Art and technology critic Joanne McNeil’s debut work “Lurking” is a trenchant, topical and thoughtful verdict on the incredibly complex but almost symbiotic relationship between digital platforms and users. The adjective lurking, usually employed in a pejorative sense, is however used in an ingenious and original fashion by Ms. McNeil to conflate innocuous prying with insidious stalking or even usurpation. Such a usurpation is more likely than not, of intangible attributes such as dignity, privacy and opinion.  

While paeans extolling the achievements of tech entrepreneurs compete with excoriating indictment of cut-throat Information Technology mercenaries for shelf space and eyeballs, there has been a surprisingly, and unfortunately negligible coverage dealing with that one important element in the entire digital/online transactional or consumption value chain – the passive user. Before Ms. McNeil’s book, that is. She hold forth on the now well recognized and accepted principle prevalent in internet communities, going by the moniker of the one percent rule. An alpha numeric euphemism for lurking, this rule expounds that only one percent of users in any given digital community create new content. The remaining 99 percent hover about apparition like (my analogy), clicking links, absorbing posts, and unwittingly volunteering to be the fodder driving the digital economy. It is this 99% that is the focus of Ms. McNeil’s engaging book.

But who is a ‘lurker’ in the esoteric and ephemeral online universe? A lurker is one whose involvement is not tantamount to participation. For example, I personally neither leave frequent comments on Facebook, not “like” posts. But I keep browsing through the variegated feeds appearing on my timeline. This makes me a ‘lurker.’ However, an inveterate gravitation towards Twitter to express my angst, anxiety and anger in 280 furious characters makes me an active participant. Blending together a tapestry of personal experience with interesting interviews, Ms. McNeil takes her readers through the early social networks, like Friendster, MySpace, and local BBSes (bulletin board systems), explaining how users of devolved their online identities. An identity brought about via a technological visibility that serves as “another tool of privacy—a way of controlling one’s image as others regarded it.” Ms. McNeil also highlights the unquenchable thirst for profits that has made the Big Tech commodify the user. The experience of a user is a contrived, artificial one dictated by the unseen workings of complex algorithms and powered by the insatiable greed of advertisers. Stoking fuel to an already brightly burning fire is the invidious impact of cyber ostracism and bullying that leads to undesirable consequences such as segregation and totalitarian outlook. “Google and Facebook… have taken over functions of a state without administering the benefits or protections of a state.” But this is not a recent phenomenon. As Ms. McNeil informs her readers, the once ubiquitous AOL, during their pioneering days, once ended up hosting a page for the Texas Ku Klux Klan. The ridiculous and febrile argument for such an act being the right to assemble as accorded by the first amendment.

Ms. McNeil reserves her choicest polemic for Facebook though. “Facebook shoehorns values into patterns, removes nuance, and presents it as ruled by a ‘fundamental mathematical law.’”  As Ms. McNeil illustrates once a raw and not so suave Mark Zuckerberg famously termed people voluntarily handing over data to him as “dumb fucks.” Even though this irreverent remark was made when the concept of a social network was just a seed germinating in the founder’s mind, this did not prevent the global populace from willingly handing over both themselves and their data to this glorified Ivy league drop out. According to Ms. McNeil Facebook is a corporation of “data gluttony and shamelessness,” as well as “endless ethical quagmires.” The monolithic and leviathan status of Facebook was given a slight tickle when Ello an online social networking service created by Paul Budnitz and Todd Berger in March 2014 made a hopeful appearance. Created as an ad-free alternative to existing social networks, it was noble in its intent, but miserably and woefully short in its execution. As Ms. McNeil informs the reader about her personal experience with Ello, an attitude of misogynistic pugilism and patriarchy put paid to the hopes of this upstart, to dismantle the behemoth. At the time of this review, Ello has morphed into a poor man’s Pinterest exhibiting art, photography, fashion and web culture.

We have traversed a long, exciting and conflicting journey in so far as the internet is concerned. Our experience has ranged from the vaudevillian to the vapid. However, as Ms. McNeil illustrates in a poignant manner, it was always not like this. “The internet was never peaceful, never fair, never good,” says Ms. McNeil, “but early on it was benign, and use of it was more imaginative, less common, and less obligatory.” ECHO, an acronym for “East Coast Hang Out” was one classic example of a benevolent version of the internet. The quintessential idea underlying the creation of echo was for users, most of whom lived in the New York City area, to meet one another. The group organised open-mic nights, softball games, and film screenings. An unseen celebrity was the young John F. Kennedy Jr. posting under an imaginatively titled username, “flash.” Echo founder Stacy Horn describes the platform’s essence in her invigorating and compelling memoir: “Everybody has a trace of an ache—some eternal disappointment, or longing, that is satisfied, at least for a minute each day, by a familiar group and by a place that will always be there.”

But as Ms. McNeil brilliantly demonstrates, internet in the current age only goes to exacerbate the ache that Ms. Horn refers to instead of acting as an ameliorating balm.

In an utterly compelling and engaging book, “The Art of Rest”, British author, occasional TV presenter, and frequent radio presenter with the BBC World Service and BBC Radio 4, Claudia Hammond, takes head on, the one elephant in the room which has been singularly responsible in stymying creativity and exacerbating stress levels in the modern contemporary professional world. The hustle and bustle of everyday life, the perennial rat race, not just leaves a greater part of the populace disillusioned, exhausted and unhealthy, but also takes away the critical aesthetics of contentment and fulfilment from the very lexicon of life. At the heart of the book lies the “Rest Test.” The Rest Test represents a survey involving 18,000 participants spread across 135 jurisdictions. The participants provided their own choice of activity that each one considered to be the most restful. “The Art of Rest” dissects the top 10 activities (in reverse order) that were considered to be most restful by the participants. So, without further ado, here goes a concise review of the top 10 activities that participants in the aforementioned study deemed to be restful. With an avowed objective of not depriving readers of Ms. Hammond’s unique and lovely work, I am providing a mere sneak-peek into each activity:

10. Mindfulness

It is not surprising at all to see an ancient Buddhist technique find itself in the list of activities deemed to be most restful. As Ms. Hammond informs her readers, ‘The Ladybird Book of Mindfulness” defines the practice as “the skill of thinking you’re doing something while you are doing nothing.” This Tantric relaxation methodology perfected by experts such as Jon Kabat-Zinn has almost discarded its avatar of a noun to become a ‘hot’ verb. From Corporate Boardrooms to Constituencies of Ministers, mindfulness is the order of the day. While there is no doubting its efficacy in so far as stillness of a mischievous mind is concerned, as Ms. Hammond warns her readers, this is not for everyone, and aspirants should be careful and convinced about the authenticity of Mindfulness courses and the experience of the teachers.

9. Watching TV

Yes! You read that right! Poleaxed? If yes, we are not done yet. The ‘Idiot Box’ that has been at the receiving end of so many recriminations and reviles might not be that insidious an influence after all. In a study that has now attained legendary proportions, and has also been encapsulated in stupendous detail in the best seller “Flow”, Hungarian-American psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi discovered, amongst others, that people declared that watching TV was more relaxing than playing sport or even going to clubs. But as Ms. Hammond illustrates, TV viewing is not immune to the rule that anything done in excess is dangerous. While you can indulge in a nostalgic delight dished out by a Big Bang Theory or 2 ½ Men, (the Charlie Sheen version only), once in a way, ensure that you do not binge watch for more than five hours a day, since a Japanese study found in 2016 that if people exceeded 5 hours of TV watching a day, their risk of dying from pulmonary embolism doubled! Correlation and causation notwithstanding, it pays to be safe. Personally, I am not a huge fan of the telly, except on those occasions when there is a live telecast of a cricket match, which unfortunately is almost every day!

8. Daydreaming

Who on earth would have thought that a mind which impudently wanders off in the middle of a conference to mull about dalliance with damsels and duels with demons would constitute an exercise in restfulness! Not until one read Ms. Hammond at least. She brings to our attention a complicated method named Descriptive Experience Sampling which is used to analyse daydreaming and its patterns. The psychologist Russell Hulbert identifies five elements that creep into the wanderings of the mind: visual imagery, inner speech, feelings, sensory awareness, and unsymbolized thought. The brain as Ms. Hammond explains even when in a state of rest is extremely busy with its hardwired circuitry as illustrated by the pioneering neuroscientist Marcus Raichle. If the word daydreaming sounds too very prosaic then how about ‘mind wandering?’ Left to its own contrivance, this mind wandering focuses on the future. As Ms. Hammond illustrates once a future event actually occurs, this mind wandering ensures an element of preparedness in the dreamer.

7. A Nice Hot Bath

Even though the merit of a good bath has been extolled since Roman times, I will give this a go since yours truly has to be contended only with a walk-in shower! Watch out for the name Amou Haji.

6. A Good Walk  

The virtues of walking have been explored, evaluated and expounded at length. The therapeutic benefits of a peripatetic lifestyle have been captured in reams that would take more than a lifetime to absorb. Some of the inveterate walkers are immortal geniuses such as Henry David Thoreau, Soren Kierkegaard, William Wordsworth, Immanuel Kant, Aristotle etc. They have all declared an invigorating walk to be an uncompromising facet of their life. However, the most absorbing aspect of this Chapter is the author’s own experience hiking through the Torres del Paine National Park in southern Chile to view the three vast granite spires. These are the spires after which the park itself takes its name. Ms. Hammond’s agony and ecstasy during the hike itself and the transformation the experience ushers in her makes for some remarkable reading.

5. Doing Nothing in Particular  

This is the most peculiar, yet most obvious choice for activities epitomizing rest. Hence it is a surprise that is occupies only the fifth, and not a higher place. For a bewildered soul, the answer lies in the very quandary. In a world where a premium is placed on sleeplessness, workaholism and accumulation of flying miles (at least before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic), doing nothing in particular can seem to be the most difficult act. I thought I wouldn’t do anything for a fixed period of 2 hours post lunch this noon. An hour and 25 minutes after consuming my food, here I am furiously typing away at my laptop eager to complete this review and tag Ms. Hammond on Twitter! This Chapter is a perfect complement to Jennifer Odell’s brilliant book, “How to do nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy.” But as Ms. Hammond clarifies doing nothing does not mean sitting in a statuesque fashion and glancing at the wall in front. This refers to consigning the taken for granted hustle and bustle to the confines of neglection and doing something that will accord relaxation.

4. Listening to Music  

An act which resonates with universal acceptance, listening to music bags the 4^th place in the survey on most restful activities. Ms. Hammond illustrates in detail why. Extensive research has been performed on the myriad ways in which music soothes and mellows a restless mind – and head. For instance, mothers started playing Mozart to babies after a research waxed eloquent on the positive impact of listening to Mozart on infants. Even though there was skepticism in terms of correlation and causality, there is no disputing or doubting the alleviating effect music can have. Yet another study conducted on Finnish teenagers revealed that music at once made them feel relaxed and also instilled in them energy. I personally play an advertising jingle on loop whenever I hit the sack.

3. I want to be Alone

“Me Time” has to be arguably one of most frequently employed words of late. A need to extricate oneself from the claustrophobic grip of a mad, perpetual motion machine that is the everyday rat race has spurred people to seek solitude. A solitude that is quite different from loneliness. Ms. Hammond educates her readers about empirical evidence that unearthed the startling fact that a study of eighteen-to-twenty-five-year olds in the USA revealed that spending time alone was associated with greater creativity. However, Ms. Hammond also warns her readers of the peril of getting into a rut of loneliness as was illustrated in great detail by great figures such as Petrarch, Montaigne and Wordsworth.

2. Spending Time in Nature

In sharp contradistinction to walking, spending time in nature refers to getting oneself ‘immersed’ in nature. Ms. Hammond illustrates this fact beautifully with reference to the Great Fen Conservation Project which is currently one of the largest restoration projects of its type in Europe where a barren landscape is being restored and transformed for the benefit both of wildlife and of people. With an ornithologist for a father (and an avid gardening enthusiast herself), Ms. Hammond undoubtedly possesses the credentials to hold forth on the benefits of being enveloped amidst nature. This Chapter has one of the most poignant passages in the book. Ms. Hammond explains the ‘overview effect’, (the impact which a view of earth from outers pace can have on people) as elucidated by Annahita Nezami. The intense feeling that almost overwhelms an astronaut not just makes us realise our infinitesimal place on the Planet but also makes us cherish the same. Remember “The Pale Blue Dot?”

1. Reading

An inveterate bibliophile myself, this finding warmed the very cockles of my heart. The participants in the Rest Test overwhelmingly voted “reading” as the most restful activity of all. I can unequivocally and wholeheartedly vouch for the same. Irrespective of the genre, a book paradoxically keeps me both rooted at a spot for hours on end, while at the same time transporting me across continents separated by mountains that are unscalable and oceans that are unnavigable. Whether it is a Carl Sagan or a Virginia Woolf, Scott Fitzgerald or Daniel Kahneman, I am an armchair Alexander Humboldt measuring the world from the confines of my settee. Digest this: “A poll of 5,000 people living in Britain found that 38 percent of those who watched TV in bed said they sleep poorly most nights, while 39 percent of those who read before they go to sleep said they sleep very well.” That, ladies and gentlemen, should seal any debate!

“The Art of Rest”, is persuasive, provocative and poignant. An essential read in today’s tumult and turbulence caused by a pandemic and exacerbated by politics.

(The Art of Rest by Claudia Hammond is published by Canongate Books and will be released on the 20^th of October 2020.)

Alex Derksen is an intrepid reporter who finds himself bang in the middle of the crosshairs of an ugly duel between the South African cops, and hoodlums of the illegal Zama-Zamas illegal mining syndicate. Breathless running and dodging, bruises and scratches, a dead constable, and a bullet lodged in his Kevlar vest later, Alex is unbelievably lucky to find himself alive, let alone in one untampered piece. However, curiosity gets the better of him and bests his good luck, when he gets a midnight call, while convalescing in a motel. The caller identifying himself only and imaginatively as “Gadhafi” lures Alex to a shady pub, promising a wealth of information on the Zama-Zamas cartel. A hastily drunk beer is not the only disappointment greeting the report as within the blink of an eye Alex finds himself abducted.

The only individuals capable of rescuing Alex from his predicament are two women, both having a bit of history with Alex. Ranna Abramson, a fighting fit, tall lanky photographer and Alex’s lover, with a gruesome past of her own, has for some unfathomable reason disappeared like the night from Alex’s life. Sarah, a geek of the highest degree and a wizard with anything remotely resembling an automobile, had a brief dalliance with Alex when he was torn apart by the disappearance of Ranna. When Sarah succeeds in tracking down Ranna in a small cubby hole bang in the middle of a claustrophobic environ in the teeming metropolis that is Mumbai, both women know that there has arrived a point of no return. Poles apart in both their attitude and outlook, the only factor that unites the duo is a raging purpose and relentless intent to save Alex from the clutches of his kidnapper.

Ghosts that were thought to have been exorcised in the past come with renewed fury to haunt Ranna and Sarah as they go about the most dangerous task they have ever attempted until now in their lives. Their enemy is not just unseen, but also seemingly unpredictable and invincible. Will the courageous duo succeed in their mission? Or has Alex tempted his fate one time more than what was acceptable? Irma Venter in “Man Down”, which is the second book in her “Rogue” series, (“Hard Rain” being the first), once again puts her main protagonists, the romantic duo that is Alex and Ranna into a bind. However, the book is more of a Sarah-Ranna combo than Alex. Alex’s angels perhaps!

Unlike a gripping tome by Tom Clancy where the cast of characters exceed the stars in any Galaxy, Irma Venter’s book is an exercise in thrilling simplicity. There are protagonists and there are antagonists. They combat each other both savagely as well as subtly. “Man Down” is more “Die Hard” than an “Inception” or “Minority Report.” There is absolutely no tedium whatsoever as the plot races through in a crisp and tight fashion. There is a judicious blend of wit and vitriol. The action sequences are taut, yet never overboard. There is not a moment that is neither dull nor vapid in the book.

“Man Down” – a feast for thriller aficionados!

What could and should have been an engrossing and enlivening book peters out into a discursive assemblage of thoughts.   Marinated in right wing ideology and sautéed in its philosophy, “13 ½ Reasons”, is an unashamed paean to Conservatism and the Conservatives. Judd Dunning, in his book, pays exaggerated obeisance to Donald Trump and in the process resorts to waging a blistering attack on the Democrats and their principles. While the intention as professed at the outset – to engage in informed deliberations with a bipartisan bent of mind in tackling issues that transcend party politics and philosophies – is noble, the execution falls explicitly and woefully short of the avowed cause. The end seems to be tangentially divergent from the means. While Dunning raises a few issues that are both topical in their contemporaneity, and ambivalent in their perception, the better part of the book, however, is lost, unfortunately in a byzantine exercise of personal vilification and vituperative outrage.

The title of the book itself is a throwback to the transformation induced in Dunning, in so far as shifting allegiances go. An actor and a producer known for his roles in ‘The Young and The Restless” amongst others, Dunning hosted a horde of television shows, including ‘Conservatively Unplugged!’, and ‘Judd Dunning Unplugged!’ A former liberal and a Democrat, Dunning is now an uncompromising Conservative, and 13 ½ Reasons is a Handbook for Conservatives to handle the many popular allegations hurled by Democrats against their opponents.

Part 1 of Dunning’s book titled “Economics” glorifies free market capitalism and also expounds on the supposed fallacies and foibles of a big government. There is no pulchritude or putsch here since, the segment is a reinvention of the tried and tested spiel that has become the hall mark of every Economist graduating out of the neoclassical school of economic thought pioneered by Milton Friedman, and perfected by the Chicago School of Economics. Railing against measures that advocate redistribution of wealth and lambasting selective bail out strategies that rescue a Bear Stearns but leave Lehman Brothers all strung up, Dunning pooh poohs Keynesian economics. As he does in every part of his book, he takes recourse to a few books to bolster his arguments. His Man Friday in the Chapter on Economics is Tom Del Beccaro, and his book, ‘The New Conservative Paradigm.’

The most interesting segment of the book however deals with the climate change and global warming conundrum. There is no semblance of doubt that the common man/lay person is left staring from the depths of a cleave which has at either side an outlook that is contrasting and conflicting. From one side abutting the chasm, emanate Panglossian voices in the mode of a Steven Pinker trying to assuage us that all is well. From across the optimistic side of things are hurled pessimistic warnings from prophets of doom such as Andrew Dessler, who claim that the only opportunity we had to save Planet Earth was the one that passed us by, yesterday! The outspoken student environmental activist Greta Thunberg recently was the receiving end – rightfully so in my personal opinion – of the scorn of a million Indians, when she expressed umbrage, via her Twitter handle, over a decision made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India to go ahead with a professional examination called National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (“TEET”) in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thunberg’s hold on the intricacies surrounding the topic is as good as the hold which the Cro-Magnon Man had over the laws of thermodynamics. While acknowledging the perils of climate change, Dunning exhorts the need for cultivating a balanced outlook between anthropocentric changes and natural causes that imperil the environment.

Dunning also makes some telling points about the disturbing ascendancy of the woke mentality where every harmless and genuine comment is painted with the brush of neologism. As Dunning illustrates, according honest appreciation for the manner in which a woman is dressed or for the patterns in her attire would attract a cant of prejudiced mentality and an incredulous accusation of judging a woman not for her intellect but for totally extraneous factors.

The most controversial Chapter in the book is reserved for gun control, or rather against it. Taking firm refuge in the Second Amendment, Dunning argues that gun control is evil and the possession of guns solely as a matter of self defense leads to a considerable reduction in crime. Resorting to arguments ranging from the shallow to the silly, Dunning engages in a circular argument about employing guns for defensive purposes rather than for any offensive action. He also brings about an incredulous argument that elucidates that “in England, where it’s almost impossible to get a gun, a woman is three times more likely to be raped than in America.”  In so far as support from books are concerned, Dunning’s companion for this Chapter is National Review’s John R. Lott Jr, the President of the Crime Prevention Research Centre and his book, titled, surprise surprise, “More Guns, Less Crime.”  Dunning in all probability has been reading the wrong book. His point of reference ought to have been “Repeal the Second Amendment: The Case for a Safer America” by Allan Lichtman.

Dunning also shoots himself in the foot on a few occasions in the book. Whilst directing his anger at the woke brigade for misinterpreting genuine comments of appreciation as exercises in gender bias, he engages in some of his own with gay abandon. In listing out a litany of ‘improper sexual conduct’ practiced by Joe Biden (every single one of which looks like Montessori stuff when compared with the shenanigans of Trump), Dunning completely absolves Trump of all his sexual misdemeanors by terming them as consensual.

The final Chapter of the book however makes for some poignant reading as it touches on various facets of the abortion debate. A debate between pro-life and pro-choice. Here Dunning takes a measured approach. While scorning at the landmark verdict in Roe v Wade, he also emphasizes that each State ought to be accorded an element of latitude in formulating their own choices, and well within the limits of statutes such as the Human Life Protection Act, and Reproductive Health Act.

Overall, 13 ½ Reasons flatters to deceive.  

 (13 ½ Reasons Why Not to be a Liberal by Judd Dunning is published by Humanix Books and will be released on the 10^th of November 2020.)

On the 3^rd of January 2020, two of the largest Private Equity funds, KKR and TPG, with a combined asset base of approximately $330bn between them, decided to report by April 2020, both the positive impacts as well as negative externalities, of their investments, on environmental, social and governance aspects. This announcement illustrates the growing popularity amongst investors to adhere to the tenets of Socially Responsible Investing (“SRI”). SRI has transcended from being a mere exercise in lip service to a set of binding principles that determines the growth trajectory of many Multinational Enterprises. In tandem with the investor bent of mind, even corporates themselves are beginning to transform the way they operate. Shareholder activism is no longer the sole driver spurring a company along. Shareholder value has been replaced by stakeholder value where the latter encompasses within its ambit the Environment, Society and Governance (“ESG”).

American entrepreneur, investor and former advisor to the White House Business Council in his forthcoming book, “Elevated Economics” illustrates these transformational trends ushered in by a shifting consumer mindset that demands ‘values’ over value and invests in a product more for what it stands rather than for what it does. The book is an outcome of extensive research and interviews conducted with CEOs and Ivy League Professors of business, marketing, and consumer behaviour. Hence the plethora of anecdotal emphasis that runs throughout the book.

Mr. Steel defines Elevated Economics as “a coalescence of several complex factors. Changes in consumer employment, social, marketing, environmental, and corporate governance practices all contribute to this single term. Essentially the Elevated Economy represents what research and analysis seem to indicate will be the next great change in capitalism.” This change, Dr, Steel emphasizes, would be triggered, to a significant extant, by a humungous “Wealth Migration” where approximately $68.4 trillion would change hands over the course of the next couple of decades, from Baby Boomers to Gen Z and the Millennials. When it comes to customer preferences, the new owners of wealth surely know to put their money where the mouth is. They also demand accountability, responsibility and societal obligations. This is the very demand that made Nike abandon their whole ‘sweatshop’ initiative and remake themselves as a brand of responsibility. Not to be left behind, its fiercest competitor Adidas teaming up with “Parley for The Oceans”, are making sneakers out of plastic ocean waste. As Mr. Steel illustrates in his book many companies such as Method, Impossible Foods, Patagonia, TOMS shoes, and Birdies have taken the concept of ESG to hitherto unseen levels. In India, the business practices of the TATA Group of companies have birthed a paradigm shift in the very fundamental manner in which a Corporate Group goes about its activities. The “TATA way” thus stands for integrity, empowerment and aggrandizement. One classic illustration of the apotheosis that is the TATA way is the path-breaking labour welfare measures which were instituted within the Group even before the relevant statutes were incorporated. Some of them include an eight-hour working day, free medical aid, establishment of a welfare department, leave with pay, workers’ provident fund scheme, workmen’s accident compensation scheme, maternity benefits, profit sharing bonus and retiring gratuity. Maybe this is the direct result of TATA employees putting in decades with the company, ignoring much more lucrative competing offers.

On the 19^th of August 2019, some of the top CEOs in the US, jointly pledged to place stakeholder value over shareholder value in a remarkable show of societal obligation. Mr. Steel identifies four “Cornerstones” that might have a solid and significant influence on the changing Corporate Philosophy.

• Diversity and Inclusion (going beyond mere tokenism and compliance with hiring policies);
• Equality in Pay;
• Impact (ensuring that ESG activities impact the community as illustrated by Wells Fargo in its CSR initiatives);
• Bring The Market (instead of Go To Market);

The impact of all this is a burgeoning growth in “ESG” assets. According to the US SIF Foundation’s “Report on US Sustainable, Responsible and Impact Investing Trends”, Socially Responsible Investor assets are growing at nearly 40% year-over-year since 2016. In fact, more than $12 trillion are invested in a variety of socially responsible ways.

While the book contains many interesting illustrations of companies consciously deciding to invest in CSR initiatives and the consumer loyalty towards such companies, the one segment where I have serious issues reconciling with Mr. Steel’s views and his own practice is his patronage towards Starbucks. Waxing eloquent over their matching 401(k) payments even for part time employees and The Starbucks Partner Achievement Program, Mr. Steel says he will not mind dishing out a premium to enjoy his Pike Place every morning. In a report damningly titled, “How Starbucks avoids UK Taxes”, Tom Bergin of Reuters illustrates that “Accounts filed by its UK subsidiary show that since it opened in the UK in 1998 the company has racked up over 3 billion pounds ($4.8 billion) in coffee sales, and opened 735 outlets but paid only 8.6 million pounds in income taxes, largely due because the taxman disallowed some deductions.” Over the past three years [since 2012], Starbucks has reported no profit, and paid no income tax, on sales of 1.2 billion pounds in the UK. McDonald’s, by comparison, had a tax bill of over 80 million pounds on 3.6 billion pounds of UK sales. Kentucky Fried Chicken, part of Yum Brands Inc., the no. 3 global restaurant or cafe chain by market capitalization, incurred taxes of 36 million pounds on 1.1 billion pounds in UK sales, according to the accounts of their UK units.”

Katherine Campbell and Duane Helleloid of the University of North Dakota have published a full-length paper titled, “Starbucks: Social Responsibility and Tax Avoidance.” The European Commission has also initiated proceedings against the tactics initiated by Starbucks to avoid paying its rightful share of taxes, even though to the credit of the beverage giant the European Commission was unable to demonstrate the existence of an advantage bestowed by the Dutch Tax authorities in favour of Starbucks.

Thus, this is the only part of the book that rankles me. Else “Elevated Economics” is a thought-provoking work that illustrates in telling detail the future vector of both buyer behaviour and Corporate Strategy.

 (Elevated Economics: How conscious consumers will fuel the future of business by Richard Steel is distributed by the Green Leaf Book Group and published by Fast Company Press, and and will be released on the 6th of October 2020.)