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readbyashleyd's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Such an interesting and educational read! Can’t recommend it highly enough, my only complaint is I wanted more!
picklebread's review against another edition
5.0
Very interesting book and well written, which academic work often isn't. Made some unexpected but very interesting points about globalisation and the modern financial system.
aydanbereading's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
3.75
fascinating stuff, though you only spend brief respites on each civilisation/period/person that I wish were expanded upon. Drawing juxtaposition and highlighting the similarities between their collapse and our current society’s trajectory was as unnerving as it was interesting.
The biggest problem with the book however is that can be a slog to get through which is reflected in my rating.
The biggest problem with the book however is that can be a slog to get through which is reflected in my rating.
finhatfield's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty nice. I was listening to the audiobook so I think sometimes the dates were a bit difficult to organize in my head.
dee9401's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting read that could have been edited down a bit more. It felt, especially during the first three chapters, to be like a PBS / NatGeo program that kept reiterating the same point over and over again. But, I enjoyed it and wanted to finish it. The ending made it worth it for me, in that he notes that while all societies can and have collapsed in the past, we today can "take steps to fix things, rather than simply passively accept things as they occur" (p. 179). It reminded me of Asimov's Harry Seldon in the Foundation series. Seldon was an historian who realized the galactic empire would collapse but he worked to make the collapse and rebirth of a new empire less painful and shorter in time span.