A review by cubanpete
The Beach Beneath the Street: The Everyday Life and Glorious Times of the Situationist International by McKenzie Wark

The ontological failure of capital, its inability to perceive and produce its own reality, stems from the domination of the quantitative over the qualitative process.

This book had a dual effect on me. On the one hand, I can't handle hard philosophy, it frustrates me, and there were passages in The Beach Beneath The Street that I struggled over only to eventually give up and move on. On the other hand, it's full of wonderful revelations that are in line with my values & beliefs, and on multiple occasions I felt like laughing in pure joy. It's a bind: I want to reread this prophylactically yet it's very tasking. As a call to life, it's magical. As a treatise, it's a nightmare. Situationists value action over contemplation, but there's so much goddamn contemplation in this.