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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Writing a big 19th century novel of philosophy and utopian ideas is hard!! and this almost gets there but ultimately lands in a clunky, uncanny-valley like spot — not quite a novel, but not quite a manifesto either.
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book is hard to rate or review, because I have so many disparate thoughts about it. On the one hand, the Other Now is intriguing in many ways, while despicable in others. I relate deeply to Eva, but Iris just annoys the crap out of me and I'm glad the story didn't spend as much time with her as it did with Costas and Eva, because she's one of those people who will never be happy about anything. But an interesting thought experiment here, even if I don't agree with all of it, because it is a far better suggestion than what I'd feared it could be when I read that the author was a former Syriza politician.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Explains why capitalism doesn’t work for us in the 99%. The beginning was pretty technical but just as I was starting to get bored, it shifted to focus more on the human aspects. I thought the ending was brilliant! Definitely did not see that coming, but it worked.
Mein Interview mit Yanis Varoufakis zu seinem Buch gibt es hier.
Some innovative (although unfinished) imaginings of a future economy and post-capitalist world - in the bizarre wrapping of a sci-fi novel.
Absolutely love this book but just not in the right headspace to take it in properly right now.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A fascinating and truly unique book detailing a leftist untopia through a wormhole. Backed by legit economic and political theories, Varoufakis weaves a complex and emotional commentary on our past, present and future as a society. A great book to read for anyone interested in left wing politics who wants to expand their understanding.
‘I don’t like capitalism, but is there really a decent alternative?’ is a sentence I’m sure a lot of us have said or heard before. In Another Now, Varoufakis makes the case there is.
In this political sci-fi fictional-non-fiction, three characters discover they can send messages to their alternative-universe counterparts, who live in a post-capitalist Earth. The concept of this book is an odd one, in that it’s fictional all the way through, but very much an economic proposition.
In straddling both fiction and non-fiction, it fails to place its feet in either. The characters are stilted and two-dimensional, and even a couple throw-away attempts at character background (one’s a lesbian! one struggles mothering her teenage son!) aren’t enough to distract you from the robotic way they only talk about economics. It’s sort of like an extended textbook question – you’re expected to believe it’s perfectly normal for Timmy to need to divide 181p sweets into three piles, rather than wondering why the hell Timmy doesn’t have diabetes. There’s also irritatingly no real explanation as to why certain things are plausible. One character miraculously opens up a wormhole into the future because he can, so there. NO, I NEED MORE DETAILS.
Having said that, it’s such a fascinating approach. I’ve never seen a non-fiction book like this before, and the creativity makes up for the odd dialogue. I’m no lover of capitalism, so I went into this book willing to be convinced by its ideas, and I was. There was a moment when things started to get a little too smooth-sailing (Amazon brought down by a one-day mass boycott? Sure, Jan.) at which point Varoufakis also offers up potential problems with this idealistic new world. This won me over more, the added layer of problem-solving making the model all the more thought out, combatting earlier moments that felt like raw idealism.
A lot of the ideas in Another Now do offer steps in the right direction for a capitalist-free future. I think setting the timeline quite so far in the future means there’s no proper look at the short-term ways these ideals could be achieved, but overall a clever and fascinating work from an expert in his field.
In this political sci-fi fictional-non-fiction, three characters discover they can send messages to their alternative-universe counterparts, who live in a post-capitalist Earth. The concept of this book is an odd one, in that it’s fictional all the way through, but very much an economic proposition.
In straddling both fiction and non-fiction, it fails to place its feet in either. The characters are stilted and two-dimensional, and even a couple throw-away attempts at character background (one’s a lesbian! one struggles mothering her teenage son!) aren’t enough to distract you from the robotic way they only talk about economics. It’s sort of like an extended textbook question – you’re expected to believe it’s perfectly normal for Timmy to need to divide 181p sweets into three piles, rather than wondering why the hell Timmy doesn’t have diabetes. There’s also irritatingly no real explanation as to why certain things are plausible. One character miraculously opens up a wormhole into the future because he can, so there. NO, I NEED MORE DETAILS.
Having said that, it’s such a fascinating approach. I’ve never seen a non-fiction book like this before, and the creativity makes up for the odd dialogue. I’m no lover of capitalism, so I went into this book willing to be convinced by its ideas, and I was. There was a moment when things started to get a little too smooth-sailing (Amazon brought down by a one-day mass boycott? Sure, Jan.) at which point Varoufakis also offers up potential problems with this idealistic new world. This won me over more, the added layer of problem-solving making the model all the more thought out, combatting earlier moments that felt like raw idealism.
A lot of the ideas in Another Now do offer steps in the right direction for a capitalist-free future. I think setting the timeline quite so far in the future means there’s no proper look at the short-term ways these ideals could be achieved, but overall a clever and fascinating work from an expert in his field.