How to Blow Up a Pipeline

By: Andreas Malm

Narrated by: Brian Arens

Update: In response to listener feedback, this audiobook has been edited to improve sound quality.

Property will cost us the earth.

The science on climate change has been clear for a very long time now. Yet despite decades of appeals, mass street protests, petition campaigns, and peaceful demonstrations, we are still facing a booming fossil fuel industry, rising seas, rising emission levels, and a rising temperature. With the stakes so high, why haven't we moved beyond peaceful protest?

In this lyrical manifesto, noted climate scholar (and saboteur of SUV tires and coal mines) Andreas Malm makes an impassioned call for the climate movement to escalate its tactics in the face of ecological collapse. We need, he argues, to force fossil fuel extraction to stop--with our actions, with our bodies, and by defusing and destroying its tools. We need, in short, to start blowing up some oil pipelines.

Offering a counter-history of how mass popular change has occurred, from the democratic revolutions overthrowing dictators to the movement against apartheid and for women's suffrage, Malm argues that the strategic acceptance of property destruction and violence has been the only route for revolutionary change. In a braided narrative that moves from the forests of Germany and the streets of London to the deserts of Iraq, Malm offers us an incisive discussion of the politics and ethics of pacifism and violence, democracy and social change, strategy and tactics, and a movement compelled by both the heart and the mind. Here is how we fight in a world on fire.

This audio edition of How to Blow Up a Pipeline is skillfully narrated by Brian Arens, an Audible listener favorite.

©2021 Andreas Malm (P)2022 Echo Point Books & Media, LLC

Concise and Insightful

The book is concise and provides hope like a ray of sunshine breaking thru the noxious smog churned out by the capitalists.

I'd urge everyone who reads the title to pause and take a moment before they judge this book. It does not call for people to be harmed, or otherwise mistreated. In fact, the author eloquently argues against it with full force.

The book is short, so why not listen and consider the author's position in full, rather than assuming what the book is about based on it's clickbait title. We're all stuck in this capitalist paradise for at least the foreseeable future, and authors need to move copies of their books to pay the bills.

Protest < Resistance

Short and to the point. From a seasoned climate activist, the imperative to not wait passively for governments to make change is the energy we need going forward.

interesting analysis of climate action, and what might work to prevent the harms caused by climate change.

This book is positive in an unemotional way. I enjoyed the facts and the presentation, and feel galvanized toward action.

Great read and inspiration

Very interesting arguments and supporting evidence. I enjoyed the examples and thought provoking stories. Definitely worth a read. There are a few weird audio skips throughout, I think mistakes made in editing. It’s frustrating but not a deal breaker. Other than that I liked the book.

good but...

I really appreciate the book as a whole however there are a few weird skips through various points.

Inspiring. Hopeful historical justification.

such an inspiring message in the face of the desperation of climate change. Fascinating exploration of the difference between terrorism causing human deaths and terrorism directed only at property destruction. only wish he told me more specifically how to blow up a pipeline in my area

Important!

Anyone who is even remotely worries about the fate of the climate should read/listen to this — not necessarily in preparation for joining some radical eco-activist plank but in understanding the stakes involved.

Neat summation

A very good summary of the crossroads environmentalism finds itself at in the 21st century.

Food for thought

Compelling arguments and an instructive lesson in the commonly censored versions of famous historical uprisings. Gandhi and Martin Luther King certainly appeared more peaceful before I heard this book. Some odd glitches in the audio though.

Excellent, thought provoking work that challenges accepted thought

Excellent narration quality. Clear and concise argument throughout. A very easy to understand text that offers a deep reservoir of critical literature and perspectives to deeply consider/reconsider.