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What Is to Be Done: political engagement and saving the planet
A reconceptualised edition of the 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 first 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 work, class, social relationships, and climate in the digital age — and to the challenges faced by increasingly fragile democracies and public institutions.
Jones sees climate change as the greatest problem of our time, especially because political leaders are incapable of dealing with complex, long-term issues of such magnitude. Meanwhile, technologies such as the smartphone and the ubiquity of social media have reinforced the realm of the personal. This has weakened our sense of, or empathy with, ‘the other’, the remote, the unfamiliar, and all but destroyed our sense of community, of being members of broad, inclusive groups.
In the post-truth era, politicians invent ‘facts’ and ignore or deny the obvious, while business and the media are obsessed with marketing and consumption for the short term. Sleepers, Wake! Revisited is a long-awaited update on such challenges of modernity.
When Sleepers, Wake! was first 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 work, class, social relationships, and climate in the digital age — and to the challenges faced by increasingly fragile democracies and public institutions.
Jones sees climate change as the greatest problem of our time, especially because political leaders are incapable of dealing with complex, long-term issues of such magnitude. Meanwhile, technologies such as the smartphone and the ubiquity of social media have reinforced the realm of the personal. This has weakened our sense of, or empathy with, ‘the other’, the remote, the unfamiliar, and all but destroyed our sense of community, of being members of broad, inclusive groups.
In the post-truth era, politicians invent ‘facts’ and ignore or deny the obvious, while business and the media are obsessed with marketing and consumption for the short term. Sleepers, Wake! Revisited is a long-awaited update on such challenges of modernity.
400 pages, Paperback
First published November 12, 2020
28 people are currently reading
264 people want to read
About the author
Barry Jones
228 books7 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 31, 2021
Sometimes, when I’m teaching the sociology of education, I put up a quote by Barry Jones next to his photograph. The students have no idea who he is. When I was growing up – in fact, before I came to Australia – he was a superstar contestant on a television quiz show here in the 1960s – he was a household name. He later became a politician, wrote a dictionary of biography and the book ‘Sleeper’s, Wake!’, the book I invariably quote from.
The quote I quote says, “The educational and occupational futures of most Australian children can still be predicted with a high degree of accuracy by asking only three questions: Where do you live? What school do you go to? What do your parents do?” This hasn’t changed in the years since – sometimes people will say that we should give up on the expense of final year exams and just assign places at universities by postcode, it would be just as effective, and produce much the same result while being infinitely cheaper. What has changed is that if you mention social class at all now, particularly the structural disadvantages that the poor face, you are likely to be told that you are trying to start a ‘class war’. We are expected to ignore the blindingly obvious, and hope it will go away. Jones makes it clear that inequity has gotten worse and that ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.
This book is written by someone who is nearly 90. Sometimes I see him at concerts – we both subscribe to the Australian Chamber Orchestra – I’m not going to pretend he doesn’t look nearly 90, it is also clear that in part this book has been written with an eye to his legacy. As such, a lot of this involves him ‘correcting the record’. Still, this book is remarkably lucid and powerfully argued.
And he isn’t afraid to tackle difficult issues, with nuance and intelligence. Being interested in biography means he gives many fascinating thumbnail sketches of politicians and historical figures along the way to illustrate his points. He has a chapter on Trump – and I was saying to a friend today that it is clear Jones found Trump deeply troubling. He runs through a chronology of madness of those four years and I have to say I found it a stressful experience just reading it. I think we will get to a point where (and I admit this wishful thinking) we all start believing it was all a bad dream.
Jones is quite savage about the current crop of politicians, and not just from the Liberal Party (he sees the Nationals as a fully owned subsidiary of Gina Rinehart – which is obviously pretty accurate), but he really gives the ALP a kicking too. As he says at one point, it would be hard to think of a single policy that the ALP wouldn’t throw overboard like a baby if it thought it would win them government – Pacific Solution anyone? The irony is that Jones believes people want politicians who have convictions. I’ve no idea if he is right, but he has been a member of the ALP since the 1950s, so longer than I’ve been alive. I have never been able to bring myself to join – something he also points out is a problem here since the tiny memberships of the major parties make them easy targets for hostile takeovers. The Mormon Church for the Liberals, some unions within the ALP.
The chapters on climate change are terrifying, but also filled with a kind of hope. There are ways to overcome this crisis, but we really do need to stop frigging around and actually do something. He compares our current situation to a modern version of Pascal’s Wager – you know, if we clean up the world and the science proves to not have been as dire as we anticipated, well, we cleaned up the world. But if we do nothing and the science proves to be right, well, we are finished – so…
There are endless facts and figures along the way through this, but I want to end by agreeing with him about the problem humans jave with facts and figures. We are better with stories. If there isn’t a good story behind facts and figures, we don’t remember them. I think this is true – we really need more and much better storytellers.
Oh, and to really, really finish this off – as I said earlier, Jones is something of a biography junky. During this he mentioned Jethro Tull – the seed guy and inventor – not Thick as a Brick, Tull. He then says something like, ‘rather than the pop singer’. I smiled, of course, since there is no pop singer called Jethro Tull – Jethro Tull is a band, not a person. And then I wondered if Jones wasn’t having the last laugh – pretending to confuse Ian Anderson with ‘Jethro Tull’ as a way of putting all of this in perspective, a kind of, ‘and I didn’t even look it up’… Mirrors within mirrors.
“I really don’t mind if you sit this one out.
My words, but a whisper, your deafness a shout…”
The quote I quote says, “The educational and occupational futures of most Australian children can still be predicted with a high degree of accuracy by asking only three questions: Where do you live? What school do you go to? What do your parents do?” This hasn’t changed in the years since – sometimes people will say that we should give up on the expense of final year exams and just assign places at universities by postcode, it would be just as effective, and produce much the same result while being infinitely cheaper. What has changed is that if you mention social class at all now, particularly the structural disadvantages that the poor face, you are likely to be told that you are trying to start a ‘class war’. We are expected to ignore the blindingly obvious, and hope it will go away. Jones makes it clear that inequity has gotten worse and that ignoring it doesn’t make it go away.
This book is written by someone who is nearly 90. Sometimes I see him at concerts – we both subscribe to the Australian Chamber Orchestra – I’m not going to pretend he doesn’t look nearly 90, it is also clear that in part this book has been written with an eye to his legacy. As such, a lot of this involves him ‘correcting the record’. Still, this book is remarkably lucid and powerfully argued.
And he isn’t afraid to tackle difficult issues, with nuance and intelligence. Being interested in biography means he gives many fascinating thumbnail sketches of politicians and historical figures along the way to illustrate his points. He has a chapter on Trump – and I was saying to a friend today that it is clear Jones found Trump deeply troubling. He runs through a chronology of madness of those four years and I have to say I found it a stressful experience just reading it. I think we will get to a point where (and I admit this wishful thinking) we all start believing it was all a bad dream.
Jones is quite savage about the current crop of politicians, and not just from the Liberal Party (he sees the Nationals as a fully owned subsidiary of Gina Rinehart – which is obviously pretty accurate), but he really gives the ALP a kicking too. As he says at one point, it would be hard to think of a single policy that the ALP wouldn’t throw overboard like a baby if it thought it would win them government – Pacific Solution anyone? The irony is that Jones believes people want politicians who have convictions. I’ve no idea if he is right, but he has been a member of the ALP since the 1950s, so longer than I’ve been alive. I have never been able to bring myself to join – something he also points out is a problem here since the tiny memberships of the major parties make them easy targets for hostile takeovers. The Mormon Church for the Liberals, some unions within the ALP.
The chapters on climate change are terrifying, but also filled with a kind of hope. There are ways to overcome this crisis, but we really do need to stop frigging around and actually do something. He compares our current situation to a modern version of Pascal’s Wager – you know, if we clean up the world and the science proves to not have been as dire as we anticipated, well, we cleaned up the world. But if we do nothing and the science proves to be right, well, we are finished – so…
There are endless facts and figures along the way through this, but I want to end by agreeing with him about the problem humans jave with facts and figures. We are better with stories. If there isn’t a good story behind facts and figures, we don’t remember them. I think this is true – we really need more and much better storytellers.
Oh, and to really, really finish this off – as I said earlier, Jones is something of a biography junky. During this he mentioned Jethro Tull – the seed guy and inventor – not Thick as a Brick, Tull. He then says something like, ‘rather than the pop singer’. I smiled, of course, since there is no pop singer called Jethro Tull – Jethro Tull is a band, not a person. And then I wondered if Jones wasn’t having the last laugh – pretending to confuse Ian Anderson with ‘Jethro Tull’ as a way of putting all of this in perspective, a kind of, ‘and I didn’t even look it up’… Mirrors within mirrors.
“I really don’t mind if you sit this one out.
My words, but a whisper, your deafness a shout…”
November 2, 2020
How can Australia be so clever at listening to experts on Covid, but so stupid and deaf to them on climate change? In his seminal book Sleepers, Wake! (1982), Barry Jones argued that our mineral wealth had blinkered us, our industrial addiction hindering the growth of a smart high-tech economy. Barry’s bold new book is a timely update on where ‘retail politics’ and the post-truth era has led us. Our culture is muddled and resistant to truth. Policy has been seized by vested interests that are anti-science. To save our threatened world we must engage at all levels, in a way we never have. We cannot wait for our representatives. Cohesion and an adjustment away from our personal priorities are vital. We must join together, and engage, engage, engage!
This book is illuminating and motivating. Jones never fails to convince, his intelligence is powerful. He has said before that he is obsessed with “making sense of the world to myself, and sharing those insights”. This drives him to produce masterful, inspiring and informed writing, always a contribution of value. Erudition combined with passionate, honest caring is impossible to ignore and I am certain this book will be influential. I strongly recommend this book to all thinking Australians who care about... what is to be done.
This book is illuminating and motivating. Jones never fails to convince, his intelligence is powerful. He has said before that he is obsessed with “making sense of the world to myself, and sharing those insights”. This drives him to produce masterful, inspiring and informed writing, always a contribution of value. Erudition combined with passionate, honest caring is impossible to ignore and I am certain this book will be influential. I strongly recommend this book to all thinking Australians who care about... what is to be done.
March 22, 2022
3 stars for a review is lower than normal for me. And it is with great reservation that I do so.
Barry Jones, the author, is clearly deeply knowledgeable and passionate about the important issues we face across the globe today. This book is a broad in depth look at several contemporary global issues that heck, I wish I could write myself as well as he. But really, the main take-away objectives, at the highest level, are nothing new... yet another contribution to the perpetual frustrations to gain any political, large scale traction on these issues.
If you are looking for the gems of insight, perspective and knowledge on many of these topics, it is covered in this book. You won't be disappointed in what you find for a global, generally sound perspective on the issues - socio-political, economic, cultural, environmental, ecological... its all there.... if you can find it. If you have the will to weed through chapters of self aggrandizement of Barry's political historical involvement and contributions in Australian government. If you can bare the deep minutia, list making, and name dropping, of seemingly irrelevant data -eg. the religious affiliations of every Australian political elected prime minister in the past 50 years; or perhaps the top ten most wealthy Australians, their net worth at some point in time, and a short biographical synopsis of each of their origin stories; or tables and lists of every disease, and its contraction and death rate differences across countries... (ok, I found that interesting). Surely great and well sourced data for a reference book - again, if you know to look here for what you are looking for, but difficult going in an audio book format!
Finally, I am sure it is greatly appreciated and a necessary work for and from an Australian historical, political perspective. If you are Australian, add a star back to my review (4* is pretty good). While Barry does a pretty good job of including a broad worldly contribution on most topics, sometimes focusing on the USA, others on Britain, or the European community, or maybe China or Africa,.... there seemed to be no clear pattern of escalation, from local, Australian interests to Global contributions and generalizations. Many topics were cyclically re-visited, some short snippets here, others there, oh, lets talk about Covid again, or sprinkle climate change-global warming through-out, whether historically organized or topically organized... now that I think about it, I can't recall what the general organizational plan was.... I'm saying it was a bit scattered and disorganized....
Deeply erudite, informative, insightful. critically important, but fairly inaccessible due to focus and organizational issues. I did like his final attempt at capturing our current challenges in a parallel form to Lincoln's Gettysburg address.... I'll look at that again.
I admit, I feel bad penalizing my star rating because "I am not Australian"... it's not the author's fault that I am not the intended audience.... but maybe it is, or maybe the fault in my mind is that it is not entirely clear that he knew what audience he wanted to write this for.... clearly intended as his auto-biographical tribute to himself in Australian political history, but straining to imagine that he has more to say to everyone else in the world as well.... and again, it is true, but the delivery is muddled by the combination of those objectives.
Barry Jones, the author, is clearly deeply knowledgeable and passionate about the important issues we face across the globe today. This book is a broad in depth look at several contemporary global issues that heck, I wish I could write myself as well as he. But really, the main take-away objectives, at the highest level, are nothing new... yet another contribution to the perpetual frustrations to gain any political, large scale traction on these issues.
If you are looking for the gems of insight, perspective and knowledge on many of these topics, it is covered in this book. You won't be disappointed in what you find for a global, generally sound perspective on the issues - socio-political, economic, cultural, environmental, ecological... its all there.... if you can find it. If you have the will to weed through chapters of self aggrandizement of Barry's political historical involvement and contributions in Australian government. If you can bare the deep minutia, list making, and name dropping, of seemingly irrelevant data -eg. the religious affiliations of every Australian political elected prime minister in the past 50 years; or perhaps the top ten most wealthy Australians, their net worth at some point in time, and a short biographical synopsis of each of their origin stories; or tables and lists of every disease, and its contraction and death rate differences across countries... (ok, I found that interesting). Surely great and well sourced data for a reference book - again, if you know to look here for what you are looking for, but difficult going in an audio book format!
Finally, I am sure it is greatly appreciated and a necessary work for and from an Australian historical, political perspective. If you are Australian, add a star back to my review (4* is pretty good). While Barry does a pretty good job of including a broad worldly contribution on most topics, sometimes focusing on the USA, others on Britain, or the European community, or maybe China or Africa,.... there seemed to be no clear pattern of escalation, from local, Australian interests to Global contributions and generalizations. Many topics were cyclically re-visited, some short snippets here, others there, oh, lets talk about Covid again, or sprinkle climate change-global warming through-out, whether historically organized or topically organized... now that I think about it, I can't recall what the general organizational plan was.... I'm saying it was a bit scattered and disorganized....
Deeply erudite, informative, insightful. critically important, but fairly inaccessible due to focus and organizational issues. I did like his final attempt at capturing our current challenges in a parallel form to Lincoln's Gettysburg address.... I'll look at that again.
I admit, I feel bad penalizing my star rating because "I am not Australian"... it's not the author's fault that I am not the intended audience.... but maybe it is, or maybe the fault in my mind is that it is not entirely clear that he knew what audience he wanted to write this for.... clearly intended as his auto-biographical tribute to himself in Australian political history, but straining to imagine that he has more to say to everyone else in the world as well.... and again, it is true, but the delivery is muddled by the combination of those objectives.
May 28, 2022
Perspective! I wasn't expecting to see a new book by Barry Jones, but came across it accidentally in a bookstore. My reaction was immediately that this book must offer perspective, on important matters, and I will probably learn something...a lot even. "Sleepers, Wake!" was required reading for my Information Technology studies back in 1997, and its amazing how many details became embedded in my brain and affected my outlook for the future. Any non-fiction title with a decent bibliography is appealing to me, something well researched, reasoning developed with passion and explained simply enough not to lose the reader who has little in-house knowledge. This book is more user-friendly than 'Sleepers, Wake!' and is a whole lot less academic in tone. It's more personal, and I found myself marvelling at the energy and lack of jadedness Mr Jones brings to a subject that has been his life's devotion. You don't have to be interested in politics to enjoy this book. I enjoy being educated on any subject from an insiders point of view, to gain insight into how things work, and to have someone with the longevity of Barry Jones take you on that educational trip is frankly a privilege not to be missed. Of course, the closing chapters of any book written by someone aged 88 is the prize...this is where the perspective shines, the appeal to the reader becomes more beseeching. His version of 'The Gettysburg Address for 2020' in the final pages is sincere and passionate and I found myself nodding in agreement...yes, we cannot be 'part-time humans'. A very current and very satisfying read. (A final note: I loved seeing a reprint of his famous 'bowl of spaghetti' diagram re: 'Agenda for the Knowledge Nation'. I never understood what the kerfuffle was all about. It's a great diagram:-)
November 4, 2020
I very much recommend this book (BTW, am using my pseudonym here). It is, as one might expect from a person who is a polymath and elected as a Fellow of four of Australia's five learned academies, learned and wide-ranging. I find the book most interesting and incisive, and very topical. Sleepers Wake previously was drier, whereas this current book tackles the phenomenon of Trump and the jettisoning of facts and critical thinking, unpacks what's wrong with the major political parties in particular, and ends with a list of priorities to increase political engagement and address the pivotal issues of the time. No. 1 is, of course, climate change, and others include renovating or replacing the Australian Constitution, adopting a Bill of Rights, and investing in "soft diplomacy" in the south-west Pacific. There is quite a long list of priorities that reflects his deep thinking on such issues. There are separate chapters on the science and politics of climate change, and also quite a bit about the quality of debate and the debased state of politics and engagement with it. Barry's book represents the very antithesis of Trump in that facts, critical thinking, and ethics are accorded high value. Definitely well worth reading.
January 25, 2021
Here is my video review of this book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9dWK...
and my notes here: https://activatelearning.com.au/2021/...
and my notes here: https://activatelearning.com.au/2021/...
December 20, 2020
As someone who doesn't know much about the politics of Australia, I found it very informative. Wide range of topics from the digital world and Trump phenomenon to Climate change and Corona are scholarly discussed and criticised from an Australian point of view.
My favorite chapters were "Climate Change: the science", "Australian Exceptionalism", "Being Honest with Ourselves", "The Corona Revolution", "Saving the Planet" and "What is to Be Done: political engagement and climate change".
Some astonishing facts as mentioned in the book:
- Australia has never entered into a treaty with its Indigenous people (unlike Canada, New Zealand, and even the United States) - Page 255
- "... it is important to resist the belief that Gallipoli is Australia's-that is, White Australia's-great creation myth, and that the ANZAC tragedy brought us together as a nation. Gallipoli was, in many ways, the unmaking of a nation." - page 257
-"Few Australians recognise that its House of Representatives holds the international gold medal for the shortest sittings of any national legislature." It is 67 days (average) compared to 150 days (Japan), 142-158 days (UK), 127 days (Canada), and 124-145 days (US)! -page 239
Jones argues that political engagement is extremely low and trust has been declining in the democratic system. He quotes Edmund Burke: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing".
My favorite chapters were "Climate Change: the science", "Australian Exceptionalism", "Being Honest with Ourselves", "The Corona Revolution", "Saving the Planet" and "What is to Be Done: political engagement and climate change".
Some astonishing facts as mentioned in the book:
- Australia has never entered into a treaty with its Indigenous people (unlike Canada, New Zealand, and even the United States) - Page 255
- "... it is important to resist the belief that Gallipoli is Australia's-that is, White Australia's-great creation myth, and that the ANZAC tragedy brought us together as a nation. Gallipoli was, in many ways, the unmaking of a nation." - page 257
-"Few Australians recognise that its House of Representatives holds the international gold medal for the shortest sittings of any national legislature." It is 67 days (average) compared to 150 days (Japan), 142-158 days (UK), 127 days (Canada), and 124-145 days (US)! -page 239
Jones argues that political engagement is extremely low and trust has been declining in the democratic system. He quotes Edmund Burke: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing".
February 21, 2023
Barry Jones is a genius and a politician who never was given his due. But when he talks most people are willing to listen. In this book, he summarises the many problems that Australia, and the world, face. But there is no solution other than more talk. How do we get past the vested interests that plague our economics and politics? Will the human race survive this century? Without significant changes, it seems unlikely that it will. Perhaps that is the best that anyone can say, and Barry Jones has emphasised it many times in this book.
March 14, 2021
This is an erudite and significant update by one of Australia's 'Living National Treasures' to his 'Sleepers, wake' book of 1982. Barry is a polymath who can communicate, if you are able to listen. Peppered through this book are lists of (very) serious issues currently facing the world, and equal lists of suggested solutions. I am very surprised that sortition didn't rank a mention, but I did love his chapter on Donald Trump: A sober summary of an ignoramus (antonym: Polymath).
December 24, 2023
What Has Been Done (Chapters 1-13)
What Is To Be Done (Chapter 14)
This book covers a really wide range of important topics and dives deep into their history. Unfortunately that history makes up the vast majority of the book and for the most part feels like reading a textbook.
While I did enjoy the book and found it interesting, I went in expecting mostly prescriptions for the future and was disappointed when so much of it was a chronicling of the past.
What Is To Be Done (Chapter 14)
This book covers a really wide range of important topics and dives deep into their history. Unfortunately that history makes up the vast majority of the book and for the most part feels like reading a textbook.
While I did enjoy the book and found it interesting, I went in expecting mostly prescriptions for the future and was disappointed when so much of it was a chronicling of the past.
February 19, 2023
I could write an essay about this book, but other reviewers have already done so and covered the points that I want to. But...this work is ultimately an enlightening and frustrating read for all the usual reasons, enlightening insofar as the great changes that need to be made and frustrating in that nobody with the wherewithal to make the changes will do so due to various nefarious reasons.
July 8, 2022
I was a bit late coming to this book . The results of the recent Federal election appear to indicate that something can be done and at least we are off to a better start.
January 22, 2024
An amazingly intelligent man. We can only hope.
November 3, 2025
Explains everything that has gone wrong with the Australia (and the rest of the world) since 1980 in the areas of economics, politics, technology and climate change.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 19, 2025
This should be compulsory reading for anyone wishing to enter into politics are engage in political discourse. Depressing to see how far we haven’t come since it was written five years ago.
Read
January 11, 2021Almost four decades ago, Barry Jones foretold the future with his seminal book, Sleepers, Wake! Now, he is back, with new energy and insights. For those wanting to understand the confounding age in which we live, What Is To Be Done is essential reading. I hope it will galvanise the many debates we need to have if we are to shape a better future.
Julia Gillard
The author of this book is a genius. He irritates the hell out people of all political loyalties. He reads virtually everything that matters. In these pages we, his readers, are the beneficiaries. Forty years after his masterpiece Sleepers, Wake! he tackles the challenges of a new age: the digital world, climate change, COVID-19, and widespread political disillusionment. If any author can offer us thoughtful directions for what is to be done, it is Barry Jones.
The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG
Honestly critical and generous judgements from Australia’s most knowledgeable mind, about threats to our civilisation and how we can conserve the best.
Ross Garnaut
Read Barry’s book. No one has ever thought longer, harder, and deeper about this country.
Phillip Adams
The hope for this book is that the young people who read it will respond to its scientifically sound and brilliant analyses of how our society needs to change post Covid. Their health and wellbeing, as well as that of the planet, depends on citizens being informed and challenging our undemocratic political culture.
Professor Fiona Stanley
If anyone has written a more precise distillation of the current issues and implications of climate change, I haven’t read or heard of it.
Geoff Cousins AM
[Barry Jones is an] irrepressible, hugely intelligent, always insightful and utterly unique man … What Is To Be Done blends an astonishing array of scholarly research with insights from history, philosophy and literature, coupled with biographical reflections and anecdotes, to assemble political and policy recommendations that make a persuasive case for a new way forward.
Troy Bramston, The Australian
What Is to Be Done picks up from where Sleepers, Wake! left off. Like that seminal 1982 work, What is to be Done is a clarion call for addressing the cultural, political and environmental challenges that we face today.
Happy Magazine
Intellectually conceived and yet highly accessible, Barry Jones’ book is a must-read for every concerned citizen.
Mary Ann Elliott, The Chronicle
Julia Gillard
The author of this book is a genius. He irritates the hell out people of all political loyalties. He reads virtually everything that matters. In these pages we, his readers, are the beneficiaries. Forty years after his masterpiece Sleepers, Wake! he tackles the challenges of a new age: the digital world, climate change, COVID-19, and widespread political disillusionment. If any author can offer us thoughtful directions for what is to be done, it is Barry Jones.
The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG
Honestly critical and generous judgements from Australia’s most knowledgeable mind, about threats to our civilisation and how we can conserve the best.
Ross Garnaut
Read Barry’s book. No one has ever thought longer, harder, and deeper about this country.
Phillip Adams
The hope for this book is that the young people who read it will respond to its scientifically sound and brilliant analyses of how our society needs to change post Covid. Their health and wellbeing, as well as that of the planet, depends on citizens being informed and challenging our undemocratic political culture.
Professor Fiona Stanley
If anyone has written a more precise distillation of the current issues and implications of climate change, I haven’t read or heard of it.
Geoff Cousins AM
[Barry Jones is an] irrepressible, hugely intelligent, always insightful and utterly unique man … What Is To Be Done blends an astonishing array of scholarly research with insights from history, philosophy and literature, coupled with biographical reflections and anecdotes, to assemble political and policy recommendations that make a persuasive case for a new way forward.
Troy Bramston, The Australian
What Is to Be Done picks up from where Sleepers, Wake! left off. Like that seminal 1982 work, What is to be Done is a clarion call for addressing the cultural, political and environmental challenges that we face today.
Happy Magazine
Intellectually conceived and yet highly accessible, Barry Jones’ book is a must-read for every concerned citizen.
Mary Ann Elliott, The Chronicle
Read
January 11, 2021Almost four decades ago, Barry Jones foretold the future with his seminal book, Sleepers, Wake! Now, he is back, with new energy and insights. For those wanting to understand the confounding age in which we live, What Is To Be Done is essential reading. I hope it will galvanise the many debates we need to have if we are to shape a better future.
Julia Gillard
The author of this book is a genius. He irritates the hell out people of all political loyalties. He reads virtually everything that matters. In these pages we, his readers, are the beneficiaries. Forty years after his masterpiece Sleepers, Wake! he tackles the challenges of a new age: the digital world, climate change, COVID-19, and widespread political disillusionment. If any author can offer us thoughtful directions for what is to be done, it is Barry Jones.
The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG
Honestly critical and generous judgements from Australia’s most knowledgeable mind, about threats to our civilisation and how we can conserve the best.
Ross Garnaut
Read Barry’s book. No one has ever thought longer, harder, and deeper about this country.
Phillip Adams
The hope for this book is that the young people who read it will respond to its scientifically sound and brilliant analyses of how our society needs to change post Covid. Their health and wellbeing, as well as that of the planet, depends on citizens being informed and challenging our undemocratic political culture.
Professor Fiona Stanley
If anyone has written a more precise distillation of the current issues and implications of climate change, I haven’t read or heard of it.
Geoff Cousins AM
What Is to Be Done picks up from where Sleepers, Wake! left off. Like that seminal 1982 work, What is to be Done is a clarion call for addressing the cultural, political and environmental challenges that we face today.
Happy Magazine
Intellectually conceived and yet highly accessible, Barry Jones’ book is a must-read for every concerned citizen.
Mary Ann Elliott, The Chronicle
Julia Gillard
The author of this book is a genius. He irritates the hell out people of all political loyalties. He reads virtually everything that matters. In these pages we, his readers, are the beneficiaries. Forty years after his masterpiece Sleepers, Wake! he tackles the challenges of a new age: the digital world, climate change, COVID-19, and widespread political disillusionment. If any author can offer us thoughtful directions for what is to be done, it is Barry Jones.
The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG
Honestly critical and generous judgements from Australia’s most knowledgeable mind, about threats to our civilisation and how we can conserve the best.
Ross Garnaut
Read Barry’s book. No one has ever thought longer, harder, and deeper about this country.
Phillip Adams
The hope for this book is that the young people who read it will respond to its scientifically sound and brilliant analyses of how our society needs to change post Covid. Their health and wellbeing, as well as that of the planet, depends on citizens being informed and challenging our undemocratic political culture.
Professor Fiona Stanley
If anyone has written a more precise distillation of the current issues and implications of climate change, I haven’t read or heard of it.
Geoff Cousins AM
What Is to Be Done picks up from where Sleepers, Wake! left off. Like that seminal 1982 work, What is to be Done is a clarion call for addressing the cultural, political and environmental challenges that we face today.
Happy Magazine
Intellectually conceived and yet highly accessible, Barry Jones’ book is a must-read for every concerned citizen.
Mary Ann Elliott, The Chronicle
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