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nickrs's review
A bracing polemic against theory that has retreated into a matter-oriented infinite regress that makes political thinking hard, if not impossible, to do. Naturally, some nuance gets banished, but Malm knows this—his point is that this is no time for arcana that require a lifetime of study to get straight. I’m not sure how meaningful this would be to anyone who doesn’t inhabit a world where Latour is a big name, but as someone who has occasionally tried to make this type of theory do political stuff, it gives voice to many of my doubts and frustrations.
The one really regrettable loss to me is that he gives posthuman/nonhuman theory short shrift (e.g. he totally misses recent Haraway while critiquing her older positions)—understanding multispecies issues will be vital to coping with the biotic toll of the “storm,” and provides further grounds for critique, even if it comes with its own tricky paradoxes.
I agree with others that the last few chapters (the “Autonomy” one in particular) deserve a broader readership than the rest of the book.
The one really regrettable loss to me is that he gives posthuman/nonhuman theory short shrift (e.g. he totally misses recent Haraway while critiquing her older positions)—understanding multispecies issues will be vital to coping with the biotic toll of the “storm,” and provides further grounds for critique, even if it comes with its own tricky paradoxes.
I agree with others that the last few chapters (the “Autonomy” one in particular) deserve a broader readership than the rest of the book.
hbermudes's review
Reading this feels like going to a class discussion where you've missed class for a week and haven't done any of the pre-readings... The discussion is great and impressive and well researched, but at the end of it all, did you participate and will you remember it? Unclear. Malm is writing within a philosophical/theoretical discourse about climate change, working to breakdown the idea that nature has disappeared. He works to prove hybridism is not a sufficient understanding of nature, and can lead to a non-action that bolsters the destruction of capitalism. It can get pretty grim. I really have to emphasize that Malm is a fantastic writer. Funny, critical, and urgent.
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