'Douglas Rushkoff has always been a singular observer and thinker. Embedded near the epicentres of the digital revolution from its hopeful outlaw start through the oppressive mega-corporate current condition, he has never flinched along the way from honestly delivering fresh, radical, humane critiques of the emerging world. There are plenty of books decrying the horrors of 21st-century monopoly capitalism and inequality, and the existential threats posed by technology and hell-bent growth, but none quite like Survival of the Richest. Rushkoff is essential - not just a passionate visionary on the side of the angels, but the rare one who can write.'
-- Kurt Andersen, author of
Evil Geniuses'Douglas Rushkoff's disguise as an influential futurist has enabled him to serve as a mole on behalf of our species in the lair of the wannabe-posthuman. His report is both fierce and amazed in the face of capitalism's delusions; I for one am sharpening my pitchfork.'
-- Jonathan Lethem
'Rushkoff gives us a sober, scathing oddsmaking on the recursive wager of the ultra-rich: that they can insulate themselves from the world they're creating in their rush to insulate themselves from the world they're creating.'
-- Cory Doctorow
'A hilarious and lacerating look at the elite sociopathy wrecking the world, and a call to arms for how the rest of us can fight it.'
-- Molly Crabapple, author of
Drawing Blood'With razor-sharp insight, Rushkoff unwraps the dazzling facade of the technological dream, revealing the alarming Mindset that underlies promises of planetary salvation.'
-- Jeremy Lent, author of
The Patterning Instinct and
The Web of Meaning'Beyond eye-opening, this book is eye-popping. A master storyteller, Rushkoff brings to life perhaps the greatest challenge of our time, The Mindset that drives so much destructive behaviour, and blinds us to solutions beyond new technology and consumption. A must read.'
-- Frances Moore Lappe, author of
Diet for a Small Planet and
Daring Democracy'Survival of the Richest is more than a primer on a soulless world view pervading all aspects of life. Defying fantasies of escape - from each other, from earthliness, from Earth - Rushkoff offers something at once more realistic and more imaginative: mutual regard, responsibility, and flourishing. In so doing, he mounts an impassioned defence of everything and everyone marked expendable in the fanatical pursuit of a blank slate.'
-- Jenny Odell
'Douglas Rushkoff's keen eye as a seasoned media analyst, combined with his flair and wit as a writer and a performer, shine in this book ... How is it possible that people who have powerfully shaped our society and economy and have reaped enormous financial rewards in the process are doing everything possible to escape the world they've created? ... This should give us all pause - if they want to escape their creations, why give them the power to rule our lives in the first place?'
-- Marina Gorbis, Executive Director of the Institute for the Future
'A devastating portrait of the cultures and logics underlying big tech. Rushkoff is going to make you mad enough to fight back. A vital, lucid, and enraging read.'
-- Naomi Klein, author of
This Changes Everything'Rushkoff delineates the Silicon Valley mindset while suggesting alternatives.'
* Library Journal *
'Media theorist Rushkoff presents a fascinating and distressing account of how the very wealthy prep for doomsday ... Rushkoff introduces readers to the purveyor of multiple residential farm communities for millionaires designed to provide safety for the upper class in the future; the concept of seasteading, the creation of independent, free-floating city-states in the ocean; and prepper construction companies in Texas that offer million-dollar luxury bunkers outfitted with bowling alleys and pools ... This is an eye-popping look at some outlandish visions for the future.'
* Publishers Weekly *
Praise for Team Human:
'Team Human serves as a reminder that we do not have to surrender ourselves to technology ... Joining Team Human means prioritising the social, transcending a digital inclination, and connecting as humans.'
* The Washington Post *
Praise for Team Human:
'Technology can be a force for good or amplify our self-destructive capacities. In Team Human, the always-brilliant Douglas Rushkoff reminds us that the tools we design design us in turn, and offers a vision to invert our tools and make them better.'
-- Jason Silva, host of National Geographic's
Brain GamesPraise for Team Human:
'Rushkoff is the gold standard. He always knows what tech is up to - and he's usually prophetic. Now he's here to tell us how our Silicon masters are attempting to pit us against one another for their own gain. Go Team Human.'
-- Walter Kirn, author of
Blood Will Out and
Up in the AirPraise for Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus:
'Powerful truth telling ... The crux of the argument that Rushkoff makes is that the digital economy is a house of cards built on fictional growth metrics that drive companies to raise money, undercut human workers, sell on the public markets, and then - almost inevitably - collapse under the weight of public market demands.'
* Forbes *
Praise for Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus:
'A brilliant, bomb-hurling critique of the flaws in our digital economy, identifying what has gone wrong and what can be done about it.'
* Financial Times *
Praise for Present Shock:
'This is a wondrously thought-provoking book. Unlike other social theorists who either mindlessly decry or celebrate the digital age, Rushkoff explores how it has caused a focus on the immediate moment that can be both disorienting and energising.'
-- Walter Isaacson, author of
Steve Jobs