Recommended reading December 2009

I have been immersed in books as of late, and will post a few reviews as I get the time.

Mark Fisher (or K-punk to those who read FACT or New Statesman) writes an incisive analysis of the common, yet under scrutinized condition of ‘Capitalist Realism’. Characterized by a deflated resignation that there is no viable alternative to Capitalism, this bite size book highlights many of the fundamental misconceptions and hypocrisies of Neo-liberal government with a particularly interesting focus on the parallel ascendancy of mental illness in that time.

This short book calls out a number of concerns; from the emphasis on ‘individuality’ in the work place to the schizophrenic corporate relationship with familial structures (relying on secure family to absorb the anxiety of the modern workplace while simultaneously obliterating job security, culminating in a perpetual stress machine).

Lending credibility to palpable inconsistencies in the realist argument, Fisher’s approach is unencumbered by the bitterness that often colors similar ‘truth to power’ writings. Outlining a number of ways that he feels a newly vitalized and organized left can address pandemic discontent and despondence, I greatly look forward to his next writings on the subject.

Also, a word about the publisher. I strongly recommend that you visit Zero Books and have a look around. ‘Intellectual without being academic, popular without being populist’ is the tag line, and the two books that I have received so far have gone far and beyond my initially high expectations.