Summer reading from the TPT library

26 August 2020

The Conversation

Bookplates

As the summer wears on, we are surrounded by evidence that systems can change quickly – even though some systems don’t seem to change quickly enough.

Originally suggested by community members in response to our 2018 and 2019 themes ('Unfinished Revolutions' and 'Higher Resolutions'), this month’s selections from The Performance Theatre’s pop-up library offer insights on how the human race and the systems we create change over time.  

“Two Harvard professors illustrate how fragile our democracies are; and how step-by-step democratically elected leaders historically, and also today(!), are undermining and changing it.” – Connie Hedegaard, former European Commissioner for Climate Change

“If he is only 1% right, it still has the potential to change pretty much everything!” – Jeremy Hillman, Director of Corporate Communications, World Bank Group

Collaboration is at the core of history. Without it we would have stayed in the middle of the food chain. Radical.” – Yves Daccord, former Director-General, International Committee of the Red Cross

“Read when the book was first published, I was struck by the resilience and ingenuity of generations even in the toughest of times.” – Rick Haythornthwaite, Chairman, Mastercard and Chairman, Xynteo

"Isn't all literature about systems change? This 1909 book nails 2020 – perfectly pitched for a world trying to extricate itself from an economic system that is, like the machine in the title, totally “out of hand”." – Veronica Lie, EVP, Xynteo

We will continue to share recommendations from the library, choosing a handful at a time that relate to a common theme. We also welcome new recommendations from our community. Write to us on hello@theperformancetheatre.com and we’ll add your recommendation to our virtual library.

Since The Performance Theatre (TPT) 2018 in Berlin, we have been honouring the power of books to transform; collaborating with the team at Little Free Library on a pop-up TPT book exchange. Captured on bookplates tucked into recommended volumes, these recommendations have sparked conversations both in the moment and months afterwards.