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Mat

okwithmydecay@ramblingreaders.org

Joined 11 months, 1 week ago

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Mat's books

2024 Reading Goal

83% complete! Mat has read 10 of 12 books.

Josh Cohen: Not Working (Paperback, 2020, Granta Books) 4 stars

Highly relatable and pertinent to our busy lives

4 stars

I found this book highly relatable and pertinent, because the sad truth is, I've been so busy that it took me a whole year to finish reading it. When the author, who is a psychoanalyst, recounted how his patients would tell him how exhausted and busy they are, it felt very much a reflection of my own situation.

I was captivated by the ideas discussed, delving into workaholics including Orson Welles and Andy Warhol, and how lazy people are demonised in society, yet in popular culture, you have characters including Homer Simpson, Garfield, and Snoopy are celebrated for their laziness.

Whilst the book doesn't often a simple answer, it has got me ruminating over how I can make my life less busy and encumbered by work.

David Wallace-Wells: The Uninhabitable Earth (AudiobookFormat, 2019, Penguin Books Ltd) 4 stars

It is worse, much worse, than you think. If your anxiety about global warming is …

Sobering and thorough analysis of the climate crisis

4 stars

As I progressed through this audiobook, I wasn't sure how I was going to review it. When it comes to the climate crisis, it's not the kind of book you want to read, as it explains the horrors ahead of us if we don't address it urgently. Part two, which makes up the bulk of the book, goes into great detail of the various ways the earth could be rendered uninhabitable, and was a gruelling read at times. Part three was my favourite part of the book, discussing the capitalism, history, philosophical aspects, and how technology will and won't save us from climate change.

Naomi Klein: On Fire (AudiobookFormat, Penguin Books Ltd) 4 stars

Daunting yet inspiring and hopeful

4 stars

Before listening to this, I didn't know much about The Green Deal, and by the end of the book I was inspired and hopeful of the transformation it could be bring to society and the economy.

The book is quite sobering at times, as Klein discusses the challenges ahead, and the limited time to act. However, it feels very much like a call to arms to demand the stop of new fossil fuel extraction, preempting groups such as Just Stop Oil.