Episode · Behind the Bastards · 2021-11-20
Books mentioned on It Could Happen Here Weekly 10
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Robert Evans recommended The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and others, and discussed Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, Black reconstruction by W. E. B. Du Bois, and The coal question by William Stanley Jevons and others.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Snow Crash
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson is a seminal cyberpunk sci-fi novel that famously anticipated virtual reality, avatars, social media, and modern digital commerce through a fast-paced narrative set in a fragmented future America.
Discussed“All of them, everyone anywhere who talks about the metaverse um is whether or not they know it a fan of Neil Stevenson. Um who wrote based on Neil Stevenson book who wrote a book called Snow Crash where the point was that in the future the world is a dystopian corporatized nightmare”
Where to get it
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Black reconstruction
Black Reconstruction by W.
Discussed“And arguably like one of the first ones was uh you know black reconstruction they uh w uh the book there's a this argument that the first general strike was enslaved enslaved people leaving the plantations and and withdrawing their labor from that situation like that was a form of striking”
Where to get it
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The coal question
The Coal Question by William Stanley Jevons is an 1865 economic study that argues improvements in fuel efficiency tend to increase, rather than decrease, overall resource consumption.
Discussed“In 1865, economist William Stanley Jievens published a book called The Coal Question, in which he argued that innovation in efficiency, particularly in the case of the coal powered steam engine, would actually increase the overall consumption of coal rather than reducing it as it had been intended to do.”
Where to get it
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The Dawn of Everything
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow is a sweeping archaeological and anthropological study that challenges conventional narratives about social evolution, inequality, and the origins of human civilization.
Recommended“Um until next time. I don't know. Go go go read go read the the dawn of everything. It's good. It's worth reading.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (3) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Some better, some worse. Some worse. Cough cough. Ready Player One. Yeah.”
“Um, I'm grim Kim because my college radio DJ name will never die. And, uh, you can, if you are thus inclined, you can pre-order my book, Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor, on the internet.”
“The fact that airplanes got more fuel efficient didn't reduce general pollution by the air travel industry. Quite to the contrary, in fact, the decreased emissions led to an increase in air travel, which shot a hell of a lot more poison out into the sky and also gave us Eat, Pray, Love.”