This is done by showing what drives Martin's decision-making: calculations of what is socially advantageous for his leadership position, hedging toward his future as a leader in the post-apocalyptic new world. He comes across as a careful and shrewd decision-maker-Doctorow does a good job at toeing the line for Martin of being smart while also totally misguided. These qualities, furthermore, are embodied in leadership, decision-making, and risk management skills. The main way it's highlighted is through the conflict between the subjective and labor theories of value.Īs Martin sees it, genius and competence are at the root of someone's ability to produce value for humanity. He builds an apocalypse bunker for himself and a small cohort where they can safely ride out The Event (i.e., breakdown of society) before emerging as leaders "after normalcy returns." The strongest driving theme is probably the running criticism of market worship: the protagonist views markets as allocating wealth efficiently, concomitantly viewing himself and other members of his class as deserving of their success due to genius/competence. The story follows the (mis)adventures of a man named Martin, a hedge fund manager in Arizona. An entertaining listen with a nice lesson (and the narration by Rudnicki is excellent).
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