“Doppelganger” by Naomi Klein: Let’s read and discuss!

Over the years we have considered Naomi Klein’s books a few times for the non-fiction rounds of this book club, but she never ended up in the top spot. Until now: We’re reading her newest book “Doppelganger – a trip into the mirror world”.

Slightly longer synopsis than usual, because this book seems hard to summarize:

> What if you woke up one morning and found you’d acquired another self―a double who was almost you and yet not you at all? What if that double shared many of your preoccupations but, in a twisted, upside-down way, furthered the very causes you’d devoted your life to fighting against?

> Not long ago, the celebrated activist and public intellectual Naomi Klein had just such an experience―she was confronted with a doppelganger whose views she found abhorrent but whose name and public persona were sufficiently similar to her own that many people got confused about who was who. Destabilized, she lost her bearings, until she began to understand the experience as one manifestation of a strangeness many of us have come to know but struggle to define: AI-generated text is blurring the line between genuine and spurious communication; New Age wellness entrepreneurs turned anti-vaxxers are scrambling familiar political allegiances of left and right; and liberal democracies are teetering on the edge of absurdist authoritarianism, even as the oceans rise. Under such conditions, reality itself seems to have become unmoored. Is there a cure for our moment of collective vertigo?

> Naomi Klein is one of our most trenchant and influential social critics, an essential analyst of what branding, austerity, and climate profiteering have done to our societies and souls. Here she turns her gaze inward to our psychic landscapes, and outward to the possibilities for building hope amid intersecting economic, medical, and political crises. With the assistance of Sigmund Freud, Jordan Peele, Alfred Hitchcock, and bell hooks, among other accomplices, Klein uses wry humor and a keen sense of the ridiculous to face the strange doubles that haunt us―and that have come to feel as intimate and proximate as a warped reflection in the mirror.

> Combining comic memoir with chilling reportage and cobweb-clearing analysis, Klein seeks to smash that mirror and chart a path beyond despair. What do we neglect as we polish and perfect our digital reflections? Is it possible to dispose of our doubles and overcome the pathologies of a culture of multiplication? Can we create a politics of collective care and undertake a true reckoning with historical crimes? The result is a revelatory treatment of the way many of us think and feel now―and an intellectual adventure story for our times.

Sounds like the perfect book to connect and reflect on the many important topics of this year, among them the upcoming elections in many parts of the world, misinformation and polarization, the hype around generative AI, conspiracy theories of the far-right and protecting democracy while the climate crisis is unfolding around us. To participate you definitely don’t need to be an expert on any of these topics though – everyone is welcome to join!

Here’s a review in the Guardian, more information can be found on the book’s GoodReads page.

Curious? Then order a copy at your local book shop or online:

• The book on Bookshop.org
• The book on Amazon

A German translation and ebook versions are also available. The cheaper paperback seems due for release on June 6th.

We usually discuss in English and/or German, depending on which languages are present, but most likely the conversation will be in English. You definitely don’t need a literature degree to participate! It’s important to us to listen to each other, to treat everyone with respect and to create a safe setting.

The discussion takes place virtually in Zoom and the meeting link will be added to this event on the day it happens. Just check back here half an hour before the meetup starts!

We usually discuss for 1.5-2 hours. It doesn’t matter if you have actually finished the book – everyone is welcome, as long as you have read at least a few pages and bring your impression.