About BN

BetterNature paperbacks (July 2018)

As anticipated, hardcopy books are now available. Publication is not difficult, the harder part (as always) is to get anyone to notice. So distributors and marketing will be the go.

BetterNature eBooks (April 2017)

The publication industry has reached the stage where electronic books are outstripping paper books, and self-publication is comparable to publisher-mediated publication. Stimulated by excellent guides to self-publication, it is time for me to begin publishing my own books. Initially they will be eBooks on Amazon Kindle, but other outlets and print-on-demand will probably follow.

I begin with a Short Book, The Rise and Fall of the Radical Right. A full publication of the draft Desperately Seeking the Fair Go will soon follow. I expect to have others in due course, some new and some from my backlist. More details under the BetterNature Books tab.

You can sign up here to be notified by email of new publications as they come out. You can also “follow” my blog posts using the Follow button in the right-hand column.

It’s exciting. No more gatekeepers, just me and my audience. I swim or sink on my own merits. I can write about anything I want to.

 

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New Blog Themes (Nov 2016)

The governance of Australia has rarely been competent or inspired, as Donald Horne observed in The Lucky Country in 1964 (Penguin, 2005). I think it is now third rate, dangerously so. There are two underlying reasons, not unrelated.

  • The appeal to and cultivation of fear
  • Free market fundamentalism (aka neoliberalism)

If I was asked to list the problems with the way we are governed today, I would hardly know where to begin, there are so many misconceptions, follies, distortions, manipulations and outright lies. Many of them are covered reasonably well in my book manuscripts, not all published. But in the meantime hardly a day goes by when the mis-governance of Australia is not painfully demonstrated in one way or another. Then there is the evidence that the present form of governing is no accident. It is not just incompetence.

Therefore I will instigate two new themes (Categories) in the Blog:

A third was added Feb 2017:

These posts will also be collected under new menu tabs, under the tab Better Oz. I hope this will give some coherence to what may seem a random collection of laments and aspirations.

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Motivations and themes of this site

I bring head and heart to my writing. From a 40-year career in science I have learnt critical analysis, leading to insight. From a period of personal development my self-awareness has grown. I see loving relationships as paramount. With awareness we can learn to manage our fear and keep it from running us, and blocking love. With critical analysis we can pull apart the many stories we live by, so we can discard the ones that are failing us and keep the ones that serve us well.

This site collects my articles, essays and books on these themes. The site was reconfigured early in 2016 to feature essays and longer articles, and to highlight books. Blog posts and short articles, which have become less frequent, will continue under the Blog menu tab.

A major theme is the possibility of economies that nurture life rather than destroying it. I am a scientist who has been exploring economics for nearly two decades. A new paradigm of economics is developing which will displace most of the current mainstream economic paradigm. It can be explained in plain English. It can support all those innovative and loving people who are already shifting the way they live on this miraculous planet.

Other themes are the need for more respectful and responsive politics, for collectively owned media that serve us instead of peddling the self-interest of the excessively rich, the need to re-empower local communities, the need for much more comprehensive democracy and more effective governance systems, and the need to restrain and guide new technologies that have enormous destructive potential.

Australia is in a state of dissension. Fear, racism and xenophobia have been fanned and exploited by many politicians and media. Yet there are signs that the extremists have gone too far, and Australians’ sense of a fair go is being reasserted. The need to reach an accommodation with indigenous Australians that respects them and honours their astounding history and cultures is becoming more widely recognised.  The potential is emerging for White and Black Australians to learn from and take pride in each other. The old symbols of empire and racism need to be replaced.

Explore the topics in the menu tabs and check the latest blog commentaries.You can see more about my motivations in my Welcome, and more about my professional experience at About and Economics experience.

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Header picture: Sunrise over Lake Cargelligo, NSW.