Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

‘I don’t like capitalism but is there really a decent alternative?’ is a sentence I’m sure a lot of us have said or heard before. In Another Now, Yanis Varoufakis makes the case there is.

In this political sci-fi fictional-non-fiction, three characters discover they can send messages to their alternative-universe counterparts, who live in a post-capitalist Earth. The concept of this book is an odd one, in that it’s fictional all the way through, but very much an economic proposition.

In straddling both fiction and non-fiction, it fails to really place it’s feet in either, leaving you in a weird limbo. The characters are stilted and two-dimensional, and even a couple throw-away attempts at character background (one’s a lesbian! one struggles mothering her teenage son!) aren’t enough to distract you from the robotic way they only talk about politics and economics. It’s sort of like an extended textbook question. You’re expected to believe it’s a perfectly normal thing for Timmy to need to divide 181p sweets into three piles, rather than wondering why the hell Timmy doesn’t have diabetes. There’s also no real explanation as to why certain things are plausible, and I found this irritating. One of the characters miraculously opens up a wormhole into the future because he can, so there, isn’t good enough for me - I NEED MORE DETAILS.

Having said that, it’s such a fascinating approach. I’ve never seen a non-fiction book like this before, and the creativity makes up for the odd dialogue. I’m no lover of capitalism, so I went into this book willing to be convinced by its ideas, and I was. There was a moment when things started to get a little too smooth-sailing and kumbaya-round-the-campfire (Amazon brought down by a one-day mass boycott? If only!), at which point Varoufakis also offers up potential problems with this idealistic new world. This won me over more, the added layer of problem-solving making the model all the more thought out, combatting earlier moments that felt like raw idealism.

A lot of the ideas in Another Now do offer steps in the right direction for a capitalist-free future. I think setting the timeline quite so far in the future means there’s no proper look at the short-term ways these ideals could be achieved, but overall a clever and fascinating work from an expert in his field.

If you’re not an economics expert like me, it’s an easy book to follow along with while still making a strong and well-thought-out case for itself. I’d be intrigued to see what pro-capitalists think!

I saw Varoufakis speaking at book festivals and found him so interesting that I was keen to read more - this is, as expected, a fascinating take on some of today's biggest questions. Makes you think.

Thought provoking book about the economy and our society. This was the first book I read by Varoufakis and I look forward to go read his other books as a result of it.