[FULL AUDIOBOOK] Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? by Mark Fisher

whilst recreating an average American city in Cities: Skylines.

Book Description:
After 1989, capitalism has presented itself as the only realistic political-economic system. What effects has this "capitalist realism" had on work, culture, education, and mental health? Is it possible to imagine an alternative to capitalism that is not some throwback to discredited models of state control?

Let's not beat around the bush: Fisher's compulsively readable book is simply the best diagnosis of our predicament that we have! Through examples from daily life and popular culture, but without sacrificing theoretical stringency, he provides a ruthless portrait of our ideological misery... Capitalist realism is a sobering call for patient theoretical and political work. -Slavoj Zizek

Mark Fisher is a master cultural diagnostician, and in Capitalist Realism he surveys the symptoms of our current cultural malaise... This book offers a brilliant analysis of the pervasive cynicism in which we seem to be mired, and even holds out the prospect of an antidote. -Steven Shaviro

Read the full text of Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? (2009) here:

Ambiance source:

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Timestamps:
00:00 - The Beginning/About the Author

00:58 - 1: It's easier to imagine the end of the world than the
end of capitalism

26:00 - 2: What if you held a protest and everyone came?

34:40 - 3: Capitalism and the Real

45:51 - 4: Reflexive impotence, immobilization and
liberal communism

1:06:42 - 5: October 6, 1979: 'Don't let yourself get attached
to anything'

1:21:34 - 6: All that is solid melts into PR: market Stalinism and
bureaucratic anti-production

1:53:50 - 7: ' .. .if you can watch the overlap of one reality with
another': capitalist realism as dreamwork and
memory disorder

2:10:27 - 8: 'There's no central exchange'

2:27:02 - 9: Marxist Supernanny
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By Allah, it's finally here! This one took me a long, long, long time, but this book deserves the effort. May truth set you free.

One should keep in mind that while Fisher uses examples from British society extensively as he himself is British, they apply just as much if not more to American society, as American society is practically a parody of those of other industrial nations.

The goal of the Cities: Skylines playthrough was to create a typical American city: absolutely zero public transport, car culture, horrible congestion, grid cities, pollution, sterile, cultureless vistas of endlessly repeating corporate franchises, etc. In the end I ended up using green energy out of habit, and provided education, housing, jobs etc. to all my citizens and had a happy populace, so I'd say I failed miserably in my goal.

Until next time.

"the slaves that do not see their chains think they are free, and the house slaves kept separate from the field slaves can be convinced they are not slaves; there is no free man in babylon, but they have made the plantations seem inviting, and mankind has forgotten that true free will is God's gift"

#audiobook #markfisher #capitalistrealism

[syd]

If you'd asked me to guess what game someone would record gameplay of as a background to a narration of Capitalist Realism, I would absolutely say "Cities: Skylines."

10/10, thank you for making this!

[redpad]

The audible one is Russell brand so thank god you made this :)

[croozerdog]

dude this is crazy soothing, as someone who struggles to read more than a page a day this helps a lot haha

[duatia]

Thanks a bunch for reading this, as well as having such a soothing voice! A lot of audiobooks for leftist stuff has awful tts and this is so much better.

[AlchemicalForge]

He quote about Cobain is soul crushing, like a prison of terror in the mind

[gregothy]

I feel like I'm going to need to listen to this a couple more times to understand it, but thanks for making it a good time

[TheJonnyEnglish]

Came here after returning the official release because I couldn’t take Russel Brand’s narration seriously. Thanks man!

[jimjohnson]

Poor mr fisher, i can see why he ended it all. One cannot escape this “capitalism”

[youtubeisevil]

52:45 Thank you Mark Fisher for calling me out

[melanth]

This is really great, and highly appreciated! Love the sound of rain in the background too. Thankyou for taking the time to record this

[brucecorda]

We need more of this comrade. I love this so much

[youtubeisevil]

Awesome, incredibly relaxing way to spend the time and listen to the rain

[slavajuri]

Tysm for making this available to a wider audience in good quality! You have a very nice reading voice, I'm enjoying this very much.

[noteventherain]

I appreciate this so much 🖤 thanks for taking the time to read this.

I have a piece of feedback about accessibility / intelligibility: The background noise (fire cracking? Storm sounds?) is quite distracting and makes it hard for me to focus and process your words correctly

This video is old so maybe you've already made these changes in other videos. Regardless, thanks again :)

[GhostieNotes]

Currently at my desk job and listening to chapter 4... yeah, I'm feeling a bit called out right now.

[buff]

Wow, I'm happy I found this channel!! What a great way to read!

[willdog]

Holy shit your format is awesome i know your view count is low but making audio books with a gameplay visual and asmr background noise is almost revolutionary and I would be my last dime itd pay off in the long run.

[MindMermaid]

Thank you so much for uploading this, fantastic content <3

[advisorywarning]

Thanks for doing this! I also like that the background isn’t static. I found myself really watching you playing the game while I was listening and it’s extremely relaxing 💕

[johnharvey]

Thanks for this! My library doesn't stock it.