Scan barcode
brisingr's review
3.0
A bit messy; ideas and notions didn't really make sense even inside the same chapter (so structurally, it should be threaded together by *something*) and too much focus was on why professionalism is bad, with examples, rather than on the amateur aspect of living as the pleasure of doing what you love.
em_being's review
2.0
Ostensibly a book about cherishing the creative impulse without turning it to professional, capitalist ends, this book mostly ends up meandering for pages describing the problems of bureaucracy, tech culture, and the gig economy. Look, I live this shit, I've got a patreon and am on twitter every day. I didn't need to be told. Less problem outlining more solution expounding would have helped a lot. Instead, I was mostly told what I already knew by someone who insisted on using Baudelaire and Dostoevsky to make a point any of my friends could speak on with much more eloquence.
lunataradja's review
4.0
Трошки пафосно (чи то дуже натхненно) і чрєвато спалахами ненависті до своєї роботи (не в усіх, звісно, але не лякайтесь, якщо раптом зловите себе на такому), але цим "Любитель" для мене якраз теж виявився цінним. Рекомендовано до прочитання перед кожним наступним працевлаштуванням або наприкінці третього робочого кварталу кожного року.
michelempls's review
4.0
Definitely worth reading - a critique on neoliberalism in academia and the wider world.
joanna_mward's review
3.0
unfortunately this is like a basic cross between Bullshit Jobs and The Unknowers . like I think I would have been conceptually more impressed if I hadn’t recently read the same ideas elsewhere but better put / if I wasn’t already on board with the whole anti-bureaucracy and ultimately anti-work thing ...
there were nice moments but overall it felt and a bit too vague and lacking in critical insight . plus the general vibe strayed a bit too close to individualism / and specifically fetishising the ~quirky person who doesn’t participate and is therefore poor but also righteous~ for my liking
I also simply wanted this book to be about amateurism from a v different perspective — yes as generative, as here , but from a closer more critical / analytical lens of like WHAT amateurism is actually resisting in a general context of the fetishisation of “training” and “discipline” rather than specifically re: work
ultimately I enjoyed just zooming through this as it was a pretty easy read, think it was a shame it wasn’t more finely tuned or focussed but I got some nice passages and sparked ideas from it
there were nice moments but overall it felt and a bit too vague and lacking in critical insight . plus the general vibe strayed a bit too close to individualism / and specifically fetishising the ~quirky person who doesn’t participate and is therefore poor but also righteous~ for my liking
I also simply wanted this book to be about amateurism from a v different perspective — yes as generative, as here , but from a closer more critical / analytical lens of like WHAT amateurism is actually resisting in a general context of the fetishisation of “training” and “discipline” rather than specifically re: work
ultimately I enjoyed just zooming through this as it was a pretty easy read, think it was a shame it wasn’t more finely tuned or focussed but I got some nice passages and sparked ideas from it
bobbytrucktricks's review
4.0
I would like everyone to read this book for its urgent and passionately argued message. The literary references didn't really connect for me because I haven't read any of the books the author draws on except Silent Spring, but the point wasn't lost during those passages either.
lunataradja's review against another edition
4.0
Трошки пафосно (чи то дуже натхненно) і чрєвато спалахами ненависті до своєї роботи (не в усіх, звісно, але не лякайтесь, якщо раптом зловите себе на такому), але цим "Любитель" для мене якраз теж виявився цінним. Рекомендовано до прочитання перед кожним наступним працевлаштуванням або наприкінці третього робочого кварталу кожного року.
More...