AWARDED AN AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF AUTHORS MENTORSHIP
THE QUIET REVOLUTION
REVIEWS
In a world stuck in the dismal swamp of neo-liberal capitalism and it’s consequences, The Quiet Revolution represents a ray of hope. A fundamental but achievable alternative for our communities and economy that will allow us to live better lives.
The pre-eminent economist of the last century, John Maynard Keynes predicted that by the 21st Century… NOW, we would be working 15 hours a week. In this testament for our children’s future, Linda explains what went wrong and how we need to set it right, building on lessons from before the industrial revolution and capitalism and challenging the fundamentals of how we see
legitimate debate.
Dr Alexis Wadsley – Australian Economist
If you don’t already feel like we’re on a teetering edge, within the pages of this book is a pretty good description of how much of a corner humanity has painted itself into, like plenty of others before it, although this time, with an antidote, and raw comparison to what could, and, in my opinion, should, be.
David Thomas
There IS a way, more powerful and positive than any system in place at the moment, and this wonderful, well researched book details how individuals can plant the seeds of their own quiet revolution and swap mere existence for living.
Jane Harvey
The Quiet Revolution is fearless in its approach to analysing our current situation – both economic and environmental. Well researched, written with grace, wit and intelligence, it’s a book that will shift your paradigms.
At a time when politics is hard to feel positive about, it brings hope. And its life changing. The ultimate power we have is choosing our collective future.
This book will show why we need to do things differently and how to. It will inspire you to think differently. And it may just change your life. It has mine.
Annie Venables – Viking Films
The Quiet Revolution outlines the need for drastic changes in attitude so that humans can live in harmony with the natural world rather than exploiting its resources beyond survival. The many references and ideas show a deep understanding of the current situation and a potential route to improve our society, and thus our world. Through reciprocity, as practiced in so many cultures before industrialisation, society could become more caring and more sustainable. This book provides principles and actions needed to revolutionise societies and current Western attitudes. It is a book for everyone who is concerned about the future –
and we all should be!
Liz Smith
One of the greatest and most life changing books I have ever read.
I am a recent Permaculturist but also still an aggressive Property Investor, a role tied very heavily with our flawed Capitalist Paradigm.
It has been nearly 6 months since I read it, and I have referred so many people to it as a must read.
Jason Micallef
This book articulated what I’ve been thinking for years… that capitalism is an inherently flawed system. For me this book was the nudge I needed to live a life that reflected my values rather than participating in the daily grind.
Lisa Farnell
The Quiet Revolution – another thought provoking book that gives a way to think about how life could be better – better for us as individuals, as communities and for the planet we all call home. While well researched and thought through, my initial thoughts were that Linda had way more optimism for the nature of humans than I could muster. However immediately after reading this book, I also read Rob Hopkins, ‘From what is to What if’ and I recognised both the need and the benefit for seeking positive alternatives for now and into the future. Linda’s book gives us both boots on the ground things to work on and hope for where
that could lead us.
Sylvia Wells
Loved the author’s unflinching assessment of our current crisis. Cockburn maintains optimism by offering practical solutions on the political, societal and individual scale that can be implemented NOW. Recommend, a flashlight in the dark.
Multiverse Moss
This book will make you stop and think. What are we doing to our planet and ourselves… We all need to be thinking about our Why….
let’s keep talking about this.
Daleene
Eat my shadow
bOOK i
20 YEARS AGO THE WORLD WENT QUIET. FATHER IS STRANDED BETWEEN THE LIVING WORLD AND THE LOST. HE SAW THE END AND HE CAN’T LET IT GO.
FINN WAS A CHILD WHEN IT COLLAPSED. HE’S HUNGRY FOR THE FUTURE. HE LEAVES THE SAFETY OF HOME TO TRAVEL TO A DEAD CITY. BUT IT ISN’T DEAD.
EVERYTHING IS ABOUT TO CHANGE.
A STORY OF SURVIVAL, OF BEING LOST AND FINDING OURSELVES AGAIN & THE LOVE BETWEEN A FATHER & SON
button up buttercup
BOOK II
BUTTONS IS A STRANGE CHILD. SOMEONE NEW.
WHEN BUTTERCUP FINDS A MAP TO A SERIES OF MACABRE ART WORKS HIDDEN AROUND THE ABANDONED CITY, SHE FORMS A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE DECEASED ARTIST.
AND SHE DOES SOMETHING THAT WILL ROCK THE HOBART MOB, SOMETHING INEXPLICABLE, SOMETHING MAGIC
swallow my echo
BOOK III
COMING 2027
HOBART IS INVADED.
THE COMMUNITY ARE OUTMATCHED AND OVERRUN. IT’S NOT UNTIL THE ELDERLY LIBRARIAN IS FOUND HANGING FROM THE KABBALAH TREE THAT THEY COME TOGETHER AND USE THE POWER OF NATURE TO FIGHT BACK. THEY HAVE ONE NIGHT – IF THEY FAIL EVERYTHING WILL BE LOST.
I literally could not put this book down. I can’t remember the last time I was so fully engrossed in a novel!
Cathy RIchards
Perfect for book clubs as you will want to discuss it after you read.
Sylvia Wells
It’s in my top 5 best books ever, and I read a lot of books!!!
Sascha Jones
I received a free e-book version and enjoyed it so much that I went to their website and paid for it.
Best $10 I’ve ever spent on a book.
Judy
Eyes up. Take a breath. Remember,
it’s just a book.
The characters are complex and the writing is just stunning!
E.Brodie – Bookclubber
If this doesn’t make you cry
I’ll paypal you $10
David Thomas
I was hooked from the first chapter and have told all my friends about it.
Sarah Brooks
Sleep became a secondary consideration after starting this book!
Katie Devenish
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that’s affected me as much as Eat My Shadow.
Rachel Clarke
I loved Eat My Shadow by Linda Cockburn.
The author cleverly weaves words throughout the narrative and describes new rituals and traditions born of the times, the most poignant of which is
The Leaving, a beautiful and evocative description of the newly formed tradition of what we would call a funeral.
Naomi Coleman
Stunning cast of characters that populate a tightly-plotted world that made me laugh- and cry. Neither of which happens to me very often.
Alex Taylor
You meet a very brave dog that will own your soul.
Linda McCutcheon
A road trip, archaic words, the best and worst of humanity and the world’s bravest dog – what’s not to love?
Lisa Hall
It has layers.
A layer for word lovers, who love finding words that give you a new thinking tool; a layer for prose lovers, who bookmark beautiful sentences;
a layer for literature lovers who want books to throw light on those eternal human experiences like love and grief and parenthood and coming of age;
a layer for story lovers who want a novel that drags you into reading
one more chapter;
a layer for speculative fiction lovers
who love books with ideas.
Linda Woodrow
Do not expect to emerge unchanged.
Christina
The storyline had unexpected twists and the complex characters are deeply in me. They will stay with me for a long time.
I can’t wait for the sequel.
Celia Leverton
I read it in three days – be warned that once you start reading you won’t want to put it down!
Jane Shearer
Gritty, challenging and immersive. I read this long before the Quiet Revolution but they’d make great companion texts read back-to-back.
Multiverse Moss
The intricate world and characters, and a gripping fast-moving storyline draw you in and keep the pages turning – I was unable to put the book down from two thirds of the way through.
The world is richly described in the voices of its characters, the perspectives of those who lived through collapse and those who came after, those who fled to the countryside or stayed in the city, those who were protected by tight family units, or who survived unimaginable horror alone.
It’s fascinating to imagine being an “old” person savouring a coffee having not tasted it for 20 years, or how a “new” person may react to artifacts from strange and wasteful pre-collapse ways. The book depicts how human culture and language may grow and morph out of adversity.
While aspects are undoubtedly grim, humour, camaraderie, love and hope are also ever-present. This book takes us on an enthralling journey that crescendos to a dramatic final act, with a sting in the tail that leaves us nervously awaiting the impending release of book III “Swallow My Echo”.
Emma Watkins
How does she do it! Button up Buttercup was more impressive than Eat my Shadow. What a great read found it hard to put down it. If you enjoy Distopian fiction I highly recommend this series. Looking forward to the next one in this series.
Kerryn Huxley
I’m exhausted. I don’t think I breathed for the last few chapters. This book has kept me up late – too late. The characters are multi-layered and complex. Linda writes with the insights and wisdom of one who has seen the many sides of humans, our strengths and our frailties. It’s vulnerable, bald, blantant and subtle. The book is well paced, but the last half has surprises you that keep the pages turning with speed. And I didn’t see the end coming. Can’t wait for the next in the trilogy!!!! But first some sleep…..
Celia Leverton
I was so happy when I saw Linda was writing this sequel to Eat My Shadow, and it didn’t disappoint. From the moment I picked it up, I was completely hooked. While the first book was a powerful story that stayed with me long after I finished it, this one gripped me from the very first page.
Linda’s ability to paint such a vivid picture is incredible. The book made me reflect on what it means to be human and how we can all do better.
The captivating characters and their brutal realities provide a stark yet necessary look at what the collapse of capitalism and the effects of climate change could actually look like. This is a topic many of us are afraid to face, but Cockburn handles it with a masterful touch and a engaging, exciting story, making it impossible to put the book down.
In fact, my partner—who hasn’t read a book in ages—picked it up and couldn’t stop reading. He told me it was the best book he’d read in years. That says everything you need to know about the powerful and compelling nature of this novel. If you enjoyed the first book or are looking for a thought-provoking, unputdownable read,
I can’t recommend Button Up enough.
Anne Howlers
living the good life – revamped
BUY NOW – PAPERPACK
The 20th anniversary edition with new chapters on our subsequent move to Tasmania
building a straw bale house together, almost dying (Trev) and adding bees, sheep, ducks and pigs to the menagerie
I read the first half in one sitting,
it’s a good read 🙂
Emma Cooper
A Fascinating journal of how one family (in Australia) turned their backyard into a farm and lived off of what they themselves could produce or barter
for 6 months.
This was particularly refreshing because it was from an Australian viewpoint. It wasn’t all about how terrible the US is (although the US is mentioned occasionally), but specifically about their country and things people can do to make a difference.
If we lived in a better area, I would be most interested in trying something similar
although maybe not quite as intense!.
Rachel
A really great account of one family’s attempt to reduce their ecological footprint by simplifying their lives. Inspiring, challenging, informative
and very readable.
Linda Cockburn gives an honest account of the joys and pitfalls of their experiment: a commitment to producing their own food and electricity, riding bikes for transport & not spending any money for 6 months.
A must read for anyone interested in the environment, sustainability, simplicity or minimalism.
Yassy
Possibly my favourite book; so inspiring.
Poppy
podcasts, interviews & articles
linda cockburn
I’m a Reciprocist. Someone attempting to live in reciprocity with people and planet. Giving back at the rate I take. If everyone was a Reciprocist we’d soon run out of social problems and be living on a flourishing planet.
It’s taken me 25 years of research and learning from anthropologists, philosophers, historians and economists as well as indigenous cultures from around the world to formulate a plan for Civilization 9.0, one where humanity doesn’t burn out, but becomes a ‘shining torch’ – a quote from George Bernard Shaw that’s guided me since my 20’s.
‘Life is no “brief candle” for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.
But plans mean nothing if they’re not implemented. My mission is to bring the concepts of Eudaimonia and Reciprocity to the world and demonstrate that another world is possible through my non-fiction and fiction titles.
I’m both a traditionally published and self-published author.
I prefer self-publishing. While the kudos of traditional publishing is good, along with the opportunity to be reviewed and a place found for you on bookshop shelves, the lure of seeing the production of a book from the initial idea to the finished product and deep diving into the creative process – well that’s profoundly ‘me’.
I’ve learnt about book production by navigating the glitches, mistakes and frustrations and choosing to see books as forms of artwork in themselves. Finally holding it in your hand after hundreds of hours and havinpeople tell you you’ve changed their life… is worth it
available for
online book club meetings
& author talks
Linda has a no-fly policy