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reduck's review against another edition
3.0
Dense, dense writing about political philosophy mixed with old man yelling at cloud (or in this case BBC), a fixation on niche grievance like university audits punctuated by some really amazing, mind bending points about post Cold War capitalism.
tobiasbroucke's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
krussek's review against another edition
2.0
I’m gonna be real with you guys, I don’t really get the hype with Mark Fisher. Not my thing. Or the constant agonizing about why the Everyman can’t imagine an alternative to capitalism. Isn’t it common sense that to someone enmeshed in the current social/political/ economic paradigm that something different is an ontological impossibility? It’s like how a 13th century European couldn’t imagine secularism, or global market capitalism. Anyway. Could be talking out my ass here.
couuboy's review against another edition
5.0
I read and then re-read this book over three days and then the next day I woke up tossing and turning from a dream wherein I felt like I was closing in on some grand understanding of the concrete/redemptive blueprint that Mark Fisher set forth in this book. When I had eventually properly awakened, I realised that (at least I’d like to I think) I actually did have a semi-comprehensible idea of what I think Fisher was attempting to convey, which solidified my opinion that this book is a dynamic piece of art as much as it is a book of accessible critical theory.
Within his cultural and systematic diagnoses Fisher synthesises absurdly quotable prose with apposite quotes, references and engaging anecdotes to create hope and spur the internalisation that an alternative is possible. While ultimately his remedy follows pretty closely from Deleuze and Guattari’s (i.e. desire as a synthetic process) and can roughly (which is to say, shouldn’t, but for the sake of this review's context I shall) be distilled into the quote, “emancipatory politics must always destroy the appearance of a ‘natural order’, must reveal what is presented as necessary and inevitable to be a mere contingency, just as it must make what was previously deemed to be impossible seem attainable.”
What the rest of this book does is provide cultural, economic, social, etc, touchstones for how pervasive and infectious the anaesthetised narratives set up by capitalism reach and just why they succeed. At the closing of this short book Fisher lets us loose with more than enough tools for us, firstly, to understand the world we currently live in and, secondly, to construct a better alternative.
Within his cultural and systematic diagnoses Fisher synthesises absurdly quotable prose with apposite quotes, references and engaging anecdotes to create hope and spur the internalisation that an alternative is possible. While ultimately his remedy follows pretty closely from Deleuze and Guattari’s (i.e. desire as a synthetic process) and can roughly (which is to say, shouldn’t, but for the sake of this review's context I shall) be distilled into the quote, “emancipatory politics must always destroy the appearance of a ‘natural order’, must reveal what is presented as necessary and inevitable to be a mere contingency, just as it must make what was previously deemed to be impossible seem attainable.”
What the rest of this book does is provide cultural, economic, social, etc, touchstones for how pervasive and infectious the anaesthetised narratives set up by capitalism reach and just why they succeed. At the closing of this short book Fisher lets us loose with more than enough tools for us, firstly, to understand the world we currently live in and, secondly, to construct a better alternative.
youngthespian42's review
3.0
This book has some good ideas that aren’t totally fleshed out. The book is British politics focused which was fun to learn some political struggles across the pond in the ‘00s. Audio narrated by Russel Brand who I know has a decisive voice and personality.
preciousmist's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Informative, concise (perhaps too much at times), although general. I found it mostly acessible, and unlike most leftist literature, rather hopeful.