Welcome to Litsy!

A frustrating book. On one hand, Zuboff‘s project—to theorize the wholly new permutation of global capitalism that sets the terms on which we live our connected lives—is ambitious and urgent. On the other, it truly felt unedited: her writing is often so fraught and overblown that it verges on unreadable. That‘s a shame, because buried beneath the drifts of metaphoric excess and recursive formulations is something profoundly fucking important. Ugh.

This is heavy and academic. Considering how dependent on online *everything* I‘ve been this year, it also freaked me out thoroughly. It‘s 700 pages, or 24 hours of audio. Or you can watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix, hear her speak, and get the basic message in two hours. Still, I‘m glad I read it even though it‘s scary and made me mad.

Full review http://www.TheBibliophage.com
#thebibliophage2020 #nonfictionchallenge2020 #aboutcybersecurity

I‘ve been working my way through this 700 page chunkster. Audio crocheting and baking give me more listening time! 🧶

Just as industrial civilization flourished at the expense of nature and now threatens to cost us the Earth, an information civilization shaped by surveillance capitalism and its new instrumentarian power will thrive at the expense of human nature and will threaten to cost us our humanity.

A good book on an important topic covering a lot of research and big concepts. I learned a lot and am now appropriately horrified about the companies collecting our data and doing even more than I imagined with it. Having said that, the writer got quite caught up in some very elaborate metaphors and it could be a bit repetitive. I‘d have liked it to be edited a bit more heavily.

#nfn2020 @Clwojick +20
#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks 1 down!

Breakfast on the first day of my new job! I‘m so excited and also SO nervous. Starting at a new company during lockdown when I can‘t meet anybody for a while is probably going to be a bit weird, it‘s probably going to be a weird couple of days getting used to it when I haven‘t worked for so long! Good book, good coffee and good muffin to begin with though

Surveillance Capitalism as defined in The age of surveillance Capitalism. #nonfiction

Age of surveillance capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff. #nonfiction

Are we to passively hand over "the hard-won fruits of human suffering and conflict that we call the democratic prospect and the achievements of the individual as a source of autonomous moral judgement"? There is a lot to think about in this one. Please read!

This is a holy crap moment.Israeli spy agency tracking phones to see if you had been in contact with someone who tests positive for Covid-19. You will be contacted if you have via the phone they have been tracking.😬😱 https://www.npr.org/2020/03/19/818192570/israeli-government-criticized-for-how-i...

I am very interested in the topic of digital surveillance but my brain doesn‘t seem to be taking in everything: I keep having to rewind. I‘m nearly 3 hours in but seeing that there are more than 21 hours left to go gives me a feeling of dread—an indication to set this aside. Zuboff references Piketty; another book that I fear is over my head. For both of these books, I think I‘d prefer to read summaries.

I‘m doing this book for a school report and having a mental debate on using post-it‘s or just writing in the book. What do you do? I can‘t make up my mind on this.

I hate to bail on this, I do find the subject of internet surveillance and the changes in privacy interesting, but the author has become so repetitive I can't keep going. Maybe I'll return to it some other time.

"The disciplines of competitive markets promised to quiet unruly individuals and even transform them back into subjects too preoccupied with survival to complain."

Sends a cold chill down my spine

“At its core, surveillance capitalism is parasitic and self-referential. It revises Karl Marx's old image of capitalism as a vampire that feeds on labor, but with an unexpected turn. Instead of labor, surveillance capitalism feeds on every aspect of every human's experience.“

An exceptionally important read on a topic that affects anyone with a smartphone and/or users on the internet. Highly recommended.

This is due back tomorrow so I think I am bailing. About 130 pages in, and the subject is interesting but the prose is rather florid...

My book club discussed this tonight. It‘s a pick, but there is a lot of repetition and the writing style veers from fact-based to flowery prose. Zuboff makes a good case for how little most people know about the extent of personal tracking that occurs in the internet age. She warns that we need to protect our rights to privacy while we still can. Facebook is consistently the worst offender. You‘ve been warned! Overall, good food for thought.

There is no #dinnerandabook with these two around. Not even an audiobook! Sabrina took a bite of my sandwich the second I got absorbed in the book. If anyone wants to adopt...or stick to a diet, these girls are available.
#kal #catsoflitsy

Late to the game. This is the book I‘ve been packing with me for the last week. It‘s my book club‘s April selection. It‘s long and occasionally scary. #packingpages

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Given that I'm posting this , maybe I should read the book...