Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara

8 reviews

haleybird's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

This book was incredibly thought provoking and informative, it’s just really dense and was personally hard for me to get through, but I’m glad I did! It’s difficult for me to keep up with so many acronyms, company names, so much data and stats, etc. 

Regardless of that, however, I do believe this is a book that anyone who uses rechargeable electronics or electric vehicles should read. The more people know about the atrocities that continue to be committed in the Congo for the sole purpose of exploiting their resources, the better. 

I will surely be much more conscious about my consumption of products that use rechargeable batteries moving forward, as I can’t in good conscience keep blindly consuming while children, women, and men in the Congo continue to die indiscriminately. We all need to do better!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Violence, War, Blood, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Gun violence, Murder, Genocide, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Torture, Colonisation, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, and Trafficking

drought_season's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child abuse, Child death, Violence, Colonisation, Misogyny, Slavery, Genocide, and War

Minor: Sexual harassment, Rape, and Sexual assault

moon_peach's review against another edition

dark emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

Heartbreaking but important to read to understand what we are contributing to. Unfortunately things are getting worse but if enough people learn about the real abuses happening we might be able to cause change.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Violence, Torture, Child death, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment

scmiller's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Trafficking, Classism, Confinement, Death, Torture, Sexual violence, Slavery, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Blood, War, Pandemic/Epidemic, Genocide, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, and Miscarriage

Minor: Car accident and Animal death

ekmartin's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Violence, Child death, Death, Kidnapping, Classism, Child abuse, Slavery, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Medical trauma, Violence, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Medical content, Racism, Rape, Torture, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

2tinybirds's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Torture and Murder

Minor: Terminal illness

bandysbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Cobalt Red is a book on a subject that I was vaguely aware of, but definitely should know more about. This is one of those books that is horrifically depressing due to the subject matter and at the same time extremely well researched and written. I wish that this could be made required reading when purchasing a smart device. The DRC has been brutalized by colonialism and civil war, so to see it further exploited by Cobalt and Coltan mining is just heartbreaking. 

I did listen to this book on audiobook and I felt that the audio was very well done. Sometimes non-fiction can be a bit dry, but this was narrated well, super compelling, and kept me interested in learning more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, Child abuse, Classism, Blood, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Slavery, Violence, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Torture, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Grief, Medical content, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Pandemic/Epidemic

lbelow's review against another edition

informative sad medium-paced

4.75

This is such a brilliant and eye-opening book. It is thorough and heart-breaking. A much-needed and revealing book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Death, Gun violence, Child death, and Colonisation

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, and Torture