What do you think?
Rate this book
The Cereal Aisle at the End of History: Essays on the Conspiratorial Mode of Production
You know the system is broken. That knowledge is the system working perfectly.
In this provocative collection of essays, Viktor Grau diagnoses our current moment with surgical precision. We live in what he calls the "conspiratorial mode of production"—where exposure strengthens power, awareness deepens complicity, and resistance becomes just another revenue stream.
Why do we participate in systems we know are destroying us?
From wellness apps that make us sick to revolutions with Patreon accounts, from the addiction economy of social media to the theatre of transparency that hides everything in plain sight—Grau maps the machine that runs on its own critique.
This isn't another book about what's wrong with capitalism. It's about how knowing what's wrong became capitalism's greatest product.
Inside you'll
Why your meditation app is designed to increase your anxietyHow protest movements become brand strategiesWhy transparency makes everything more opaqueHow awareness of manipulation deepens the manipulationWhy every attempt to escape reinforces what you're escaping from
Perfect for readers Loved Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism but want something darkerUnderstand that self-care is self-surveillanceSee through everything and hate that it doesn't helpKnow they're complicit and want to understand whyAppreciate theory that implicates its own readers
"Like Black Mirror written by a critical theorist having a breakdown in a supermarket at 3 AM" —Early Reader Review
This book will make you smarter about your own exploitation. That knowledge will change nothing. You'll buy it anyway. That's the point.
In this provocative collection of essays, Viktor Grau diagnoses our current moment with surgical precision. We live in what he calls the "conspiratorial mode of production"—where exposure strengthens power, awareness deepens complicity, and resistance becomes just another revenue stream.
Why do we participate in systems we know are destroying us?
From wellness apps that make us sick to revolutions with Patreon accounts, from the addiction economy of social media to the theatre of transparency that hides everything in plain sight—Grau maps the machine that runs on its own critique.
This isn't another book about what's wrong with capitalism. It's about how knowing what's wrong became capitalism's greatest product.
Inside you'll
Why your meditation app is designed to increase your anxietyHow protest movements become brand strategiesWhy transparency makes everything more opaqueHow awareness of manipulation deepens the manipulationWhy every attempt to escape reinforces what you're escaping from
Perfect for readers Loved Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism but want something darkerUnderstand that self-care is self-surveillanceSee through everything and hate that it doesn't helpKnow they're complicit and want to understand whyAppreciate theory that implicates its own readers
"Like Black Mirror written by a critical theorist having a breakdown in a supermarket at 3 AM" —Early Reader Review
This book will make you smarter about your own exploitation. That knowledge will change nothing. You'll buy it anyway. That's the point.
165 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 25, 2025
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
No one has reviewed this book yet.