Revolution

Title: Revolution
Author: Russell Brand
Year: 2014

My Rating:  4/5 Stars

Synopsis: Interesting, informative and enjoyable read with a very distinctive Brand tone of voice.

I have become a pretty avid viewer of Russell’s Trews show this year so when I heard about the book I was keen to give it a read.  As my synopsis would suggest all in all I found this to be an enjoyable and entertaining read after which I definitely felt more informed on the current ways of the world and how our money orientated system is having a negative impact on society – although at this point I should probably call out that this is a subject I am pretty new to.

There were some stand out facts that have stuck with me, such as the 85 richest people in the world have the same wealth as 3.5 billion of the population, (that’s half of the world), and that this ‘fun bus’ (as Russell calls it) of the super rich are getting richer by the day, partly due to the huge power they wield over governments to pass legislation in the interest of their big corporations.  In essence no major surprise there but that ratio of 85:3,500,000,000 is pretty staggering!!

Another really interesting fact is that every president of the United States of America belonged to the party that had the most funding during the campaign trail.  So basically he with the most money, and therefore most heavily backed by those on the fun bus, becomes president for which he uses his new found power to return the favour to his big business friends.

I must say at this point, I have seen a number of Revolution reviews that throw some of Russell’s facts into question and whilst I’m not yet knowledgeable enough to know whether there is truth in this or not, through a combination of the Trews and this book, Russell has opened my eyes to some of the sobering realities of our capitalist society and absolutely inspired me to know, learn and read more to understand the truth and how we can improve things for the future.

How, is another area where Russell seems to have come under a bit of fire for not having laid out enough tangible, actionable solutions to the problems he has identified.  I feel the need to defend Russell here as whilst he is clearly an intelligent guy (I had to consult a dictionary on more instances than I care to admit whilst reading this book), I think it’s a bit much to expect one man to devise a new global economic system single handedly.  Plus as Russell recognises on several occasions power and decision making shouldn’t be placed in the hands of individuals or a chosen few it should be the work of the collective so I think the how is one for us all to figure out.

In summary, I would definitely recommend this book, with perhaps just a few exceptions... Firstly, I would suggest any Russell Brand haters steer clear as I think you’ll struggle to get passed his flowery language, long winded rants and at times very random analogies - for me its one of the joys of the book but I can see this not being to everyone's taste.

Secondly I can imagine the sterner aficionados of the world of politics might not appreciate Brands comedic style and finally any relations of George Saxe-Coburg-Gotha might want to avoid chapter 10 – Ich Bin Ein Monarch.

Other than that get yourself a copy and give it a go as you might just learn something!