Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World
Ratings38
Average rating4.4
15
Ratings38
Average rating4.4
*WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION* *THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* *A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE TIMES, NEW YORK TIMES, GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, AND PROSPECT* ‘If I had to name a single book that makes sense of these last few dark years, it would be this one’ New York Times ‘A deeply compelling read ... urgent and necessary’ Evening Standard Naomi Klein, author of era-defining bestsellers, The Shock Doctrine, This Changes Everything and No Logo, is back with her most compulsive and personal book yet: a revelatory journey into the mirror world of our polarised age When Naomi Klein discovered that a woman who shared her first name, but had radically different, harmful views, was getting chronically mistaken for her, it seemed too ridiculous to take seriously. Then suddenly it wasn't. She started to find herself grappling with a distorted sense of reality, becoming obsessed with reading the threats on social media, the endlessly scrolling insults from the followers of her doppelganger. Why had her shadowy other gone down such an extreme path? Why was identity - all we have to meet the world - so unstable? To find out, Klein decided to follow her double into a bizarre, uncanny mirror world: one of conspiracy theories, anti-vaxxers and demagogue hucksters, where soft-focus wellness influencers make common cause with fire-breathing far right propagandists (all in the name of protecting 'the children'). In doing so, she lifts the lid on our own culture during this surreal moment in history, as we turn ourselves into polished virtual brands, publicly shame our enemies, watch as deep fakes proliferate and whole nations flip from democracy to something far more sinister. This is a book for our age and for all of us; a deadly serious dark comedy which invites us to view our reflections in the looking glass. It's for anyone who has lost hours down an internet rabbit hole, who wonders why our politics has become so fatally warped, and who wants a way out of our collective vertigo and back to fighting for what really matters.
Reviews with the most likes.
Naomi Klein has a very incisive view of the current world - the strengths and weaknesses of both the left and right, and why people slip between the cracks and land in the Mirror World full of its own set of truths and news and facts that reflect, but don't agree with the views and values of the consensus reality. I like her dawning compassion about the way that the left can be too rigid and not reflective enough, and that closing people out creates conditions for this mirroring. Usually books around a theme bend reality to fit the theme, but Klein found a lot of very honest ways in which doppelgangers apply to our current reality.
There are no firm conclusions, but the raw honesty, the uncertainty, the struggling with how complicated things are – I think that's the point. In particular, her handling of Israel and Zionism is beautifully nuanced
I struggled to work out what the theme of this book was. And she didn't provide any original meaningful insights into anything she talked about.
This was the 1st non-fiction book I've listened to-start to finish in a long time. I was able to stay with the writing in large part because I listened to the audiobook which is read by the author herself. Hearing her story read in her own voice made the telling come alive for me. It starts as an investigation, but the journey the author's takes her into what she calls the "Mirror world." As I don't hang out there myself, I learned from the author as she also discovered the twisted view of reality that lives here. Yet, what made this compelling and challenging for me is how she finds there an acknowledgement of real societal problems-and ones that those of us on the left are ignoring. A thoughtful and chalenging, yet satisfying read for me. Highly recommended.
Naomi Klein appreciates the irony of having written a book called No Logo and now finding herself trying to shore up her own personal brand. Naomi Wolf is another middle-aged, big haired, Jewish thinker who came to prominence in the nineties with an influential book.
And while it's annoying enough to face constant mistaken attributions on Twitter, things escalate when her doppelgänger takes a hard rightward turn into anti-vax conspiracist. Still, it seems thin gruel on which to base a book on.
But this is just an entry point into the rabbit hole that is our society's obsession with the other, with the mirror world. From the mild, like our personal online avatars in the attention economy, to the massive, with right wing media network spouting wild conspiracies as traditional journalism flounders.
Significantly, Klein notes that conspiracy theorists get the facts wrong but the feelings right. Political elites beholden to corporate interest - becomes a cabal of pedophiles planning to institute a world government. Railing at globalists, elites and the World Economic Forums conveniently diverts attention away from capitalism as a broken system and leaves most global billionaires intact.
It's a powerful tool of diversion and distraction that keeps us so busy fighting ourselves, dunking on others, owning the libs or fact-checking the right we miss the opportunity for collective action for something better. Change requires collaboration, even when it's uncomfortable. But we're so caught up in the frantic, divisive, noisy hullabaloo. We're hooked on the dopamine kick of being validated in our own little bubbles as we land another sick burn before doomscrolling to the next crisis.
In the end Klein posits that calm is a force of resistance. That calm is the precondition for focus, which gives us the capacity to prioritize and possibly work together. Just a far reaching and prescient read.
