Reviews and Comments

If you wish to understand better what is at stakes with the algorithms and the global digital maze we seem to be prisoner of, then, this is a must read. Cathy O'Neil very clearly unravel the intricate technical, philosophical, political and socioeconomic logic at play. She shows how they work together to force an even more violent neoliberalism in every area of our daily lives, whether social, cultural, professional, judiciary, educational or political and economic. It is both quite scary and at the same time empowering, as it gives us the basics to look for collective ways to progressively get out of the maze we've lost ourselves in. As the say goes, knowledge is power, and I believe it has never been more true than today.

I would recommend to read it along Shoshana Zuboff's (bookwyrm.social/author/39159/s/shoshana-zuboff) "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" (bookwyrm.social/book/260163/s/the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism). They nicely complement each others.

I read this book back in the 1990's when I was a teenage. At the time, I really liked that story for two main reasons: 1. The effort put by the author to present a living and vivd rendering of a historical period long past (well, I know the story is a tale, but it is taking place in a period that existed). At the time, I really appreciateed Franco-Belgian comics author Jacques Martin for his Alix series for the same reason, even though, he was dealing with actual characters, not just legends. And I was studying latine as well as late antiquity and Middle-Age in History class. 2. The idea to look at the Arthurian tales from the perspective of the women characters, even though, the author had to heavily use her imagination, as women in these tales are more often objects of the narration than active motors of it, but I appreciated how she did it. Almost 30 years later, the whole novel looks very different to me and I'm not sure I appreciate it as much anymore. Now, I'm just reading it as a way to remember the various stages of the story, but I'm not touched as much anymore. Especially, it doesn't seem as feminist to me anymore as it did then. It dvelwes deep into the sacred feminine, an ideology that has been so damaging to feminism and so many women, but I wasn't aware of this then.

After "Happycracy: How the Industry of Happiness controls our lives", and "Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America" by Barbara Ehreneich, which both are concerned with the way positive psychology and positive thinking have served as blue pills to make the neoliberal system we live under since the late 1970's more acceptable to over-squizzed people from top to down the socioeconomic ladder, I wished to have a better understanding of the notion of capitalism and neoliberalism. At first, I wanted to read Luc Boltanski's and Eve Chiappello's work "The New Spirit of Capitalism", but have realized that it is a continuation of previous works published separately in the previous years. It turns out that in these, he has treated in depth several notions that he used in this one. Not reading them first would make understand this one very difficult. And I haven't been able yet to find them in a satisfying format, so I thought that in the meantime, "Cold Intimacies" could help me dvelwe into these notions.

I have only started reading it today and I must warn that it is much denser than "Happycraty" and much more academic in its tone and form. However, I feel that if one hangs on there, it will be still understanable and very useful.

I'm getting close to half of the book and for the moment I'm really enjoying it. Yes, as some other have already said, there are repetitions, but they serve to convey solidly the point the author is making. So far, it is a reading I can really recommand, as Barbara Ehrenreich is giving a really clear insight into the world of "positive thinking", including an overview of its history, since the "New Thought" of the early 19th century in the USA.

I have started reading it because Éva Illouz and Edgar Cabanas cite this work a lot in their own book "Manufacturing Happy Citizens: How the Science and Industry of Happiness Control our Lives", which I read in French (Happycratie - Comment l'industrie du bonheur a pris le contrôle de nos vies). And I would recommand to read Ehrenreich before the book by Illouz and Cabanas, as their study is based in great part on it.