Jon Ronson's journalism at its best - and free!

I like Jon Ronson's writing style so I was curious about this free audio show when I signed up for Audible.
Even if I would have never guessed to be interested in the story of Pornhub, his research approach and sincere way of interviewing really makes it interesting and made me want to come back to it every day.
You do need to get used to Jon's voice, but after a few episodes it didn't catch my attention anymore. I'm glad I tried this show though before buying one of his audio books, because I might have regretted my purchase during the first chapters. Now I am used to his voice I know I'd be comfortable listening to him for 10 hours.

It's not as lighthearted as you would expect from the subject, but it really opened my eyes to how much effect a single website/platform can have on the rest of the industry. And this must go for many other, less "niche"/"extreme" companies. Always an interesting subject, the butterfly effect.

Since it's free for Audible members, just add it to your library and you can always decide to jump in when you don't know what to listen to next!

42 people found this helpful

Fascinating.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Butterfly Effect to be better than the print version?

I have not read the print version so cannot compare.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the inter-connectedness of the pieces.

Have you listened to any of the narrator’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to the author before.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Definitely.

12 people found this helpful

Love this!

This audio show haunts me, the theme is so exciting and it's told in a brilliant way. Would definitely recommend!

10 people found this helpful

I loved it, I cried, but mostly I laughed.

I thought this was beautiful, which is something I hadn't expected to be writing in this review.

I wasn't really aware of Jon Ronson until today when I saw him, perhaps ironically, on YouTube. I fell in love with his style almost immediately, though at times it does feel a little 'gossipy'. I guess this is probably a technique adopted for the sake of drawing information from his interviewees and so my brain decides to accept that excuse and try not to cringe on the few occasions this occurs rather than throw out the baby with the bathwater and lose out on all the wonderful aspects of Jon Ronson's work.

There is a lot to love here in both the presentation style and the content being presented. Jon Ronson has a very relaxed style of presentation which is very engaging, somehow personal and confidential as if he was speaking directly to me whilst at the same time open and gregarious as if he's presenting a great gift to the world, and he is. The stories presented here are simply human stories, not sensationalised tabloid trash about the dark goings-on in the lurid world of a steamy sex industry. In my opinion each of the subjects of these stories is treated with equal sympathy and respect, even when there has been a little laughter regarding their stories initially as in the case of the stamp collector. I think this initial laughter and amused astonishment is a very human reaction to what seems to be a very bizarre situation and I'm glad these moments have not been edited away in fear of negative reception. In these moments I feel Jon Ronson becomes part of the story himself and probably represents many of us, the listeners, thereby giving me the feeling of being part of this huge, awful, flawed, judgemental, vulnerable, human family. I loved it.

In summary, this is a great book which is most often funny, sometimes sad, once or twice heartbreaking, but always packed to the brim with human dignity. It made a 47 year old man cry. Buy it.

5 people found this helpful

A first rate introduction to the PornHub scandal

Gripping documentary on the consequences of Pornhub takeover of the global porn business. It doesn't give the solution but watch this space.

4 people found this helpful

A brilliant insight

The Butterfly Effect looks at the effect free porn has had on the industry. Jon Ronson looks at the industry and focuses most of his efforts on one man, Fabian, the creator of PornHub – probably the world’s most famous free porn site. There are many interesting snippets that are revealed, and without giving too much away Fabian essentially got very rich while giving away porn for free. Those who make porn. Not so much.

The consequences reach further than that of the producers, the performers are also obviously earning a lot less money so need to turn to other means to supplement their income. There have also been far reaching consequences on society. I found the section dealing with young men and teenagers particularly interesting.

It is certainly a fascinating look at the effect of one business decision. During the podcast Jon speaks to many producers and performers to see what they are doing to make ends meet, and how they feel about Fabian and his websites. I thought it was fascinating and would recommend you give it a listen – but even though I really enjoyed it, it pales in comparison to the follow up, The Last Days of August.

2 people found this helpful

a lot of repetition

With the highlights, then the main show, it felt confusingly repetitive.
Interesting story, with interesting people, but was waiting for more penetrating insights. Was often left thinking "and...?"

2 people found this helpful

Interest

High quality. Expensively produced. JR is great as usual. Too much repetition of clips and long trailers. Worth the listen.

1 person found this helpful

Enlighten yourself and challenge your prejudices

I was not sure what to expect since this was my
first experience of John Robson.
Ronson deals with the subject matter with care and an intelligent approach that tells it as it is without making it a joke or smutty but in a very human way so as the listener you feel you are properly engaging with the people he speaks to.
Thanks for the enlightenment - who would have thought Pornhub would have touched so many different people, in different worlds so much.
My lasting memory is that none of us have the right to judge since non of us know where our path will take us and who ever goes through life not making decisions they later regret.
We all make the best decision we can, given our personal circumstances, but sadly so many people don't have that many options and end up making one bad decision that stays with them for the rest of their life.

1 person found this helpful

The faux-nief thing gets old quickly

The narrator's voice got to me after a while. He seems to be trying to add a 'seedy' inflection which is just annoying. He's an adult, he can act like am adult.

The first episode isn't too bad. Decent history of the PornHub business. The stupid questions from the narrator weren't great.

The idea of fallow years in Ep 2 is something I haven't heard of before and I wonder if it holds up to more than anecdotal evidence. The niché porn bits of the audiobook were just them laughing at people's fetishes for 10 minutes.

While they were odd I didn't see the humour. People like weird stuff... is that meant to be surprising?

Also, the interviewer clearly struggled with the idea that the producers didn't push the clients for the reasoning behind their fetishes. They had some professionalism in that regard. The interviewer just said "Did you ask why they like X?" "No." "Oh, did you ask why they like Y?" "No." Painfully repetitive.

After another fetish episode the 4th was about the sex offender registry and it is quite tragic. I don't know what goes through Americans' heads that calling a 6 year old a sex offender is ok. Or locking an 11 year old up for 6 years for being naked. America is a strange place.

Episode 5 about Ashley Madison is interesting but the bit at the end with the pornstar interview was sad. Pornstars seem to be treated horribly in America despite all the porn consumed there.

Episode 6 is about sex dolls and isn't anything special. Episode 7, the last, features a quick interview with the guy who started PornHub who seems fairly decent and has a good sense of humour. This is quite funny. The ending is another custom porn shoot and could be uplifting/sad depending on perspective.

Overall, I'd say this is moderately interesting but there's nothing revolutionary or particularly noteworthy. If you're past the point of giggling about people having sex then you're probably going to be a bit bored.

1 person found this helpful