books_ergo_sum's Reviews (933)

This was great! I appreciated:
- how concise this was (224 pages)
- the 2024 publication date (the recent stats are pretty damning—don’t love that the top 10 richest dudes have all doubled their wealth in the last 4 years meanwhile hundreds of millions more people have been pushed below the poverty line)
- how thorough this was (we go all the way back to the 1400s)
- that this was one of those unicorn books:
just as enjoyable if you know lots about this topic as it would be to read if you know nothing about this topic
- how idea-synthesizing this was (we talked about Naomi Klein, Thomas Piketty, even Robert Putnam, and tons more)

This little book plugged into so many things that have been simmering in my mind…
- how privatization of public services turns those services into something the public “rents”… and how that is transforming capitalism into some kind of neo-feudalism (like Technofeudalism by Yanis Varoufakis)
- the slow breakdown of the “escapist” mentality the wealthy have about climate change… linked to Slavoj Žižek’s idea of Safari Subjectivity in Too Late to Awaken
- even an emphasis on narrative, which I can’t stop thinking about since reading Recognizing the Stranger by Isabella Hammad

And then—on top of all that—the audiobook was just excellent. It felt like a David Attenborough nature documentary. The flow of the narration, the building idea, the lucid examples, the sharply drawn conclusions. And then when I googled who the co-author Peter Hutchison was—he’s a filmmaker, director, and documentary writer. Yup, that tracked. I think his scriptwriting expertise made this a great audiobook listening experience.

Yes, this book is a memoir about a City London finance trader. No, I haven’t been hacked lol

Listen—I *firmly believe* that if us lefties finally get popular support for a wealth tax on the super rich (like, a 2% wealth tax on assets over 10 million) in order to increase equality in our countries (and stave off an early 20th century-looking authoritarian situation or the Brazilification of our economies)… it’s not going to be because of a speech by Bernie Sanders or a 1,000 page book by Thomas Piketty.

It’s going to be because of a YouTube video by this author, Gary Stevenson.

Because he made millions of dollars a year as a Foreign Exchange trader for CitiBank, betting that rising inequality would cause asset prices (like housing) to rise, living standards to fall, and global economies to collapse.

Until it ate him up inside.

And then he had to fight to leave his job so that he could legally tell the world what’s happening.

And now—talk about building class solidarity—his interviews with both lefty outlets (like Novara Media) and finance bro outlets (like Business Insider) get millions of views. Could you imagine if the 6’5” blue-eyed finance guys started voting left??

I’ve seen him compare his memoir to Candide by Voltaire. And it was satirical (finance bros are nuts). I’d also compare it to Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Because it was about going into the belly of the beast, where the beast is global finance instead of Belgian colonialism.

This is such a unique voice in lefty politics. And it’s a good reminder that, if we’re going to fix the problem of global finance—we have to listen to the people most intimately familiar with it.

I love this series. I love alien cowboys. I specifically love MMCs written by Ursa Dax who are FEELING FEELINGS about it not deserving the FMC—and all the grumpy angsty overthinking pining that comes with that.

Our FMC was lovely. This one was a bit more angsty and a bit more survival-y than the other ones in this series—two things I love, so I was happy.

And the ‘he’s bringing her to the guy she’s supposed to marry except he’s falling for her instead’ premise never gets old. Also, there was a kid in here who was miraculously very un-annoying (as someone who usually dislikes kids in books).

Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry—

I cried.

I was worried that I wouldn’t love this collection as much as Things You May Fine Hidden in My Ear but it was just as beautiful—perhaps even more emotional, given its reflections on the past year.

My favourite poems were “My Grandfather’s Well”, “We Are Looking For Palestine”, “My Library”, “Request Letter”, the titular “Forest of Noise”, and “To My Mother, Staying in an UNRWA School Shelter in the Jabalia Camp”.

Even the Acknowledgments section was heartbreaking: “To […] May you survive to read this. May I sign you copies of this book in Gaza soon. I wish my words would turn into clouds that could protect you and all our neighbors and friends from the bombs”

This book was very swoony.

She was older, genteel, and gorgeous. He was a green-eyed, dark haired, self-made, and American. Etiquette lessons turned into banging. It was angsty and earnest. Longing stares galore.

This author writes the absolute hottest hotties. Our hero was effing hot. Our heroine was effing hot. They wanted to bang. I was happy for them.

I just wanted more gender swapped My Fair Lady retelling. Am I the only one? 😆 We skipped over so many sexual-tension-filled (I’m assuming) etiquette lessons. And I felt cheated.

This author has a nonfiction superpower: truly engaging writing. The words jump off the page and it feels like he’s sitting in the room, talking directly to you. I read this is one sitting and it even busted me out of a reading slump—something I NEVER thought I’d be saying about a nonfiction book.

It was very: “the idea made me think of this speech [quote]… which I thought a lot about while I was at this UN conference, where this person said [quote]… which I often compare to this news interview where someone said [quote]…” You know what I mean? It was personal and conversational. It was connecting ideas that that I’ve never seen connected. It gave a lot of commentary to events and ideas I’ve only seen discussed in a dry nonfiction-y way.

It was really cool. And really short. Also, it was published this year. And it literally just… answered the question in the title. I was very satisfied.