Mat Ward

Listening to Grasshoppers: Field Notes on Democracy By Arundhati Roy Penguin, 2009 256 pages, $30
Two hundred and fifty people marched from Sydney Town Hall to the New South Wales state Labor conference at Darling Harbour on Saturday November 14 to protest against plans for new coal power stations at Bayswater, near Muswellbrook in the Hunter Valley, and Mt Piper, near Lithgow. Protesters chanted "No more coal power, green jobs now".
Waste: uncovering the global food scandalBy Tristram StuartPenguin, 2009496 pages, $25 (pb) When I arrived in Australia as a new immigrant in August 2008, I had no job and little money. I'd read about freegans — people who live on thrown-away food — so decided to try my luck.
Waste: uncovering the global food scandalBy Tristram StuartPenguin, 2009496 pages, $25 (pb)
Rethink AfghanistanDirected by Robert GreenwaldDVD for sale in October, visit www.rethinkafghanistan.com
From the hype surrounding the release of Apple’s latest iPhone at the start of July, you might be forgiven for thinking it could do everything from making a cup of coffee to shaving your armpits. The July 29 Sydney Morning Herald said there was even a new application that could measure your performance in bed.