Socialist supergerms teach me the Value of Nothing
Sunday, April 25th, 2010The Obama healthcare package is already working its black magic. The first common cold I caught after the passage of the healthcare reform bill wasn’t at all common. Sure, this cold had all the usual symptoms, but it also had some suspiciously socialist leanings. Evidence:
- Timing: the cold struck as I embarked for a weekend that was intended to be full of hikes in the Joshua Tree national forest; instead it was full of couch time. In 48 hours, I spent about 18 hours reading and 20 sleeping.
- Materials: trying to pack for the trip as the socialist germs wreaked havoc on my system, I accidentally grabbed a certain back-issue of Adbusters (Adbusters (Thought Control in Economics, September October 2009)
) and a strangely consonant book I’d just picked up, The Value of Nothing: How to Reshape Market Society and Redefine Democracy
. The issue of Adbusters and the book were perfectly paired… Once I’d finished all that nasty commie porn, I rifled through the shelves of the home — and found deckled-edged socialist tome Eating Animals
(which, in all seriousness, is amazing). Could this plethora of propaganda be mere coincidence? I think not. Clearly, Obama’s communist supergerms made this happen.
- Context: we stayed in an amazing house that was totally off the grid in the middle of the beautiful Pipes Canyon desert near Pioneertown, CA. Solar for power. Water tank for water. Dead silent, except for the occasional dust devil that whipped by and the buzzing of bees that tended to cactus blossoms on the other side of the screen doors. Only the Obama Whitehouse could be a more fruitful place to be reading the socialist wonkfestos I’d brought along with me. This was the perfect context for believing that living off the grid every day might be an achievable lifestyle.
In short, I find myself infected with feverish dreams of building a post-capitalist lifestyle for myself right in the heart of Orange County. This was one of those weekends that helped crystallize an alternate vision for what I might like the rest of my life to look like.
So… thanks to the aforementioned socialist supergerms, I was afforded the time and space to think, and the outcome was kind of radical.
by Sasha Issenberg. An easy, fun read with lots of quirky insight into the characters that made tuna the delicacy that it is today. I enjoyed this and recommend it to anyone with an interest in how supply chain innovations can create whole industries. Reading this has bumped tk back to the top of my reading list.
by Stephen Baker. Read this on the flight from NYC to Heathrow Airport and still had two hours to spare. It’s a quick, enjoyable survey of the potential for data mining and how companies that master it might create incredible new advances in human welfare (and of course corporate profits). Enjoyed the chapter on how medicinal use of body monitors could result in drastic healthcare improvements. Not one of my favorite books — found it a bit too “Newsweek” in style. That is, it seemed dumbed down for a business audience, just missing the mark for business writing that I like (The Economist does a better job hitting the right balance between catering to a business audience and being faithful to complicated subjects).
by Geoffrey Miller. Spent shifted my whole outlook on consumerism and why it’s such an integral part of modern society. Loved it. Maybe the top book of 2009 (from my list) so far. Huge insights for consumer marketers guaranteed.
by Ian Ayres. Enjoyed this one more than The Numerati which covers many of the same topics. Super Crunchers does a better job with impactful anecdotes and he author is an actual practitioner of quantitative analysis. Examples in this book are more powerful and appicable to everyday business. This is a book I’ll be tempted to keep on my shelf rather than sell off.
Occasional flashes of useful career navigation advice, but disorganized, rambling, and annoyingly preachy for the most part. I wouldn’t re-read it, but I don’t regret reading it for the few things I picked up.
Hustler editorial big cheese’s hilariously ribald account of a truly bizarre organization. Left it on a plane after I was done reading. Wonder who picked it up? I learned quite a bit about Larry Flynt Publishing, about Hustler editorial structure — stuff I care a lot about given my journalism background — and learned some neat smut factoids.
The best of the three — mostly because the writer was more talented and the material better researched. The book took me on a roller-coaster ride of emotional lows (horror at how recently medical professionals were performing the equivalent of sexual lobotomies and how backwards society is on this topic) and highs (many genuine laugh-out-loud moments at the absurdity of it all). Also genuinely illuminating and instructive on the topic of research done well and done poorly. Loved this one, but not for the squeamish.
last week. Inspirational, but fluffy. Reminded me a lot of Tom Peters’ writing style. My takeaway: don’t be scared to take a leap; passionately lead and the rest will follow. Four stars (not five — it’s ultimately just business erotica).
(2/5): waste of time. I picked up some neat anecdotes and a better understanding of i-mode’s inception, but I’d have learned more just reviewing the Wikipedia entry. McKinsey consultants are portrayed quite unfavorably here, but I found myself more frustrated at the author’s lack of business acumen and found her frustration with the consultants naive.
(4/5): It took all sorts of willpower to stay mentally engaged and to actively visualize the scenes in this manic roadie romp, but the effort really paid off. I’m still experiencing flashbacks, days after finishing it.