Mara
Perhaps most of what is stated in this book is obvious to most people, even if we don't apply it to our lives, but it still made me think about how I arrange my own life to have it all laid out in a text. I am likely within the key demographic for this book, as someone who has pretty solid control of my schedule at the time of reading, and it has reminded me to act accordingly and not out of some left over need to appear busy to others or myself.
Delightful. Such a nice way to stroll through history, and to think about influence. I listened to this as an audiobook and loved all the different narrators for each story (Gillian Anderson! Shirley Manson! Olivia Colman! so many more!), although the downside there is that you don't get images to go with the text - perhaps the best experience would be to listen with a physical copy on hand as visual reference.
An interesting meditation on whether "progress" is really progress, and the value of putting time and effort into an endeavor - which sometimes surprises you by being faster/more efficient/more effective than the industrialized shortcut anyway. At times it feels a bit unbalanced and male-centric, understandable given that it's a following of the author's own exploration, but could have been better rounded in that regard.
No wait, come back! You who are scrolling by because the title has a yucky word, you should read this more than anyone! And everyone should read it, to be clear. Yes, even those who don't have vaginas, and those who don't interact with them. This book is interesting and informative and sad and funny and all around great.
Important topic, good to have actual numbers laid out, but all throughout you can tell this was written by a man. There's very little said about the unpaid, unseen labor (almost always of women) required for a lot of the “utopian” pasts listed, which would be the same in the utopian futures envisioned in the book. It very cursorily notes the concept in a few instances and then frustratingly dismisses it and moves on. Yes, reduce consumption and stop producing wild amounts of garbage and excess, but consider the other side of that lifestyle adjustment and who will be darning those longer wearing socks and washing those non-disposable dishes. It doesn't have to be women, but the way things are these days it usually is - what if these dudely perspectives encouraged the other environmentally minded dudes to take on those tasks themselves rather than only looking at the big picture economics of it? To make real change, both are necessary.
It's all correct and interesting information that's important to be talking about, but I also didn't necessarily learn tons - I already know most of how the systems are fucked up. It's an interesting spin on the topic, something of a reversal of how things seem to often default to being seen from the heterosexual as base assumption. I wish there had been some deeper exploration, and perhaps a few more varied perspectives from additional authors.
