A dear friend of mine has, for at least 20 years, told me he is sick to death of reading about US politics and so on. And yet, nearly every book he recommends to me is about US politics. It is a strange paradox. And so this is one of the books he recommended to me. He said that Ezra Klein's *Abundance: Overcoming Artificial Scarcity* is being talked about a lot and so is one of those books you should read for that reason alone. In a way, it is a left-ish version of how to make America great agai...

It feels utterly irresponsible to write a book about how regulations have stopped us from thriving without substantially mentioning how corporations have intentionally undermined so many efforts to create policy that “expands the pie.” Abundance: Overcoming Artificial Scarcity is also tediously repetitive, drawing from fairly superficial literature and a narrow set of examples. But what did I really expect from a book written by two precocious boys who have never really been experts on any of th...

DNF. I listened to the audiobook of *Abundance: Overcoming Artificial Scarcity* right up until the very last chapter, and then I gave up. Overall, a disappointing book from Ezra Klein, who is often labeled as the “voice of the left.” I’m just so over this bullshit moderate crap from the “left.” Perhaps this book finally cemented into my brain that I’m actually just radical in my political views. Sorry, not sorry! The liberal utopia described in *Abundance: Overcoming Artificial Scarcity* is not ...

Ezra Klein's *Abundance: Overcoming Artificial Scarcity* isn't exactly blazing a new trail in the 'bold pronouncements in book form' genre. It’s been 33 years since Francis Fukuyama declared the 'end of history,' and Klein and Thompson seem to be channeling that same overconfident energy. *Abundance: Overcoming Artificial Scarcity* trots out a rather stale, 'horn of plenty' vision of the future, all while seemingly ignoring a ton of serious academic work on the very issues it dives into. Take nu...

Okay, buckle up because this is going to be a long review – mostly for my own benefit. I largely agree with **Ezra Klein's** arguments in **Abundance: Overcoming Artificial Scarcity**, even if I have some disagreements, but overall, I really enjoyed reading it. I’d even say it’s required reading for anyone on the left, although if you're constantly on Twitter, listening to podcasts, etc., you’ve probably already heard about it whether you wanted to or not, lol. The core idea is pretty straightf...

From the very first page, this reads like someone fed "Update Clintonism" into ChatGPT. The supposed "BIG IDEAS" feel like technocratic window dressing on tired old policies that have failed time and time again. Like Matt Yglesias, who also seems to deliberately ignore reality, Ezra Klein seems thrilled by the sound of his own voice bouncing off the walls of Georgetown condos, while ordinary people struggle outside. If you're looking for insightful book reviews, skip "Abundance: Overcoming Artif...

Abundance: Overcoming Artificial Scarcity is a brilliant work of synthesis, tying together a lot of ideas that have been developed in the policy community to make a whole that is larger than the sum of its parts. I find myself almost entirely in agreement with Ezra Klein's book, Abundance: Overcoming Artificial Scarcity. But there is no fun in agreement, so after briefly summarizing it, I will spend most of this review talking about what I think is missing or could be extended. (I should say, wi...

Intellectually bankrupt garbage. The fact that *Abundance: Overcoming Artificial Scarcity* by Ezra Klein even got a book deal is frankly offensive. If you're looking for insightful book reviews, steer clear of this one.

Honestly, *Abundance: Overcoming Artificial Scarcity* by Ezra Klein was a major letdown. I went in hoping to feel inspired and fired up by the ideas, but the central argument feels flimsy. It reads more like Klein lecturing the reader about everything that's wrong, rather than offering a genuine vision of a world of abundance over scarcity. It mostly comes across as a few essays that have been expanded and stitched together, which is a shame. We desperately need some real, rigorous thought about...

As a book exploring political paradigms, *Abundance: Overcoming Artificial Scarcity* really shines. Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson aim to illustrate their theory of abundance across various sectors—housing, immigration, climate change, innovation—at a time when the political right has doubled down on a message of scarcity and fear. Their argument is that the government should play a role in creating abundance where needed, but must know when to step in and when to step back. The authors trace th...