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sonjaloviisa's review against another edition
4.0
If I could be anyone, in terms of academia and my profession, I would be Naomi Klein. Her intelligence and wit emanates from every single word she writes. Reading her work, I get the same feeling that I get when I'm around people in my life who I find to be smart beyond my own understanding: absolute awe and a little bit of jealousy.
I read No Logo for the first time in 2015-2016 when I was writing my master's thesis. (Well, "read" is a term I use here very loosely, considering that I mostly just skimmed for passages that would be useful in constructing arguments about the efficacy of branding in identity development.) But this was my first time reading this from cover to cover. And I'm kind of upset that I didn't do so earlier.
As I mentioned, Klein is really damn smart. Which makes it so that this book is not necessarily easily approachable on every page. Some things definitely went over my head and felt uninteresting, simply due to their complexity. But don't get me wrong, that doesn't take away from the fact that this book is absolutely vital to the way we exist in our capitalistic culture today. And imagine, this was written in 1999 and you would honestly never know without checking, because every argument is still so relevant.
If you're a consumer, you need to read this. You need to soak this in and understand all of this. Understand how uncomfortable these facts are and understand that you (yes, YOU) need to stop making excuses and stop consuming, at all costs. And understand that if you choose not to because it's too difficult or you really want those Nike shoes, you're promoting something immoral and unethical. Because as much as we want to blame the big guys, we're the ones funding them.
Despite my rage for the state of consumption in today's world, Klein herself remains seemingly optimistic and positive towards the consumer, while focusing her criticism mostly on the businesses themselves. What says it all is Klein's quote from Utah Phillips: "The earth is not dying, it is being killed. And those that are killing it have names and addresses." She also provides a litany of examples of just how powerful we as consumers are, which to me underlines our responsibility in this situation. We can't be perfect and we most likely can't save the world, but it is our responsibility to be aware and to at least try. Making the changes that we need to be making is supposed to be uncomfortable.
So thank you Naomi Klein for allowing me to write an interesting master's thesis. And thank you now for giving me a kick in the butt to get a move on with my doctorate degree, which I've been dreaming about ever since the day I graduated. I have a feeling No Logo will be referenced in that thesis as well...
I read No Logo for the first time in 2015-2016 when I was writing my master's thesis. (Well, "read" is a term I use here very loosely, considering that I mostly just skimmed for passages that would be useful in constructing arguments about the efficacy of branding in identity development.) But this was my first time reading this from cover to cover. And I'm kind of upset that I didn't do so earlier.
As I mentioned, Klein is really damn smart. Which makes it so that this book is not necessarily easily approachable on every page. Some things definitely went over my head and felt uninteresting, simply due to their complexity. But don't get me wrong, that doesn't take away from the fact that this book is absolutely vital to the way we exist in our capitalistic culture today. And imagine, this was written in 1999 and you would honestly never know without checking, because every argument is still so relevant.
If you're a consumer, you need to read this. You need to soak this in and understand all of this. Understand how uncomfortable these facts are and understand that you (yes, YOU) need to stop making excuses and stop consuming, at all costs. And understand that if you choose not to because it's too difficult or you really want those Nike shoes, you're promoting something immoral and unethical. Because as much as we want to blame the big guys, we're the ones funding them.
Despite my rage for the state of consumption in today's world, Klein herself remains seemingly optimistic and positive towards the consumer, while focusing her criticism mostly on the businesses themselves. What says it all is Klein's quote from Utah Phillips: "The earth is not dying, it is being killed. And those that are killing it have names and addresses." She also provides a litany of examples of just how powerful we as consumers are, which to me underlines our responsibility in this situation. We can't be perfect and we most likely can't save the world, but it is our responsibility to be aware and to at least try. Making the changes that we need to be making is supposed to be uncomfortable.
So thank you Naomi Klein for allowing me to write an interesting master's thesis. And thank you now for giving me a kick in the butt to get a move on with my doctorate degree, which I've been dreaming about ever since the day I graduated. I have a feeling No Logo will be referenced in that thesis as well...
ranocchietto's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
babyfacedoldsoul's review against another edition
3.0
Honestly stopped reading halfway through. It's good information but repetitive and not the exploitation expose I had been lead to believe it was.
rick2's review against another edition
4.0
The first half was a really good summary and overview of how brands have captured the public imagination of the last 50 years or so.
The second half was a lot of weird disconnected theories and half baked communities trying to figure out what to do about it. From street art to Greenpeace. I never really thought there was a clear throughput on any of this.
The second half was a lot of weird disconnected theories and half baked communities trying to figure out what to do about it. From street art to Greenpeace. I never really thought there was a clear throughput on any of this.
caitsidhe's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Considering when it was written, still distressingly relevant
tjr's review against another edition
3.0
Well I finally got around to reading Naomi Klein’s No Logo, and it is probably apt to say that I read it about a decade too late. It is a dated read, there’s no two ways about it. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it was a bad book, or that No Logo is terribly written (it actually reads really well). It's just that, more than anything, the world has moved on and become a completely different place now, changed so much so that a lot of what is written in the pages of No Logo are almost irrelevant.
First off, No Logo was written and published at a time of plently. The tech bubble of the late 90s had not yet burst, September 11th hadn't occurred, and a lot of Americans still had jobs. Essentially No Logo was speaking to the affluent and well-to-do middle class to do something about sweatshops and what not because it was the “right thing to do.” The book covers the plight of third-world workers, and human rights abuses (all very important); however, No Logo doesn't really grasp the end-result, North American cost of moving all these manufacturing jobs off shore — that eventually there will be nothing left and nowhere for Americans to work.
One part of the book that was very informative was how all the major corporations aren't really “into” making products any more, but are rather all about “brand.” Essentially this big corporations are hollowed-out shells of their former selves, empty and devoid of anything other than superfluous glitter. The way Klein describes this in matter-of-fact language was eye opening.
At the end of the day, No Logo is a good read—an important read—that everyone should read at least once. Read it to see how much worse reality could become, compared to the predictions that Klein mentions in No Logo. All throughout reading it, I kept wanting to travel back in time and tell the author how it was really going to all unfold.
First off, No Logo was written and published at a time of plently. The tech bubble of the late 90s had not yet burst, September 11th hadn't occurred, and a lot of Americans still had jobs. Essentially No Logo was speaking to the affluent and well-to-do middle class to do something about sweatshops and what not because it was the “right thing to do.” The book covers the plight of third-world workers, and human rights abuses (all very important); however, No Logo doesn't really grasp the end-result, North American cost of moving all these manufacturing jobs off shore — that eventually there will be nothing left and nowhere for Americans to work.
One part of the book that was very informative was how all the major corporations aren't really “into” making products any more, but are rather all about “brand.” Essentially this big corporations are hollowed-out shells of their former selves, empty and devoid of anything other than superfluous glitter. The way Klein describes this in matter-of-fact language was eye opening.
At the end of the day, No Logo is a good read—an important read—that everyone should read at least once. Read it to see how much worse reality could become, compared to the predictions that Klein mentions in No Logo. All throughout reading it, I kept wanting to travel back in time and tell the author how it was really going to all unfold.