A review by shelby1994
The Playbook: How to Deny Science, Sell Lies, and Make a Killing in the Corporate World by Jennifer Jacquet

funny informative medium-paced

2.0

 

Thank you to @Pantheon for sending this to me!

Our local bookstores have started selling zines again, mostly focused on activism and general anti-megacorporation issues. They’re fun, eye-catching, and carry that feeling of roughshod authenticity that only zines and indie pamphlets can. 

The Playbook should have been a zine. It has that biting, sarcastic energy. The central conceit - that it’s a “how-to get away with science denial” manual handed out to new corporate leaders, is new - to a point. You can tell that this was probably incredibly fun to write, but I don’t think that the tone matched the volume of work. 

There’s 100% a place for combining long-form work and playful activism (look at Patrick Radden-Keefe, Rachel Carson, Ibram X. Kendi, etc), but I think I would have come away more motivated and outraged if this was more concise. 

Read If:

1. You idolized Rachel Carson growing up
2. You work for a PR firm
3. You have a knee-jerk reaction to people criticizing scientists (remember, scientists can be shitty too <3)