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3.63 AVERAGE
3.63 AVERAGE
5/10
This book is hard to recommend. First off, it's tough to read. There's a plethora of non-English names from Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Africa, and other countries. The sheer number of names thrown out there make it difficult to read through and even more difficult to retain. This is made worse by the author's writing style. He often uses language that only makes the information he's putting out there even harder to grasp. Along with that, the way he organizes his sentences often made me take a second to realize what he was saying. It takes true craft to make something in-depth easily comprehensible and for a commercial book such as this, I was disappointed by Tom Burgis' lack of craft with language.
My other significant gripe with this book is that the author seems to be unfocused. The book is called Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World. It would be reasonable to assume this is a broad story of how kleptocracies function and thrive in the world. It is not. Instead, the book jumps between stories from many different countries and many different people. Rarely do these stories weave together, and certainly not until many pages after you begun wondering what the point of all this is. This book is so unfocused that it's really difficult to say I came across better informed than when I started, at least when it comes to the premise implied from the book's title. The book rarely discusses how kleptocracy is created. It instead focuses largely too much on kleptocrats coming after dissidents, or people perceived as potential dissidents. A great, easily understandable example of how much this book lacks substance at times is the rant on Donald Trump in the second to last chapter (which seemingly comes out of nowhere). That chapter diverts so much focus onto Trump's public lies on rudimentary issues such as having the largest crowd at his inauguration or owning the largest property. It barely discusses and certainly lacks depth and substance, how Trump was aided by kleptocrats and how he helped aid kleptocracy while in office.
While I think there are interesting stories told in Kleptopia, it's difficult to recommend. Burgis appears to throw everything but the kitchen sink at the reader and most of it doesn't stick. The author ends the book in the last 2 pages by describing what it seems like he wants you to take away from this book, the broad understanding of how kleptocracies have grown and thrived worldwide. Yet he does very little to actually describe how this issue is played out in the big scheme of things.
This book is hard to recommend. First off, it's tough to read. There's a plethora of non-English names from Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Africa, and other countries. The sheer number of names thrown out there make it difficult to read through and even more difficult to retain. This is made worse by the author's writing style. He often uses language that only makes the information he's putting out there even harder to grasp. Along with that, the way he organizes his sentences often made me take a second to realize what he was saying. It takes true craft to make something in-depth easily comprehensible and for a commercial book such as this, I was disappointed by Tom Burgis' lack of craft with language.
My other significant gripe with this book is that the author seems to be unfocused. The book is called Kleptopia: How Dirty Money is Conquering the World. It would be reasonable to assume this is a broad story of how kleptocracies function and thrive in the world. It is not. Instead, the book jumps between stories from many different countries and many different people. Rarely do these stories weave together, and certainly not until many pages after you begun wondering what the point of all this is. This book is so unfocused that it's really difficult to say I came across better informed than when I started, at least when it comes to the premise implied from the book's title. The book rarely discusses how kleptocracy is created. It instead focuses largely too much on kleptocrats coming after dissidents, or people perceived as potential dissidents. A great, easily understandable example of how much this book lacks substance at times is the rant on Donald Trump in the second to last chapter (which seemingly comes out of nowhere). That chapter diverts so much focus onto Trump's public lies on rudimentary issues such as having the largest crowd at his inauguration or owning the largest property. It barely discusses and certainly lacks depth and substance, how Trump was aided by kleptocrats and how he helped aid kleptocracy while in office.
While I think there are interesting stories told in Kleptopia, it's difficult to recommend. Burgis appears to throw everything but the kitchen sink at the reader and most of it doesn't stick. The author ends the book in the last 2 pages by describing what it seems like he wants you to take away from this book, the broad understanding of how kleptocracies have grown and thrived worldwide. Yet he does very little to actually describe how this issue is played out in the big scheme of things.
informative
medium-paced
This book is so eye-opening, so well-written, like reading fiction but it's all too real. Trigger warning, it's so upsetting b/c the kleptocrats truly run the world, even places I thought of as democracies -- not so much anymore.
Scary. I was hoping that the book would conclude with the jailing of these very, very dangerous actors. It didn't. Tom Burgis is very brave I think and I am glad ENRC dropped their lawsuit. Not sure they won't try again though. The cast of characters is vast. Too many for me to comprehend without a second read. Or a third maybe. For this reason, I didn't read the notes section, of which there were many and made up a great deal of the content. And for good reason no doubt. I read this on kindle which is not to be advised as there were very many times I wanted to refer back which is tricky with digital media. Had this been a physical book, I would advise reading a chapter then the associated notes before moving on.
Finally, as Tom said, corruption is everywhere, as is post-truth. And that feels very close to home right now here in UK. The cradle of democracy . . . . . .
Finally, as Tom said, corruption is everywhere, as is post-truth. And that feels very close to home right now here in UK. The cradle of democracy . . . . . .
Another essential read, Burgis nails it on the global rich and the havoc they are imposing on the rest of us.
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, Murder
This is really hard and boring to read. Not for me
informative
reflective
medium-paced
medium-paced
Fascinating but sometimes a little difficult to follow as a lay reader!