Reviews

Transparenzgesellschaft by Byung-Chul Han

beatrice0607's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

1.0

loganmhurley's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

lilcalamansi's review against another edition

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4.0

Yet another banger by Han

"the society of transparency is a society without poets, without seduction or metamorphosis. After all, it is the poet who produces scenic illusions, forms of appearance, and ritual and ceremonial signs; he sets artifacts against hyperreal, named evidence."

david_rhee's review against another edition

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4.25

All interrelation is weighed down by some form of secrecy. We can't immediately perceive what the other thinks or feels. Even when we openly converse, the nature of language itself can prevent us from getting each others' meaning. Distance, masking, simple clothing hides us from each other. Sometimes this is felt as a disadvantage or inconvenience. What if this is all that which gives our relationships and experience meaning? Han explores multiple aspects of a trend of modernity which runs counter to all of this hidden-ness, namely transparency. Usually colored with a positive connotation, transparency as a concept is analyzed in this densely compact thoughtful book and it betrays many alarming traits. The subject matter seems innocent and is presented in such a broad fashion, but as Han craftily guides us to his central point (or warning) the effect can be one of jolting fright. This work is refreshingly thought provoking and pairs excellently with his The Burnout Society.

rilkeduino's review against another edition

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3.0

hans anliegen ist sympathisch, seine argumentation jedoch manchmal fragwürdig (wenn er etwa dem begriff der information die negativität abspricht oder in seiner interpretation von platons höhlengleichnis) und der text nicht durchgehend stringent, man hätte durchaus noch kürzen können. demgegenüber steht allerdings das geniale letzte kapitel über die kontrollgesellschaft, in der han wunderbar herausstellt, dass transparenz der ökonomischen ausbeutung dient und diese gegenwärtig durch die ausgebeuteten selbst erfolgt (dialektik der freiheit).
insgesamt bleibt der philosophische essay durch abschnitte wie diesen lesenswert.

donbrigantes's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

dakrone's review against another edition

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4.0

Only fifty pages, but still, it's almost entirely aphorisms. It's densely packed cultural critique without any prescription for remedy (I suppose that's an exercise left to the reader.) Still, Han is perceptive and cutting, and certainly doesn't hold back.

evoraisaway's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced

3.75

eligarcesh's review against another edition

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3.0

Mi nivel intelectual está bastante por debajo del suyo, al parecer, porque me costó muchísimo entenderlo. Tenía premisas interesantes, pero no las argumentaba satisfactoriamente o lisa y llanamente no las argumentaba.

treeme's review against another edition

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challenging slow-paced

4.0

I liked the book but I struggled with some part— likely a me problem more than an author problem. However, months after reading I still can’t stop thinking about it and I’m considering rereading.