This book was a bit of a self-indulgent one. I knew I'd generally agree with the author on his takedown of algorithms - the internet is a total wasteland at the moment. And I did feel comforted by knowing I'm not alone. I can't stomach the current iterations of social media. 

It's a vaguely chronological explanation of where we started and how the internet has developed into what it is now. Plus some recommendations for untangling our brains from algorithmic brainrot (I hate that word but it is so appropriate).

However, a decent chunk of this book is just the author's personal experiences rather than evidence. There were so many moments where I needed this guy to get a grip. His worries about Spotify were strange. Just don't use it? I genuinely didn't understand why he struggled this much with alternatives to algorithm-based websites/software. He writes as if Airbnb is the only way to find places to stay while abroad.

And because of this focus, his perspectives were hard to relate to. The author lives an elite lifestyle and doesn't realise it. So his ideas for how to remove yourself from algorithms are unrealistic for most people. He spends a long time emphasising the value of curators, telling us all about his friendship with one of the MOMA curators. Like, ok dude. And the chapter about why we should all go back to listening to DJs really lost me. He got weirdly up in arms about the resurgence of City Pop through YouTube. I didn't understand why. The book is centred around his viewpoint as this affluent and terminally-online millennial writer who can travel around the world, staying in Airbnbs and working from hipster coffee shops. 

The best bits were in the first half. Factual explanations of how tech companies developed their algorithm-based feeds. So I did enjoy those parts - the writing is very passionate. That's what I came for, but the rest was too anecdotal to be useful.