Adrift: America in 100 Charts

Highly recommend this latest Galloway book. Eye opening stats about the US presented in an easily digestible format.

Scott has a convicting view of "America Inc." I preordered anticipating gaining a more vivid awareness of the business world I am navigating in. What I liked about the book is the macro-level view of the then and now. Most charts show a value from 60 years ago and compare it to 2020. Its a night an day difference that our values and priorities are very different than what they were then. The reason for the three stars is, though the book is interesting, it seems half-baked. There's no clear thesis and the conclusion of the book is dramatically over-optimistic. The context for most charts are inspired by an executive decision or corporate behaviors. In these instances, there wasn't much exploration or mention of what the foreign policy or foreign pressures were at the time. I got a sense from the book historical decisions were made simply because its better or more fair. In the real word, it is more likely decisions are made to out-perform the competition (foreign markets and technologies). A 2nd edition, with more time to incubate and draft, could tighten up the correlation between the charts and the title to show that our motivations over the last 60 years became untethered from what grounded us. Having been set adrift, we find ourselves rolling it the waves of any and all influences. This chaotic ebbing is eroding the homeland. Meanwhile our deaf-pride is causing a polar melt, a rising tide line that carries the eddies further over our heads. Scott is on to a significant concept, it just needs refined. Maybe this book will inspire a PhD hopeful to further the research.

My copy arrived today, loving it so far. If you're a fan of Scott Galloway's, this should be an automatic buy. More than just a book, it's a great object. It's beautiful in hardcover, with brilliant illustrations and insightful charts. If you don't know Galloway's work, this is the best intro to his heartfelt and powerful message about matters of policy and economy (The Four and Post Corona focus more on business). Agree or disagree with Galloway, he makes a powerful case for his views, and gives you plenty of idea and ammunition to develop your own.

I couldn't put Scott's new book down. I'm a fan of his work and, to be fair, I've heard him make some of the same points before. Still, we are at an inflection point. I hope that the powers that be take his recommendations to heart. As an aside, his charts are spectacular. Kudos to his design team. I'd use this as a textbook in a college dataviz class.

The best thing about this book is you don't have to read it beginning to end — you just flip through & look at each chart on its own. Each chart has some text about it on the right, but you don't need to have read the previous sections to make sense of any chart. The material spans this striking graph on minimum wage gaps (it should be $22/hr given increased national productivity) and several charts on friendship, loneliness and other social ills. There are also beautiful illustrations that kind of take your breath away (4th pic). The format is great — a larger book than usual, would be a great coffee book to flip through & spend a minute or 10 hours with.