Can We Do Better? is an insightful, penetrating and far-reaching call to decency, integrity and accountability. The book is a clarion call to reevaluate our man-made world of dogmas, ideologies, myths, and masculine institutions and industries.
Are we humans better than our relentless, ongoing history and conglomeration of wars, genocides, murders, sexual abuse, family violence, exploitation of the poor and the powerless, brutal colonisations, heartless ideologies, patriarchal religions, and new-age gobbledygook?
What generates and drives this hotchpotch? Can we do better than this mired mess? Who can do what to help us do better?
What might you do to help us do better … in family, in community, environmentally, and globally? Who and what are our sources of hope to learn and evolve?
Read … and draw your own conclusions. The Companion Workbook can help you respond to these questions and to envisage a better way forward for us humans.
Reader Review
It’s time for “Can we do better?”. This book is for anyone, but particularly, men who have a sense that it’s time to make a difference in their lives, their community, their country, and their planet. Throughout Can we do Better, Don Morris, ‘an ordinary Aussie bloke,’ confronts some of the big issues that are incredibly timely in 2023. He challenges the reader to critically examine their views on religion, toxic masculinity, popular culture, politics, and the environment.
This book is a ‘no holds barred’ odyssey that poses piercing, insightful, and at times, confronting questions. Some readers may find some of the initial chapters challenging or even impassable at times. If this is you, a great place to re-enter is at the mid-point where Don introduces a range of practical tools and techniques starting with how to moderate projection and building self-awareness. He builds on these techniques by providing real-life, everyday examples of the type of values-based leadership and mindful normality that Don advocates throughout his book. The chapter about Uncle Bob is Don’s writing at its absolute best.
Don concludes with an argument that genuine progress is no longer made with society remaining fixated on masculinised values, behaviours, and structures. It is instead achieved through the return to the stewardship, leadership, and eldership of First Nations People and Women. This book is an incredibly timely contribution to society and a text that will if nothing else, prompt us to think deeply and to feel. I recommend wholeheartedly.
JAMES HEDGES | PROJECT MANAGER, FATHER
BRISBANE AUSTRALIA
FROM PAGE 27
Excerpt
My hope and purpose are that Can We Do Better will stimulate a revolution of courageous personal awareness and reflection. It would be fantastic if this book is a catalyst for constructive, forward-thinking discussions … and for the networking of grounded, hopeful, intelligent, integrous, reasoned, creative and strategic minds. Contact me if you want to chat about issues … and to network understandings, ideas, possibilities and strategies for human evolution.
Because this book is such a big read … as you journey forward … chapter by chapter and theme by theme … breathe … hang in there … stay the course … and keep breathing … until you reach the final quarter of the book … which is the top of the mountain that you have climbed. The final quarter of the book … is the top of mountain … the place of vision.
From that vantage point … you will be in a strategic position to be able to see possible new paths through the sprawling landscape on the other side of the mountain. From the top of the mountain … you will see a huge and complex panorama of … peoples, communities, ecologies, issues, realities, challenges, risks, and hopes. From the top of the mountain … to which you have faithfully and bravely climbed … you will be able to see possible ways forward … for you and your friends, peers, colleagues, citizens, custodians, educators, leaders, and elders … new ways forward … for billions of … ‘us’.
So … breathe … soak up the challenging reading journey ahead … stay the course to get to a vantage point of clarity and a perspective. As you journey … and when you arrive at the top of mountain … have a heart to feel … a mind to understand … eyes to see … ears to hear … and hands to do … whatever you discern needs to be felt, to be understood, to be seen, to be heard … and do whatever you discern you need to do … now and into the future.
Reviews
FROM READERS
‘Can we do better?’ is a fantastic read.
This book explores and questions who we are, what we do and why we do it.
No punches are pulled throughout this book. The author (who just happens to be my Father) was not afraid to go in depth on some delicate but vital subjects. Shining light on topics such as religion, evolution, and the human ego.
I think ‘Can we do better?’ can best be described as humankind’s wake up call.
I highly recommend this book. 5 Stars.
GEOFFREY MORRIS
Wow! Can We do Better is different!
This book made me stop and rethink a bunch of issues and possibilities.
I loved the questions … there are so many fantastic questions! I was also drawn to the profiles of role models. The true story about Uncle Bob is amazing. This book is a big read, it's so positive, so helpful and hopeful.
It’s not for the faint-hearted but was worth my time and persistence.
MARY WILLIAMS
I’ve never read anything quite like Can We Do Better. What a gutsy, challenging and inspiring book. At first, I was daunted by the size, so I read a chapter here and there, put it down, then read a few more chapters. Eventually, I read the whole book. It’s not an easy read for me as a man. There are a lot of sobering and confronting realisations and a lot of detail about why we humans do the awful things we do. But the final several chapters offer hope. Don’s ideas about possible future roles of women and First Peoples made good sense. I’m keen to do the Companion Workbook.