Tadas Antanavicius's Reviews > Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World

I really don't like this book.

But 5 stars it is.

It made me think. It made me question things I hadn't questioned before. It made me feel complicit, where I've only before felt admiration and pride.

Is win-win culture a farce? If we sit down to think about massive "successes," might they have created more problems than they solved? Are the heroes behind them actually worthy of society's worship?

While it may not be impossible to "do well by doing good," this book sure makes me think that those who manage to achieve that are a rare exception to the rule - certainly not the norm our culture seems to think it is.

At the end of the day, I still can't forgive Giridharadas for not offering a solution to what seems like a broken system. He wrote about how it's unfair to expect critics to come up with solutions - but I'm not convinced. This book is a fierce criticism of Capitalism, but he doesn't preach Socialism or Communism as the answer. He made me think, but I haven't figured out how that thinking is supposed to change my behavior. So while I respect his gumption and desire to spread this train of thought, I'm still inclined to admire and stand behind those who are fighting for or building towards something they believe in.

That said, I do so now with a much more critical eye than before.

And maybe that's exactly it. Maybe the only reason this book had such an impact on me is *because* he didn't pitch a broken solution. Because a working solution doesn't yet exist. Will it ever?