During the past decade or so, the country has been witnessing a spectacle of contrasts in the public policy domain. We have seen an abundance of analysis being confronted by a paucity of solutions, consensual ones in particular. Chandrasena Maliyadde, a senior stalwart of the executive branch of successive Governments, had sought to reflect on the causes and effects of this phenomenon in a series of articles he had contributed to the Sri Lankan media for over seven years. His work touches upon a broad range of matters including, but not limited to, governance, politics, economy, national planning, public administration, policy formulation and implementation and so on. This work has now become a treatise in the form of a book titled ‘The way we govern – some reflections.’ Maliyadde’s hands-on knowledge and experience as a senior planner and an implementer together with his perceptive work as a hard-nosed analyst with a retiree’s equanimity seem to find their unmistakable imprints throughout the volume. The depth and breath of the coverage of topics make this compilation rather substantive while language sans jargon makes it quite user-friendly. Incisive comment and strident critique are laced with healthy does of wit and humour as appropriate. Consequently, the volume brings into sharp relief a stark reality in contemporary Sri Lanka, viz. the debilitating absence of political will all round to develop consensual approaches to public policymaking in areas affecting our vital national interests. While this work may not and certainly cannot be expected to, cure all ills of the rather excruciating enterprise of public policymaking in this country, it will certainly help illuminate some choices in that regard.