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raffaelhirt's review against another edition
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
jefftompkins's review against another edition
3.0
While I dont agree with his politics or his take on Christianity, Monbiot makes quiet a few thought-provoking insights that everyone could ponder and apply to their view on humanity, politics and government. While a number of his chapters/articles might apply more to a British native aware of local political issues, there are still a great number of issues that have international resonance discussed within his book.
cosmicllama's review against another edition
5.0
Not exactly what I was expecting when I first picked it up, this collection of essays does a great job defining the present situation. It opens up with the question of what is neoliberalism, and spends the rest of the book defining the systems that exist today that make up "neoliberalism". While the essays are grouped together in themes, I felt that they deserved an intro, or maybe an end to each section to tie them all together. They aren't particularly hard to relate to one another, this is probably due more to the organization than anything. The essays are never in chronological order (which was a smart choice), allowing the reader to be surprised by the date mentioned at the end of essay. I found myself saying several times, "wow, this has been going on that long?".
Overall, Monbiot takes on the mammoth task of trying to define in what happens after "the end of history" and delivers a merciless, thought provoking, questioning diatribe of the powers that be, and the systems they have created to lull the public into not caring, or at the very least, make the public completely unaware.
Overall, Monbiot takes on the mammoth task of trying to define in what happens after "the end of history" and delivers a merciless, thought provoking, questioning diatribe of the powers that be, and the systems they have created to lull the public into not caring, or at the very least, make the public completely unaware.
mw2k's review against another edition
4.0
In a way, I hate reading books like these. They remind me that the world is owned and operated by self-serving scum that don't care one iota about the needs, wants or aspirations of the little guy. And I also hope that immortality doesn't happen any time soon, as the scum Monbiot names and describes would be the first to sign up for it. Apart from my feelings, this is a collection of articles the author has written for newspapers, mostly on the predations and vile deeds of the self-serving scum mentioned earlier. It's fascination and revelatory, but very sobering at the same time.
pavonini's review against another edition
3.0
As a collection of essays, this was worth reading. Fairly wide-ranging subject matter, and consistent approach. I like Monbiot's way of viewing things (quite "big picture" but some focus on actionable details) as it dovetails well with my own.
For the environmental side, I preferred Feral as a call to action. Some of the essays that stood out to me were the one on the drugs war (as he made a point about the detrimental effect of legalisation on developing countries that I'd never encountered before), on criminalising youth (I was never affected by those laws and didn't really understand them), and on Obama's use of drones. The one tackling some of the origins of Malthusian thought was fascinating and made me quite furious.
There was only one I wasn't keen on - when he decided to write about abortion. I don't think he has the background knowledge, experience, or a unique viewpoint to put forward anything new. The essay wasn't terrible, and it was backed up with facts and figures, but I think it's hard to analyse this subject without talking about things like domestic violence, gendered power relations, and reproductive coercion. I believe it's better tackled by someone working within reproductive rights, with less talk of the "tragedy" of abortion. I just don't think that framing it that way is helpful to women, even though I'm in agreement that the less invasive surgeries happen the better (especially with antibiotic resistance on the rise).
That one essay aside, I enjoyed the collection. There was something of value in every essay and I think I'm likely to come back to it in the future.
For the environmental side, I preferred Feral as a call to action. Some of the essays that stood out to me were the one on the drugs war (as he made a point about the detrimental effect of legalisation on developing countries that I'd never encountered before), on criminalising youth (I was never affected by those laws and didn't really understand them), and on Obama's use of drones. The one tackling some of the origins of Malthusian thought was fascinating and made me quite furious.
There was only one I wasn't keen on - when he decided to write about abortion. I don't think he has the background knowledge, experience, or a unique viewpoint to put forward anything new. The essay wasn't terrible, and it was backed up with facts and figures, but I think it's hard to analyse this subject without talking about things like domestic violence, gendered power relations, and reproductive coercion. I believe it's better tackled by someone working within reproductive rights, with less talk of the "tragedy" of abortion. I just don't think that framing it that way is helpful to women, even though I'm in agreement that the less invasive surgeries happen the better (especially with antibiotic resistance on the rise).
That one essay aside, I enjoyed the collection. There was something of value in every essay and I think I'm likely to come back to it in the future.
mlytylr's review against another edition
4.0
george monbiot is a little much sometimes, but he’s fighting the good fight
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