DNF @10% due to narrator cadence, voice, and content not being quite what I had anticipated. I think that this is better suited to be read in print and I will be doing that if I decide to pick this book up again in the future.

A very interesting listen.
While this type of ultra elite survivalist activity may have always taken place, advances in technology, the advent of social media, and the general public’s awareness of the ultra rich thanks to media make this a much more fascinating subject; bringing it to the author’s front and center radar.
Privileged as that class may be, the text begs one to consider how will they survive the less privileged attempts at thwarting their success. There are more in the 99% category than there are in the 1% category, simply based on the numbers.
Humans are survivor-mentality driven, by nature, even at our most primal level.
Can loyalty be bought when dollars don’t make sense? What will keep those ultra rich in their own category?
So many questions….

Thanks to NetGalley and Recorded Books for the audiobook ARC!

Survival of the Richest is a fascinating "insider's" look at the things that top tech magnates are doing/proposing/thinking about to escape/survive the impending global crises that they have had so much a part of making. The author has a lot of firsthand knowledge and his analysis is spot-on. His years of experience in this area make him a perfect critic of these 'escape plans'. The author also does a terrific job of narrating his own work, which is not easy to do!

Very well done!

Environmental collapse, nuclear explosion, or an uncontrollable virus are catastrophic events that are concerning. However, some of the world's wealthiest people are planning for them. Survival of the Richest by Douglas Rushkoff is an alarming and insightful book that reveals just how.

It discusses the thoughts and worries of billionaires regarding their survival. It reveals their plans for safe-haven farm communities and underground apartments and concerns about a security force that turns against them.

Also, the book examines events like recent mergers that negatively impacted capitalism and the COVID-19 global pandemic's effect on the digital economy and virtual reality.

Survival of the Richest had many powerful statements that were "food for thought." For example, the more power someone has, the less mirroring they do with others, resulting in less empathy and contributing to socially inappropriate behavior. Also, it was fascinating to learn that no matter the tragedy, someone is making money off it, and it's often billions of dollars.

Survival of the Richest also points out the ironic behavior of the wealthy, such as attending an energy summit that served water in small plastic bottles.

This book will confirm some people's assumptions, but it's likely an eye-opener for many about how the wealthy are planning their survival strategies in the wake of monumental disasters.

At Any Cost

This was a very good book on the rich, internet, and legislation / politics.

It was quite a fascinating and somewhat shocking-at-times read.

It reminded me a lot of the book Internet for the People, and I would recommend reading them together - they compliment each other very well.

Rushkoff is an excellent writer, it was well researched and an accessible & readable book.

Would recommend

4.6/5

When billionaires want to be preppers, who do they call? Well, in the case of this book they call Douglas Rushkoff. They drove him to a remote area in the desert and sat at a round table asking him questions like “where is the safest place going to be when disaster happens?“ “Is Alaska or New Zealand going to be safer?“ as opposed to “what can we do to stop a disaster? “ this certainly got the author thinking about all the questions and more and that is where the book comes from. From million dollar farms that would help everyone to underground bunkers for individual families this book covers it all in modern interesting book it was. I didn’t even know billionaires were preppers and that they are actively looking for ways to save them and their families. This book is surprising and informative and most of all interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed this book if you read this book in your mind isn’t blown then you’re for better informed than I am. My favorite chapter was on the aqua nation but all the chapters were very interesting. I received this book from NetGalleyShelf and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

It's fine. I don't feel like I got anything new from it, but there were some interesting bits. There were points when it felt like the author assumed the audience had the same experience of class/race/sex/etc. as him, which is a little frustrating. Also, at one point he lists some things that people can do for climate change instead of throwing more technology at the problem, such as working from home, walking to work, working less, etc. These ideas are not bad, but they are individualized solutions to systemic problems. Whole systems would need to be overhauled before people could do this en masse. That's not to say that we shouldn't be focusing on providing more public transportation, reducing the work week and so forth, but he doesn't really talk about that. I guess that's the crux of my issue with this book, it's rather light on details or solutions. He takes 10 mminutes at the end to list some general ideas like organizing and travelling less. The book feels more like a thought experiment or academic excercise than anything else. If nothing else, it did get me interested in doing more research about certain topics, though.

Rushkoff delivers a blistering takedown in this book, which springboards off a surreal experience he had one day in the desert with a group of billionaire apocalypse preppers.

He's kind of preaching to the converted with a reader like me. That said, it is entertaining, intellectually stimulating, and horrifying to listen to Rushkoff's incisive analysis, particularly when he talks about rich tech bros wanting to simplify the entire material world into data (and disregard or destroy anything that can't be transformed in this way).

The book is short and crisp, to a point - I think there was a missed opportunity here to really make good on the hilarious/jaw-dropping opening and go into more detail about why the plan to either hide out in underground bunkers or move to a different planet simply wouldn't work. I can think of a lot of reasons myself, but I'm sure Rushkoff would have delivered them with panache, and given readers/listeners a break every once in a while from what is ultimately, more than anything, a deeply sad account of human progress and where we are likely to end up in the future.

P.S. One research misstep from the author - he makes the throwaway comment that "eating local is better for our bodies". I've not once read this claim in any book or article by an expert. Am dubious.

(With thanks to RB Media and NetGalley for this audiobook in exchange for an honest review)