Picked this up at the ICA yesterday — missed it when it first appeared over a decade ago — and read it almost in one gulp (it’s very short). I recognise almost everything Fisher says on managerialism, bureaucracy, and higher education. It’s genuinely learned in a way one dreams of reading, familiar with Kafka and Spinoza but also Big Brother and Public Service Broadcasting, THE PARALLAX VIEW and the Bourne films, NEUROMANCER and the works of Ursula K. Le Guin, speaking down to none and drawing intelligently on all in a way that makes sense and advances a sophisticated argument clearly. The call centre as metaphor for life under capitalism is inspired….and resonates. It’s over ten years old but fresh as paint and feels more urgent than ever.
José Arroyo