piabo's Reviews (301)

I will have to reread this book many many times. Seems like I am horrible at setting these boundaries.
Definitely recommend to any human being that interacts with others!!

Rightly called a must-read by my classmates and other people connected/interested in Latin America.

The book describes the history of a continent from colonization, slavery, and exploitation to the 1970s in which foreign cooperations and governments still use the Latin American countries to their own benefits. Actively working against development.

I think every person should read this book to know how messed up our world with it's global dynamics are.

As I said before, the book reminds me of "Why Nations Fail". I liked the details of each country and I think they are important. But it's impossible for me to keep them all in my head and be able to sort them correctly.
Good thing, I don't think that's the point. The overall message was clear and I got it.

The African equivalent to this book would be "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa"

After living in Rwanda for more than a year (over the span of 4 years), visiting the genocide memorial in Kigali, attending Kwibuka, listening to a genocide podcast, and reading two books about the genocide, I thought there is not much more I can learn. Especially not from a book written by some white dude from the US.
But I was wrong.

This book is actually great. It does not only talk about the genocide itself but situates in well into its context of its time. Not just before, but also in the years after 1994.

I think the author did a good job. Really.

What I found especially interesting was the attempt to humanize the events during and around the genocide. The killings were not an abstract thing, they really happened. And the people of Rwanda are real people. Just like you and me. It is very important to never forget that.

Ich habe dieses Buch 2018 gekauft, ein paar Wochen bevor ich nach Kigali zum Studium gezogen bin. Damals habe ich nur ein bisschen drin geblättert, aber jetzt bin ich endlich dazu gekommen es komplett durchzugucken. Pünktlich zu meinem vermutlich letzten Ruanda Besuch für einige Jahre.

Es war toll, zu lesen was ich schon alles über dieses Land kenne. Der Autor hat zum größten Teil sicherlich einen guten Job gemacht. Ich habe für mich allerdings festgestellt dass ich Länder nicht durch Reiseführer kennenlernen möchte. Vor allem nicht Länder außerhalb Westeuropas die von und für weiße relativ wohlhabende Touristen geschrieben wurde.
Ich habe das Land als Studierende zum Glück durch ganz andere Augen sehen können. Und ich bin sehr dankbar!

Mit der Visit Rwanda (www.visitrwanda.com) Kampagne der Regierung gibt es mittlerweile noch viel mehr Informationen für guten Tourismus und online ist es einfach zugänglich. Ich empfehle das sehr.

Reiseführer sind nach einigen Jahren halt leider doch out of date.

I had this book lying around for some time after getting it for free from a conference. Picked it up now because I wanted to give it to my radical vegan friend.

I did not expect to learn so much. This is the first time I am taking a systematic view on how to reduce animal suffering effectively. Very interesting! I definitely have new insights and understand that handing out flyers and long discussions with strangers might not be the best strategies.

Also applicable to many other things we want to change in this world. A great activist handbook.

The content is not really what the cover said. Not what I was looking for and not for me.

The book's premise is that many smart people have a meaning crisis. And its solution is so-called "natural psychology". The author does not do a good job introducing what natural psychology really is and why it is relevant to the target group (and not every human being, for example).

A travel diary of a journey through (some parts of) Europe. Reminded me of my own trip where I tried to figure out European identity. This book is just way more relevant and interesting.

Sad that the chapter about Berlin was not as exciting and hopeful. The Berlin and Germany I know could have made an entire book and gave much things to talk about.
But I guess the bigger picture counts.

I loved how the importance of class was highlighted.

Black Europe exists. And it is diverse.

Will pick this book back up later

I really needed this book.
I have been annoyed at productivity culture for some time and actively looked for ways to live my life in it without getting crazy.
Seems like we can't do it all anyway, accepting that is the most important step. And a lot of other great philosophical ideas.

Not connected so much to this book, but a general thought I had:

My boyfriend recommended this book to me. And while he said it was just a great book, but he did not learn many new things from it, the opposite was true for me. He is a philosopher and thinks about the meaning of life and time more than I do.
Another book he recommended me was very exciting for him, but not so new for me.

I think this totally makes sense. We always judge books based on our previous knowledge and experience and how well it fits into our life currently.

When I rate books, I do it from my subjective perspective. I could also rate them by how I think it would be for the average person and the overall value of the book to society, but I decided against it.
I wonder what is better.

More of a longer essay, but a great read. Zubeida Jaffer’s personal remarks and analysis about Rwanda’s development and the implications for the continent as a whole are very interesting. I hope to read more of her works.
I got this book as a gift from my friend who saw it and thought about me. I am grateful to have people think about me when they see a book and Rwanda on it. It has been difficult to find books places in Rwanda, but I slowly got quite a nice collection :)