Book Reviews

Every month or so a bunch of us get together and discuss a book with widespread implications for the future of the civil service and publish the reviews here; we've dubbed them Impossible Conversations.

The books are democratically chosen, the talks are live and web-accessible, and sometimes the authors even join us.

Interested? Drop us a line.


Impossible Conversations to date include:

• Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics by Richard Thaler
• Smart Citizens, Smarter State: Technologies of Expertise and the Future of Governing by Beth Noveck
• How to Run a Government So That Citizens Benefit and Taxpayers Don't Go Crazy by Michael Barber
• What is Government Good At? by Donald Savoie
• Off and Running: The Prospects and Pitfalls of Government Transitions in Canada by David Zussman
• The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy by David Graeber
• The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Taleb
• The Longer I'm Prime Minister by Paul Wells
• To Save Everything, Click Here: the Folly of Technological Solutionism by Evgeny Morozov
• The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs Private Myths by Mariana Mazzucato
• Tragedy in the Commons by Alison Loat and Michael MacMillan 
• Shopping for Votes by Susan Delacourt
• Austerity: The History of a Dangerous Idea by Mark Blyth
• The End Of Big by Nicco Mele
• The Ethics of Dissent: Managing Guerrilla Government by Rosemary O`Leary
• Chronic Condition by Jeffrey Simpson
• Whatever Happened to the Music Teacher by Donald Savoie
• The Unfinished Canadian by Andrew Cohen

Impossible Conversations replaced the Monday Book Reviews, which included:

• Trust Me I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator by Ryan Holiday
• The Upside of Irrationality by Dan Ariely
• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
• The Innovator's Dilemma by Clay Christensen
• Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World by Jane McGonigal
• The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less by Barry Schwartz
• The Captive Public: How Mass Opinion Promotes State Power by Benjamin Ginsberg
• Unconscious Civilization by John Ralston Saul
• Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur by Pamela Slim
• Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception by Pamela Meyer
• Policy Paradox by Deborah Stone (Part 1 and 2)
• The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking
• Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told you About Being Creative by Austin Kleon
• Bureaucratically Incorrect: Letters to a Young Public Servant by Bob Chartier
• Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely
• A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Dan Pink
• Linchpin: Are You Indispensable by Seth Godin
• Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content by Mark Levy
• Context: Further Essays on Productivity, Creativity, Parenting, and Politics in the 21st Century by Cory Doctorow
• Trickster Makes This World by Lewis Hyde
• Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age by Douglas Rushkoff
• Beyond the Idea: How to Execute Innovation in Any Organization