Mindf**k: Inside Cambridge Analytica by Chirstopher Wylie
Christopher was one of the two whistle-blowers who had worked for SCL, which was effectively renamed Cambridge Analytica (CA) to give itself more respectability. His conversion from program leader and mastermind in the organisation to whistle-blower was due to the slow realisation of the company's underlying purpose. Funded by members of the extreme right in the US, SCL and CA successfully sequestered people's personal data by purchasing, or otherwise obtaining, their online records (health, banking, debt data) and co-ordinating these with information individuals (we) happily and innocently provide them(our)selves, largely through Facebook, to provide individual 'psychological profiles'. That information was then processed and applied to target us with political advertising -- some blatant but much of it covert -- to either persuade us to vote in a particular way or to dissuade us from believing in the democratic system and not voting at all.
Ultimately the damage that has been done is probably irreversible and there is evidence (admittedly recently questioned) that the outcome of the Brexit referendum was seriously influenced. Even more evidence points to the companies' role in the election of Trump in 2016.
There is no doubt that without the revelations by Wylie and his colleague Brittany Kaiser, their exposure on Channel 4 and the expert journalism by Carole Cadwalldr of the Observer this illegal and morally dubious activity by CA would still be rife. However, it is hard to say that those behind CA have not simply passed on their expertise to other darker and less careless organisations and that it is now impossible to get the genie back into the lamp. The US 2020 election failed to resolve the issue.
A frightening but essential read.❤❤❤❤
Brutal North by Simon Phipps
A photographic record of the best of the post-war municipal architecture of Britain's Northern cities. The author points out how the so-called Northern Powerhouse has made a negligible contribution to the urban landscape in comparison with the adventurous architecture of the 60s and 70s -- something that remains to be fully appreciated. ❤❤❤
Sport and Fitness Centre, University of Liverpool, 1962-66
Real Life, a novel by Brandon Taylor
This highly praised debut novel, which was long-listed for the 2020 Booker prize, seemed promising on account of its realistic account of postgraduate biomedical research and the friendships and competitions that exist in such research labs. The most important aspect is the revelation of racial discrimination in the predominantly white campus, where the main character, Wallace, finds himself accepted superficially but in most aspects remains an outsider. The secondary theme, a detailed description of his sado-masochistic gay relationship with one of his peer students, seems less convincing, particularly the explanation offered in terms of his childhood deprivation and abuse. Where is the complementary explanation of how he escaped this environment to enter a postgraduate university course? ❤❤