Gain
by Richard Powers · first published 1998
4mentions
2recommended by
3HN commenters
2013–2020first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
A soap company establishes itself in Massachusetts, bringing better hygiene and employment to the community. But there is a negative side, pollution, and the victim is Laura, a woman suffering from cancer. A look at the pros and cons of progress. By the author of Galatea 2.2.
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This article reminds me strongly of a pivotal passage in the novel Gain, by Richard Powers (which I can't recommend highly enough, although it's a downer). In that passage he describes how a disposable film camera is made.
on “What Coke Contains (2013)” ↗…someone two rungs below their level, Esther Duflo. If she comes out with a popular book, don't buy it. Read Polanyi's "The Great Transformation", if inclined to left-ish ideas, or Richard Powers' novel "Gain", otherwise.
on “Why books don't work (2019)” ↗Reminds me of a passage from Richard Powers's novel "Gain" where the process by which a disposable camera is manufactured, packaged, distributed, ad sold serves to explain everything that is at once miraculous and broken about our world.
on “What Coke Contains” ↗In Richard Powers's novel GAIN, there's a scene where the CEO of a Johnson & Johnson type conglomerate tries to write down what's the purpose of a corporation: "To make a profit. To make a consistent profit. To make a living. To make…
on “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation” ↗