Interview with Aja Barber, author of Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change
Aja Barber, author of Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change recommends an important set of books! Before jumping into the interview, please check out Aja's book:
Review from Book Depository:
A call to action for consumers everywhere, Consumed asks us to look at how and why we buy what we buy, how it's created, who it benefits, and how we can solve the problems created by a wasteful system.
(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change
We live in a world of stuff. We dispose of most of it in as little as six months after we receive it. The byproducts of our quest to consume are creating an environmental crisis. Aja Barber wants to change this--and you can, too.
In Consumed, Barber calls for change within an industry that regularly overreaches with abandon, creating real imbalances in the environment and the lives of those who do the work--often in unsafe conditions for very low pay--and the billionaires who receive the most profit. A story told in two parts, Barber exposes the endemic injustices in our consumer industries and the uncomfortable history of the textile industry, one which brokered slavery, racism, and today's wealth inequality. Once the layers are peeled back, Barber invites you to participate in unlearning, to understand the truth behind why we consume in the way that we do, to confront the uncomfortable feeling that we are never quite enough and why we fill that void with consumption rather than compassion. Barber challenges us to challenge the system and our role in it. The less you buy into the consumer culture, the more power you have. Consumed will teach you how to be a citizen and not a consumer.
Buy On:
Book Depository €15.47
Waterstones £7.50
Wordery $16.38
Q. Do you have a favourite smart thinking book (and why that book)?
Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger by Rebecca Traister. It's a favorite because I don't think women truly understand how much the world fears us when we're angry and organized.
Review From Book Depository:
From Rebecca Traister, the New York Times bestselling author of All the Single Ladies comes a vital, incisive exploration into the transformative power of female anger and its ability to transcend into a political movement.
(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's Anger
In the year 2018, it seems as if women's anger has suddenly erupted into the public conversation. But long before Pantsuit Nation, before the Women's March, and before the #MeToo movement, women's anger was not only politically catalytic-but politically problematic. The story of female fury and its cultural significance demonstrates the long history of bitter resentment that has enshrouded women's slow rise to political power in America, as well as the ways that anger is received when it comes from women as opposed to when it comes from men.
With eloquence and fervor, Rebecca tracks the history of female anger as political fuel-from suffragettes marching on the White House to office workers vacating their buildings after Clarence Thomas was confirmed to the Supreme Court. Here Traister explores women's anger at both men and other women; anger between ideological allies and foes; the varied ways anger is perceived based on its owner; as well as the history of caricaturing and delegitimizing female anger; and the way women's collective fury has become transformative political fuel-as is most certainly occurring today. She deconstructs society's (and the media's) condemnation of female emotion (notably, rage) and the impact of their resulting repercussions.
Highlighting a double standard perpetuated against women by all sexes, and its disastrous, stultifying effect, Traister's latest is timely and crucial. It offers a glimpse into the galvanizing force of women's collective anger, which, when harnessed, can change history.
Buy On:
Easons €13.99
Book Depository €9.99
Waterstones £8.99
Q. What's the most recent smart thinking book you've read (and how would you rate it)?
No Logo by Naomi Klein. EVERYONE SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. I reread it because it still applies so much today.
Review From Book Depository:
Introducing the Collins Modern Classics, a series featuring some of the most significant books of recent times, books that shed light on the human experience - classics which will endure for generations to come.
(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)
No Logo
When No Logo was first published, it became an instant bestseller and international phenomenon. Its riveting expose of the branded and corporate world in which we live became a rallying cry for rebellion and self-determination.
Engaging, humanising and inspiring, No Logo is a book that defined both a generation and its language of protest. Its analysis is as timely and powerful as ever.
Buy On:
Easons €15.40
Book Depository €12.93
Waterstones £10.99
Wordery $12.46
Q. Do you have a favourite childhood book?
Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Caroll ... weird world we're living in.
Review From Book Depository
'I had sent my heroine straight down a rabbit-hole without the least idea what was to happen afterwards', wrote Dodgson, describing how Alice was conjured up one 'golden afternoon' in 1862 to entertain his child-friend Alice Liddell. In the magical world of Wonderland and the back-to-front Looking-Glass kingdom, order is turned upside-down: a baby turns into a pig; time is abandoned at a tea-party; and, a chaotic game of chess makes a 7-year-old a Queen.
(All links earn commission from purchases that help fund this site. Prices accurate at time of writing)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
Buy On:
Easons €9.80
Book Depository €24.07
Waterstones £14.99
Wordery $8.02
Q. Do you prefer reading on paper, Kindle or listening to an audiobook?
Paper but audiobooks are a close second.
Q. Do you have a favourite bookshop (and why that shop)?
I'm pretty in love with Toppings in Bath. It's a very special place.
Many thanks to Aja for recommending an important set of books! Please don't forget to check out Aja's book Consumed: On Colonialism, Climate Change, Consumerism, and the Need for Collective Change.
Daryl
Image Copyrights: Octopus Publishing Group (Consumed), Simon & Schuster (Good and Mad), HarperCollins Publishers (No Logo), Penguin Books Ltd (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland).
< Home
