protogen_dianma's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

melliedm's review against another edition

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hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

matttlitke's review against another edition

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challenging informative

4.5

Chokepoint Capitalism is really informative and well-cited. I think it's very wise and sympathetic to examine the exploitation of "culture" industries as the leading edge of where capitalism fails us. On one side, humans are driven to create and on the other, the consumption of art is something almost all of us take part in and have opinions about (Netflix, Spotify, Ticketmaster, etc.). 
I also appreciate that the authors chose to give solutions and remedies instead of just explaining where we've gone wrong. The book as a whole really makes the reader question our systems and priorities as both creators and consumers of "value", and what value really means for our society beyond money.
 
“It's not just about so few people having so much of everything, although that is plenty odious and offensive on its merits. The problem, as it is experienced moment by moment and day by day, is how little they have done with it, and how little what they have done with it has done for everyone else. That inequality, when compounded over time and amplified by the cretinous and absolutely joyless mediocrity of the people in whose accounts that compounding gets done, winds up not just freezing the world in place, but shrinking it to the size of their own incuriosity.” - David Roth

 “The aim of art, the aim of a life can only be to increase the sum of freedom and responsibility to be found in every man and in the world… there is not a single true work of art that has not in the end added to the inner freedom of each person who has known and loved it.” - Albert Camus 

mandyfreddy's review against another edition

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Dry narrators with no inflection are killing me lately lol

amphigxry's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful informative

5.0

abracabrale's review against another edition

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4.0

This is a real thinker. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if it made me despair at times.

Doctorow and Giblin do a fantastic job of breaking down the many designed chokepoints of capitalism and how they are harming everyone.

I would recommend this book to anyone without hesitation.

thecolourblue's review against another edition

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3.5

An information-dense book on an important topic that doesn’t get a lot of attention. 

I particularly appreciated the discussion of the DMCA and the way it strangles the possibility of interoperability. 

storydude's review against another edition

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informative inspiring slow-paced

3.0

hemminger's review against another edition

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“Plenty of good anecdotes on the way companies use their position as dominent buyers or sellers to manipulate markets, pocket unfair shares of wealth, and generally make life worse for everyone who isn't their execs and shareholders. The collective solutions proposed all seem like reasonable starting points, too—but while I agree with their point that systemic problems require systemic solutions, I don't feel like I left the book with a starting point of how to work towards that change.

Maybe just naming the problem and talking about it is a sound enough starting point. Chokepoint Capitalism is a useful term, evocative and intuitive to understand, but also expansive enough to capture a whole world of corporate corruption. If it bleeds its way into more general discourse, that can only be a good thing.”

emmagbro's review against another edition

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It’s very dense and my loan expired