
From the Big Short to Normal People: Books That Defined the Decade - diodorus
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/dec/26/from-the-big-short-to-normal-people-the-books-that-defined-the-decade
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throwno
No Piketty? Come on now. You don't have to agree with it, but it was a big
part of the "conversation" about inequality in the 2010s.

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internet_user
Strange, especially for The Guardian.

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oxymoran
And here I thought the normal people reference was to “The War on Normal
People” by Andrew Yang which,10 years from now will look like a glaring
omission.

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IfOnlyYouKnew
I do have quite a lot of sympathy for Andrew Yang, and I don't doubt the book
is a well-crafted long essay of his central thesis of economic disruption.

But if it looks like a glaring omission ten years from now, it almost by
definition is the defining book of _that_ decade, not the last one.

It would not even surprise me if Yang, if asked, would name some work that
came before his book to be more deserving of distinction. Because while he is
a very effective promoter of UBI and why it's needed, it isn't exactly _his_
idea.

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mellosouls
It's The Guardian, so more of a list that defines their rather politically
loaded view of the decade.

Obviously that sort of bias is not unique to The Guardian, but I'd prefer a
list that genuinely sheds light on the times we are in.

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IfOnlyYouKnew
Isn't this the institutional version of an _ad hominem_?

Every article from the Guardian, the NYT, or really any other large publisher
gets this comment, and it's often voted to the top.

It adds nothing. Everyone knows half of the population doesn't trust any
newspaper to get the date on the front page right.

So the Guardian thinks #metoo and the financial crisis were among the topics
of salience on the last year? I would actually bet both Bernie Sanders and
Rupert Murdoch would agree the financial crisis mattered. And even Harvey
Weinstein would agree #metoo had some sort of impact.

Because we might no longer have a shared truth, but there's still quite a lot
of agreement on _what_ to disagree about,

There is no "bias-free" book that shaped the decade. Unless you go by print
run, and it's the leaflet that comes with every new iPhone. Or go by sales
figures, in which case it's 50 Shades of Gray. Which is obviously wrong, but
kind of fitting. After all, this seems to be the decade were anything but
black and white disappeared.

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mellosouls
Your first three paragraphs are rendered extremely questionable by the bizarre
comments in the replies claiming The Guardian isn't biased.

That's why reminders of its very skewed perspective are needed.

The effects of the financial crisis (austerity) or the complete lack of
accountability in the UK don't seem to be represented in the list as I pointed
out - despite being of profound importance, instead The Big Short (excellent,
but describing the venality of the previous decade) is.

Apart from that, I acknowledged the difficulty in finding a bias free source,
but I don't think there are as many places in the supposedly "serious" press
that the tone leaps out so regularly.

