Harry

My second Bevins after The Jakarta Method. Once again, deeply researched and gripping.

The premise is sharp: the 2010s saw the largest protests in human history—so where are the results? Bevins tracks ten movements (Tahrir, Gezi, Hong Kong, Chile, and others), weaving common threads into a coherent picture of failure.

The core insight is the political vacuum. Horizontalist movements are too slow; by the time they reach consensus, the moment has passed. If you don't seize power with organized force, someone else will. Accountability to the people can only be built after—through a party that is of the people, accountable to them, indistinguishable from them.

Minus one star for the anti-Chinese and anti-Soviet dogma. This is the price of a major press release. It doesn't undermine the core premise, but it's a reminder that so much of what gets published must perform ideological compliance.

Essential reading for understanding why the 2010s burned so brightly and achieved so little.

no words

An essential read for anyone wanting to parse what's going on in the world

Found it very hard to keep track of all the moving parts. Has a similar issue to the rest of the series where the stakes have gotten so high it's ridiculous. At this stage I'm reading these new books as homage to my teenage self that used to eagerly await each new release.

At the same time, it was short and fun, and at no point did I actively dislike it. It's just disappointing to have yet another book where Valkyrie's magic isn't being explored, it's been like 6 books now and nothing has changed.

yeah wow.

as far as ends to arcs go, I was a little bit unsatisfied at how in resolving many of the threads, so many new ones were created.

I look forward to reading some smaller scale stories within the cosmere, and have a feeling I'll be revisiting the stormlight archive in the future.

Adding this to my non fiction living bible, along with Outlive and Why We Sleep.

Recipe for global domination:

1. Take a left wing group
2. Accuse them of depraved crimes
3. Use this to justify their murder, along with any associates (no matter how tenuous)
4. Repeat

Incredible documentation of the atrocities the US perpetrated in Indonesia, followed by demonstrating exactly how the methodology was copy-pasted around the globe. The parallels are uncanny, the tragedy inevitable. Time after time, an optimistic, youthful, moderately left leaning group is labelled as filthy communists and becomes the target of limitless violence. The next left leaning group hears the propaganda, and then believes that it won't happen to them because they're so much more moderate. Repeat until the US runs the world.

Really intriguing summary of the way we experience the world around us. Investigates and interrogates the hierarchy of the senses in a way that leaves the reader questioning things they would normally take for granted. My only criticism is the surface level investigation, however plenty of works are referenced for further reading.

If we are not special, then why are we here. Confronts the very essence of humanity in a quirky, at times funny, at times morbid fashion. Not even once coming close to predictability, this book traverses a path masterfully conceived by Dostoevsky. The Pevear and Volokhonsky translation was incredibly readable, and you forget that this book was written over 150 years ago. I found out partway through that this book was originally released serially (one chapter at a time), and that made the journey so much more enjoyable. I don't think I've ever read a book that nails the structure of a chapter better, creating and resolving small tensions while advancing the overall narrative. Overall 4 stars, and a book I hope to revisit in the future.

This book simply must be read. Paints the most spellbinding picture of the USSR as a place of united hope. A shared hope of the people being exercised each day, in the face of daunting material conditions. The confidence given to a full people of a better future, reinforced through lived experience. Also reads with an undertone of tragedy, of the dashed hopes of hundreds of millions who poured effort into building the USSR.

I was never deeply deeply moved by this book. It felt a lot like Demon Copperhead, just slightly worse, slightly less emotionally engaging. It was very matter of fact, these are the events playing out, there was a strange sense of fate about it, as if the events were always going to happen. Perhaps that comes from the structure where the text is written by the main character at a later point in his life, so that it is an adult reflecting on the events happening to a child, and so there is an extra layer of detachment to the emotions and pains that the child is feeling.