A review by bandysbooks
Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Cobalt Red is a book on a subject that I was vaguely aware of, but definitely should know more about. This is one of those books that is horrifically depressing due to the subject matter and at the same time extremely well researched and written. I wish that this could be made required reading when purchasing a smart device. The DRC has been brutalized by colonialism and civil war, so to see it further exploited by Cobalt and Coltan mining is just heartbreaking. 

I did listen to this book on audiobook and I felt that the audio was very well done. Sometimes non-fiction can be a bit dry, but this was narrated well, super compelling, and kept me interested in learning more. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic