120,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock πŸ‡³πŸ‡Ώ

We're Moving! 🚚 Our Hobsonville bookstore is closed this weekend. Please visit us on Monday in our new home πŸŽ‰

What Matters?

Talking Value in Australian Culture
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
What Matters? offers a compelling exploration into the significance of cultural objects and the metrics used to assess their value. The authors delve into how cultural assets are quantified in both financial and social terms, questioning conventional valuation methods. With a focus on science and nature, the book prompts readers to reconsider how they perceive and measure the importance of cultural heritage in contemporary society.
Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK Please add to wishlist to be notified when back in stock

Sorry, we're currently out of stock of What Matters?. Please add to your Wishlist and we'll send you an email as soon as it's back in stock.

Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're curious about how science and nature impact our understanding of the cultural landscape and decision-making processes. It delves into the intersection of scientific thought and cultural values, offering insightful discussions that could appeal to anyone interested in how data and narrative shape our world.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

Toooften, cultural leaders and policy makers want to chase the perfect metric foractivities whose real worth lies in our own personal experience. The majorproblem facing Australian culture today is demonstrating its value togovernments, the business sector, and the public in general.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Too often, cultural leaders and policymakers want to chase the perfect metric for activities whose real worth lies in our own personal experience. The major problem facing Australian culture today is demonstrating its value to governments, the business sector, and the public in general.

When did culture become a number? When did the books, paintings, poems, plays, songs, films, games, art installations, clothes, and the objects that fill our daily lives become a matter of statistical measurement? When did experience become data?

What Matters? intervenes in an important debate about the public value of culture that has become stranded between the hard heads (where the arts are just another industry) and the soft hearts (for whom they are too precious to bear dispassionate analysis).

It argues that our concept of value has been distorted and dismembered by political forces and methodological confusions, and this has a dire effect on the way we assess culture. Proceeding via concrete examples, it explores the major tensions in contemporary evaluation strategies, and puts forward practical solutions to the current metric madness.

The time is ripe to find a better way to value our culture by finding a better way to talk about it.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781925523805

Publisher: Monash University Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 August 2018

Country: Australia

Imprint: Monash University Publishing

Illustration: Illustrations

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Weight: 350g

Pages: 240

About the Author

Julian MeyrickΒ is a theatre director, historian and cultural policy analyst.Β He was Associate Director and Literary Adviser at Melbourne Theatre Company, 2002-07, where he established the new play development program, Hard Lines.Β Currently, he is Strategic Professor of Creative Arts at Flinders University, Artistic Counsel of the State Theatre Company of South Australia, and a member of both Currency House editorial committee and Council of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Board. He has directed more than forty award-winning theatre productions, and has written for the Conversation, Daily Review, InDaily, the Monthly and the Sydney Review of Books.Β His latest bookΒ Australian Theatre after the New WaveΒ was published by Brill last year. Dr Tully BarnettΒ is a Lecturer in English at Flinders University, and Research Fellow with the ARC Linkage project Laboratory Adelaide: The Value of Culture. She has β€˜stuck with the trouble’ on digital humanities since multi-path novels on CD were a cool thing and publishes across cultural policy, digital humanities, and reading as a practice. She is the co-author of β€œCounting culture to death: an Australian perspective on culture counts and quality metrics” (2017) . She serves on the boards of the Australasian Association of Digital Humanities and the Australasian Consortium of Humanities Research Centres. Robert PhiddianΒ is a professor of English at Flinders University. His particular interest is political satire, from Jonathan Swift to John Clarke, and his words appear in media from academic journals and university presses toΒ Australian Book Review, theΒ ConversationΒ and radio. He was the founding director of the Australasian Consortium of Humanities Research Centres, and has been involved with the Adelaide Festival of Ideas since the event’s inception in 1999, thrice chair of the programming committee.

Also by Julian Meyrick

View all
  • Theatre and Australia
    How has Australia developed, culturally? What is the relationship between European theatre and Aboriginal performance? How do the concepts of memory, space, and love intersect and inform all Australian drama? Theatre and Australia is a stark look at the signal contradictions that make up the nation’s sense of self. Exploring how race, gender, and community have influenced Australia’s cultural development,...
    Paperback
    $2499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

More from Science & Nature

View all
  • Raising Hare
    THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2025 SHORTLISTED FOR WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2024 SHORTLISTED FOR THE HATCHARDS AND BIOGRAPHERS' CLUB FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE HAY FESTIVAL, SUNDAY TIMES, THE TIMES, FINANCIAL TIMES, SPECTATOR AND iNEWS 'A beautiful book' - ANGELINA JOLIE 'I...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • What If? 10th Anniversary Edition
    CELEBRATING TEN YEARS OF THE MILLION-SELLING POP SCIENCE CLASSIC WITH A SPECIAL EDITION. THIS IS WHAT IF? . . . x10. THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Nerd royalty' β€” BEN GOLDACRE 'Totally brilliant' β€” TIM HARFORD 'Required reading across the world' β€” NEW YORK TIMES From the creator of the wildly popular xkcd.com, experience hilarious and informative answers to important questions...
    Hardback
    $4200
    Elsewhere:
    $5000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Anxious Generation
    A powerful argument for reclaiming childhoodβ€”and all human relationshipsβ€”from the online world, from the influential social psychologist and international bestselling author. Jonathan Haidt has spent his career speaking truth and wisdom in some of the most difficult spacesβ€”communities polarised by politics and religion, campuses battling culture wars, and now the mental health emergency hitting teenagers today in many countries around...
    Paperback
    $2299
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    16% off
    Ultra-Processed People
    Launching the runaway bestseller with ambitions to be the biggest non-fiction paperback of the year IT'S NOT YOU. IT'S THE FOOD. "If you only read one diet or nutrition book in your life, make it this one" - Bee Wilson "You've got to get this book in your life . . . Completely compelling . . . Read a page...
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Kitchen Confidential
    The classic bestseller from the star of Parts Unknown and No Reservations: 25th Anniversary edition, with a new introduction by Irvine Welsh. BEFORE THERE WAS THE BEAR, THERE WAS BOURDAIN. β€˜Elizabeth David written by Quentin Tarantino’ β€” A.A. Gill β€˜Fantastic: as lip-smackingly seductive as a bowl of fat chips and pungent aioli’ β€” Daily Telegraph After twenty-five years of sex,...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2799
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Sapiens
    Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari is an extraordinary exploration of humanity's history from the dawn of our species to the present day. Harari delves into our evolution, offering insights into the cognitive revolutions that allowed Homo sapiens to rise above other animal species. Traversing through various stages of human development, he examines the Agricultural Revolution, the unification of humankind through...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $3000
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Invisible Women
    Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez is a groundbreaking and meticulously researched exploration into the pervasive gender bias that infiltrates every aspect of our society. Through compelling case studies and thorough analysis, this book unveils the hidden ways women are systematically disadvantaged in a world predominantly designed by and for men. Perez's revelations stretch across various sectors including government policy,...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Talk
    A Harvard professor shows how we can become better talkers - and why effective conversation will help us all thrive. Conversation is at the heart of our relationships and decision-making, but the science behind our everyday interactions, and how to improve them, is little known. In Talk, Harvard Professor Alison Wood Brooks provides fascinating insights into the power of effective...
    Paperback
    $3000
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • On Sale
    20% off
    Clean & Green
    Simple swaps and innovative ideas for cleaning and maintaining your home that won't cost the Earth. Learn how easy it is to make simple swaps in your cleaning and tidying methods for a more eco-friendly home. This beautifully illustrated black and white guide with 101 hints and sustainable, natural cleaning tips and hacks will help you take small steps that...
    Paperback
    $2400
    Usually:
    $2999
    (2)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Genetic Book of the Dead
    From one of the world’s great science writers, a book that explores the deepest principles of evolutionary history. In this groundbreaking new approach to the evolution of all life, Richard Dawkins shows how the body, behaviour, and genes of every living creature can be read as a book – an archive of the worlds of its ancestors. A perfectly camouflaged...
    Hardback
    $4900
    Elsewhere:
    $5499
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • The Coming Wave
    The instant Sunday Times bestseller from the ultimate AI insider - the only book you need to read on this subject. An Economist, Financial Times, Guardian, Prospect and Sunday Times Book of the Year Shortlisted for the FT and Schroders Business Book of the Year This is the only book you need to understand our new world - from the...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships Monday
  • Breath
    Discover the transformative power of breathing in Breath by esteemed journalist James Nestor. This revolutionary book delves into the science and history of one of the most fundamental human activities - breathing. From the bustling streets of SΓ£o Paulo to the serene temples of India, Nestor embarks on a global journey to uncover the secrets of ancient breathing techniques such...
    Paperback
    $2100
    Elsewhere:
    $2600
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships Monday

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.