2030 | Litsy

2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America | Albert Brooks

This book had some interesting (if slightly obvious) predictions, but one thing that stuck out for me reading it today was the idea that America and China would be partners rather than adversaries. This quote in particular baffled me and felt very ignorant of the history of Chinese laborers in California, modern anti-Asian bigotry, and the *massive* influence of German immigrants on American culture, particularly in the Midwest.

CSeydel The context for this quote is that America‘s finances have been so depleted by entitlement payouts to aging baby boomers that China has to step in and co-own Los Angeles after it‘s damaged in an earthquake. And Americans are unanimously happy about it, even hoping the Chinese government will offer to revamp other American cities with their sleek and efficient modern engineering. 1y

Leftcoastzen 🤔 1y

Texreader That quote doesn‘t explain why Italians were outcasts for so long. Italian food 😋 but I love German food too!! 1y

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CSeydel Really it‘s such an odd take, especially since a lot of people can‘t stand Chinese food and find it pretty “weird”. It‘s like he assumes that the attitudes and preferences of Brooklyn Jews represent the whole American populace 1y

CSeydel And yes, Americans (in general) like German food so much that we don‘t even recognize it as ethnic cuisine - we think of it as American food 1y

CSeydel @Texreader Plus, in addition to historic anti-Italian sentiment as you mentioned, there is still a lot of bias against Latinos - and their food is absolutely top tier 1y

Texreader @CSeydel Truth in all respects. Sounds like an interesting book. 1y

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CSeydel

2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America | Albert Brooks

pick

This speculative novel, published in 2011, puts forth very interesting ideas about how society will cope with the demographic crisis of the baby boomers drawing more and more government resources as they live longer into old age than any prior generation. I enjoyed the various characters‘ storylines, but ultimately they all felt a bit shallowly developed and the ending left me underwhelmed. Plus, some really strange takes, esp regarding China.

TheBookgeekFrau I'm just so happy to see someone other than me read this 😆 Glad you liked it. 1y

RamsFan1963 I read this and didn't care for it. I didn't find the characters very likable, and their reactions, like the girl who watches her dad die on the floor from a heart attack, seems unrealistic. 1y

CSeydel @RamsFan1963 Yes, I didn‘t think the character were intended to be likable. I didn‘t find anything distractingly unrealistic, but I would have liked a little more development on most of them. For instance, we know that Brad and his son don‘t have a good relationship, and I would have liked more detail about that. Also, I wanted more of Max‘s backstory. 1y

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TheBookgeekFrau

2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America | Albert Brooks

#TemptingTitles #WithANumber

Eggs, Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Hmmm I don‘t know if I want to read this! 😫 2y

TheBookgeekFrau @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks It was a most excellent read; BUT scary af. I swear I find myself thinking, A Lot, 'Holy shit, it's 2030 actually happening!'😱 2y

CSeydel Albert Brooks the actor? 2y

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TheBookgeekFrau @CSeydel Yes. But the book is very different from what you'd expect from him. And that's not a bad thing. It was a really, really good book 2y

CSeydel I always found his screenplays to be very thoughtful and interesting, so I‘m interested to read this now. I had no idea! 2y

Eggs Have enjoyed him as an actor-Broadcast News 🗞️ 2y

TheBookgeekFrau @CSeydel It's extremely thoughtful and interesting!! I read it when it first came out and it's brought to mind A LOT since that time. 2y

TheBookgeekFrau @Eggs He's just as good as an author, maybe even better! 2y

CSeydel @TheBookgeekFrau I‘m reading this now - it is very good! 1y

TheBookgeekFrau @CSeydel I'm glad you're enjoying it! 😊 1y

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RamsFan1963

2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America | Albert Brooks

1. Twenty-Thirty by Albert Brooks. He might a "comic genius", but he can't write realistic dialogue or situations.
2. Tie: Assassin's Creed and Spawn. Both movies made me feel like I was killing brain cells watching them.
3. Seafood (except for fish)
4. A Numerology life guide
5. Hot shower, reading

#randosurvey @laurenslibrary

blank I'm not a big seafood fan either 5y

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