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antony_monir's review against another edition
3.0
No Logo is a poignant and seminal work on the effects of globalization as well as branding. It is divided into four sections, each dealing with an aspect of the consequences that arise from globalization. The reason I am rating this book lower than a book of this calibre should get is because of the fourth section. While the first three sections are excellent, each dealing with how multinational corporations have been slowly robbing us of our spaces, our choices, and our jobs, the last section focuses on activism. I do not consider myself to be against activism of the kind described in this book. However, I also see it as a futile gesture. Since this book “exposed” Nike and other companies almost 25 years ago, they have continued to thrive and their image has not been affected as much as it should have. To me, dedicating an entire section of the book (that also takes up more than a third of it) to activism seems silly. Other than this section being particularly boring and outdated, it also gives the impression that such activism works. Most likely, it does not. Change occurs when people get together and enact it, not when a small group decides to stick it to the man. I would still recommend this book as required reading for anyone interested in the effects of globalization on people (especially those of the working class). Just save yourself the pain and skip the last section of the book. Final rating: 3/5.
chairmanbernanke's review against another edition
3.0
Good arguments on consumerism and excessive private influence in education, media, and policy.
vicky_sabel's review against another edition
5.0
Increíble libro, la información es impresionante y shokeante. Lo único que diría es que esta medio fuera de fecha (se publicó en el 97 creo) ósea que esta bueno leerlo teniendo en cuenta el contexto y que mucho de eso cambio en estos años, creo que si también lo lees en el marco de una clase o con alguna clase de guía más profesional seguro le sacas más jugo. Re estoy para una versión de 2020!!!
roxalyn's review against another edition
2.0
This book had some really interesting chapters. Unfortunately, the audiobook was completely ruined by Nicola Barber's narration. In addition to taking an audible breath before each phrase, Barber over-annunciates each consanant like she's a robot who's learning to speak. It really detracted from the writing.
shane_tiernan's review against another edition
4.0
Since I work in marketing research I guess I shouldn't wish for the destruction of all brands. But I would definitely be more than happy to change careers if it meant I got to see Nike, Monsanto, Walmart and all the other destroyers of our (world) society topple.
The only reason this book didn't get 5 stars is that it made me so angry and made me feel so helpless. Don't get me wrong, Ms. Klein also adds a healthy dose of optimism about how "the movement" has evolved and continuously found new ways to out companies for their misdeeds. It was also very enjoyable to see how corporate missteps caused them even more grief (and millions of dollars). McDonald's execs saying, "Coke is healthy, it has water in it." made me smile for days.
So if you're a devout capitalist I would say this book's probably not for you. But if not, you'll get a good idea what's happening so that the richest 10% of the world can be super-consumers of cheap branded products. I'm motivated now to go to my (extremely liberal) church and give a presentation so that we can (collectively) give some of these corporations a little kick in the bottom line.
The only reason this book didn't get 5 stars is that it made me so angry and made me feel so helpless. Don't get me wrong, Ms. Klein also adds a healthy dose of optimism about how "the movement" has evolved and continuously found new ways to out companies for their misdeeds. It was also very enjoyable to see how corporate missteps caused them even more grief (and millions of dollars). McDonald's execs saying, "Coke is healthy, it has water in it." made me smile for days.
So if you're a devout capitalist I would say this book's probably not for you. But if not, you'll get a good idea what's happening so that the richest 10% of the world can be super-consumers of cheap branded products. I'm motivated now to go to my (extremely liberal) church and give a presentation so that we can (collectively) give some of these corporations a little kick in the bottom line.
theconstantreader's review against another edition
4.0
The tone of voice throughout this book is so conversational that it’s easily accessible and the small personal details make it easy to consume which I think is important when you’re taking on issues as big as these and you want the broadest audience possible to bear witness. All of the examples and stories were highly compelling, just sometimes it felt like there was one too many thrown in for good measure which could make the point feel more laborious than it needed to be.
Nearly twenty years have passed since this book was re-issued with a new introduction and afterword so as I was reading it, I couldn’t help but think - how does all of this apply to the past two decades, what has happened in the meantime? Maybe it’s this feeling that the movement Klein felt was burgeoning hasn’t really come to fruition in any meaningful way in my day-to-day life. That feels disappointing after you read about all these issues from the loss of public space to corporate censorship to unethical labour practices.
What is one to do after reading this book isn’t entirely clear either which is frustrating. Klein tells the story of visiting a US school to talk about the sweat shop conditions overseas when one of the students asks her which shoes she should buy (clearly not Nike) and Klein responds with a non-answer about how she should research for the best options.
Clear steps on how action can be taken in effective ways is something I imagine a lot of readers would have been grateful for but perhaps it’s not that simple. Part of the point of the book is that there isn’t some readily available list you can check to solve theses issues, they are complicated and wide spread. So what then? While it may not deliver an action list, this book serves two shed light on these issues, encourage us to question the society we have had a hand in devising and make more deliberate and well-informed decisions that will shape our tomorrow.
Nearly twenty years have passed since this book was re-issued with a new introduction and afterword so as I was reading it, I couldn’t help but think - how does all of this apply to the past two decades, what has happened in the meantime? Maybe it’s this feeling that the movement Klein felt was burgeoning hasn’t really come to fruition in any meaningful way in my day-to-day life. That feels disappointing after you read about all these issues from the loss of public space to corporate censorship to unethical labour practices.
What is one to do after reading this book isn’t entirely clear either which is frustrating. Klein tells the story of visiting a US school to talk about the sweat shop conditions overseas when one of the students asks her which shoes she should buy (clearly not Nike) and Klein responds with a non-answer about how she should research for the best options.
Clear steps on how action can be taken in effective ways is something I imagine a lot of readers would have been grateful for but perhaps it’s not that simple. Part of the point of the book is that there isn’t some readily available list you can check to solve theses issues, they are complicated and wide spread. So what then? While it may not deliver an action list, this book serves two shed light on these issues, encourage us to question the society we have had a hand in devising and make more deliberate and well-informed decisions that will shape our tomorrow.
carelessquill24's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
dashtaisen's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Thorough, engaging, and extremely well-researched. Some of the details you may want to skim, since so much has changed since the book was published. But a lot of it remains relevant today.
julziez's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25