Against Creativity - Oli Mould
Similar to “How to Do Nothing,” Against Creativity does wonders to create a practical anti-capitalist lens that one can use to view the world. Mould helps us tune in to the ways “creativity” has been co-opted by capitalism to normalize austerity measures and place more burden on the individual to reproduce the neoliberal order. Floor managers are asked to be “creative” in organizing their employees with less support, contributors are required to be “creative” in promoting their own work, and in evolving communities the “creative class” is prioritized over working class or unionized individuals.
Like every great blistering critique of capitalism, the arguments for capitalism’s benefits to society are often missing, and thus, certain chapters like those on mental health and gentrification felt alarmingly void of nuance. But regardless, I found this book incredibly sharp and exciting. Mould calls for a resurgence of creativity that is constantly searching for, giving space to, and trying to realize the impossible. I love the idea of centering the impossible and revolution in our creative outputs - its given me all sorts of art ideas.
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy - Jenny Odell
BANGER! ITS A BANGER LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!
HTDN is a gorgeous exploration into the value of unproductive spaces (internally and externally), unmeasurable occurrences, and unfathomable others. It helps put the reader's life into a different context, one that is inextricably tied to the bio-environments and epochs it resides in, and built of the relationships that it pays attention to. I've left this book enthralled by the world around me, excited and curious about my neighbors, pumped by obscure bird calls, and full of hope about the future (I swear. I'm serious). I would maybe describe this book as the most practical, non-violent, anti-capitalist field guide I've ever found. It shows the ease with which our realities can be re-rendered, simply by understanding the attention we wield.
The Dawn of Everything - David Graeber and David Wengrow
If you've read Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari (a phenomenal book) you are now unfortunately required by law to read The Dawn of Everything: a New History of Humanity, because David Graeber (GOAT Rest In Peace) and David Wengrow dismantle a MAJORITY of well regarded theories about the evolution of agriculture, cities, and inequalities that before this book had been widely accepted. With deep research into the social structures and imaginations of pre-history human societies, they compile a new framework for analyzing early history and humanity as a whole, one in which societies iterate and experiment not only with their social structures but their value systems. This book made me so happy and hopeful.
This is How They Tell Me the World Ends - Nicole Perlroth
Perlroth's ability to make 12+ years of deep, technical research on the 0-day Exploits Trade into a spy-thriller-esk novel is a remarkable feat. Essentially, a 0-day exploit is a way of getting into a phone, computer, or server without passwords or phishing, and the going prices for these exploits run into the 6 figures range. Perlroth expertly unravels the story of how these types of exploits first found their dark markets, and how governments have perpetuated the havoc these exploits invite. The result is a deep but digestible exploration into the future of warfare and surveillance, with loads of NSA secrets to keep your eyes open.
Mindf*ck - Christopher Wylie
To be honest, I read this book in 2018 but I think about it all the time because it quite literally fuck-ed mi wee litttle brain-o. We know that Cambridge Analytica used people's data to influence election results, but Wylie's account of CA's ability to emotionally manipulate such wildly specific subsets of the population is astounding. The implications of his account are extremely broad, and the sheer power of entities like Google and Facebook are put into a whole different context after seeing what they accomplished.
Addiction by Design - Natasha Dow Schüll
This book is very interesting if you're curious about the future of User Design under Surveillance Capitalism and specifically in an Attention Economy. It is certainly not a quick read but the language is more accessible than most of its depth. Schüll's analysis and history of slot machines in Vegas reveals the care with which designers who profit off addiction take to their products, and the most valuable advancements in the field since the 70's. What I also really like about this book is the care Schüll takes to reveal its implications on mental health and the future of capitalism. oop!
No One Is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood
This book is at the same time a fever dream of semi-intelligible tweets and then also a wildly profound exploration of life in a world that is nothing like anything before it. Its is a collection of small thoughts, seemingly separate but very intentionally strung together in a way that feels like a news feed. It makes me wonder if there is a larger story to our collective social dissonance, if there are threads within our online existences that will bring us together again eventually. This book is probably even better the second time but I haven't had the nerve to open it again lol. Beautiful book.
The Curse of Bigness - Tim Wu
Tim Wu is a phenomenal explainer and this little book is a clear and thoughtful history of antitrust litigation and the perils it faces today. Great for anyone that's curious but doesn't need the in depth dive on a topic which is bound to be very influential in the next 20 years. (Love Columbia Global Reports)
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