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  • The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

  • The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power
  • By: Shoshana Zuboff
  • Narrated by: Nicol Zanzarella
  • Length: 24 hrs and 16 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (442 ratings)
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The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

By: Shoshana Zuboff
Narrated by: Nicol Zanzarella
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Summary

The challenges to humanity posed by the digital future, the first detailed examination of the unprecedented form of power called "surveillance capitalism", and the quest by powerful corporations to predict and control our behavior.

In this masterwork of original thinking and research, Shoshana Zuboff provides startling insights into the phenomenon that she has named surveillance capitalism. The stakes could not be higher: a global architecture of behavior modification threatens human nature in the 21st century just as industrial capitalism disfigured the natural world in the 20th. Zuboff vividly brings to life the consequences as surveillance capitalism advances from Silicon Valley into every economic sector. Vast wealth and power are accumulated in ominous new "behavioral futures markets", where predictions about our behavior are bought and sold, and the production of goods and services is subordinated to a new "means of behavioral modification". The threat has shifted from a totalitarian Big Brother state to a ubiquitous digital architecture: a "Big Other" operating in the interests of surveillance capital. Here is the crucible of an unprecedented form of power marked by extreme concentrations of knowledge and free from democratic oversight. Zuboff's comprehensive and moving analysis lays bare the threats to 21st-century society: a controlled "hive" of total connection that seduces with promises of total certainty for maximum profit—at the expense of democracy, freedom, and our human future. With little resistance from law or society, surveillance capitalism is on the verge of dominating the social order and shaping the digital future—if we let it.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Shoshana Zuboff (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"I will make a guarantee: Assuming we survive to tell the tale, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism has a high probability of joining the likes Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations and Max Weber's Economy and Society as defining social-economics texts of modern times. It is not a 'quick read'; it is to be savored and re-read and discussed with colleagues and friends. No zippy one-liners from me, except to almost literally beg you to read/ingest this book." (Tom Peters, coauthor of In Search of Excellence)

"My mind is blown on every page by the depth of Shoshana's research, the breadth of her knowledge, the rigor of her intellect, and finally by the power of her arguments. I'm not sure we can end the age of surveillance capitalism without her help, and that's why I believe this is the most important book of our time." (Doc Searls, author of The Intention Economy, editor in chief, Linux Journal)

What listeners say about The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Had so badly wanted to like it

My being fresh from lapping up Yuval Noah Harari’s gripping trilogy (read by the engaging Derek Perkins), I was keen to dig deeper into similar writings on the seeming inevitability of capitalism and its effect on modern society.

Following the recommendations of friends, the London Review of Books, and Audible itself, I searched for Zuboff’s book. The audio sample sounded good and I was confident of a rewarding purchase.

Regrettably the writing is much heavier going than the sample suggests (peppered with hifalutin terms & unhelpfully pretentious metaphors) and, each time I try to pick it up again, Zanzarella’s vocal performance leaves me *exhausted* after just ten minutes. Finishing it has been a labour of love: the overall presentation feels oppressively self-conscious, thanks to a combination of overly earnest Writing with overly earnest Reading.

Meticulously researched & timed, but sadly scuppered by its poor delivery as compared with that of similar productions like Harari-Perkins & Piketty-Ganser, or some of my favourite readers (Joanna David, Ruth Golding, etc).

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great, important and meticulously crafted book.

I nearly didn’t read/listen to this because reviews suggested it was too long, poorly narrated and overly wordy and dense..... However I am glad that I ignored the negative reviews which I believe are totally unfounded (apart from the narration - but see final paragraph below re this). It is an extraordinary work and v timely.

From amid the fog of a new and sinisterly intangible assault on human values Zuboff calls out the villains and their activities and challenges us to wake up to what is at stake. I think this is a must read and a call to action for anyone who cares about the freedom of the individual and the fundamental sanctity of lived experience uncollated by ‘big other’.

One small but significant detail ..... I listened to it on 2x speed which simultaneously halved the listening time and solved the excessively ponderous narration. Normally I do 1.75x but in this case 2x was perfect. (Hence 3 stars for performance).

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good, but not great for audiobook

while an interesting book, it doesn't do well as an audiobook. it's much too heavy to read, and doesn't easily carry between listening sessions.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Misses the point by being overly one sided

A book that should be important, with important points and information but one whose generalisations and failure to properly examine the counter arguments weakened the strength of the argument ultimately leaving me frustrated. That’s a pity because I have concerns about data privacy and misuse.

Some examples of issues with the book:

- The author criticises the shift from privacy to security but doesn’t assess the merits of that choice or necessity of that path
- In criticising share structures that in the end allow founders to simply maximise return while staying in control but fails to acknowledge shareholders don’t simply have to trust the likes of Zuckerberg. They can invest elsewhere. Different share classes are not new.
- In the case of Google the author pretty much acknowledges they stumbled across a way to avoid going out of business. If the central point of this book is that companies are using our own behaviour to manipulate us then shouldn’t the tobacco, gambling and pizza delivery businesses all be shut down tomorrow? Businesses will always service a need and good government will ensure regulation is in place to ensure that the ability and manner of that delivery is in the interests of society. A challenge with surveillance capitalism is that a lot of it works really well. Most of us wish to avoid ads that aren’t relevant and welcome those that draw our attention to something we really want/need (and sometimes didn’t know)
- Dismisses claims of economic benefits by Google as wishful thinking without investigation.
- Points out the degree of lobbying and resistance to comply with authorities without contextualising that with historical behaviour of other firms that could strengthen the arguments e.g. tobacco companies.
- Labelling SaaS as surveillance as a service. In my experience with business related software this is simply untrue. Does it mean there are not bad players out there? No, but making these generalisations and not backing them up weakens the author’s credibility and argument.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Interesting but inaccessible

A highly regarded text by a highly regarded author. Key insights are in here, but it's submerged in a dense, self-indulgent academic style that's quite hard to get through. The narration was a 'nails down a blackboard' experience for me. Two attempts to get into this book and I gave up.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Flipping awful

Took this on a recommendation and I must say I am sorely disappointed. Didn’t get far but that was enough. Why use five words when you can use five pages. Why use simple straight forward language when you can overly complicate things? This is the general tone of the book. I realise that I’m the unusual one as most people love it judging by the reviews.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fascinating and terrifying, but robotic performance and very long.

Very thorough, and thought provoking, it changed my view of how and why we use the internet. It uses complex language at times, I felt I couldn’t be distracted while listening to it. Performance is very dry.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Good points but sooooo long book

I understand the point the author wants to make and the effort made but the book could be summarized and shorten to half

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Hard work to get through.

Wanted to hear what she had to say and there are a few good points here, but you have to wade through a lot of waffle to get to them. A good editor would have cut 50% of this book out and made it clearer as a result.

A patient reader may get through it, more will give up or skip through chapters. Pity.

At the start she attempts to justify a hybrid “prose” style, but I think she may have gone too far.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

You'll soon lose the will to live

Anguished and overwrought. Truly desperate prose. 24 hours to cover about 24 minutes of content.

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1 person found this helpful