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The Burnout Society

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The Burnout Society

By: Byung-Chul Han, Erik Butler(Translated by)
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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About this listen

Our competitive, service-oriented societies are taking a toll on the late-modern individual. Rather than improving life, multitasking, "user-friendly" technology, and the culture of convenience are producing disorders that range from depression to attention deficit disorder to borderline personality disorder.

Byung-Chul Han interprets the spreading malaise as an inability to manage negative experiences in an age characterized by excessive positivity and the universal availability of people and goods. Stress and exhaustion are not just personal experiences, but social and historical phenomena as well. Denouncing a world in which every against-the-grain response can lead to further disempowerment, he draws on literature, philosophy, and the social and natural sciences to explore the stakes of sacrificing intermittent intellectual reflection for constant neural connection.

This audiobook is expertly read by Peter Noble, with audio engineering by Logan Nyman. It was produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont.

©2015 Byung-Chul Han (P)2025 Echo Point Books & Media, LLC Mental Health Movements Philosophy Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Sociology Health
All stars
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A small but great book. One of Han’s early works which merits repeated listening as its arguments are compelling, and the writing so beautifully crystallised.

Original and Insightful

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Narration is automated and choppy, losing fluidity, which is important to grasp the hypothesis presented.

Interestings concepts But deficient narration

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Not for me, I guess mostly because I found myself being pretty sceptical of most of the authors claims. Also it mostly just seemed to be his opinion without any evidence to back up his claims. I think when you are making claims about the cause of health issues you need to back that up with a bit more data. Also I found the way he talked about ADHD and autism to be slightly offensive.

meh

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This book was way too much philosophical jargon with no evidence. Extremely repetitive. I returned it.

It’s not what you think

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Was looking forward to reading a riveting exploration as to why modern life is subtly causing us to burn out, but that exploration never really happens. Lots of philosophical jargon. Disappointed by this read.

Excessive philosophising, never gets going

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