Pictures can often tell a story that words can't. That's the case with Scott Galloway's latest book. Scott takes much of the information that he might convey in his podcasts, talks, and courses and puts it into graph form. These visuals paint a picture of challenge and opportunity.

For any reader, these charts and the stories they tell are a compelling call to action.

You would be hard pressed to read this book and not want to look for opportunities to produce change...even in small ways.

I think most people can agree that there are things in America that are not good. We may vehemently disagree on what those things are, how they came to be, and what to do about them, but I don't really know anyone who is walking around saying, "Man, things are just super awesome in the ol' US of A these days!"

This book attempts to figure out exactly what the problems are, why they happened, and if they can be ameliorated. Its focus is on the last 40 years of so, when the postwar era officially ended and Reagan came on the scene. Charts, graphs, and infographics examine various aspects of society, from commerce to our environment to our social lives, to explain what has changed and speculate on how those changes have altered our society.

Though there is the requisite "What can we do about it?" ending, the information, though interesting and well-presented, is mostly just depressing. I appreciate that they tried to find silver linings and point out effective remedies, but many of their suggestions involve sweeping systemic/societal change that seems unlikely. It was still worthwhile reading and I definitely recommend it, but maybe take it in little bits and have some kind of chaser available afterwards to cheer yourself up.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review!

ADRIFT by Scott Galloway attempts to describe America in 100 charts. Booklist says, "This highly visual distillation of U.S. history will be appreciated by students." I do think they will gain some insights, but the preview I saw was not especially eye-catching. Everything is in black and white with shades of grey and fairly simple (mainly line or column chart) depiction of whatever data Galloway is discussing. Also, the analysis for each chart is two to three paragraphs at best although it often includes some attention-grabbing factoid. Somewhat more interesting are the chapter titles and synopsis of each: for example, when looking at the Rise of the Shareholder Class, Galloway asserts, "As the post-war boom began to fizzle out, the U.S. embraced shareholder capitalism and turned from community and institution towards rugged individualism." Galloway does cite sources near each chart and in the notes (about twenty-five percent of the text) which could serve as a useful introduction to those research sources and offer students an additional opportunity to improve visual and information literacy skills. Another way to employ this text might be to ask students to find a related recent news article. Galloway echoes Robert Putnam when he points to the turning away from community based activities and Pew Research would have recent data, particularly about religion membership (summarized here by Axios). Galloway, Professor of Marketing at NYU Stern School of Business, previously authored The Four and has strong views about Big Tech. The charts nearer the end of ADRIFT address this sector and Galloway offers suggestions for action (e.g., reform Section 230; enact a one-time wealth tax) in his final chapter, "What We Must Do."

Related Links:
https://www.axios.com/2022/09/21/pew-religion-christian-majority-2070
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/09/13/modeling-the-future-of-religion-in-america/pf_2022-09-13_religious-projections_00-01/

I am a big fan of Professor Galloway and looked forward eagerly to this advance copy. I have loved his previous titles and was very disappointed to find this advance copy was a garbled mash of text and contained no graphs or charts! I wanted to be able to sing the praises of this book and it's intent, but a book about charts and graphs with no charts and graphs is a little hard to follow.

But thanks for sharing. Seriously. I look forward to the finished product!