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This is a scary and at the same time inspiring book about climate change. Although it is basic in its science and social ramifications of climate change, it covers all the basis of things that rebels might need to know.
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The sections I found most compelling were the ones on activism and organizing around a cause, and these were worth reading even if I found some others lacking heft. This book doesn’t sell itself as a scientific exploration of climate change, so this may be an unfair criticism, but I found the first section about the impacts of climate change lacking in real substance. I’m less also optimistic about the benefits of direct democracy than the authors. All the same it I left the book feeling more compelled to act, so I can’t say it didn’t achieve what it set out to do.
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challenging emotional hopeful informative

I feel like I need to explain the rating. It is not a rejection of the ideas in this book - I am fully on board with what XR are doing, and try and support them in whatever way I can. People are starting to pay attention, and that’s a good thing. But this is supposed to be a handbook that encourages others to take action, and that’s where I start picking holes in it. The leaders of this movement in the UK are white and middle class - it’s much easier for them to encourage getting arrested, and way more difficult for someone like me to feel like that’s something I can do. The book preaches inclusivity but is often written in dense, academic prose. The privilege of the writers is only acknowledged explicitly once. There are some great ideas in the book, and I’m glad people are starting to express them more and more, but this isn’t a book that is going to inspire the masses. It will inspire those that are already on the side of XR. I read a collection of Greta Thunberg’s speeches before picking this up, and she does a much better job at explicitly stating what the issues are in a way that’s digestible by more people. Ok, she’s not stated what the protest should look like in the same way as this book does, so you can’t really compare them too much, but this book needs to get out of the academic head space and think about how to make arguments in Plain English if they really want more people to engage. And be aware that so many people who are working class and not white might have more problems if they are arrested at a peaceful protest.
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