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rianneso's review against another edition
Heavy on EU politics, set around 15 years back in time (I think the book was published in 2011 so that makes sense). I got about a quarter in and was too bored to keep reading.
aoosterwyk's review
4.0
This is a very important book to read if you are concerned about the economy, the environment or the future.
Jeremy Rifkin sets the stage for the next big thing, and it's world-wide. As non-renewable resources run out, we had better be prepared to set up a replacement: localized, renewable and eminently sharable energy. Everyone has a place on the grid, harvesting and passing along their extra energy.
Rifkin is already working with governments in the rest of the world, but our huge oil lobby keeps the pressure on here. A paradigm shift will be necessary for the general populace to take responsibility and take charge. Our children need to be educated and trained for this new world or we will become the third world.
Issues discussed are global-warming, theoretical economics, the environment, governance, and education.
Lovely, thought-provoking read.
Jeremy Rifkin sets the stage for the next big thing, and it's world-wide. As non-renewable resources run out, we had better be prepared to set up a replacement: localized, renewable and eminently sharable energy. Everyone has a place on the grid, harvesting and passing along their extra energy.
Rifkin is already working with governments in the rest of the world, but our huge oil lobby keeps the pressure on here. A paradigm shift will be necessary for the general populace to take responsibility and take charge. Our children need to be educated and trained for this new world or we will become the third world.
Issues discussed are global-warming, theoretical economics, the environment, governance, and education.
Lovely, thought-provoking read.
mad_matx's review
4.0
A lot of interesting stuff. Most interesting - it's a nexus of most of the ideas concerning what to do when/if, and how to prepare for, moving away from, the hydrocarbon economy. I'm not sure if these are ideas Rifkin's original ideas, or if he just brought them together and gave them structure, but either way it is a nice summary and a very useful framework for building the next age.
It is a bit pie-in-the-sky. Nestled amid that framework and some uplifting concrete examples which indicate how it could work on a global scale is (in my opinion)a naivety regarding the money economics - in a section that seems to go on and on and on. I'd recommend skimming the last section; but the rest is very worth reading for those who are interested in the topic.
It is a bit pie-in-the-sky. Nestled amid that framework and some uplifting concrete examples which indicate how it could work on a global scale is (in my opinion)a naivety regarding the money economics - in a section that seems to go on and on and on. I'd recommend skimming the last section; but the rest is very worth reading for those who are interested in the topic.
mojojomo's review
4.0
I’m reviewing this 2011 book a decade later because, well, I just read it, but especially because it seems more relevant to a mainstream reader like me today, than it may have when first published.
I’ve admired Jeremy Rifkin’s rare style of deep thinking, big picture, social criticism over the years, but never read any of his books until just reading his 2019 “Green New Deal”. That book relied so heavily on this earlier work, that I felt the need to give it a go. Yes, it‘s pretty dull, though I have a pretty good tolerance of this sort of thing. I also chose to listen to the audiobook, which made it more tolerable. But yeah, it’s not a page turner. Still...
There are other great reviews of the Third Industrial Revolution, so I’ll just say that what Rifkin wrote then is largely coming to pass. The global economy is in the midst of a transformation — the “TIR” (many, many annoying abbreviations throughout this book) — a major shift away from the second industrial revolution of the late 19th/early 20th century. That was a fossil fueled, gasoline automobile-centric, telephone/broadcast radio/TV communications, centrally-controlled infrastructure. Obviously, that brought more problems in the long run, not the least of which is the existential climate crisis. So like it or not, we MUST move on to the Third Industrial Revolution.
The TIR will be powered by clean, renewable solar and wind, rely on all-electric power, transport, and heating and cooling; and that power will be distributed, but connected by the Internet of Things; communications and transactions will be increasingly internet-based (really already a thing, right?)
Europe and China were way ahead of this curve when Rifkin published the TIR in 2011, and that’s still true today. The United States was behind the curve then, and we’re even further behind today. It’s no secret that even our Second Industrial Revolution infrastructure is in horrific disrepair. And we still need much of that too, especially the electrical grid, many bridges and roads. (Yikes.) Historically, the U.S. has rarely been good at choosing a course, planning it out, and executing it, however, so perhaps we shouldn’t be too alarmed? If “the Green New Deal” term has any consistent meaning for all, it is its reference to the massive, nearly-spontaneous, government-funded infrastructure-building, job creation program of 1933-1941 for which it is named: The New Deal. But back to the TIR!
While the European Union and China adopted TIR back in the 2010s (in direct consultation with Rifkin — impressive!), the U.S. adoption of TIR is likely to take the form of a New Deal-type infrastructure program. And of course, Biden’s April 2021, $2 trillion infrastructure program has many Green New Dealish elements, though the new Administration has carefully avoided the GND label. So perhaps we’re finally on our way? We’ll see.
Two major learnings I didn’t anticipate: First, Rifkin believes that TIR is just a stepping stone to a new society. Once constructed by TIR, this new economy, much like the previous industrial revolution, will dramatically undermine the need for employment. However, Rifkin believes this new collaborative economy, guided by values of collaboration and ecological consciousness, will provide the long-promised possibility of greater leisure for all. Guaranteed income, anyone?
Second — and I was pleasantly surprised by Rifkin’s sociological wisdom here — TIR won’t come about in the U.S. without new stories that clearly project what the good society could be. Scientific reasoning is valuable, but that won’t sway hearts or minds. (And don’t we well know this?) We need to tell stories that embody the values and wisdom of this path, that capture the interest and attention of our neighbors, relatives, and friends.
I would add that since 2011, I have seen this happening here in my home state of New York, thanks to many, many community-based nonprofits working tirelessly to push state governments to legislate and fund their own TIR policies, build that TIR infrastructure piece by piece, and tell those new stories of what’s possible through a collaborative economy, with a more distributed, internet-connected power grid, fueled by clean, renewable solar and wind energy. While New York is certainly a leader among the states’ “laboratories of sustainability”, it is not alone.
Rifkin’s TIR and Green New Deal visions are provocative and prescient. As we begin to overcome the pandemic and its related economic disruption in 2021, Rifkin’s vision looks a lot more plausible and realistic. Long-building grassroots support for the values underlying a GND are finding some agency in Biden’s nascent Administration. Whether the federal government can embrace and move the nation along this course is anyone’s guess, but there doesn’t seem to be an alternative vision out there. And those community-based movers and shakers are not going away.
I’ve admired Jeremy Rifkin’s rare style of deep thinking, big picture, social criticism over the years, but never read any of his books until just reading his 2019 “Green New Deal”. That book relied so heavily on this earlier work, that I felt the need to give it a go. Yes, it‘s pretty dull, though I have a pretty good tolerance of this sort of thing. I also chose to listen to the audiobook, which made it more tolerable. But yeah, it’s not a page turner. Still...
There are other great reviews of the Third Industrial Revolution, so I’ll just say that what Rifkin wrote then is largely coming to pass. The global economy is in the midst of a transformation — the “TIR” (many, many annoying abbreviations throughout this book) — a major shift away from the second industrial revolution of the late 19th/early 20th century. That was a fossil fueled, gasoline automobile-centric, telephone/broadcast radio/TV communications, centrally-controlled infrastructure. Obviously, that brought more problems in the long run, not the least of which is the existential climate crisis. So like it or not, we MUST move on to the Third Industrial Revolution.
The TIR will be powered by clean, renewable solar and wind, rely on all-electric power, transport, and heating and cooling; and that power will be distributed, but connected by the Internet of Things; communications and transactions will be increasingly internet-based (really already a thing, right?)
Europe and China were way ahead of this curve when Rifkin published the TIR in 2011, and that’s still true today. The United States was behind the curve then, and we’re even further behind today. It’s no secret that even our Second Industrial Revolution infrastructure is in horrific disrepair. And we still need much of that too, especially the electrical grid, many bridges and roads. (Yikes.) Historically, the U.S. has rarely been good at choosing a course, planning it out, and executing it, however, so perhaps we shouldn’t be too alarmed? If “the Green New Deal” term has any consistent meaning for all, it is its reference to the massive, nearly-spontaneous, government-funded infrastructure-building, job creation program of 1933-1941 for which it is named: The New Deal. But back to the TIR!
While the European Union and China adopted TIR back in the 2010s (in direct consultation with Rifkin — impressive!), the U.S. adoption of TIR is likely to take the form of a New Deal-type infrastructure program. And of course, Biden’s April 2021, $2 trillion infrastructure program has many Green New Dealish elements, though the new Administration has carefully avoided the GND label. So perhaps we’re finally on our way? We’ll see.
Two major learnings I didn’t anticipate: First, Rifkin believes that TIR is just a stepping stone to a new society. Once constructed by TIR, this new economy, much like the previous industrial revolution, will dramatically undermine the need for employment. However, Rifkin believes this new collaborative economy, guided by values of collaboration and ecological consciousness, will provide the long-promised possibility of greater leisure for all. Guaranteed income, anyone?
Second — and I was pleasantly surprised by Rifkin’s sociological wisdom here — TIR won’t come about in the U.S. without new stories that clearly project what the good society could be. Scientific reasoning is valuable, but that won’t sway hearts or minds. (And don’t we well know this?) We need to tell stories that embody the values and wisdom of this path, that capture the interest and attention of our neighbors, relatives, and friends.
I would add that since 2011, I have seen this happening here in my home state of New York, thanks to many, many community-based nonprofits working tirelessly to push state governments to legislate and fund their own TIR policies, build that TIR infrastructure piece by piece, and tell those new stories of what’s possible through a collaborative economy, with a more distributed, internet-connected power grid, fueled by clean, renewable solar and wind energy. While New York is certainly a leader among the states’ “laboratories of sustainability”, it is not alone.
Rifkin’s TIR and Green New Deal visions are provocative and prescient. As we begin to overcome the pandemic and its related economic disruption in 2021, Rifkin’s vision looks a lot more plausible and realistic. Long-building grassroots support for the values underlying a GND are finding some agency in Biden’s nascent Administration. Whether the federal government can embrace and move the nation along this course is anyone’s guess, but there doesn’t seem to be an alternative vision out there. And those community-based movers and shakers are not going away.
lulumcc's review against another edition
2.0
Interesting premise, but good LORD what a boring book. All about the meetings the author had with European heads of state to get funding for new energy tech. Listen to an interview with Rifkin, and skip the book.
kyle_fowle's review against another edition
4.0
The prose is often cold, but a very illuminating read on the future of energy and the urgency with which governments and populations need to be moving towards something sustainable.
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