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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
The most important book in a generation. Much better than 5★'s.
This is the best book on politics I have ever read, while simultaneously being one of the best books on economics, history, and society. I insist on it for anyone with even a passing interest in any of those topics.
The world has changed a lot since Marx wrote Das Capital, but discussions of politics today use the same ancient phrases like "left-right" which were accurate descriptions of 19th century Europe but make little sense anywhere in the 21st century.
This is the best book on politics I have ever read, while simultaneously being one of the best books on economics, history, and society. I insist on it for anyone with even a passing interest in any of those topics.
The world has changed a lot since Marx wrote Das Capital, but discussions of politics today use the same ancient phrases like "left-right" which were accurate descriptions of 19th century Europe but make little sense anywhere in the 21st century.
Too much data, stats and graphs for the more casual reader, but everything is presented in a logical and accessible way, and I learnt a lot from this book.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
A hefty 1104 pages of exhaustive, meticulous, and impressive discussion of the impossible entanglement of inequality, politics, and culture. But I'm so confused by it: who is this book for? The only folks that'll read it are the folks who are responsible for making the global mess that we're currently in, and who aren't incentivized to fix the mess of their own making, because the mess serves their desire to stay in office and extract wealth from those positions of power.
Someone needs to turn this into something that the mass of voters will actually read and be inspired by. Perhaps that's who the book is targeting: people with the skill to distill this massive text down into something that will actually induce change.
I don't regret reading this wonderful and impressive book, but I'm totally stumped by Piketty's theory of change. I also wish Piketty were partnered with a powerful editor who could crunch these 1,100 exhausting pages into the ~300 pages of thinking that really matters.
Someone needs to turn this into something that the mass of voters will actually read and be inspired by. Perhaps that's who the book is targeting: people with the skill to distill this massive text down into something that will actually induce change.
I don't regret reading this wonderful and impressive book, but I'm totally stumped by Piketty's theory of change. I also wish Piketty were partnered with a powerful editor who could crunch these 1,100 exhausting pages into the ~300 pages of thinking that really matters.
Long book but worth it. Piketty delivers what he set up to do and that is to show politics, laws, and financial matters are tied to ideology and history. There is seldom a rational solution empty of ideological package. A fallacy people seem to believe in. Piketty takes the reader through history of the world and how countries like Sweden has changed with their property policies and more. There are issues with the book like the scope of his proof of inequality change to prove his point is often obscured with a comparison to other countries, leaving a hollow introspection into single country's changes. If Piketty had done the wider scope, the book would be thicker and more tiresome. Still, sometimes I feel he was picking his history references to prove his point. I would have welcomed counter arguments to what he presented. The ending is more controversial, he presents his ideas how we could achieve more equal distribution of wealth, showing once again that such things are not value free. But he doesn't propose he is right and his ideas will be out of fault. What Piketty proposes is that there needs to be a conversation about the unequal distribution of wealth and power. Also, that more of us should be aware of history of our laws and how our economical decisions are made and why. I agree wholeheartedly. Deciding over where our money goes and why shouldn't be left to some distant elite.
hopeful
informative
slow-paced
I finished it!! 1,000 pages of economic history and I finished it! It took me months but it was totally worth it. It reads like a textbook, but like a well written text book.
Covers an enormous sweep of history to examine changing patterns of inequality and the political and ideological structures that justify them. It's a dry read but not an overly jargon-filled or complicated one. Given the overall length of the book (over 1000 pages), I don't think I gave it the detailed attention it deserves. Would have benefited from reading this a chunk at a time with a reading group or class, I think.
informative
inspiring
slow-paced