Catchy title but intellectually lazy thesis

The problem of an increasingly rentier & financialised economy is a real one as demonstrated by Thomas Philipon. I was hoping this would be of similar quality to something like The Great Reversal, detailing the strangling of US competition. I had separately coined the reversion to feudalism to describe spiralling housing & living costs in the west.

However this is mainly an excuse by the author to rant & make broad statements where examples to back up is thesis are sparse or non existent. It is barely above the level of a Twitter rant saying down with SJWs. The authors claim of environmentalism as faith is particularly bizarre, & one that he makes little attempt to justify. Half way through & id be surprised if there isnt a rant about trans towards the end.

While the author hits on one or two decent headline indicators of inequality it is only to fit a pre existing narrative, he does little to embellish or further justify his arguments. Even the parts I was sympathetic too are just far too poorly contextualised or supported via studies & examples. The result being a glorified opinion blog.

I fear this may ruin the neo feudalism term for me as by association if this becomes a popular book.

11 people found this helpful

A diatribe against the modern world

Read this and you'd think there was nothing good in the world or no such thing as human progress. The author goes on and on railing against everything in the modern world in a way that is extremely unbalanced and doesn't reflect the world we live in. There is almost a narcissism to this type of Chomsky left wing self bashing that seems founded on a sense of the person's superiority to the rest of the world. It's not really helpful for those who want to live in a better world, as while trashing everything is easy, proposing solutions to a complex world is very hard. For that I'd recommend the books of Thomas Pickerty.

To the books merit the basic observation that the middle and working class are being hollowed out and a new overlord elite is forming may be valid, but the book was messy in its structure and poorly argued.

As to it's very negative portrayal of the modern world, I think a month in mediaeval Europe or parts of sub Saharan Africa would probably help the authors perspective as the last time I checked I had food in my fridge, an internet connection, access to healthcare and a police force and army to protect me, all of which are the fruits of the modern world succeeding and which are not to be taken for granted. This book is the opposite of Stephen Pincker's overely positive view of the world, maybe they should be read together as I'm suggesting reality lies somewhere in between these two extreme positions.

5 people found this helpful

Absolutely riveting / superb

A real page turner, i couldn't stop listening. The author puts his finger on everything of concern in regard to recent unsettling developments and illuminates it.

5 people found this helpful

interesting and insightful but has some flaws

Kotkin's overview of current society, raises several points suggest a decline of the middle class in importance, prosperity and morality. It also makes a point of a moral collapse. This seems deeply flawed leading to a "young people suck these days" argument which damages the overall thesis. it adds fuel to the misnomer that the media keeps peddling serving as a distraction to what unabashed captial disparity is doing to our soceity. There also seems a lack of engagement with where we should go from here, other than to try a revert back fifty years. Something that seems complete pipe dream since Reagan and Thatcher. It however still has some very accurate points of a economic trend which is certainly happening. His historical summaries are also fairly insightful. Worth a read if this stuff is of interest to you- it probably should be but take it with a pinch of salt. He values the middle class above all which gets laughably bizarre at some points, as if he is correct its already far too late and ultimately inevitable.

2 people found this helpful

very educational and eyes opening

Very educational and eyes opening, what our children are facing in their near future, problems which have been brought upon us by the greed and will to multiply the profits on the cost of the rest of the society

2 people found this helpful

The most important book in years

Everyone should hear the information and ideas put forth in this book. Well structured, easy to digest, good performance.

2 people found this helpful

Thought-provoking yet tendential

Kotkin gives a stark warning - in the near future, we might find ourselves in the new middle ages with its three separate classes, the nobility, the clerical estate, and the peasants. Chances are, most of us will end up being in the most unenviable class of mere commoners. While this is a fascinating idea, Kotkin seems rather too fond of it to recognise when facts don't always support his argument. The writing can be overly emotional and relying on its rhetoric to carry the argument rather than on thoroughly researched evidence. All in all, read and think, but take with a grain of salt.

1 person found this helpful

Must Read

The points highlight very important characteristics and conundrums of the modern civilization. The take is surprisingly global and isn’t blinding focused on the USA as if no other place on the planet mattered, as it usually happens in similar works. It’s simply brilliant.

Yes, each 3 minute segment could have an entire hour to be more detailed and layered and 360-degree viewed , but the summaries are focused, clear and backed by numbers. One can’t achieve both depth and width in terms of the spectrum of the topic, or else we’d be here for 50 hours.

Disclaimer: I am overall in 95% agreement with the author which certainly skews my judgement of the book. But in my defense I’m in 95% agreement with only one in every hundred books I read/listen.

1 person found this helpful

A must read for anyone who cares about their future.

A very concise and accurate portrayal of the meta trends at work. I think to get a more accurate picture one also has to take into account the other historical cycles at play. Read Wheeler, Armstrong, Harari, Davison and Rees-Mogg + Howe and Strauss to get a really accurate understanding of how the coming neo-Feudalism fits into the changing epoc of human interaction; the Information Age.

1 person found this helpful

An important book

This is a really important book that’s beyond simple left or right ideology and instead discusses inequality in all its ghastly forms.