An eye opening, shocking investigation that I was completely naïve to. Revealing the human rights abuses behind the Congo’s cobalt mining operation—and the moral implications that affect us all.

Even if you think this is so far removed from you and your everyday life, you are very wrong. If you're looking for a startling and unflinching read for non-fiction November, this one is for you. Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever exposé of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by cobalt mining, as told through the testimonies of the Congolese people themselves.

"Cobalt is an essential component to every lithium-ion rechargeable battery made today, the batteries that power our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles. Roughly 75 percent of the world’s supply of cobalt is mined in the Congo, often by peasants and children in sub-human conditions. "

An imperative read for anyone who uses a computer, phone, or tablet. My heart hurt learning more about the cobalt system but I am incredibly grateful to understand more that of which we enable. This audio narration was incredibly accessible and beyond enlightening.

5 stars and will be recommending this to all.

Cobalt Red is a book on a subject that I was vaguely aware of, but definitely should know more about. This is one of those books that is horrifically depressing due to the subject matter and at the same time extremely well researched and written. I wish that this could be made required reading when purchasing a smart device. The DRC has been brutalized by colonialism and civil war, so to see it further exploited by Cobalt and Coltan mining is just heartbreaking.

I did listen to this book on audiobook and I felt that the audio was very well done. Sometimes non-fiction can be a bit dry, but this was narrated well, super compelling, and kept me interested in learning more.

This nonfiction book will make you stop and think about the impact our lives have on others around the world. The book explores the impact of cobalt mining on the people of Democratic Republic of the Congo. Cobalt is used in the rechargeable devices we all use.

The author, Siddharth Kara researches modern day slavery. This is his latest book exploring the subject. He goes to the Democratic Republic of the Congo over many years to interview people involved in the supply chain of cobalt. He talks to those at the bottom that are exploited for the labor to extract the ore to those at the top who get the cobalt to the global market.

Kara expertly includes the history of colonization in the area and how that history has been repeated over centuries. The personal stories the author includes humanizes this subject that many will try to explain away as a supply issue rather than a humanitarian issue.

I hybrid read this book. The audiobook is read by Peter Ganim. He takes care in pronouncing the names of places and people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

I was sent a copy of this book by the publisher, St. Martin’s Press via Netgalley.

As I listened to this audiobook, the irony that I was using a smartphone powered by a lithium-ion battery was not lost on me. Like the author's comparison to the 19th century English and sugar, as we are shocked and horrified by the exploitative labor in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we continue to use our phones, drive our electric vehicles, and rely on cobalt as our way to a cleaner future. Siddharth Kara has crafted an accessible, engaging look at what is happening right now in the DRC, and how it has been shaped by the exploitation of generations of Congolese people from the days of King Leopold. It's an incredibly powerful read.

The narrator does an excellent job of negotiating a variety of accents and voices, and the pacing keeps listeners engaged with a weighty and difficult topic.

Wow. I had a hard time stomaching the fact that the way I was listening to the book comes from a disturbing exploitation of people living in the Congo, especially the children. Manufacturers use cobalt to extend battery life in items like phones, laptops, and electric cars. The largest accessible cobalt deposit known is in the Congo. In this book, those facts meet the reality of a history of exploitation and violence put upon the Congolese people through colonialism, and I shouldn’t have been surprised at the results.

Repeatedly the Congolese people ask the author why he’s doing this research, and his reply is always that he hopes showing the reality of the cobalt mines to the more developed world will change the horrifying conditions they face. He’s then met with skepticism that anyone would care about their fate. History isn’t favorable regarding colonialism in the Congo. I’m glad the author delves into that history as well as the current conditions. He also wrestles with being a foreigner himself and his role there.

I think everyone should read this book. It’s impossible to individually reject everything connected to these cobalt mines, but we have to put pressure on the companies using this system of exploitation.

Wow, what an enlightening book. While I did know of the Congo's richest, I was not completely aware of its continued exploitation by multinational conglomerates, particularly tech companies. It really makes you think about the injustice present in the world.

“Please tell the people in your country, a child of the Congo dies every day so that they can plug in their phones.”

This is eye opening and convicting. All major corporations and creators of rechargeable batteries have a statement that they are vetting the supply chains of their minerals and actively working to remove the artisanal miners from those chains. This book shows that that is not only untrue but impossible with current conditions in the Congo.

Anything you own with a rechargeable battery (phones, computers, smart watches, cameras, etc.) has been touched in some way by the dangerous artisanal mining industry. This book tells the story of the Congo through interviews with current workers, those disabled by mining accidents, those who have lost multiple family members, young children who barely understood what they were doing other than helping their families, and authorities who work at more regimented sites that have attempted to put safety measures into place. Some touring required Kara to sneak past thinly guarded fences to observe what was happening, and other tours were tightly orchestrated and monitored by authorities to make sure Kara got an “accurate understanding” of the process. Of all the people interviewed, the average worker made $1-2 each day. The narrative nonfiction has even greater impact as people share first hand what their experiences are like. There are undeniable facts, but there are also heartbreaking anecdotes. This book was well researched, well developed, and packs a punch.


I will say one of the only issues I have was when the author blended his opinions into certain areas. At one point, he mentions that many of the citizens of the DRC are religious and get through the day with comfort from their faith in God. The author strays to passing judgement and claims that that love for God is evidently unrequited. For a book so based in fact, I thought this slip of bias was very strange.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader’s copy of the audiobook! The narrator was a great choice and changed voices and dialects flawlessly.

Cobalt Red by Siddharth Kara is a very interesting and enlightening look into the mistreatment of the African population that mines cobalt. The orator of this book at times was not as intriguing, but I chock that up to the material that he was having to read.

It is an extremely engaging book and it literally makes me think twice about a lot of the items I personally own. I don't look at myself phone, microwave, car or the like the same anymore. To think about the children dying and the sub par standards that are given to these incredible individuals that are putting their lives on the line for us each day.

At times I actually had to pause the audiobook as I was so moved by what I was hearing I was actually in tears. My heart goes out to these people and I implore you to read the book and ask for action to be taken.

To the author I firmly say my hat is off to you for putting your own life on the line to bring such an important story to me and especially those that I will share it with.

For this new mobile world in which we live to function, the battery makers need cobalt, and the Democratic Republic of Congo has the world’s largest reserves. This metal is the essential component of rechargeable batteries and the one needed for low carbon innovations. The Congo is the leading source of mined cobalt, supplying seventy percent of world production with much of it heading to china for its rechargeable battery industry.

Siddhartha Kara says that the frenzy taking place in the DRC is “the most violent scramble for loot that ever disfigured the human conscience.” “The pernicious scramble” uses a large contingent of artisanal diggers, workers who use small tools or their bare hands to extract the metal. Many of them are young, and they all work in dangerous conditions at risk of severe injury or death. Kara was present when sixty-three men and boys were buried alive in a tunnel collapse while wild and wide-eyed soldiers blocked access. What happened, Kara says, must not be seen and there can be no record or evidence.

Despite these risks, and the enormous wealth cobalt brings, almost 60 million Congolese live on about two dollars a day. Kara and others believe that companies who benefit should share the wealth with the people who dig cobalt out of the ground for them. There are programs underway, but the road will be long.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing this Audiobook.

Content warning: death, sexual assault

How often do you use a rechargeable device? I would guess multiple times a day. We live in a world where we depend on our phones and tablets a lot. Do you ever think about the people that provide the materials to make your rechargeable devices? It is not something that crosses many minds. Factories are what most people think about when it comes to the manufacturing of our devices. Are the factories using ethical practices, paying good wages, safe facilities, etc. In his work very well researched book Mr. Kara reveals what it is really like on the cobalt mines of the DRC.

Over the course of years Mr. Kara visits different cobalt mines in the DRC. He has to be somewhat secretive for the safety of everyone involved. He gets to know the miners, their families, and communities. He witnesses the atrocities that occur in these mines. Child labor, poor wages, unsanitary conditions, death, injuries, SA, and abuse are very common. Young women are frequently raped by male miners and mine owners. If any woman gets pregnant they work in awful conditions while caring for their children. When families have no money for school fees the children go work in the mines. The mine owners take absolutely no responsibility for deaths and injuries that occur. The families are left to deal with the aftermath on their own.

At the beginning of the book Mr. Kara lists companies that ethically source cobalt for their products. I personally plan to avoid purchasing from companies that do not use ethical sources. Hopefully others will do the same and mine owners will have to change their business practices.

I would have given this book 5/5 stars, but I found the narrator less than amazing.

Thank you NetGalley and MacMillian Audio for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This meticulously-researched account of life in the Congo's cobalt mines will change the way you look at your rechargeable devices. The author traveled across the Democratic Republic of the Congo to document the ways that foreign mining companies exploit artisanal miners. Child labor and dangerous working conditions are commonplace. Mining caves routinely collapse, causing numerous casualties, but these tragic events are rarely disclosed on the news. The Congolese government repeatedly looks the other way and self-interested political figures profit off of the exploitation.

The author risked his life to research this book, and he gathered many heart-wrenching firsthand accounts of the toll that the cobalt industry takes on the Congolese people. This is an important book and I hope it inspires change in artisinal miners' working conditions.

"We Work in Our Graves"
Cobalt miners in Congo

‎1. Everyone [and I mean E V E R Y O N E] should be reading this book. With a highlighter and a notebook. And when they are done, they need to push it on every single person they know.

2. Once you have read this book, you will NEVER EVER look at your cell phone, tablet, ANYTHING that is rechargeable ever again. I am going to strive to keep my rechargeables as long as I possibly can. Because of our now dependence on electronics, there is little else we can do [this, and limit the amount of rechargeables one has in the home. I will be using mine until I cannot turn them on anymore and will only be purchasing new when that happens].

3. The idea that my phone has caused the death of a child in Congo is not only abhorrent, but devastating to me. Child labor is abhorrent in general, but the fact that much of the mining for cobalt is done by CHILDREN [as young as SIX YEARS OLD] and the companies that buy said cobalt have it in writing that there are no children at "THEIR" mines [because they clearly have never, ever set foot in Congo and in reality, don't want to know, as long as the money keeps coming in for them. Their lives and minds would change if they actually had to go there and SEE the littles mining this dangerous cobalt], and they don't engage in dangerous practices [again, SO not the truth]. We, as consumers of rechargeables, need to do better and hold these companies to account.

4. The last 3-4 chapters of this book will wreck you. If it does not, I would question whether you a) have a heart, and b) whether or not you might be a sociopath/psychopath. Reading about mine collapses and children dying got to be almost too much at times, and yet, I could not stop listening. And crying. And crying. And crying.

5. The author is very, very, brave. The people and children of Congo are very, very, brave [they do what they have to do to have lives, even though it is full of pain and poverty and more often than not, death]. The guides that took the author around and got people to talk to him are very, very, brave.
WHY are they brave? Because the author and the guides at any time could have been captured, jailed or just plain shot. The people that chose to speak to the author could have been shot. All for telling the truth. This is storytelling at its most dangerous and yet, the author never falters [even after witnessing a mine collapse in person <--I would have not dealt with that well at all, but for him, it just reinforced the need for this book to come out and for the truth about all that is going on in Congo to be published]. I admire them simply because they did what they needed to do to get the truth to the masses, no matter what [and some of that is covered in the acknowledgements and notes at the end. I may have cried all over again reading those]. Give this man all the awards.

Go and get this book. Be prepared for what you are reading. It will absolutely forever change you, and I can tell you, that is 100% not a bad thing.

I was extremely blessed to get an audiobook ARC for this read and I am so glad I did. The narration for this book was fantastic. I will be adding this narrator to my "must listen" list. He tells the story of Congo and cobalt and all that has happened to the author in a straightforward, easy to listen to way and I am so grateful to have received this audiobook; it made an already very difficult read a teeny bit easier.

I was asked to read/review this book by St. Martin's Press and I thank them, NetGalley, Siddharth Kara, Peter Ganim - Narrator and Macmillian Audio for providing both the ARC and the audiobook ARC in exchange for an honest review. I also must thank all in Congo that were involved in the making of this book; may it bring your truth to the world and may we all be strong enough to make the change that needs to be made - your stories have forever changed me and I will never, ever, forget you.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and Macmillan audio for the ARC and ALC.

"'Now you understand how people like us work?'
'I believe so.'
'Tell me.'
'You work in horrible conditions and—'
'No! We work in our graves.'"

Cobalt Red is a thoroughly-researched, incredible exposé of cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Siddharth Kara is a master journalist and storyteller, taking us into the DRC as he details his personal travels and conversations with miners and their families. These stories are heartbreaking, friends. Why should you care? You use cobalt every day: it's how you charge your phone, your laptop, and maybe even your car. 75% of the world's cobalt comes from the Congo, and while companies are saying it's ethically sourced, Kara reveals what's really happening. Cobalt Red is a must-read - or listen - as it's fantastically narrated by Peter Ganim on audio.

Read if you:
- loved the movie Blood Diamond
- have an electric vehicle, phone, or laptop
- pay attention to the supply chain of your products
- care about human rights

Incredibly important book for all of us who use technology with reusable batteries, and for all of us who are counting on electric vehicles and the electrification of everything to mitigate the effects of climate change. The exploitation of the people of Congo is laid bare in Cobalt Red. The author provides clear, extensive, and relevant historical context and allows the people most affected by the horrors of cobalt mining to tell their own stories in interviews within the wider narrative of his research into the current state of the cobalt industry. The book is an indictment of all of us, but lays the lion's share of the blame on the tech complanies that play silly games with public statements about their commitment to ensuring that their supply chains are free from child labor, all the while knowing, clearly and indisputably, that no cobalt coming out of the Congo can make that claim and that all cobalt is tainted with the literal blood of the people living there.
The book is brutal and emotionally hard to read, but critical for the Western world to understand so that we can hold tech giants to account and demand better conditions for the people so critical to providing cobalt to the rest of the world.

This should be on the front page of every news outlet across the globe. I’m outraged, heartbroken, and guilty. You never realize how disconnected from what’s going on in the world. Then something rattles your cage like this book. This book is everything you need to know about modern slavery in the Congo. Great story and narration. Highly recommended

Listened to the audio version, but would recommend to read this title where possible. The book itself is excellent: informative, incisive, and tells the stories of the people working the various mines without being repetitive or weepy.

The audio version is doing this book a slight disservice in that the narrator often has a sort of song-song quality, which in a non-fiction work feels out of place. He often also infuses his voice with a lot of pathos when reading particularly harrowing accounts, which sends the narrative into the sentimental - which the writing itself is not. I did get used to this approach eventually but did not like it, though the narration overall was engaging.

This book shares a bleak story of cobalt mining in the Congo.

As you can imagine with a non-fiction story like this it’s extremely unpleasant to read and will make you think about the cost of your smartphone versus the actual cost, which turns out to be paid in child labor, exploitation, and death.

The interviews and first hand accounts of life in the cobalt mines are vivid and impactful.

Extremely well written and researched, Cobalt Red will have you thinking twice before getting a new phone.

ARC provided NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.