The Butterfly Effect with Jon Ronson

By: Jon Ronson

Narrated by: Jon Ronson

Length: 3 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's Summary

From best-selling writer Jon Ronson and the executive producer behind the TED Radio Hour and Invisibilia, Audible Originals presents a new seven-episode series, The Butterfly Effect with Jon Ronson.

[Contains explicit content] Hear the story of what happened when the tech industry gave the world what it wanted: free porn. Lives were mangled. Fortunes were made. All for your pleasure. Follow writer and narrator Jon Ronson as he uncovers our web of desire.

About Jon Ronson:

Known for exploring the fringes of society, Jon Ronson is a best-selling writer, noted documentarian, and screenwriter – including the award-winning Frank and critically acclaimed Okja. He is the author of international hits So You've Been Publicly Shamed, The Men Who Stare at Goats, and The Psychopath Test, amongst others. A TED Talk favorite, Ronson is also a regular contributor to public radio's This American Life, the New York Times magazine, and GQ magazine.

A Note from Jon:

Hi everyone,

Welcome to The Butterfly Effect. It's sort of about porn, but it's about a lot of other things. It's sad, funny, moving and totally unlike some other nonfiction stories about porn - because it isn't judgmental or salacious. It's human and sweet and strange and lovely. It's a mystery story, an adventure. It's also, I think, a new way of telling a story. This season follows a single butterfly effect. The flap of the butterfly’s wings is a boy in Brussels having an idea. His idea is how to get rich from giving the world free online porn. Over seven episodes I trace the consequences of this idea, from consequence through to consequence. If you keep going in this way, where might you end up? It turns out you end up in the most surprising and unexpected places.

So if you're thinking, why do I want to listen to a show about the tech takeover of the porn industry, I have two things to say:

1. Why wouldn't you want to listen to a show about the tech takeover of the porn industry? That's a great idea for a show.

2. Would you want to listen to a show about three women destroying a mysterious Norwegian man's stamp collection? Well, that happens at the end of episode 2. At the end of Episode 3 a woman becomes convinced that she played a part in a murder committed by an Italian priest. At the end of Episode 4 a boy in Oklahoma is forced to move to a house on the very, very edge of his town.

I hope you like our show,

Jon Ronson

If you don't already have the Audible app, download it now, in the iOS App Store or the Google Play store to listen to The Butterfly Effect.

©2017 Audible Originals LLC (P)2017 Audible Originals LLC

Canada

This is good journalism. It was entertaining and interesting. I did not feel that Jon supported either side and he certainly gave us things to think about. As one reviewer mentions, this is more about how tech and it's ability to make porn free have changed the whole business and how accessible it has made porn. While he talks about teens and how they are viewing porn, it is also a microcosm of how tech is changing the world.

One porn producer is upset about how difficult it has made his life, yet this is how tech has changed everybody's lives for the good and bad. I once dreamed about retiring and buying a used book store. I love books and love to be around them. I have a library in my house. I used to go to bookstores all the time. When my wife and I would go on vacation, we would spend a lot of time going to used book stores in the towns we traveled through. Now I listen to books through audio and write reviews. I rarely buy a hard copy. I will never buy a copy of this book, even though I liked it. Used books stores are going out of business along with the new book stores all across America. My dream is dead, yet I am part of the reason. Radio Shack and Video stores no longer exist. I drive a truck for a living and they are talking about self driving vehicles.

There is some good and some bad to this revolution.

Dark and disturbing with flashes of hope.

While the business aspect of this story was interesting, the obvious human toll is completely tragic. More so because of its avoidable nature. Like the opioid epidemic, I feel this epidemic is effecting our society to a much greater extent than we first thought. The main difference is porn is more wide spread and effects far more people. Alarming stats, well written, and done from a humanistic angle this is a disturbing but worthwhile ADULT listen.

Ignores large issue

Interesting listen, but unforgivable that it ignored the rise in sex trafficking due to the rise of free porn. For a story about the unintended consequences of free internet porn to leave out the most tragic impact it has is ridiculous.

fantastic as always!

Ronson is a fantastic narrator and storyteller. This was touching, strange and beautiful, as well as disturbing at times. definitely worth a listen.

A different look at how porn has affected society

An interesting look at the people who make porn in a rapidly changing world. This series is not so much about porn but how evolving technology has changed the way the porn industry functions.

Great listen!

I enjoyed how tasteful this book was around the topic of sex and how compassionate the writer was. He exposed the evolution of porn in such a an interesting and engaging way!

Jon Ronson is Hunter S. Thompson on Xanax

Jon Ronson is one of the funniest, wittiest, most original voices in investigative journalism today. His style reminds me of a less-coked-up version of Hunter S. Thompson. This works well for him because he puts his subjects at ease, while he extracts the juicy bits.

Jon is the PERFECT man to explain the evolution of free internet porn, and he knocks this assignment out of the park! I only wish it were maybe 4 times longer. There's so much deeper he could've gone into the seedy underbelly of the porn world, and how it's disintegrating from its base - mutating into something much darker and more dangerous than it already was. That aside, there is NOTHING I would fix about this program (it's not a book, FYI).

I highly recommend it for anyone who has ever masturbated to free porn.

Another quirky fantastic story by Jon Ronson

Jon Ronson points his gaze on the porn industry and takes an uncompromising look at the social impacts of free porn on the culture and youth of today. Filled with tenacity, great interviews and unexpected insights into our common humanity, this is Ronson at his finest.

Pros and Cons of free porn.

I have to admit the only reason why I got this is because it was free. i am so glad I gave this a chance. This podcast, interview, investigative journalism really made me think of what actually happens when porn becomes free. Jon Ronson does a very good job being objective. He not only follows the Grandfather of free porn but also the actors, the victims of free porn, the people who have anxiety becuase of the easy access.

I will never think of Pornhub the same way again.

Creative thesis. Weak narrative.

Interesting topic. It focuses on the idea of how Pornhub service that provides free porn have affected the world by using the metaphor of butterfly effect throughout the series.

However, the points that were used in the documentary have struggled to be effectively persuasive to how they are related to the main topic of the documentary.


It does on the other hand present some fascinating stories about the porn world and how it affects teenagers and its impact on the consumers.

Something Literally From Out of the Blue!

Of course having recently completed some historical fiction and a very thoughtful Irish drama the obvious next step is to listen to a docu-drama about free Internet porn. Right? Okay, well it is if you've heard interesting things about Jon Ronson and Audible shove it under your nose, ironically for free!

I wasn't sure quite what to expect but I was genuinely fascinated by Ronson's journey. This wasn't gimmicky or judgemental, rather it was sympathetic to a multi-faceted subject. To my mind Ronson achieves what he set out to do and fully demonstrates something like a butterfly effect. It's often true that some of the most significant consequences of modern progress are the unintended ones as he ably demonstrates. Sometimes we improve trivial convenience to great fanfare only to sweep more consequential impacts under the carpet. I say "something like" a butterfly effect because it's clear that Pornhub had a rather heavier tread than your average fluttering insect.

He gets to a lot of the human stories behind the free porn scene and regardless of your views on porn in general there is a real story to be told. This is a decent piece of work and I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest on how the modern world works. With Ronson's production you can make up your own mind about the issues and people involved.

brilliantly done

i cried. i laughed and i overall learned.
awesome everyone should check it out now.

Wow, just wow.

Cannot recommend this enough. A must for fans of Ronsons work but essential listening for anyone, especially those who on the face of it might normally avoid this subject.

Pitch perfect reportage

Insightful, heartfelt reporting that reaches well beyond its subject matter. I finished it feeling educated about the effects of the free porn industry and depressed about some aspects of what it has done, but I also felt an unerring sense of hope and faith in people. Jon Ronson is simply brilliant at what he does: force listeners to look past their own assumptions.

An interesting and unbiased look behind the scenes

I should have paid attention before purchasing this book. This was not the butterfly effect I was expecting., truly my own mistake believing I knew what it was before I purchased this book, however I still found myself intrigued by the topic covered and the effort Jon and his team must have put into creating this book.

This rather short book consists of Jon visiting several different people and how the evolution of porn has changed each of their lives. Listening to each of these people was very interesting and Jon does a good job at delivering unbiased interviews while still asking the question you want to hear.

The thing I found most irritating about this book is that EVERY chapter we have to hear about who is involved writing, reading, producing, etc this book which gets very repetitive. There's also a few chapters where the same recordings/interviews are re-used, which made me feel this book could have been even shorter but needed padding out...

interesting!

Really interesting, wasn't expecting that. I wish there would be the same in other fields/sectors to see how big companies or monopolies affect small retailers or producers e.g. in the food industry...

A freebie

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Since it's free, I told some of my friends about it.

What does Jon Ronson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

the narration is good.

Any additional comments?

Thanks for the freebie

Fascinating as always!

I love the work Jon does but this was out of the blue (no pun intended) and made even better by the fact that this is a fascinating glimpse into something people ironically think so little about. Brilliantly edited and presented well worth downloading!

Classic Jon Ronson storytelling with captivating and emotive interviews.

Tightly woven human centred storytelling. Jon's childlike curiosity isn't out of place in the porn world. His questions encourage tales that manage to shock you, both through the content and sympathy you didn't expect to feel. The music and humour drive the investigation along and by the end I'm asking myself some important questions, but still smiling.

A superb documentary

What did you like best about this story?

It is a thorough, very well made and unbiased work that looks at this very controversial topic from so many different angles. The topic of porn is such a divisive one and people have such polarised opinions it was a true novelty for me to hear the same person represent it from so many different viewpoints

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

It was somewhat traumatic to hear that the traffic on porn sites significantly increases after bank holidays and Valentine's Days as the intensity of a family program or "being forced" to be with their wives too long drives men to wanting a change.