IBID...
For many years now I've been waiting for a book to come along with the same exciting qualities as Hakim Bey's "T.A.Z"; terse, philosophically challenging, a synthesis of brilliant ideas, a manifesto for a new generation's resistance. Graeber's book has actually met those requirements. This is a refreshing and accessible look at our culture's general inability to think outside the box and a clear explanation of some commonsense ideas that simply needed to be put into words. Graeber expands on Hakim Bey by discussing how prevelent anarchist-like systems and cultures are already existing in the world now, but are invisible to the average person who lives trapped by cliches like, "anarchist organization? Isn't that an oxymoron?" Ha Ha. I can't tell you how many times I've heard this lame joke or how vindicating it is to see Mr. Graeber put it to rest. This book is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the utopian project of envisioning the possibilities for a better world, or anyone who would like a template for understanding the structure of the growing anti-globalization movement, its consensus process, and the threat this poses to our petrified and so-called, "representative democracy".
With a baroque architecture built around the simple premise of a murder mystery, this is an ambitious work by first-time novelist, Pessl. Structured like a syllabus for a postmodern course in literature, the novel is narrated by a vaguely unlikable and precocious highschool student whose voice could be straight out of something by Nabokov. Hoping for great things from this young author.
Goodman is the Edward R. Murrow, the Walter Cronkite of our generation. Ironically, her own investigative work makes it clear why people like herself have no voice in the mainstream media anymore. This book is a highly recommended antidote to Pravda...I mean Fox News.
Speculative fiction: Post-scarcity/anarchism/cultural imperialism
The title alone should be enough of an intrigue to get your attention. Hakim Bey is probably the most popular American writer that no one has ever heard of (check out how many websites are linked to him). For those in the know, Bey is easily the most cutting edge and controversial political philosopher at the end of this American Century. I would go so far as to say that he has the ability to approach common problems of 20th century politics with the same lateral-thinking genius that Einstein brought to 19th century physics; he sidesteps the implicit and invisible assumptions of most political dialogue, treating social change as a zen koan and anarchism as Western culture's crass attempt at something equivalent to Taoism. I promise that you've never read anything quite like this.
Possibly out of print. Email or call to check availability and price.
One of the great novels in the scifi new wave of the 1960's, 'Stand on Zanzibar' is an early example of the sociological and dystopian scifi that would become predominant in the mid 1990's. Brunner's treatment of population and class status is almost prescient when compared to contemporary works on the subject such as Mike Davis' 'Planet of Slums'. Stylistically, the novel melds a kind of homage to Dos Passos cut-up-newsreel technique with Mcluhan's media fetishism that makes sections of the text feel almost like a script for an MTV-generation docudrama. Difficult to find (but available at Skylight), 'Stand on Zanzibar' is definitely one of the great and almost forgotten gems of speculative-postmodern (read: 'scifi') literature.