REVIEW: The Future by Naomi Alderman (4-stars)

 In my quest to distance myself from the surplus of dark, dystopian fiction portraying grim futures, I've sought narratives with a more positive outlook. I chose to read this book to explore the author's vision of the future following the redistribution of power through the abduction of several influential figures.

Similar to Alderman's previous work, "The Power," this new novel delves into a critical examination of societal structures, power imbalances, and the impact of technology and greed on human behavior and the planet. The characters grapple with ethical dilemmas as they find themselves uniquely positioned to instigate substantial positive change.

In contrast to Shakespeare’s "Julius Caesar," the conspirators in this tale successfully counter tyranny, avert environmental destruction, and catalyze numerous positive transformations in the world.

A mixed chronology is employed by the author to establish multiple narrative hooks. If you're accustomed to a sequential chronology in your media consumption, this book may pose a challenge to your expectations.

Readers who enjoy the interactive nature of "Choose Your Own Adventure" or appreciate works like “Rayuela,” along with language enthusiasts treating books as tools, might relish the mental challenge of assembling the narrative pieces. For those who, like me, explore books as tools, skipping around and investigating, a rewarding discovery awaits at the end:

“Zhen, I found it. I know you loved up in secret fuck cave or whatever, love is great. When you want to know the truth, email me. mariuszugravescu@gmail.com"

An email to that address is rewarded with an auto response that is very gratifying in an old-school “multimedia” sort of way that fills in a partial “who dunnit” for those of us who don’t believe the concept of “spoilers” exists (see the end of my review).

Since I’m currently enrolled in a product development and marketing class, and I’m thinking in terms of score cards – here are some of the things that came to mind when reading this book over the weekend.  Here are some of the archetypes that I ticked off my list for this reading:

Archetypes Explored:

• The Hero's Journey: The inner circle orchestrating the disappearance of powerful figures embodies the hero's journey archetype, ushering in positive change.
• The Trickster: Both conspirators and billionaires pursue specific outcomes, with differing goals—individualistic for the billionaires and pro-social for the conspirators.
• The Rebellion Against Tyranny: The classic archetype of rebelling against tyranny is explored, but the conversion of conspirators against billionaires raises skepticism about their altruistic motivations.

Character Development:

• The Sacrifice: Characters compromise integrity for the greater good, exemplified by sending loved ones to a well-provisioned island for indefinite entrapment.
• The Fall from Grace: Instead of proving the wrongdoing of billionaires, a scenario is staged for their disappearance, allowing societal and environmental changes in their names.

Narrative Elements:

• Cultural Details: Attention to detail varies, with vivid scenes like the Singapore shopping mall contrasting with less engaging aspects such as the Enochite cult and message board descriptions.
• Technology and Environment: Technology and environmental descriptions are mainly conveyed through "telling," with the notable exception of the engaging "happymeal" implementation.
• Character Dynamics: Martha's character, portrayed as somewhat villainous, could benefit from more development. The challenge lies in the narrative primarily unfolding from Zhen's perspective, limiting insight into other conspirators.
• Symbolism and Themes: The Fox vs. Rabbit concept is richly woven into the story, but the tale of Martha and the bear is symbolic, representing her "coming of age" rather than a literal event.

The Shortcomings:

• Character Development:  Overall development of the four primary conspirators was thin – and the billionaires were very thin.  The majority of the character development was spent on Martha, followed by Zhen.  As primary actors in the conspiracy – Selah, Badger and Arthur fell flat – while Zhen’s friend Marius had more sparkle and interesting development. 
• Forced Diversity: The author includes non-heteronormative characters, but the relevance of their queerness is not relevant to the plot.  Aside from mentioning that Selah is straight, heterosexuality and gender binary are still the assumed default in this story.  Although lip service is paid to non-heteronormative characters (they gay billionaire ousted tech CEO, the enby antifa child of a tech CEO, lesbian survivalist and lesbian child of a survivalist cult leader “gal Friday” of tech CEO) – I’m not getting a strong sense of how Arthur’s homosexuality really matters in this story.  I can’t imagine that the near future is still so accepting of gay billionaires, lesbian survivalists and enby Antifa activists that we have to mention their orientation or gender identity – without doing the same for heterosexual characters. 
• Cultural Details:Attention to detail was really fantastic in some areas – like the highly detailed scene in the Singapore shopping mall, but the Enochite cult and the message board details were so much “tell” and not show.  The retelling of the Bible stories was entertaining but also felt a lot like filler.
• Character Dynamics: I wanted to see more of Martha as a primary character so that I can cheer for her – but she’s still played off as a bit of a villain (even at the end, Zhen sees a “heavyset figure” – when her physical shape wasn’t mentioned earlier).  Arthur “tells” us the tension for Martha (i.e., father figure issues).  Zhen’s security / safety and mother issues are also narrated for us throughout.  

One of the challenges of this book is that it’s told primarily from the perspective of a very interesting but non-primary character, Zhen.  Yes, she’s an important part of the plot as she was used as a guinea pig to create a potentially fatal proof-of-concept demonstration for technology that was used to persuade the billionaires of its efficacy (and a critical part of the means of duping them).  

Overall development of the four primary conspirators is thin – with Martha (the lover of Zhen) having considerably more character development, followed by Badger, Selah and Arthur.  Their stories are often told in third person, not through Zhen’s perspective.  Selah and Badger feel pretty “flat”. 

Symbolism and Themes: In addition to the whole Fox (hunter gatherer) vs Rabbit (farmer) concepts spread thickly across the story – the story about Martha and the bear was not actually about a bear.  Think about it:  the “bear” didn’t exist.  It was her “coming of age” and the bear with the rotten jaw represented her father.   

Just a little bit of research (or talking to anyone who goes hiking in the Western US) would tell you:  black bears are typically the least aggressive and smallest bears found in the US, any survivalist (or child in California) would know you don’t climb a tree to get away from a bear. Bears don’t typically suffer from dental disease.  If the bear wasn’t scared by the arrival of two people in a pickup truck – and was really starving – why not attack those people?  

The whole fantasy of climbing up a tree to evade and fatally wounding a skinny, young black bear before hibernation is just a weird detail that didn’t work for me unless you just look at it as symbolism.

The Strengths:

• Unique Narrative Structure: The the mixed chronology and the use of multiple narrative hooks,  was a lot of fun.  I liked the inclusion of the chatboard content but maybe a bit less of that would have allowed for more character development.  This narrative structure might challenge readers accustomed to a more sequential chronology.
• Interactive Element: The inclusion of private messages added an intriguing layer to the narrative, revealing character motivations and potential conflicts.
• Thematic Exploration: The book successfully explored themes of societal structures, power imbalances, and the impact of technology and greed on human behavior and the planet.
• Engaging Scenes: Scenes like the one in the Singapore shopping mall had a ton of details and played really well as an action film scene (leave it to a Doctor Who fan!).  As a great example of “showing” rather than “telling” -- the implementation of the "happymeal" worm in various social media platforms was well executed. 

Here's the text from the email bounceback; sharing it here because one never knows how long the email will continue to function: 

<spoiler>

Private message log from ntd/enoch

> ArturoMegadog

Look, I can't say this publicly on the forum but I am actually very sympathetic to your point of view here. Lai Zhen never should have said what she said. Someone needs to teach her a lesson. 

> SavedByEnoch

I just want to meet her. I want to tell her what I think face to face. She ought to be afraid. 

> ArturoMegadog

Right, I think that's all we're talking about isn't it? Just scaring her. So she won't go near any of this ever again. 

> SavedByEnoch

Enoch's teachings helped me believe there was a future for me again. She's a worthless piece of shit. 

> ArturoMegadog

Yeah no I get that. We all need to believe in a future. So listen, I do have a way you can track her. I mean it's not hard to get in touch with her, she has all her speaking engagements listed on her website. But if you need to track her down to have a more private conversation... just to scare her, right? I can help you with that. 

> SavedByEnoch

I'll know what to do when I see her. 

>ArturoMegadog

OK, looking at the schedule... how do you feel about a trip to Singapore? 

</spoiler>

REVIEW: The Future by Naomi Alderman 

RATING: 4-stars 

© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.

REVIEW: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (1-star)

 This book is one of those "big history" books where the author attempts to explain all of human history -- anthropology, sociology, pop psychology and pop economics -- through the objective lens of his own narrow perspective.  Frankly, I'm not sure why I kept listening in the hopes that he would uncover something novel or interesting.  I had intended to borrow the e-book to do a re-read but there are plenty of critical reviews out there of this book.

An excellent critical review here: SAPIENS BY YUVAL NOAH HARARI: A BRIEF JUSTIFICATION FOR CHAUVINISM

There's nothing new or groundbreaking in this book except that the author could manage to slide in so many sly, sexist references.  His treatment is hardly objective -- he repeatedly inserts sexist, racist and biological deterministic comments that had me laughing out loud. This book gets such rave reviews - why?  (See also: The Dangerous Populist Science of Yuval Noah Harari)

He's a good story teller - but he does drone on and on --  sneaking in many biased statements and utter nonsense as "factual."  He even weaves in his own Western appropriation of Eastern spirituality in ways that seem to justify and excuse injustice throughout human history.  For example: 

"suffering is not caused by ill fortune, social injustice or divine whims. Rather, suffering is caused by the behavior patterns of one's own mind." 

I did a bit of research and he's practices meditation -- but it's really the racism and chauvinism that get me:

"In 1880, the Chinese empire did not operate a single railroad."  Why?  "they lacked the values, myths, judicial apparatus, and sociopolitical structures that took centuries to form and mature in the West and which could not be copied and internalized rapidly. France and the United States quickly followed in Britain's footsteps because the French and Americans already shared the most important British myths and social structures.  The Chinese and Persians could not catch up as quickly because they thought and organized their societies differently."

He claims that  "This explanation sheds new light" on the mid-to-late 19th century because there were no tangible advantages in the West or other explanations for their increased rate of industrialization.  Huh, ya don't say? 

He repeatedly talks about "feminism" as an ideology and in several repeated rants about the woes of individualism, he implies the negative consequences of women being able to vote, have checking accounts, divorce abusive husbands or choose not to marry at all.  

In more than one way - he makes it clear that he identifies with the successful, monied classes. This line was so laughable I bookmarked it:  "A government may impose heavy taxation on industrialists and use the money to give lavish unemployment benefits which are popular with voters."  Clearly, he doesn't understand how unemployment benefits work (ie, workers pay toward this fund) and his definition of "lavish" may need some examination.  Here in California, the maximum unemployment benefit is $450/week which is hardly a cause for celebration much less paying one's rent. 

Finally, he wraps up his conclusion with a dystopian prediction of a future occupied by cyborgs who have their feelings managed, and yea, even experience feelings we cannot imagine.  It's all a very "Gattaca" + "Blade Runner" + "The Fifth Element" kind of future and I had to rewind through the conclusions because it had me hooting and giggling so much.   YMMV.

Stick with Thomas Piketty's "Brief History of Inequality."

REVIEW: Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari 

RATING: 1-star

© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.

REVIEW: Real Flow: Break the Burnout Cycle and Unlock High Performance in the New World of Work by Brandi Olson (4-stars)

This book covers three important topics critical for the health of an organization and, ultimately, its success. The integral, systems approach is a mainstay of digital transformation - but that topic can be difficult to tackle. Brandi Olson approaches the topic in accessible language, with excellent illustrations -- both graphics and metaphorical.

Much of what she describes is not new: Max Weber and Emile Durkheim, among others, wrote about these kinds of issues over 100 years ago.

Olson issues a challenge: "you (and everyone else) will need to stop settling for the appearance of productivity and performance rather than the real thing."

The author describes the challenges faced in organizations and low-key leads up to a discussion of the roots of corporate culture in a white supremacist, colonialist mindset which not only results in overworked, burned out employees but which also perpetuates the same dysfunctional system, reinforcing the lack of diversity of cultures, people and ideas.

"Burnout is energy-consuming and self-perpetuating. It fosters a monoculture: if everyone is operating on a burned-out and overworked level, no one has the brain capacity to think that perhaps things could and should be different."

Most organizations respond to symptoms -- burned out employees are compelled to use up their vacation time before the year-end, company potlucks or online "coffee/happy hour" chats (or worse: Yammer) substitute for connection and culture. More is seen as "better" and forcing employees to jump between many different projects always leads to no clear successes or improvements.

What organizations fail to realize is that “peak performance means making the greatest possible impact over the longest period of time.” That means addressing root causes -- finding the smallest changes you can make that will have the biggest impact (Pareto principal), implementing changes incrementally and iteratively to have time to reflect on the impact throughout the ecosystem (ie "butterfly effect"), and avoiding toxic perfectionism ("better > best").

"Flow is the experience of energy, creativity, and value moving from ideas to results throughout your entire organization." This is achieved by making your work visible throughout the organization -- put it on KanBan boards, for example (or open up access in Confluence to all enterprise users).

In John Doerr's "Measure What Matters," he similarly advocates for cross-functional sharing of goals so that individuals, teams, departments and divisions can work together to ensure they all help each other meet their goals (and thus all the company/enterprise level goals).

When an organization is "flooding" -- they are taking a shotgun approach which may inevitably result in some losses: limiting growth opportunities, trapping people in a "wash, rinse, repeat" or dooming teams to failure like Lucy's chocolate factory speed-up.

Olson offers a lot of practical tips to get people thinking differently about how to identify the challenges and keep track of the work: switch from small screens & spreadsheets to big whiteboards or walls, establish "work in progress" (WIP) limits. Olson's analogy on how a WIP functions:

"Have you ever been to one of those gigantic waterslides where you first spend 25 minutes climbing up six stories, only to whoosh down the slide in approximately 93 seconds? Have you ever noticed that, in order to keep everyone safe, they have a one person on the slide limit?"

Work that has been started but not finished is a big liability - it represents unrealized value (and may end up as waste). This is why prioritization is critical -- but rather than prioritize, many organizations would prefer to continue piling up the work and ignore the costs in turnover as people burn out from constantly being spread too thin or having to switch projects too frequently.

"Productivity without outcomes is not real productivity." Building a bridge is an output while people safely crossing that bridge is an outcome. Migrating a website to a new content management system is an output while enabling marketing team members to update their own pages quickly is an outcome. "Outputs answer the question, How will we do it? Outcomes answer the question, Why does this matter?" -- or "When can we open the champagne?"

Olson also talks about the importance of focus and the damage of "multi-tasking" -- an organization that is flooding is multitasking across the enterprise, busy without achieving meaningful outcomes.

Let's jump ahead to characteristics of white supremacy work culture outlined in “White Supremacy Culture” --

1. Perfectionism - focusing on what doesn't work, punishing people for mistakes, not leaving room for learning and continuous improvement.
2. Sense of Urgency - everything is a "high priority" where I work, probably where you work, too. "There is little time for thoughtful decision-making, short-term fixes come with long-term costs."
3. Quantity over Quality - conflict avoidant environments with a focus on productivity and output over EQ and the underlying mechanics that enable the establishment of teams with high levels of trust where creativity can flourish.
4. Document-Driven Communication - leaves little time for conversations and exploration.

A key takeaway:

"By making work visible, limiting work in progress, and being clear on prioritization, you can create time, focus, and energy for teams to have difficult conversations, get to know each other personally, build trust, and identify significant opportunities for learning how to do and be better."

As the author states: the future of work is PEOPLE - who need to be in environments designed to for cross-functional collaborative teams where they can develop trust and work toward shared outcomes:

• The team must have all the cross-functional skills and expertise to do the work from start to finish
• The team must work together long term
• The work must be transparent so the team can be in flow

There is no such thing as "best practices" -- start by identifying what you do now, create a map of your ecosystem. Make improvements - better not best., and don't obsess with a "big bang" of fixing "all the things."

"If everything changes at once, you’ll overwhelm the system and slow down learning."

"...empower people to do their best work, solve problems, and be better leaders—no matter where they are in the organization."

"better is always better than best."

REVIEW: Real Flow: Break the Burnout Cycle and Unlock High Performance in the New World of Work by Brandi Olson 

RATING: 4-stars

© Jennifer R Clark. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. You may share and adapt this content with proper attribution.