarrassment at all costs'."

"[The longbow] is almost impossible for even a very strong person to draw, though, so it must also be powered by culturally driven adaptation. Bowmen must be afforded the leisure to practise the draw for hours a day starting from early childhood, meaning others must do extra work to support them. (You'll notice I'm using present tense here, as people still make and use these bows today, and I respect their cultural continuity.) The lifelong investment of time and nutrition to power the drawing of the yew bow must be something that is valued and supported in the economy of the community. Above all, potential mates must come to find the lopsided appearance of a man with one massive arm and shoulder attractive."

"The club I made for Dean was shaped and smoothed in its final stages by rubbing it on concrete. This isn't very authentic I know, but the traditional sites we have for this process where grooves have been worn into rocks over thousands of year, shaping them to this purpose, are not accessible to our use anymore. These are national heritage sites, and it would be considered vandalism if we used them to make our tools today - our continued use of these sites would render the rocks as living processes rather than captured records, ruining their mint condition and economic value."

"it's not helping me to make sense of the world, though, because scared means stupid and the more weapons I make the more terrified I become. As you probably know, when stupid people panic, they tend to get angry and behave badly."

"Dearest Australia, I'm sorry for charging off half-cocked and angry, failing to come into right relation with a piece of your cultural heritage before messing around with it and ultimately ruining it. Then I blamed it (and you) for its ruin, which is unforgivable. My eyes were focused so much on the future that I lost sight of the past, and the problematic present became completely invisible to me. Does it count that I had good intentions when I did it? Probably not, no. Sorry."

Answer to the Riddle of Steel: "you need to leave the ore in the ground until you have strong enough story to regulate its use in the world."

"Fascist gurus know that there are always useful idiots to be found in any gym or fight club."

"This is the difference between tech and TEK (Traditional Ecological Knowledge). TEK ensures innovations work over deep time, while tech ensures innovations work today and need competitive upgrades tomorrow."

"Our rage is directed downwards and laterally instead of upwards, where it might be useful."

"But what is science? It is a community with a long lineage, comprising members of almost every culture on the planet, collectively sharing inquiry in rigorous, rule-governed ways, with peers reviewing peers in distributed networks of autonomous institutions that aren't controlled by any single, centralised authority. That also sounds to me like a fairly good description of Indigenous knowledge processes. It has been a mistake for me to divide myself into different parts so I can interact with this infinitely diverse community that I thought was my enemy. Us-two have probably both done a lot of this in our lives and work, dis-integrating ourselves and our relationships for no good reason."

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We both need to work on our issues, because no tree burns alone.” What is that saying? ‘Cannot see the forest for the trees.’ Meaning we fail to see the whole and all its complexities that comprise the single entity that we are looking at because we see that entity as just that: an individual. Yes, everything exists individually, but each of our individual comprises the whole like a super organism. Human animals do not exist outside of every other living entity, contrary to the story we like to tell ourselves of our superiority; we are a part of the whole of the planet (of course, until our part no longer serves a purpose, like the appendix).

“When the land communicates with you and gives you everything you need, that’s just ancient, dynamic systems doing what they do (as long as you’re a part of them). There are measurable informatics occurring in these systems that coordinate all of their parts. If you’re one of these parts, and you’re in right relation, you’ll always have what you need (although that isn’t always what you want). You need only to have enough awareness to see or hear or feel the pattern, and everything you need is always nearby. [. . .] ‘The first step is realizing that the self is in relation’.”

There is not much more that I should add to a review of this book, because I feel that it will all be taken out of context and you (whoever chose to read my review) will not be getting the proper story. Plus, it is not really for me to tell you how to feel about this book, is it?

All I will say is that I took a lot from this book and I have shared my observations with others, which then opened conversations between us to help us expand our perspective on life and how we chose to interact with the world. I would love to fully embody the thought process and approach to systems that the author elaborates on through these chapters, but I know that it will be a long process and I am okay with that.

“Life itself must consist of knowledge without definitions, processes of being in thoughtful relation, and meaning in flux.”

[Douglas · Rating 1 out of 5]

My biggest frustration with this book is its lack of clear focus. Yunkaporta attempts to weave together a vast tapestry of ideas – critiquing capitalism, colonialism, and Western thought, while simultaneously exploring indigenous perspectives on sustainability, governance, and interconnectedness. Certainly all of these are vital conversations, but the book often feels like a collection of loosely connected vignettes and philosophical musings rather than a cohesive thesis. What Yunkaporta calls "adventures in Indigenous thinking" comes across more like a disorienting ramble, leaving me struggling to grasp the central thread that ties these disparate discussions together.

Yunkaporta’s style, which often leans into the anecdotal and the abstract, comes across as opaque and self-indulgent. The "right story" he aims to tell is frequently obscured by meandering prose and a reluctance to define key concepts clearly. Invariably, I found it difficult to make sense of what he was talking about. The very premise of "right story" versus "wrong story" feels overly simplistic, potentially reducing complex global challenges to a binary that doesn't fully acknowledge nuance or the multifaceted nature of societal problems.

Yunkaporta claims to engage in critique of "Western" systems, but his writing lacks specificity and depth. Rather it is filled with broad generalizations about "Western thought" or "capitalist narratives," and to me this ammounts to offering strawman arguments; he seems uninterested in engaging with the diversity and complexity within these traditions. Again, he claims to challenge "dominant paradigms," but the execution can feel more like a blanket dismissal than a constructive deconstruction. The indigenous alternatives presented are not always presented with the clarity or practical applicability.

Failing in his attempt to enable the reader to extract actionable insights, Yunkaporta simply left me lost and struggling in the narrative brambles.

[Walter Juan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tyson Yunkaporta is an Australian treasure, though a frustrating one. He is a fascinating Aboriginal intellectual who holds a deeply nihilistic view of modern Western culture - yet he hints at having solutions to address its issues without fully revealing them.

That frustration, however, is more broadly directed at Aboriginal culture’s tendency to remain guarded in sharing their millennia-old knowledge—a traditional adherence Yunkaporta is just abiding to himself. It’s a line of thinking I never understood. But after reading his books, I finally get it: that approach is entirely justified.


🤷🏻‍♂️ A CASUAL INDIFFERENCE 🤷🏻‍♂️

The West's insouciance towards anything remotely resembling Indigenous thinking is disheartening, and it reflects a deep-seated disregard for alternative ways of structuring society, especially those flying in the face of capitalism. This disregard is nothing short of a cultural slap in the face for our First Nations people.

After all, Indigenous populations have time on their side—millennia, to be exact—as proof of their effectiveness in co-existing with Nature. We are not even half a millennium into modern living, and its track record is already floundering.

But Yunkaporta is hesitant to spell out those solutions or ideas in bold terms, choosing instead to epistemically flirt with the reader, lifting his intellectual dress ever so slightly to entice with the tiniest hint of hopeful glimpses of what a utopic coexistence with Mother Earth could look like.


🥸 EPISTEMIC APPROPRIATION 🥸

Why the hesitation? Well, that's rooted in the wider Indigenous concern regarding epistemic appropriation and its capitalistic exploitation.

In short: white fellas will most probably use millennia’s worth of finely tuned knowledge, behaviors, and thinking—knowledge propagated in very particular circumstances requiring a specific mindset and holistic approach for it to work—and they will almost certainly misuse it, implementing it in bad faith for short-term monetary gains, thereby making a mockery of tens of thousands of years of Indigenous culture and the values it stands for.

So we’re given only a surface-level skim into what gives those tribal systems such longevity. Broad brush strokes from which we have to squint to see the picture being painted. But its broadest stroke is bright enough to provide a clear picture.


🎭 THE STORIES WE TELL 🎭

Story. It all comes down to the stories we tell, or as Yuval Harari might say, the myths we create.

The Rainbow Serpent is a mythical creature living in the sky that came down to earth when everything was flat, featureless, and devoid of life. As it slithered across the landscape, it carved out long, winding tracks that became rivers, and its body pressed down on the earth, forming valleys and mountains.

Now, that might sound like a fabulous Aboriginal fable, yet the story is embedded with a wealth of epistemic treasure related to different territories in real life.

It acts as a mnemonic device that is didactic in nature, conveying information about the natural landscape and water sources (among many other touchpoints). That would be an example of a Right Story—one that ensures a balanced relationship and symbiotic coexistence with the environment. It is rooted in cyclical systems like weather, seasons, and other cosmic factors, allowing humanity to ebb and flow in harmony with the universe as much as possible.

In contrast, in modern western society we created money: a system that places value on a metaphysical concept that isn’t natural and doesn’t exist outside of human minds - it’s an intersubjective reality as Harari calls it. This concept is not in sync with any cosmic or natural event and depends on human exploitation of natural resources, with little regard for a harmonious coexistence with Nature. That is an example of a Wrong Story.


💊💀 RED PILLED 💀💊

Now, add the internet to that equation, and you multiply the Wrong Story by infinity, as fractals of misinformation further splinter society into echo chambers and informational silos swimming in a sea of wrong story. This all leads to increased paranoia that destabilise an already isolated society devoid of community.

It’s a rabbit hole Yunkaporta finds himself falling into increasingly more as the book continues. Without giving the reader too much detail, he is forced to navigate himself out of his own personal hell—a turmoil that is exploited by a cold algorithm serving him a consistent plate of warm Wrong Story: a main course of red pill conspiracy theories served with a side of selective Truth and garnished with confirmation bias.

It’s easy to get sucked in, and for a moment there he is, but luckily for Yunkaporta, he is surrounded by a tight-knit community of non-blood family that looks out for him. He is one of the lucky ones. Unfortunately, in our current epidemic of incel culture led astray by Wrong Story, that community that saved Yunkaporta is sorely lacking in Western society.


🪽 SPIRITUAL HEALING 🪽

What Yunkaporta also hints at is that we need a bit of “woo woo” in our lives—a bit of spiritual anchoring. For all its empirical posturing and scientific pontificating, Western culture lacks Rainbow Serpent-like stories to instill humility and cosmic deference in the face of ever-increasing narcissistic greed.

That absence highlights a critical gap; applying any sort of Indigenous thinking to our current Western template is a recipe for disappointment without the correct framework in place—one that would mock a culture honed over millennia. And Culture is the last vestige of agency that Indigenous peoples can still lay claim to; without it, we risk crushing any semblance of survivalism they still have.

In the meantime, we have to stay alert to pick up on whatever intellectual flirtations come our way. And hopefully we can carve a perpetually resonating Right Story out of that.

[Richard Pulfer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent read which explores many issues plaguing our society, many of which boil down to misinformation and the narrative. Yson Yunkaporta explores each of issues through a variety of angles, all of which feel personal and authentic. The most interesting thing Yunkaporta brings is an Indigenous perspective to these issues, though he does so with context and nuance which add a much-needed layer of understanding to the issues presented.

If I had one criticism, it's that some of it went over my head, but this isn't a dig against the author at all. I just felt there was far too much wisdom in this book to absorb in one sitting. It remains a book I steadfastly recommend - and one I look to reading again soon.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tayson Yunkaporta is honest, raw, deliberate, and incredibly thought-provoking in his discussion of the responsibilities he has to his indigenous practices and the way those have influenced his life and work in academia. It is a book that I will continue to think about for a very long time. the audiobook was a treat, you could really hear the cheeky sarcasm in his voice at times which made it clear how he felt about some things that I assume he would've preferred the book didn't have (like a "top 13" list hahaha)