Opinions and Reflections

Opinions and Reflections is an edited selection of the work of a public intellectual with a distinctive independence of mind and a wide-ranging erudition.

Covering a generation of writing, it begins with reflections, in 1990, on the collapse of the Soviet bloc and concludes with observations, in 2015, on cosmology and intelligent design. In between, in over 120 pieces, there are incisive pieces on everything from North Korea to cancer and from Charles de Gaulle to J. R. R. Tolkien.

The book embodies the unique range of interests of a writer whom former Foreign Minister Bob Carr described, last year, as Australia’s best intellectual. It features a portrait of the author by renowned Fairfax cartoonist John Spooner.