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Giorgio Comai

giocomai@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years, 4 months ago

I am a researcher and data analyst. I occasionally review books about post-Soviet spaces. Regular reader of the London Review of Books.

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Giorgio Comai's books

Currently Reading

George Monbiot: Regenesis (Paperback, 2022, Penguin Books, Limited)

Read

Wendy Liu: Abolish Silicon Valley: How to Liberate Technology from Capitalism (2020, Repeater Books)
Anna Arutunyan: Hybrid Warriors (Hardcover, 2022, C. Hurst and Company (Publishers) Limited)

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finished reading Abolish Silicon Valley: How to Liberate Technology from Capitalism by Wendy Liu

Wendy Liu: Abolish Silicon Valley: How to Liberate Technology from Capitalism (2020, Repeater Books)

Former insider turned critic Wendy Liu busts the myths of the tech industry, and offers …

I've read this at some point in 2020. Yes, it's more memoir than manifesto, and some readers may feel the urge to skip to the last few chapters. But I still feel many would benefit of following her reasoning in trying to make sense of many of the ways in which wealth and success in Silicon Valley are not related to intelligence, talent, or merit.

She has a great introductory video on the book website - abolishsiliconvalley.com/ - and I am a big fan of her essays (e.g. the one for Logic magazine) and even many of her musings in earlier blog posts.

At this time (the public Musk/Twitter meltdown), I miss her writing and thinking even more.

reviewed Hybrid Warriors by Anna Arutunyan

Anna Arutunyan: Hybrid Warriors (Hardcover, 2022, C. Hurst and Company (Publishers) Limited)

How hybrid warriors without a masterplan set the stage for a full scale invasion

What were the proximate dynamics that made possible what took place in the Donbas between 2014 and 2022? And what has even happened? An important part of the answer is convincingly outlined in Anna Arutunyan’s excellent latest book.

I am unpersuaded by her argument that back in 2014 “Moscow could not risk the domestic political debacle that would ensue, had it allowed the separatists it had backed in spirit to be defeated by Ukrainian forces” (p. 172)

Even without accepting this logic in full, however, it is not easy to dismiss a lingering feeling that apparently minor events that took place in the Donbas in the Spring of 2014 contributed to set the stage for a slippery slope that eventually led, in combination with other dynamics, to Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Either way, one does not need to accept all of Arutunyan’s points to benefit from …