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mlayden's review
4.0
Good solid discussion of the years ahead as we hit the barriers. Initially I found the book a bit pedestrian rehashing many other books of it's type. But I found the second half much stronger and a lot more hard hitting than many books.
I think it is probably one of the better books of it's type and one of the most up to date.
It amused me as one of the points it makes was one I probably was the first to make back in 2003 in a rant on the energyresources group site. This was where I questioned the sanity of discussing the efficiency of the automobile when a one tonne vehicle is used to collect a carton of milk. It helps confirm to me that simple examples have the ability to change the framing of discussion.
Many books get the impact of food, energy and water shortages. However this book is good in also understanding just how vunerable the whole health system infrastructure is to collapsing resource availability and the increasing level of drug resistant diseases. This is one of the areas missed by a lot of commentators.
Also good seeing the focusing on the number of young who are unemployed and who will increasingly be. This really is the ultimate bogey man in any discussion of the future. The 1% have forgotton the Roman obsession with "panem et circenses". Law and order only go so far but if you don't feed and keep your population occupied the world explodes.
The book also understands the horror of the current agricultural land grab in the developing world and the disgusting perversion of energy crops, ok maybe not quite in those terms.
I think it is probably one of the better books of it's type and one of the most up to date.
It amused me as one of the points it makes was one I probably was the first to make back in 2003 in a rant on the energyresources group site. This was where I questioned the sanity of discussing the efficiency of the automobile when a one tonne vehicle is used to collect a carton of milk. It helps confirm to me that simple examples have the ability to change the framing of discussion.
Many books get the impact of food, energy and water shortages. However this book is good in also understanding just how vunerable the whole health system infrastructure is to collapsing resource availability and the increasing level of drug resistant diseases. This is one of the areas missed by a lot of commentators.
Also good seeing the focusing on the number of young who are unemployed and who will increasingly be. This really is the ultimate bogey man in any discussion of the future. The 1% have forgotton the Roman obsession with "panem et circenses". Law and order only go so far but if you don't feed and keep your population occupied the world explodes.
The book also understands the horror of the current agricultural land grab in the developing world and the disgusting perversion of energy crops, ok maybe not quite in those terms.