Bookshop Barnies are nothing less than a reinvention of the book launch format. These salon type discussions challenge the author to justify their work in front of an invited audience of specialists and critics. Unlike most book lauches where the most challenging task for the author is to sign so many autographs, Bookshop Barnies force them to take a stand for their ideas. Bookshop Barnies are also invite only.
Barnies at Foyles, Charing Cross Road, London
Philippe Legrain on "Aftershock: Reshaping the World Economy
After the Crisis" (Little, Brown); Kevin Bloom on "Ways
of Staying" (Portabello Books); David Willets, MP and author
of "The Pinch - How the Baby Boomers Took Their Children's Future
- And Why They Should Give it Back" (Atlantic Books); Robert
Service on "Trotsky: A Biography" (Macmillan); Peter
Hitchens on "The Broken Compass: How British Politics has Lost
its Way" (Continuum); Humphrey Hawksley on "Democracy
Kills: What's So Good About Having the Vote?" (Macmillan); Tristram
Hunt on "The Frock-Coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life of
Friedrich Engels" (Allen Lane); Mike Hulme on "Why
We Disagree About Climate Change: Understanding Controversy, Inaction and
Opportunity" (Cambridge Universtiy Press); Richard Reeves
on "John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand" (Atlantic Books);
Nandan Nilekani on "Imagining India: Ideas for a New Century"
(Penguin, Allen Lane); Cosmo Landesman on "Starstruck: Fame,
Failure, My Family and Me" (Macmillan); Lord Nigel Lawson
on "An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming" (Gerald
Duckworth & Co); Rebecca Jenkins on "The First London Olympics:
1908" (Piatkus; Little, Brown Book); Conor Foley on "The
Thin Blue Line: How Humanitarianism Went to War" (Verso); David
Smith on "The Dragon and the Elephant: China, India and the New
World Order" (Profile Books); Julian Baggini on "Welcome
to Everytown" (Granta); Paul Mason on "Live Working
or Die Fighting" (Harvill Secker); Francis Wheen on 'Marx's
"Das Kapital"' (Atlantic); David Edgar on "Playing
with Fire'' (Nick Hern Books); Dame Julia Neuberger on "The
Moral State We're In" (Harper Collins); Martin Wolf on "Why
Globalization Works: The Case for the Global Market Economy" (Yale
University Press); John Ralston Saul on "The Collapse of Globalism…
and the Reinvention of the World" (Viking Publishing, Toronto); Carne
Ross on "An Independent Diplomat: Dispatches From an Unaccountable
Elite" (Cornell Univ. Press); Michael Gove MP on "Celsius
7/7" (Weidenfeld & Nicolson); Frank Field MP on "Neighbours
from Hell" (Politico's); Susan George on "Another
World possible If..." (Verso); Francis Gilbert on "Yob
Nation: The Truth About Britain's Yob Culture" (Portrait): Dea
Birkett on "Off The Beaten Track: Three Centuries of Women Travellers"
(National Portrait Gallery); Geoff Mulgan on "Good and Bad
Power: The Ideals and Betrayals of Government" (Allen Lane); Hywel
Williams on "Britain's Power Elites: The Rebirth of Ruling Class"
(Constable & Robinson); James Delingpole on "How to be
Right" (Headline Review); Mayer Hillman on "How We
Can Save the Planet" (Penguin); Jeremy Stangroom on "The
Dictionary of Fashionable Nonsense: A Guide for Edgy People" (Souvenir
Press); Joe Kerr on "London: From Punk to Blair" (Reaktion
Books)...
Lord
Bingham on 'The Rule of Law'. (Allen Lane)
Tom Bingham (who The Guardian calls "the most eminent of our judges"), was Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and Senior Law Lord of the United Kingdom.
In this book, he argues that the rule of law is the foundation of a fair and just society, is a guarantee of responsible government, is an important contribution to economic growth and offers the best means yet devised for securing peace and co-operation.
Come and judge the judge... in the benign court of Barnie opinion.
David
Aaronovitch on 'Voodoo Histories: the Role of
Conspiracy Theories in Making modern History'. (Jonathan Cape)
The Times, his own paper, described this book as a "forensically intelligent and hugely enjoyable study ". The Independent states that Aaronovitch "as a champion of the most recent Iraq War, he too fell for a conspiracy, in relation to weapons of mass destruction".
Come along and see whether Aaronovitch really exists, or is a figment of our fevered imagination.
Natalie Haynes on ‘The Ancient Guide To Modern Life’ (Profile Books)
Haynes is an award-winning comedienne and regular commentator on BBC2's The Review Show and even admits to having appeared on Radio 4’s ‘Quote… Unquote’. Her children’s novel The Great Escape won a PETA award for Best Animal-Friendly Children's Book in 2008.
She studied Classics at Cambridge and her latest book, ‘The Ancient Guide To Modern Life’ (Profile Books) explores events and characters from the past, that are “sufficiently sparsely drawn for us to insert our own subtext.” So, The Wire’s Stringer Bell is Oedipus; The Simpson’s is the modern version of Aristophanes. The question is, if we interpret to suit contemporary conditions, might we be in danger of missing the actual ‘text.
Come to this agora for oratory followed by the democratic mandate.
BOOKSHOP
BARNIE XMAS BASH BALLOON DEBATE
Which book - and its defender - deserves to stay in the balloon?".
A panel of brave souls argue - for just two and a half minutes each - for the best book... ever. You decide.
Balloonists include:
* Zoe Williams, Guardian columnist
* Matthew Taylor, Chief executive, Royal Society of the Arts and formerly Chief Adviser on Political Strategy to Tony Blair
* Godfrey Allen, Chief Executive of Apex Trust, finding employment for ex- Offenders,
* Shirley Cramer, CBE, Chief executive, Dyslexia Action
* Dr Tiffany Jenkins, Director of the arts and society programmem Institute of Ideas; visiting fellow at the LSE
Gary
Younge on 'Who are We - and Should it Matter in
the 21st Century?' (Viking)
Younge says: 'We are more alike than we are unalike. But the way we are unalike matters. To be male in Saudi Arabia, Jewish in Israel or white in Europe confers certain powers and privileges that those with other identities do not have. In other words identity can represent a material fact in itself'.
E:mail Bookshop Barnies here if you'd like to come
Philippe
Legrain on 'Aftershock: Reshaping the World Economy
After the Crisis'. (Little, Brown)
What started as a financial crisis has become an economic one and it is now morphing into a political one too. As demand slumps and unemployment soars, trade is collapsing and protectionism is mounting. As fear and anger erupt into hostility towards all things foreign, Phillippe Legrain asks the question 'is globalisation at risk?
Happy Days! Legrain explained his vision of what is needed for a "a fairer, richer and more stable global economy".
Kevin
Bloom on 'Ways of Staying'. (Portobello
Books)
This Bookshop Barnie is part of the London Book Festival focus on South Africa... having been volcanic ash'd off at the first attempt.
Bloom traces the path of violence from the murder of his cousin in the hills of Zululand to the fatal shooting of the historian David Rattray, linking these individual crimes to the riven political landscape. The publisher states that "Ways of Staying" is an "eloquent account of how the white community is coping with black majority rule". This dodgy description doesn't do it justice; this is really a book about how to situate oneself in changing times.
David
Willetts, MP on 'The Pinch - How the Baby Boomers Took Their Children's
Future - And Why They Should Give it Back'. (Atlantic Books)
The baby boom of 1945-65 produced the biggest, richest generation that Britain has ever known. Today, at the peak of their power and wealth, baby boomers now run our country; by virtue of their sheer demographic power, they have fashioned the world around them in a way that meets all of their housing, healthcare and financial needs.
In "The Pinch", David Willetts, Shadow Secretary of State for Universities and Skills, argues that the baby boomer generation has attained this position at the expense of their children! People between the ages of 45 and 65 as well as youngsters were welcome.
Robert
Service on 'Trotsky: A Biography'. (Macmillan)
Robert Service is the well-respected biographical author of "Stalin" and "Lenin". This book is the culmination of his triptych study of the central political figures in the formulation of the Soviet Union. This book seeks to put the record straight and reveal Trotsky - not as the hagiographies (and Trotsky's own words) describe him, but as a 'beguiling' radical with 'a lust for dictatorship' who 'trampled on the civil rights of millions'.
Does he deserve your vote, or your ice-pick? Are you a Bolshevik or Menshevik? Come along and find out more. And remember Trotsky's words, that 'in a serious struggle there is no worse cruelty than to be magnanimous at an inopportune time'.
BOOKSHOP
BARNIE XMAS BASH BALLOON DEBATE
Which book - and its defender - deserves to stay in the balloon?
Contestants include:
Humphrey
Hawksley on 'Democracy Kills: What's So
Good About Having The Vote?' (Macmillan)
Humphrey Hawksley is a leading BBC foreign correspondent, author and commentator on world affairs. He notes that from Pakistan to Zimbabwe, from the Palestinian territories to the former Yugoslavia, from Georgia to Haiti attempts to install democracy through elections have produced high levels of corruption and violence. Using examples of child labour to mass poverty, Hawksley wishes to temper our "devotion to democracy".
Mike
Hulme on 'Why We Disagree About Climate Change:
Understanding Controversy, Inaction and Opportunity'.
Tim O'Riordan, Emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia says: 'In a crowded and noisy world of climate change publications, this will stand tall. Mike Hulme speaks with the calm yet authoritative voice of the integrationist. He sees climate change as both a scientific and a moral issue, challenging our presumed right to be 'human' to our offspring and to the pulsating web of life that sustains habitability for all living beings. As a peculiar species we have the power do create intolerable conditions for the majority of our descendents. Yet we also have the scientific knowledge, the economic strength, and the political capacity to change direction and put a stop to avoidable calamity. This readable book provides us with the necessary argument and strategy to follow the latter course.'
Listen here:
Peter
Hitchens on 'The Broken Compass: How British Politics
lost its way '.
Peter Wilby in The Observer says of Hitchens' latest book that 'apart from the Iraq war, his focus is on comprehensive schools, which he loathes; on the railways, which he loves.' Anthony Howard, writing in The Spectator says: 'If there is one thing that can be counted on from the reconstructed Hitchens, it is his eagerness to go tooth and nail for political timidity wherever he detects it.' The Morning Star says: 'Treated as a piece of satire - with Hitchens himself as a Basil Fawlty-like character - The Broken Compass can be an entertaining read.'
Come and judge for yourselves. All welcome.
Listen to a webcast (.mp3 format) of the event:
Susan Neiman on 'Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists'.
Against a background of books that have sought to call a halt to the very idea of the left, Neiman argues for a commitment to a more just world that is rationally grounded, implacable and insatiable. In her commitment to reason and the facts of the world, in her readings of the Western canon, and above all in her fierce commitment to politics as a moral endeavour, Neiman makes it possible to believe that the Enlightenment is not yet exhausted and that we are free to join it if we wish.
In association with:
The
London Centre, University of Notre Dame in England
and Newham Bookshop 
Listen to a webcast (.mp3 format) of the event:
1. SUSAN NEIMAN's INTRO (2.4MB)
2. BARNIE Questions
(9.6MB)
3. Audience Q&A (poor sound
quality on questions) (15.5MB)
Tristram
Hunt on 'The Frock-coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life
of Fredrich Engels'
Hunt, one of the best known historians in the UK, has produced a
bodice-ripper!
"Set against the backdrop of revolutionary Europe and industrializing England – of Manchester mills, Paris barricades, and East End strikes – it is a story of devoted friendship, class compromise, ideological struggle, and family betrayal."
Richard
Reeves presented an inspirational overview of 'John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand'
JS Mills' 'On Liberty' is rightly famous for having been the winner of the first ever Bookshop Barnie Balloon debate. Author Richard Reeves, director of the leading think-tank Demos has produced a fascinating and critical - in the best sense of the word - assessment of Mill's life and work.
As Mill himself said: "Wrong opinions and practices gradually yield to fact and argument: but fact and arguments, to produce any effect on the mind, must be brought before it." A useful descripton of the Bookshop Barnie!
Listen to a webcast (.mp3 format) of the event:
1. General scene setting (4.8MB)
2. RICHARD REEVES' INTRODUCTION
& BARNIE QUESTIONS (6.6MB)
3. Audience Q&A (poor sound
quality on questions) (16MB)
Nandan
Nilekani presented a feisty defence of 'Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century'
Nilekani, named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME magazine in 2006 and Forbes' 'Business Leader of the Year' in the same year, has produced a book that shows how India's huge population 'has now become her greatest strength'.
This
Barnie was held in conjunction with British Council India
Cosmo
Landesman on 'Starstruck: Fame, Failure, My Family and Me'
Combining personal anecdotes about his eccentric family relations with four decades of social history, he writes: 'The Nineties are important for one reason: they mark the time when ordinary people were invited to join that exclusive club called celebrity... what was far less discussed was the cult of the ordinary... as far as television was concerned, real people - that is ordinary people - became all the rage."
Each contestant has just two and a half minutes to defend their favourite book:
WINNER: Stella Duffy, novelist, playwright, performer defending "The King James' Bible"
Particpants included:
Ian McMillan (poet, northerner defending Malcolm Lowry's "Under
the Volcano"); Rob Lyons (deputy editor, Spiked-Online
defending Douglas Adams' "Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy");
Jo-Anne Nadler, (political journalist and William Hague's biographer)
defending Philip Roth's "I married a Communist"; David
Jones (professor of Bioethics defending EF Schumacher's "Small
is Beautiful"); Tony Curzon Price (Editor-in-Chief of openDemocracy
on Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"); and Tristan
Quinn, producer, "Panorama" defending Jean Baudrillard's
"America"
'The
First London Olympics 1908', by Rebecca Jenkins
The 1908 London Olympics formed a stage for a clash of empires. In the White City stadium the Edwardian English sporting gentlemen met the vigor of the "scientifically trained" Americans... and lost.
David Goldlatt, writing in The Times notes that 'Beijing 2008 is quite obviously the sporting herald of a rising global power. The first London Olympics briefly illuminated the twilight years of a superpower’s declining rule.' And in 1908, far from engendering goodwill among nations, the Games caused international uproar.
Buy the book from Amazon.co.uk
'The
Thin Blue Line: How Humanitarianism Went to War', by Conor
Foley
"Humanitarian NGOs," argues Conor Foley, "are becoming increasingly dependent on western government donors, who comprise the only constituency that can hold them accountable".
So should there be more regulation holding them to account; or does it mean that NGOs should be encouraged to be more independent of so-called donor 'interest groups'? Will either be a good thing for the people that NGOs purport to defend? Or should we be more critical of any form of intervention in the national sovereignty of other countries?
Buy the book from Amazon.co.uk
'The
Best Book on the Market: How to Stop Worrying and Love the Free
Economy', by Eamonn Butler, director of the Adam Smith Institute
The book itself has been endorsed by the former Prime Minister of Estonia, The President of the Czech Republic, and the former Finance Minister of New Zealand... as well as Geoffrey Howe, John Major, Nigel Lawson and Andrew Neil.... but didn't put anyone off. .
Buy the book from Amazon.co.uk
'An
Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming' by Nigel
Lawson
The Observer's Robin McKie calls this book 'breathtaking arrogance', which seems to reinforce Lord Lawson's claim that simply by putting forward an alternative perspective on global warming is nowadays seen to be a sign of emotional dysfunction. The Literary Review, on the other hand, applauds him for having the courage of his convictions, an increasingly rare virtue in today's excessively consensual age'. See also Enemies of Progress
This Barnie was itself somewhat heated and a video will soon be available, at which future generations may marvel.
Buy the book from Amazon.co.uk
'The Dragon and the Elephant: China, India and the New World Order' by David Smith, Economics' editor, Sunday Times (just out in paperback)
Sir Digby Jones says that `This book... stimulates and nourishes the mind whilst adding to the wake-up call that the Dragon and the Elephant present to the developed world.'
Buy the book from Amazon.co.uk
8 April 2008Julian Baggini, philosopher and broadcaster, explains the background to his latest book, 'Welcome to Everytown: A Journey into the English Mind.' (it'll just be out in paperback):
Baggini parachuted into Rotherham for this anthropological study. Partly an exploration of his own fears and prejudices, this is an entertaining exploration of what real people really think.
Insightful? Patronising? Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough.
Buy the book from Amazon.co.uk
Paul Mason, BBC Newsnight's business and industrial editor, will discuss the intracacies of his latest book, 'Live Working or Die Fighting' (just out in paperback):
On the 40th anniversary of '68, Mason will be discussing his thoughts on the new globalised working class. Greg Palast says: 'If you haven't read Mason's book, you know nothing'. Barnie attendees will not usually have read the book... come and test your intelligence.
Buy the book from Amazon.co.uk
Fellow combatants included:
James Delingpole (author, journalist) on Tolstoy's
"War and Peace";
Peter Whittle (director, New Culture Forum) on J N
Neale's "Elizabeth I";
Michael Owens (head of Regeneration, London Borough
of Merton) on Jane Jacob's "The Death and Life of the
Great American City";
George Brock (Saturday editor, The Times) on Dickens'
"Our Mutual Friend";
Lesley Katon (film producer, Channel 4) on W G Sebald's
"The Rings of Saturn"; and
Tom Dunmore (editor-in-chief, Stuff magazine) on
Hunter S Thompson's "Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas",
We would like to thank all of the contestants for their strenuous and entertaining efforts and would like to wish them - as well as our Barnie-goers who have attended over the year - a very Merry Christmas and we hope to see you in the New Year!
What they say of the Bookshop Barnies:
"Engagingly spikey!"
Geoff Mulgan, director, Young Foundation
"A fantastic event. Intellectually stimulating, enjoyable
and I met a lot of very interesting people."
Claire Fox, director, Institute of Ideas
"What fun... I felt like I learned a lot."
Alain de Botton, philosopher
"I really did enjoy the Barnie… very combative."
John Ralston Saul, philosopher, author "The Collapse
Of Globalism"
"A fascinating evening."
Timothy Hornsby, Chairman Designate, Horniman Museum
"It was great fun"
Martin Wolf, associate editor and chief economics commentator,
Financial Times
"I've been thinking about some of the comments and questions
from the audience ever since"
Francis Wheen, author, journalist and broadcaster
Read testimonials for
Bookshop Barnies
Nicolette Jones on The Plimsoll Sensation: The great campaign to save lives at sea
Buy the book from Amazon.co.uk
The Barnie explored whether Samual Plimsoll had other motives; whether he was the progenitor of intrusive modern health and safety measures; and also explored the rise of creative non-fiction (a style that Jones rejects!)
Please email Austin Williams for further details.
Thomas
Homer-Dixon talked about his book:
The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, creativity and the renewal
of civilisation
Thomas's introduction
Questions to Thomas Homer-Dixon
Questions and points from the audience
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Carne Ross defended his book An Independent Diplomat
After being disillusioned with the government's policies in Iraq, Ross resigned his FO position and is currently advising the government of Kosovo and has been chosen by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust as one of its seven "visionaries for a just and peaceful world".
Michael Gove
MP introduced his new book Celsius 7/7
James
Delingpole introduced his new book How To Be Right
James Delingpole's introduction
Audience questions and discussion
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Guardian columnist and author Francis Wheen talked about his book 'Marx's Das Kapital'
As one of Atlantic's 'Books that Shook the World' series, author Francis Wheen says of Das Kapital: 'The book can be read as a vast Gothic novel whose heroes are enslaved and consumed by the monster they created... or as a Victorian melodrama; or as a black farce...There has been nothing remotely like it before or since - which is probably why it has been so consistently neglected or misconstrued. Marx was indeed one of the great tormented giants.'
Francis Wheen's introduction
Questions to Francis Wheen
Questions and points from the audience
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A
conversation with Canadian essayist and philosopher John Ralston
Saul and his new book 'The Collapse of Globalism and the Reinvention
of the World'.
"The Collapse of Globalism follows globalization from its promising beginnings in the 1970s through to the increasing deregulation in industry, and into the 1990s, when regional economic collapses and concern for the environment and for the rights of workers led to widespread protest and disillusionment. In the wake of globalism's collapse, nationalism of the best and worst sort, Saul demonstrates, shows signs of making a remarkable, unexpected recovery."
