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Alumni Book Club

The UniSQ Alumni Book Club is an initiative between the School of Humanities and Communication and the Alumni Office. All discussions take place online, and are open to UniSQ alumni, students, staff and friends of the University.
Check out upcoming and past Book Club discussions.

2024 Thur 30 May 7pm-8pm - 'Manage Like a Mother: Leadership Lessons Drawn from the Wisdom of Mom' by Valerie Cockerell

It takes common-sense basic principles to be an effective leader, the very same principles one would apply to raising children. When you can successfully teach, nurture, and develop kids, multitask your way through their childhood and survive their teenage years, you can lead a team effectively. Mothers wrote the playbook on leadership with their no-nonsense approach. All great leadership practices are indeed simple, but you should not confuse simple with easy. The similarities between parenting and leading are obvious, and you don’t have to look much further than your own childhood or your parenting approach to know what works and what doesn’t. In the real-life Manage like a Mother stories of this former Disney leader and mother of three, parenting takes discipline, consistency, patience, and so does leadership. Because I said so! is not effective in parenting, nor is it in leadership in 2023. Valerie explains how you can apply the no-nonsense wisdom of moms to your leadership approach. Valerie’s book is available for sale online.

Register for the online discussion with Valerie on Thursday 30 May from 7-8pm Brisbane time.

 

Valerie Cockerell

Our second book of the year was written by former UniSQ staff member, Lynne Hunt and is titled 'Making Meaning: Making Sense'.

This book tells stories about the meanings we all make in life. Lynne’s stories make you think. Why, for example, are there endless jokes about mothers-in-law but very few about fathers-in-law? How do we make sense of secrets, school, university, customer service, caregiving, medical advocacy, politics, feminism, courtesy, religion, travel, music, and one-liners? It’s philosophy without the boring bits. All these stories happened. They are intimate, universal, and unbelievably true.

All proceeds from the sale of Lynne’s book will be donated to an international student scholarship fund for the University of Southern Queensland. 

Register for the online discussion with Lynne on Thursday 22 August from 7pm-8pm Brisbane time.

Our third book of the year, In Body, In Mind, is a philosophical novel by UniSQ alumnus Andrew Fookes.

Sam Kane is an academic psychologist; his life and work is an expression of his mind. Sam’s wife Rachel is a veteran athlete who has demonstrated the prowess of her body in sports played at the highest levels. They’re an odd couple, with differing abilities, passions and world views. They finish their careers and face a future of declining health, loss and uncertainty. This story explores what it is to use wisely the time we have left, to choose what we must remember, what we should forget, who we could forgive, for what we must make amends, and eventually, how we might say goodbye.

Register for the online discussion with Andrew on Thursday 19 September from 7-8pm Brisbane time.

Our final book of the year, Ladon’s Hourdes, was written by UniSQ alumnus Carole Ramsey.

In this book, the universe is on the brink of destruction due to Henry Bonnington’s machinations. Having accidentally killed the leader of the group, Canath, Henry set out yet again on a two-week experiment that changed the lives of the scholars who travelled with him through the Curtain of Time.

The work of Jung and Pauli gave him the understanding that underlying our everyday consciousness of time-space, cause and effect, there is a substratum in which everything that is, was and ever could be, already lies. But, gaining entry to this plenum was a huge, calculated risk which he was determined to take, notwithstanding the havoc it can cause to the entire existence of the universe. Interwoven through the text are philosophical and psychological ideas that inform Carole’s work as a philosopher.

Register for the online discussion with Carole on Thursday 24 October from 7pm-8pm Brisbane time.

Fish Out of Water is a wonderful companion for all athletes who are venturing out into the uncharted waters of sports retirement. Jade has gently and honestly provided readers with a window into her post-sport journey, as well as that of others, and some preventative measures to contemplate. A gifted story teller, Jade depicts the old landscape of retirement, the new landscape of retirement, and the ongoing, ever-present challenge that all athletes, or anyone for that matter, face when closing a significant chapter of their life. Check out the webinar recording.

Jade Edmistone

In Scales of Empire, Corporal Jian Choumali is on the mission of a lifetime – security officer of one of Earth’s huge generation ships, fleeing Earth’s failing ecosystem to colonise a distant planet. The ship encounters a technologically and culturally advanced alien empire led by a royal family of dragons. Check out the webinar recording.

Kylie Chan

Car Crash: A Memoir by Lech Blaine recalls 2009, when Lech Blaine walked away unscathed from a car accident in Toowoomba involving seven teenage boys. Three of his friends died and two were seriously injured. The driver was later acquitted of any crime.  Car Crash dissects the public and personal aftermath of a fatal accident through the experiences of a survivor. Dr Kate Cantrell and Dr Nycole Prowse talk with Lech Blaine. Check out the webinar recording.

Lech Blaine