-
The Utopia of Rules
- On Technology, Stupidity, and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 8 hrs
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy for $17.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Bullshit Jobs
- A Theory
- By: David Graeber
- Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Does your job make a meaningful contribution to the world? In the spring of 2013, David Graeber asked this question in a playful, provocative essay titled “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs”. It went viral. After a million online views in 17 different languages, people all over the world are still debating the answer.
-
-
Not a bullshit book.
- By Anonymous User on 04-10-19
By: David Graeber
-
Debt - Updated and Expanded
- The First 5,000 Years
- By: David Graeber
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here, anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: He shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods - that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.
-
-
Debt
- By Andrew P. on 08-07-18
By: David Graeber
-
The Democracy Project
- A History, a Crisis, a Movement
- By: David Graeber
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Democracy has been the American religion since before the Revolution - from New England town halls to the multicultural democracy of Atlantic pirate ships. But can our current political system, one that seems responsive only to the wealthiest among us and leaves most Americans feeling disengaged, voiceless, and disenfranchised, really be called democratic? And if the tools of our democracy are not working to solve the rising crises we face, how can we - average citizens - make change happen? David Graeber, one of the most influential scholars and activists of his generation, takes listeners on a journey through the idea of democracy.
-
-
Must-read: such insight, an awakening!
- By Kevin on 10-15-14
By: David Graeber
-
Seeing Like a State
- By: James C. Scott
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why do well-intentioned plans for improving the human condition go tragically awry? Author James C. Scott analyzes failed cases of large-scale authoritarian plans in a variety of fields. Centrally managed social plans misfire, Scott argues, when they impose schematic visions that do violence to complex interdependencies that are not - and cannot - be fully understood. Further, the success of designs for social organization depends upon the recognition that local, practical knowledge is as important as formal, epistemic knowledge.
-
-
Beats a dead horse and then beats it again
- By Nathan Parker on 10-29-20
By: James C. Scott
-
On Anarchism
- By: Noam Chomsky, Nathan Schneider - introduction
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Anarchism provides the reasoning behind Noam Chomsky's fearless lifelong questioning of the legitimacy of entrenched power. In these essays, Chomsky redeems one of the most maligned ideologies, anarchism, and places it at the foundation of his political thinking. Chomsky's anarchism is distinctly optimistic and egalitarian. Moreover, it is a living, evolving tradition that is situated in a historical lineage; Chomsky's anarchism emphasizes the power of collective, rather than individualist, action.
-
-
Hit and Miss
- By Jacob King on 06-18-14
By: Noam Chomsky, and others
-
The Dawn of Everything
- A New History of Humanity
- By: David Graeber, David Wengrow
- Narrated by: Mark Williams
- Length: 24 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution - from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state", political violence, and social inequality - and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.
-
-
Embarrassingly Bad
- By Jason on 11-15-21
By: David Graeber, and others
-
Bullshit Jobs
- A Theory
- By: David Graeber
- Narrated by: Christopher Ragland
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Does your job make a meaningful contribution to the world? In the spring of 2013, David Graeber asked this question in a playful, provocative essay titled “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs”. It went viral. After a million online views in 17 different languages, people all over the world are still debating the answer.
-
-
Not a bullshit book.
- By Anonymous User on 04-10-19
By: David Graeber
-
Debt - Updated and Expanded
- The First 5,000 Years
- By: David Graeber
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 17 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here, anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: He shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods - that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors.
-
-
Debt
- By Andrew P. on 08-07-18
By: David Graeber
-
The Democracy Project
- A History, a Crisis, a Movement
- By: David Graeber
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Democracy has been the American religion since before the Revolution - from New England town halls to the multicultural democracy of Atlantic pirate ships. But can our current political system, one that seems responsive only to the wealthiest among us and leaves most Americans feeling disengaged, voiceless, and disenfranchised, really be called democratic? And if the tools of our democracy are not working to solve the rising crises we face, how can we - average citizens - make change happen? David Graeber, one of the most influential scholars and activists of his generation, takes listeners on a journey through the idea of democracy.
-
-
Must-read: such insight, an awakening!
- By Kevin on 10-15-14
By: David Graeber
-
Seeing Like a State
- By: James C. Scott
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 16 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why do well-intentioned plans for improving the human condition go tragically awry? Author James C. Scott analyzes failed cases of large-scale authoritarian plans in a variety of fields. Centrally managed social plans misfire, Scott argues, when they impose schematic visions that do violence to complex interdependencies that are not - and cannot - be fully understood. Further, the success of designs for social organization depends upon the recognition that local, practical knowledge is as important as formal, epistemic knowledge.
-
-
Beats a dead horse and then beats it again
- By Nathan Parker on 10-29-20
By: James C. Scott
-
On Anarchism
- By: Noam Chomsky, Nathan Schneider - introduction
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 4 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On Anarchism provides the reasoning behind Noam Chomsky's fearless lifelong questioning of the legitimacy of entrenched power. In these essays, Chomsky redeems one of the most maligned ideologies, anarchism, and places it at the foundation of his political thinking. Chomsky's anarchism is distinctly optimistic and egalitarian. Moreover, it is a living, evolving tradition that is situated in a historical lineage; Chomsky's anarchism emphasizes the power of collective, rather than individualist, action.
-
-
Hit and Miss
- By Jacob King on 06-18-14
By: Noam Chomsky, and others
-
The Dawn of Everything
- A New History of Humanity
- By: David Graeber, David Wengrow
- Narrated by: Mark Williams
- Length: 24 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A trailblazing account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution - from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state", political violence, and social inequality - and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.
-
-
Embarrassingly Bad
- By Jason on 11-15-21
By: David Graeber, and others
-
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
- By: Thomas Piketty, Arthur Goldhammer - translator
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 24 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What are the grand dynamics that drive the accumulation and distribution of capital? Questions about the long-term evolution of inequality, the concentration of wealth, and the prospects for economic growth lie at the heart of political economy. But satisfactory answers have been hard to find for lack of adequate data and clear guiding theories.
-
-
Data-Driven Books which Lie about Data are Useless
- By Ben on 11-02-19
By: Thomas Piketty, and others
-
Blackshirts and Reds
- Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism
- By: Michael Parenti
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 5 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Blackshirts and Reds explores some of the big issues of our time: fascism, capitalism, communism, revolution, democracy, and ecology. These terms are often bandied about but seldom explored in the original and exciting way that has become Michael Parenti's trademark. Parenti shows how "rational fascism" renders service to capitalism, how corporate power undermines democracy, and how revolutions are a mass empowerment against the forces of exploitative privilege.
-
-
couldn't believe this was on audible
- By Amazon Customer on 02-24-22
By: Michael Parenti
-
Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?
- By: Mark Fisher
- Narrated by: Russell Brand
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After 1989, capitalism has successfully presented itself as the only realistic political-economic system - a situation that the bank crisis of 2008, far from ending, actually compounded. The audiobook analyses the development and principal features of this capitalist realism as a lived ideological framework. Using examples from politics, films, fiction, work, and education, it argues that capitalist realism colours all areas of contemporary experience.
-
-
Completely Unsubstantial
- By Nick on 05-15-21
By: Mark Fisher
-
Postcapitalist Desire
- The Final Lectures
- By: Mark Fisher
- Narrated by: Tom Lawrence
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Beginning with that most fundamental of questions - ''Do we really want what we say we want?'' - Fisher explores the relationship between desire and capitalism, and wonders what new forms of desire we might still excavate from the past, present, and future. From the emergence and failure of the counterculture in the 1970s to the continued development of his left-accelerationist line of thinking, this volume charts a tragically interrupted course for thinking about the raising of a new kind of consciousness, and the cultural and political implications of doing so.
-
-
Amazing ideas from a man who was too brilliant
- By Jim on 08-11-21
By: Mark Fisher
-
Work
- A Deep History, from the Stone Age to the Age of Robots
- By: James Suzman
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 13 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Work defines who we are. It determines our status and dictates how, where, and with whom we spend most of our time. It mediates our self-worth and molds our values. But are we hardwired to work as hard as we do? Did our Stone Age ancestors also live to work and work to live? And what might a world where work plays a far less important role look like? To answer these questions, James Suzman charts a grand history of "work" from the origins of life on Earth to our ever more automated present, challenging some of our deepest assumptions about who we are.
-
-
Fundamental
- By Casey on 02-09-21
By: James Suzman
-
The Patterning Instinct
- A Cultural History of Humanity’s Search for Meaning
- By: Jeremy Lent, Fritjof Capra - foreword
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 19 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This fresh perspective on crucial questions of history identifies the root metaphors that cultures have used to construct meaning in their world. It offers a glimpse into the minds of a vast range of different peoples: early hunter-gatherers and farmers, ancient Egyptians, traditional Chinese sages, the founders of Christianity, trailblazers of the Scientific Revolution, and those who constructed our modern consumer society.
-
-
Wonderful book! Changes your perspective on the human race and where we might be going.
- By Susan on 03-29-18
By: Jeremy Lent, and others
-
The Jakarta Method
- Washington's Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World
- By: Vincent Bevins
- Narrated by: Tim Paige
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1965, the US government helped the Indonesian military kill approximately one million innocent civilians. This was one of the most important turning points of the 20th century, eliminating the largest communist party outside China and the Soviet Union and inspiring copycat terror programs in faraway countries like Brazil and Chile. But these events remain widely overlooked, precisely because the CIA's secret interventions were so successful.
-
-
Great book, but the narration has serious flaws
- By Prof. Neil Larsen on 08-03-20
By: Vincent Bevins
-
Mutual Aid
- A Factor of Evolution
- By: Pyotr Kropotkin
- Narrated by: Peter Kenny
- Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pyotr Kropotkin (1842-1921), one of the most individual political figures of his time, is best known as an influential anarchist communist. But he was also a scientist, geographer and philosopher, a man who, having grown up on his aristocratic father’s extensive country estate in Russia, had a deep understanding of and love for animals (wild and domesticated), the countryside and wildernesses. And all this was underpinned by a life committed to work for the good of humanity.
-
-
Great book, but please cite the translation
- By Anonymous on 03-09-20
By: Pyotr Kropotkin
-
Sapiens
- A Brief History of Humankind
- By: Yuval Noah Harari
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.
-
-
Fascinating, despite claims of errors
- By Jonas Blomberg Ghini on 12-09-19
-
The Laws of Human Nature
- By: Robert Greene
- Narrated by: Paul Michael, Robert Greene
- Length: 28 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Robert Greene is a master guide for millions of listeners, distilling ancient wisdom and philosophy into essential texts for seekers of power, understanding, and mastery. Now he turns to the most important subject of all - understanding people's drives and motivations, even when they are unconscious of them themselves. Whether at work, in relationships, or in shaping the world around you, The Laws of Human Nature offers brilliant tactics for success, self-improvement, and self-defense.
-
-
Interesting mix of biography and thoughts
- By Tintin on 12-13-18
By: Robert Greene
-
Consequences of Capitalism
- Manufacturing Discontent and Resistance
- By: Noam Chomsky, Marv Waterstone
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 14 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How do politics shape our world, our lives, and our perceptions? How much of “common sense” is actually driven by the ruling class’ needs and interests? And how are we to challenge the capitalist structures that now threaten all life on the planet? Consequences of Capitalism exposes the deep, often unseen, connections between neoliberal “common sense” and structural power. In making these linkages, we see how the current hegemony keeps social justice movements divided and marginalized. And, most importantly, we see how we can fight to overcome these divisions.
-
-
Everyone must read this book.
- By Lydia M. Prado on 02-03-21
By: Noam Chomsky, and others
-
21 Lessons for the 21st Century
- By: Yuval Noah Harari
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today's most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.
-
-
Good stuff, but mostly repeats
- By Amazon Customer on 09-13-18
Publisher's Summary
From the author of the international best-seller Debt: The First 5,000 Years comes a revelatory account of the way bureaucracy rules our lives.
From where does the desire for endless rules, regulations, and bureaucracy come? How did we come to spend so much of our time filling out forms? And is it really a cipher for state violence?
To answer these questions, the anthropologist David Graeber - one of our most important and provocative thinkers - traces the peculiar and unexpected ways we relate to bureaucracy today and reveals how it shapes our lives in ways we may not even notice...though he also suggests there may be something perversely appealing - even romantic - about bureaucracy.
Leaping from the ascendance of right-wing economics to the hidden meanings behind Sherlock Holmes and Batman, The Utopia of Rules is at once a powerful work of social theory in the tradition of Foucault and Marx and an entertaining reckoning with popular culture that calls to mind Slavoj Zizek at his most accessible.
An essential work for our times, The Utopia of Rules is sure to start a million conversations about the institutions that rule over us - and the better, freer world we should perhaps begin to imagine for ourselves.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Utopia of Rules
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David Pereplyotchik
- 11-19-19
Not his most serious book, but still really great
Graeber is best known for his academic tome, Debt, and perhaps second-best for his more popular book, Bullshit Jobs. If you're into either of those books, you should read this book as a kind of follow-up. If you haven't read Debt or BSJ, I'd recommend starting with them first. Graeber applies the lessons of those books here, with some fascinating and insightful detours into pop culture (e.g., the capitalist symbols inherent in action movie heroes).
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Edwin
- 10-25-18
Very Insightful
I love when an author is able to show you the world from a different perspective then what is taught in schools. His thought provoking insights will become classics in the next generation. Thank you David!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sean Vikoren
- 01-29-20
Incredible
The courage and insight of Mr Graeber, for me at least, produced an almost disorienting stream of revelation.
An indispensable work for anyone choosing to look upon the world as it is.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Douglas C. Bates
- 03-24-22
Ideological Rant Devoid of Empirical Effort
I bought this book due to my positive experience with Graeber’s "Debt: The First 5000 Years.” This book, however, is so awful it makes me question the scholarship of his prior work.
The book gets off to a bad start in the introduction which is full of assumptions presented as if they were facts everyone believed in. I figured then that the body of the book would provide supporting evidence. It doesn’t. The book is simply an avowed anarchist’s rant that complex social systems entail bureaucracy and that humans do stupid things with bureaucracy.
When I got to the chapter that concluded that the reason we don’t have things like flying cars and the other stuff dreamed up of by 20th-century science fiction writers is because capitalism and neoliberalism have prevented this by destroying human creativity I decided that Graeber had jumped the shark and that the few hours I’d already invested into listening to his rants were a waste and that things were not going to get any better.
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jay Van Bavel
- 12-24-21
Good book, until the last chapter
This was a little dry, but otherwise fascinating critique of institutional rules. There were lots of interesting insights along the way, and the book peaked in the middle, but it went off the rails in the last chapter analyzing Batman and Bane (and presumably, Christopher Nolan’s politics).
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lance Taylor
- 07-10-22
Great content
Overall very dry, would have loved to see him compose this content in individual books. For example his book ‘Bullshit Jobs’ was well thought/written, had me wanting to read the next chapter.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- wilson pipkin
- 02-27-22
insightful and approachable as always
so much political theory gets lost in so much abstraction and jargon. Graeber is always insightful, approachable and relatable. well worth the read especially for all of us that live and work working bureaucracies.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- William Douglas Harry
- 01-29-22
Fresh. Excellent presentation. Confirms that I’m not the only one who so believes…
listen to this book. do yourself a favor. this hits the nail on the head in our chaotic times. life is absurd, chaotic, random and impossible to control.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Matthew P. Blanchard
- 12-28-21
Excellent, mind-expanding
Not just about bureaucracy!! I particularly enjoyed the final chapter on the Nolan Batman films - what a ridiculous reactionary mess they were - and how Graeber is able to link these to the overall assumptions of the comic book genre and associated political implications. In each chapter Graeber is able to illuminate aspects of culture and the underpinnings of law. This book is above all else just plain fun to read.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- James Richie IV
- 08-20-21
Graeber Understands our Times
The included essays provide insight into our current social conditions through anthropology and philosophy. Graeber synthesizes various sources to decode modern experiences.
The narration is relatively well-performed, with some mild pronunciation errors.