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PostCapitalism

A Guide to Our Future

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About this listen

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of PostCapitalism, written and read by Paul Mason.

'The most important book about our economy and society to be published in my lifetime' Irvine Welsh

From Paul Mason, the award-winning Channel 4 presenter, Postcapitalism is a guide to our era of seismic economic change, and how we can build a more equal society.

Over the past two centuries or so, capitalism has undergone continual change - economic cycles that lurch from boom to bust - and has always emerged transformed and strengthened. Surveying this turbulent history, Paul Mason wonders whether today we are on the brink of a change so big, so profound, that this time capitalism itself, the immensely complex system by which entire societies function, has reached its limits and is changing into something wholly new.

At the heart of this change is information technology: a revolution that, as Mason shows, has the potential to reshape utterly our familiar notions of work, production and value; and to destroy an economy based on markets and private ownership - in fact, he contends, it is already doing so.

In this groundbreaking, Sunday Times top ten book, Mason shows how, from the ashes of the recent financial crisis, we have the chance to create a more socially just and sustainable global economy.

Economics International Macroeconomics Politics & Government Capitalism Socialism Taxation Thought-Provoking Economic Inequality Technology Economic disparity US Economy China Tariff Imperialism Banking
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What made the experience of listening to PostCapitalism the most enjoyable?

Mason reads fantastically well and the minor errors and retracing are so minor, and I think make it all the more human. I actually enjoy them. I feel so much more able to understand the complexity of economics and argue the case for an alternative to modern capitalism now. Let me at em!

What was one of the most memorable moments of PostCapitalism?

The section on Shakespearian history;

Fantastic take down of capitalist economics!

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Paul Mason is not a typical economist or economic historian and he writes from a clearly-labelled ex-Marxist background. As such, his views and theories are not those shared by the majority of the mainstream examples in this field. Therefore I believe the mainstream should take note.

The future is what we focus on in this book, by looking at the past. It is hard to fault Mason’s grasp of the history of this subject and indeed I suspect his interpretation of events and causes of events is more penetrating and accurate than most. It is possible (critics will say probable) that he has found a narrative in these events which is not as clearly signalled as he wants to believe. I don’t know. I’m not an expert. But I do think the historical perspective he has is a more accurate part of his thesis than some of his plans for our future.

Yes, I can see that capitalism has run into some pretty big problems and in its present form IS doomed. Yes, I can totally understand that climate change and population growth are the world’s most important current and future problems (along with the time bomb that is antibiotic resistance). I am just not sure the solution is, or should be, a benign form of communism that Mason seems to be advocating. What he seems to overlook is that people, some people, want to get ahead, to profit, to save for the future, to make plans for their offspring, and to trade up. I will need to listen again to this book, and to understand what I might have missed but, on a single listen, it seems that he hopes for a levelling of individualism for the greater good, and I don’t think you can make that part of the plan. Not for long.

Listen to this book with an open mind. It may change your outlook on the future. But preserve some judgement. Paul Mason is not a messiah.

An important book

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Enjoyed it thoroughly although this version includes reading errors by the author, thought these would be edited out as it's a bit distracting.

enlightening map into a better future

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Excellent wide ranging coverage of current and future issues that humanity faces in relation to historical developments.

It probably needs multiple listens or the text book as a companion given the large amount of academic content. Some educational background in economics and social history would also help to absorb the material.

Detailed and thought provoking thesis

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but as all gamers know, there is much to be achieved in the absence of total victory.

4/5 but...

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