Life Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back

By Douglas Rushkoff

Book Overview

A captivating book that reveals how corporations have come to dominate all aspects of life, including our inner lives, and what to do about it. Something has gone terribly wrong. Unquestionably, but... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400066891
• ISBN13: 9781400066896
• Release Date: June 2009
• Publisher: Random House (NY)
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

This book will educate you on how corporations took over the world.

THIS BOOK WILL PROVIDE THE CAREFUL READER WITH A COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING ON THE HISTORY OF CORPORATIONS. GOOD BOOK.

Life Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take It Back

This book explains the origins of money, historical economic systems and how our current American economic condition came into being. The writing style is engaging and easy to understand. I highly recommend this book to anyone curious to know exactly what their money supports and interested in being a catalyst for change in their local economy. A definite eye opener.

"Money: can't live with it, can't live without it." - Or can we?

If you've ever hear that cliche and wondered about its deeper connotations, this book is definitely for you. Rushkoff's dissertation is "big picture" and provides a coherent, although at times intermittent, historical perspective of the 21st century and what got us here financially, physically, and mentally. There is a fair bit of social science in this book - does our societal structure make us behave in ways that humans normally wouldn't? Have markets coerced people to compete between themselves to the point of compromised well-being? Rushkoff thinks so, and his book provides ample anecdotal evidence to make for an engaging read. Undoubtedly there will be reviews here that point to Rushkoff's extensive use of anecdotal evidence over impressive charts, tables, and stats. I'm thankful he did so, writing in a style of conversational dialogue rather than that of a migraine inducing thesis. As per Joe Bageant: "Most of us live anecdotal lives in an anecdotal world. We survive by our wits and observations, some casual, others vital to our sustenance. That plus daily experience, be it good bad or ugly as the [...] end of a razorback hog. And what we see happening to us and others around us is what we know as life, the on-the-ground stuff we must deal with or be dealt out of the game. There's no time for rigorous scientific analysis. Nor need." Read this book, or you may be missing something from your currently held conceptual beliefs.

Really?

My whole perspective and understanding of the Renaissance is changed forever. I wish more teachers would tell this side of the story. Great book, great stories! Cheers to history. Huzzah..

Best of Rushkoff

Full disclosure: I performed research for Rushkoff on this book. And I'm proud to have done so. LIFE INC. isn't another Shock Doctrine or some Millenial Marxist Manifesto. It's a history of how we came to mistake human-implemented value systems as natural laws, how these value systems have disconnected us from each other and from our work, and how we might reprogram this systems and reconnect with each other. It was a tough book for Rushkoff to write, incorporating myriad disciplines and historic perspectives into a narrative of our corporate lives. Whether you think you agree with him or not, Rushkoff will certainly get you thinking about how we got where we are and where we can go next.