Dear readers, I return to the Five Great Reads fold fresh from three weeks’ leave, during which I tore through six books from the pile on my nightstand (with one standout). This week’s offerings are (mostly) equally meaty. Please tuck in.
1. Is addiction a disease? This former addict disagrees
Kirsten Smith was for a time able to maintain a stable domestic existence while hooked on black tar heroin. But she was soon fired for nodding off at work, turning to robbing banks with her boyfriend to fund their habit. The second robbery landed them in jail.
Smith is now an academic challenging the brain disease model of addiction (BDMA), arguing that her behaviour was always the result of conscious decisions – even when she dived into a dumpster to retrieve her syringe kit after deciding not to quit after all.
The case against BDMA: Smith argues terms such as “chronic” and “disease” can push people with substance-use disorders to see relapse as an inevitable outcome.
How long will it take to read: Nine minutes.
2. The quitters who refuse to go quietly
Why just hand in your notice and walk when you could burn every bridge in sight?
Of course social media is accelerating the so-called “revenge quitting” trend, in which the disgruntled soon-to-be departed let their former company/colleagues/manager know exactly what they think of them as they make for the exit. Some have even parlayed their 15 seconds of online fame into money-making opportunities.
Holy smokebomb: A British priest in July tendered his resignation in the form of a poem that called out “disgruntled, unlikable” parishioners who spread “gossip” from their “holy lips”.
How long will it take to read: Four minutes.
3. ‘The best fucking thing we’ll ever do in our lives’
So says Richard Roxburgh of Blue Murder, the 1995 miniseries about NSW police corruption that kickstarted his transition from the stage to the screen. The actor and others talk Jenny Valentish through the making of the Australian television landmark – including the death threats they received from one of its real-life protagonists and his associate.
“He’s been in the nude in here, with blood washing down there.” – Roxburgh retraces his thoughts while shooting a scene in the shower of crooked cop Roger Rogerson’s actual home.
How long will it take to read: Four minutes.
Further reading: A new documentary calls for the redemption of “clearly the worst film ever made by anyone ever”.
after newsletter promotion
The algorithm knew Kathryn Wheeler was expecting before she had had a chance to tell her family, friends or GP. And once it started serving her social media content of successful pregnancy tests, miscarriages and birth disfigurements, hitting the block button made little difference.
“This,” writes Wheeler, “is pregnancy and motherhood in 2025.”
Money, money, money: Dr Christina Inge, a Harvard researcher specialising in the ethics of technology, argues distressing content “isn’t a glitch”. “It’s engagement, and engagement is revenue.”
How long will it take to read: Five minutes.
5. Inside the US ‘trad family’ movement
A decade ago, Mike and Jenny Thomas were urban Democrats of a progressive bent. Now they are part of a small movement of Americans who believe the modern world is broken – and that the solution lies not in economic equality or social progressivism, but in embracing a household where women raise children and men earn.
J Oliver Conroy spoke to several “trad families” and visited the Thomases at their rural farmstead, where the philosophies of hippyish leftwing agriculturalists and Trumponomics coexist.
How did they get there? For the Thomas family it started with a move to the country, not long after which Mike found himself staring at an oak tree and sensing the presence of Jesus Christ emanating from everything around him.
How long will it take to read: Twelve minutes.
Sign up
If you would like to receive these Five Great Reads to your email inbox every weekend, sign up here. And check out out the full list of our local and international newsletters.