Kristi Priestley's Reviews > Revolution

I have FINALLY finished this book...it wasn't easy! Brand has earned himself 1 star more than I was going to give him, purely because some of the ideas he writes (I can't say his ideas, because most of them are paraphrases of other people's) actually do make you think. However, most of these are discredited by the waffle in other areas of the book. There is a whole chapter on yoga which is never actually related back to the 'Revolution'! Cleverly, he has grouped responses to his proposition into two: those who believe it could work, and those who are well-educated therefore have been 'indoctrinated' into thinking that our current system is the only one that would work. Unfortunately I must fit into those who are 'indoctrinated'. As idealistic as his ideas are, they are based on everyone being happy working within a collectively owned company and all owning equal shares of the business, and therefore the profits. A basic knowledge of human instinct would say that this would never work...someone who has spent 10 years training to do a job would not be satisfied to earn the same as someone who has just walked into it. Humans need aspirations and ambitions to give them motivation and on which to measure success.

Brand consistently tries to refute claims of his hypocrisy because he is now in the economic elite which he condemns in this book by saying that in the event of revolution he would happily share his wealth in return for equality. If this were the case, why has he not already donated his money to the homeless who he feels so strongly about?

All in all, although giving some thought-provoking ideas, I can't see a revolution budding from this book!