Scan barcode
daviskay98's review against another edition
3.25
A really solid environmental activist book that highlights her case really well. I can’t say I agree with everything she says, and I can’t say the exact topic was something I’m extremely passionate about, but a good read nonetheless. She also mentions many other activists and authors and significant figures so if you’re pumped after reading this book then there’s places to go off of. An above average book that wasn’t quite for me.
graciegrace1178's review against another edition
5.0
Updating here so I don't have to fret over character count:
p. 78: "...as another philosopher has elucidated: 'seizing and destryoing the goldencrusted jet of a plutocrat is an eminently striking and symbolic form of protest', and 'given that the plutocrat himself is not threatened', no anti-democratic ostracism takes place"
See: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8bPZpGSCPC/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Interesting that this real world event should represent the text so well as the book frequently makes references to other texts that provide direct suggestions of politically incendiary nonviolent actions
p. 85: "Pacifism has perhaps never existed as a real thing. What exists is the ability, or not, to distinguish between forms of violence. The peculiarity of pacifism is that it imbues its adherents with a self-righteousness borne out of the fetishization of one sometimes useful type of tactic. If it stays hegemonic, this doctrine will ensure that the climate movement remains, at best, the distant, well-mannered cousin of social revolt in the 2020s."
the bit that strikes me about this is "if it stays hegemonic." Like... there's a lot to unpack there, and I cannot figure out where to even begin.
P. 92 “climate fatalism is a performative contradiction…” that whole thing. Hot take. Will pull the full excerpt later.
p. 78: "...as another philosopher has elucidated: 'seizing and destryoing the goldencrusted jet of a plutocrat is an eminently striking and symbolic form of protest', and 'given that the plutocrat himself is not threatened', no anti-democratic ostracism takes place"
See: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8bPZpGSCPC/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Interesting that this real world event should represent the text so well as the book frequently makes references to other texts that provide direct suggestions of politically incendiary nonviolent actions
p. 85: "Pacifism has perhaps never existed as a real thing. What exists is the ability, or not, to distinguish between forms of violence. The peculiarity of pacifism is that it imbues its adherents with a self-righteousness borne out of the fetishization of one sometimes useful type of tactic. If it stays hegemonic, this doctrine will ensure that the climate movement remains, at best, the distant, well-mannered cousin of social revolt in the 2020s."
the bit that strikes me about this is "if it stays hegemonic." Like... there's a lot to unpack there, and I cannot figure out where to even begin.
P. 92 “climate fatalism is a performative contradiction…” that whole thing. Hot take. Will pull the full excerpt later.
jamskel's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
p_t_b's review against another edition
2.0
nothing like becoming a parent to trigger some existential fear about climate change, and this book traipsed along at the right moment to make me curious (also, inarguably a grabby title and a beautiful cover). i dont know anything about malm or internal beefs of the climate left other than the general understanding that there is a climate left, and like all lefts, it spends most of its time blogfighting with itself so as to achieve the unstated goal of never accomplishing anything.
this book is basically the missing link between academic discourse and blogfighting (spoiler they were always the same thing). he's 100% right about the big picture: it's been time to blow up pipelines/SUVs for years - it's just that we made all these laws to discourage doing stuff like that. but this is like 10 pages of big picture and 140 pages of internecine snorting. i hope the planet isnt so fried that we all go extinct but that part is above my pay grade. meanwhile i swear my next car will be electric
this book is basically the missing link between academic discourse and blogfighting (spoiler they were always the same thing). he's 100% right about the big picture: it's been time to blow up pipelines/SUVs for years - it's just that we made all these laws to discourage doing stuff like that. but this is like 10 pages of big picture and 140 pages of internecine snorting. i hope the planet isnt so fried that we all go extinct but that part is above my pay grade. meanwhile i swear my next car will be electric
augur01's review against another edition
4.5
Challenging but worthwhile. I was pleasantly surprised by how much philosophy was included in this book which I originally thought was mainly going to argue along historical and political lines. Required reading.
"Imagination is a pivotal faculty here. The climate crisis unfolds through a series of interlocked absurdities ingrained in it: not only is it easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism, or the deliberate, large-scale intervention in the climate system — what we refer to as geoengineering — than in the economic system; it is also easier, at least for some, to imagine learning to die than learning to fight, to reconcile oneself to the end of everything one holds dear than to consider some militant resistance."
maybak's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
fast-paced
3.75