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Don’t Burn Anyone at the Stake Today
In this era-defining book, developed from her groundbreaking Radio 4 essay series, Naomi Alderman turns her boundless curiosity and incisive thinking to explore the epoch we’re living through, an epoch she calls the "Information Crisis." The internet has flooded us with more knowledge, opinions, ideas, and opportunities as well as verbal attacks, disinformation, and misinformation than ever before. It lets us learn more quickly and also spread falsehoods more quickly. It brings us together and also divides us in new ways. It is now the lens through which we perceive and understand the world.
There is no going back, but we have been here before: This is humanity’s third information crisis. The first, the invention of writing 5,000 years ago, and the second, the invention of the printing press 600 years ago, drastically reshaped our perceptions, interactions, and mental landscapes in ways that feel acutely familiar. Overwhelmed by information, people become afraid and angry, unsettled and distressed, as well as more knowledgeable, educated, and curious. By looking at those previous information crises, both the turmoil and the advances, Alderman asks what we can learn from the past to better understand our present and prepare for our future.
There is no going back, but we have been here before: This is humanity’s third information crisis. The first, the invention of writing 5,000 years ago, and the second, the invention of the printing press 600 years ago, drastically reshaped our perceptions, interactions, and mental landscapes in ways that feel acutely familiar. Overwhelmed by information, people become afraid and angry, unsettled and distressed, as well as more knowledgeable, educated, and curious. By looking at those previous information crises, both the turmoil and the advances, Alderman asks what we can learn from the past to better understand our present and prepare for our future.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published November 13, 2025
29 people are currently reading
445 people want to read
About the author
Naomi Alderman
41 books4,518 followersNaomi Alderman (born 1974 in London) is a British author and novelist.
Alderman was educated at South Hampstead High School and Lincoln College, Oxford where she read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. She then went on to study creative writing at the University of East Anglia before becoming a novelist.
She was the lead writer for Perplex City, an Alternate reality game, at Mind Candy from 2004 through June, 2007.[1]
Her father is Geoffrey Alderman, an academic who has specialised in Anglo-Jewish history. She and her father were interviewed in The Sunday Times "Relative Values" feature on 11 February 2007.[2]
Her literary debut came in 2006 with Disobedience, a well-received (if controversial) novel about a rabbi's daughter from North London who becomes a lesbian, which won her the 2006 Orange Award for New Writers.
Since its publication in the United Kingdom, it has been issued in the USA, Germany, Israel, Holland, Poland and France and is due to be published in Italy, Hungary and Croatia.
She wrote the narrative for The Winter House, an online, interactive yet linear short story visualized by Jey Biddulph. The project was commissioned by Booktrust as part of the Story campaign, supported by Arts Council England. [3]
Alderman was educated at South Hampstead High School and Lincoln College, Oxford where she read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. She then went on to study creative writing at the University of East Anglia before becoming a novelist.
She was the lead writer for Perplex City, an Alternate reality game, at Mind Candy from 2004 through June, 2007.[1]
Her father is Geoffrey Alderman, an academic who has specialised in Anglo-Jewish history. She and her father were interviewed in The Sunday Times "Relative Values" feature on 11 February 2007.[2]
Her literary debut came in 2006 with Disobedience, a well-received (if controversial) novel about a rabbi's daughter from North London who becomes a lesbian, which won her the 2006 Orange Award for New Writers.
Since its publication in the United Kingdom, it has been issued in the USA, Germany, Israel, Holland, Poland and France and is due to be published in Italy, Hungary and Croatia.
She wrote the narrative for The Winter House, an online, interactive yet linear short story visualized by Jey Biddulph. The project was commissioned by Booktrust as part of the Story campaign, supported by Arts Council England. [3]
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 23, 2025
Don't Burn Anyone at the Stake Today is a short book that's really more of a long opinion piece. It might have helped if I'd read some of Naomi Alderman's other writings before diving into this, or maybe if I'd read it as a physical book rather than an audiobook. Unacquainted as I was with the author or her usual writing style, her narration came off kind of smug. Not burning her at the stake for saying so - god forbid! - but it did get sort of grating after a while.
Delivery notwithstanding, I admire what Alderman tried to do here. The way she articulated her ideas absolutely resonated with me, and I do hope the term "information crisis" as a descriptor for our current age catches on. I just thought there were one too many moments were she overstepped her bounds. While parts of this book were thought-provoking, others were frustratingly ill-realised, almost sketchy, yet broadly sweeping. Others still were delivered in a factual tone that belied their speculative origins. ("Forms" of the printing press existed in China and Korea, but it was phonetic alphabets that "really" revolutionised writing technology? Okay...)
Regardless, reading (or listening to) this book is probably worth your time if these are issues you care about. But maybe borrow it from your local library - you know, those institutions whose models Alderman wishes tech companies would integrate into their products, but whose existence she doesn't defend anywhere near as ardently as the BBC.
My thanks to Penguin Audio and Libro.fm for the ALC.
Delivery notwithstanding, I admire what Alderman tried to do here. The way she articulated her ideas absolutely resonated with me, and I do hope the term "information crisis" as a descriptor for our current age catches on. I just thought there were one too many moments were she overstepped her bounds. While parts of this book were thought-provoking, others were frustratingly ill-realised, almost sketchy, yet broadly sweeping. Others still were delivered in a factual tone that belied their speculative origins. ("Forms" of the printing press existed in China and Korea, but it was phonetic alphabets that "really" revolutionised writing technology? Okay...)
Regardless, reading (or listening to) this book is probably worth your time if these are issues you care about. But maybe borrow it from your local library - you know, those institutions whose models Alderman wishes tech companies would integrate into their products, but whose existence she doesn't defend anywhere near as ardently as the BBC.
My thanks to Penguin Audio and Libro.fm for the ALC.
November 16, 2025
Such a fascinating read, sad it came to an end! Naomi offers us a guide on how to keep sane during an age of information crisis. It puts you off social media for sure!
December 20, 2025
An interesting and relevant read for today. Naomi posits that we would benefit from knowing the name of our 'era' historians will one day use to describe these times, so that we might ajust accordingly. She puts her money on 'The Informtation Crisis', though this is, in fact, the third such crisis we have dealt with. First came the written word. And then came the printing press. And now we have the dawn of the internet, social media and generative AI.
Naomi disusses how our access to information reshapes our perceptions and interactions of one another at a very basic level. Where once letters were symbols representing the people behind them, we have somehow flipped it, and the people are now mere symbols presented by the letters we write about them. It is easier to hate an anonymous face on the other side of the screen than to face it head on.
She touches on history, misinformation, conspiracy theories and the radical adoption of 'cancel culture' that boxes people up from a young age and refuses to let them grow, adapt or change.
Ultimately, Naomi talks about the power of coexisting. The power of accepting that someone might have a different interpretation of a really old book, and not condemning them to a horrifically painful death because of it. Given recent news here in Australia, this seems like an important lesson for everyone to learn.
Naomi's writing is engaging, humourous and even self deprecating. She has a powerful mind and her ability to look behind to see ahead is something we should all aspire to.
Naomi disusses how our access to information reshapes our perceptions and interactions of one another at a very basic level. Where once letters were symbols representing the people behind them, we have somehow flipped it, and the people are now mere symbols presented by the letters we write about them. It is easier to hate an anonymous face on the other side of the screen than to face it head on.
She touches on history, misinformation, conspiracy theories and the radical adoption of 'cancel culture' that boxes people up from a young age and refuses to let them grow, adapt or change.
Ultimately, Naomi talks about the power of coexisting. The power of accepting that someone might have a different interpretation of a really old book, and not condemning them to a horrifically painful death because of it. Given recent news here in Australia, this seems like an important lesson for everyone to learn.
Naomi's writing is engaging, humourous and even self deprecating. She has a powerful mind and her ability to look behind to see ahead is something we should all aspire to.
November 16, 2025
Thought-provoking, gentle, observant, a book for our times which helps us breathe a little and think. I loved it.
November 29, 2025
Rating: 3.5 stars
I think this book captures a lot of our anxieties about the present quite well. Alderman is clearly a very captivating writer. I like how matter-of-factly her tone is, even when expressing an opinion. It feels like a very informed take overall.
However, I do believe that near the end, around chapter 10 maybe, it enters into an interesting mode of "both-sides-ism" which feels errily centrist. By recounting the anecdotal story of her friend who "has disagreed with her over a hot-topic cultural war issue for eight years" (paraphrasing), she makes a point about not abandoning people you might disagree with. Even that having the difficult conversations might actually be a way out of this information crisis. I don't know what to make of this.
On one hand, it is clear that whatever the issue is, both Naomi and her friend seem like sensible people who are invested in clean, intellectual discussion. But as someone who grew up in conservative spaces and continues to inhabit them often, not all people have the capacity to have it be so. A lot of time, taking account of the emotions of people who "disagree" with you is exhausting because unlike Alderman's friend... the other party often doesn't. I still think her overall takes on navigating these discussions are worth considering. I just feel like she may have a tunnel-vision perspective from her specific life scnerios.
Anyways, this is a book worth reading if the topic interests you.
I think this book captures a lot of our anxieties about the present quite well. Alderman is clearly a very captivating writer. I like how matter-of-factly her tone is, even when expressing an opinion. It feels like a very informed take overall.
However, I do believe that near the end, around chapter 10 maybe, it enters into an interesting mode of "both-sides-ism" which feels errily centrist. By recounting the anecdotal story of her friend who "has disagreed with her over a hot-topic cultural war issue for eight years" (paraphrasing), she makes a point about not abandoning people you might disagree with. Even that having the difficult conversations might actually be a way out of this information crisis. I don't know what to make of this.
On one hand, it is clear that whatever the issue is, both Naomi and her friend seem like sensible people who are invested in clean, intellectual discussion. But as someone who grew up in conservative spaces and continues to inhabit them often, not all people have the capacity to have it be so. A lot of time, taking account of the emotions of people who "disagree" with you is exhausting because unlike Alderman's friend... the other party often doesn't. I still think her overall takes on navigating these discussions are worth considering. I just feel like she may have a tunnel-vision perspective from her specific life scnerios.
Anyways, this is a book worth reading if the topic interests you.
December 3, 2025
Loved this short read from Naomi Alderman, ‘Don’t Burn anyone at the stake today.’ With an engaging writing style she explores the chaotic and stressful world many of us are currently experiencing. Alderman defines the current reshaping of human communication and society as the ‘Third Information Crisis.’ Providing a label to what we’re all experiencing gives us agency to step back and reflect. To think about how we might do things differently in navigating increased misinformation, polarisation, and loneliness.
We can also draw parallels from the two previous information revolutions, the invention of writing, and, the invention of printing press.
Alderman highlights
“We live in a tidal wave of data, coming at us constantly. We don't have the social and informational structures in place yet to manage it…
It's affecting everything else that's going on because it's about how we find out what's going on. This is the lens through which we see everything else. Understanding that lens, knowing the name of our own era, might be the most useful thing we could know about our whole lives.”
For those with limited time the BBC Radio 4 series, ‘The Third Information Crisis’, on which Alderman’s book is largely based is still available for listening.
We can also draw parallels from the two previous information revolutions, the invention of writing, and, the invention of printing press.
Alderman highlights
“We live in a tidal wave of data, coming at us constantly. We don't have the social and informational structures in place yet to manage it…
It's affecting everything else that's going on because it's about how we find out what's going on. This is the lens through which we see everything else. Understanding that lens, knowing the name of our own era, might be the most useful thing we could know about our whole lives.”
For those with limited time the BBC Radio 4 series, ‘The Third Information Crisis’, on which Alderman’s book is largely based is still available for listening.
January 1, 2026
Very thought provoking. I have now deleted all my social media accounts. Love the references to other books and podcasts. Don’t love the constant reference to “technology billionaires”. Technology companies would be a better phrase perhaps - I reckon 😜
November 14, 2025
end individualism forever
December 6, 2025
Thoughtful and very useful little book regarding the 'information crisis' that we currently live though. I highly recommend.
December 24, 2025
Thought provoking book - are we at the start of a third information crisis?
December 30, 2025
A really thought provoking short book about the state of the world at the moment. More hopeful than it sounds. Some really good stuff in here.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews