Books and Tapes by Robert Theobald

See also Robert Theobald Biography.

The following are Robert's most recent books and tapes:

• Reworking Success: Tools for Creating New Communities (New Society Publishers, 1997) This is the full text of a series of lectures that were commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for the Massey lectures: their most prestigious annual broadcast. The invitation to deliver them was cancelled. They were later delivered over by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and the reaction was extraordinarily positive. More recently, they have been recommended by Neale Donald Walsch as one of eight books that should be read by everybody. This is a good book for those who need a short overview of the reason why past success criteria are causing failures: it also works to find out whether others are open to discussions of the need for fundamental change.  Available on the web -- Reworking Success

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• The Future of Work. This is the audiotape version of Reworking Success. Its length is about 330 minutes on four cassettes.

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• The Healing Century. This is the recording of a follow-up series to The Future of Work that was commissioned by the ABC as a result of the success of the first series. Its length is about 330 minutes on four cassettes. The first and last talks are by me. The other four are conversations on community and family, work, learning and health with two Australians and two Americans. The Healing Century is one of the top-selling audiotapes in Australia.

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• Turning the Century. This early nineties book suggests some of the directions which are "obvious" once one accepts that fundamental change is necessary. Published early in the nineties it was, like so much of my work, ahead of its time. It is a way to get some specificity into discussions of the world we want and need.

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• The Rapids of Change. This book deals largely with process issues. It is therefore still relevant despite its nineteen-eighties publication date. Its most important contribution may have been to support a flexible image for thinking about the end of the twentieth century.

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Other books include:

• The Rich and the Poor (1959)
  It is a mistake to assume that the poor countries are backward versions of the rich: they have different patterns and development is only possible if their traditions are respected.
• The Challenge of Abundance (1961)
  Abundance will force fundamental changes in our way of life. It cannot be contained within industrial-era norms.
• Free Men and Free Markets (1963)
  Made the case for Basic Economic Security (the guaranteed income) arguing that it would be increasingly difficult to generate enough jobs and those that were generated would depend on feeding wants rather than satisfying needs.
• The Triple Revolution (with others) (1964)
  A report to President Johnson which argued that we were in the throes of revolutionary change, similar in magnitude from the shifts from hunting and gathering to agriculture and from agriculture to industry.
• The Guaranteed Income (edited) (1966)
  An edited volume spelling out the case for basic income for all.  
• An Alternative Future for America (1968)
  A collection of papers, collected with the help of students, expressing some of the flavor of the sixties debate.
• Teg's 1994 (1970)
  A science-fact book, written from the point of view of a young woman, suggesting some of the dynamics of the next 25 years. Some hits, some misses, some howlers -- mostly because we have still not being willing to face the real challenges of the time.
• Economizing Abundance (1970)
  A text on economics which showed why current thinking was flawed and suggested a move away from maximum economic growth strategies. 
• Futures Conditional (edited) (1972)
  Described the different ways of looking at the future in various forms: science-fiction, pictures, poetry, analysis, etc
• Habit and Habitat (1972)
  An examination of environmental and ecological realities and a statement of the depth of change required if dynamics were to alter in any significant way.   
• The Failure of Success (with Stephanie Mills) (edited) (1973)
  Used the same type of material to demonstrate that the ways we were currently thinking were worsening conditions.
• Beyond Despair (1976)
  Proposals for new directions tailored to the political realities of the day. 
• At the Crossroads (with others) (1984)
  Produced to mark the 20th anniversary of The Triple Revolution, it showed that the moment of choice between efficiency and compassion was drawing very close.