Platform Capitalism by Nick Srnicek

The Blurb On The Back:

What unites Google and Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft, Siemens and GE, Uber and Airbnb? Across a wide range of sectors, these firms are turning into platforms: businesses that provide the hardware and software foundation for others to operate on. This transformation signals a major shift in how capitalist firms operate and how they interact with the rest of the economy: the emergence of ‘platform capitalism’.

Platform Capitalism critically examines these new business forms, tracing their genesis from the long downturn of the 1970s to the boom and bust of the 1990s and the aftershocks of the 2008 crisis. It shows how the foundations of the economy are rapidly being carved up among a small number of monopolistic platforms and how the platform introduces new tendencies within capitalism that pose significant challenges to any vision of a post-capitalist future. This book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how the most powerful tech companies of our time are transforming the global economy.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

Nick Srnicek is a Lecturer at City University, London and in this fascinating and timely book he analyses the activities of major tech companies in the context of the wider capitalist economy, drawing on examples from economic history (notably the dot com crash and 2008 financial crisis) to argue that data is being used to maintain economic growth amid the wider slow down in productivity and what this means for the future.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

Loos Save Lives by Seren Boyd

The Blurb On The Back:

The humble loo is a lifesaver. Over two billion people in the world don’t have access to a proper toilet or clean water to drink or to wash their hands – and that stinks! Access to sanitation and clean water literally saves lives. Loos also help schools. When children have access to a safe, clean loo at school, they are more likely to stay in education, get better jobs and escape poverty.

Toilet Twinning is a charity that empowers people in low-income countries to build proper toilets and help make their communities healthier, safer and more prosperous. This book visits some of the places Toilet Twinning have worked in, across Africa, Asia and Central America, and reveals the stories of the people they have helped. It’s packed with stats, facts and lots of information all about water and waste.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

This book for children aged 9+ by Seren Boyd with the charity Toilet Twinning is a matter of fact look at an important and yet still socially taboo topic of the importance of toilet and sanitation facilities and although it was interesting to read the case studies setting out the transformative work being done by Toilet Twinning, I wasn’t completely comfortable with the way it exists to promote the charity and encourage fund raising for it.

LOOS SAVE LIVES was released in the United Kingdom on 9th November 2017. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.