Reading notes: The Big Con
The Big Con was a fairly enjoyable book to read, especially for non-fiction and one of academic nature. Academics often use too much jargon when writing and over use subordinate clauses. The Big Con however was written, I presume, for a broader audience and not just an insular and highly elite group of university intellectuals. This is also reflected in the politics of the book, where the authors has an explicit political agenda, and are hoping to affect some real change in the world. This probably necessitates the simpler use of language.
The overall effect however is highly pleasant and gives the book more forward momentum than could have been achieved otherwise.
The issues laid out with consultancy are numerous, and deeply concerning. The conflicts of interest, the predatory nature, the inertia towards maintaining the status-quo, the making of any sort of change more and more difficult, are truly exemplary of our times. A time where populism and fascism are on the rise simply because people are tired of the seeming lack of will to change anything. The slow cancellation of the future, as Mark Fisher would describe it.
Luckily our authors are still able to imagine a better future, and we are better off for it. As they are precisely and accurately able to find issues with our current system, and it's root-causes, and propose radical and imaginative but realistic solutions that will make our world a better and more human-centric place.
The Big Con is a book everyone should take the time to read.