The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Revised and Updated: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late
by Thom Hartmann
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Revised and Updated: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 228)
Saw this author in the DVD "11th Hour." He discusses the difference between living on "current sunlight" and "ancient sunlight."
Current sunlight is the energy we are currently receiving each day from the sun to our food source, etc. Most of our human history involved living with "current sunlight."
Since the Industrial Revolution, we have used "ancient sunlight. Ancient sunlight is the energy stored in the earth from fossil fuels, etc. A...more
Current sunlight is the energy we are currently receiving each day from the sun to our food source, etc. Most of our human history involved living with "current sunlight."
Since the Industrial Revolution, we have used "ancient sunlight. Ancient sunlight is the energy stored in the earth from fossil fuels, etc. A...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in December, 2006
recommends it for:
everyone
The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight by Thom Hartmann
This book written in 1998 about the state of the environment and our dominant culture is incredibly terrifying in it’s accurate predictions of where and on what time-table our Earth’s resources are running out and what the consequences will be. It’s accuracy makes the continuing predictions that much more terrifying and poignant reading the book today. I recommend this book to anyone who thinks that they can or should simply ignore our...more
This book written in 1998 about the state of the environment and our dominant culture is incredibly terrifying in it’s accurate predictions of where and on what time-table our Earth’s resources are running out and what the consequences will be. It’s accuracy makes the continuing predictions that much more terrifying and poignant reading the book today. I recommend this book to anyone who thinks that they can or should simply ignore our...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2005
From a blog post I wrote in 2005:
Anyone who doesn't believe in global warming or the negative affect we're having on our planet should read this book and see if their belief stays the same. Thom Hartman has clearly done his homework and presents a lot of research.
His main point is that we're quickly using up our 'ancient sunlight' by which he means plantlife, oil, natural gas and coal mostly. The causes for this mass use is attributed to our exponential increase in population and our tra...more
Anyone who doesn't believe in global warming or the negative affect we're having on our planet should read this book and see if their belief stays the same. Thom Hartman has clearly done his homework and presents a lot of research.
His main point is that we're quickly using up our 'ancient sunlight' by which he means plantlife, oil, natural gas and coal mostly. The causes for this mass use is attributed to our exponential increase in population and our tra...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Has a copy to sell/swap
—
Read in January, 1999
This is the first real environmental book I’ve read and it passed my Random Page Test, causing me to sit down for an hour in the bookstore reading it. It was so good I even bought the hard cover edition! Amazon: Thom Hartman offers a highly persuasive argument for adopting the spiritual values of our ancient ancestors, which means living with a strong connection to the earth as well as the sun that nourishes us all. Nowadays, humans often perceive themselves as separate from nature and born to...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in December, 2002
"think of the earth as a living organism that is being attacked by billions of bacteria whose numbers double every forty years. either the host dies, or the [parasite] dies, or both die." ~gore vidal (as quoted in the book)
this was originally published in 1999, when we had "now reached the halfway point of our supplies of oil." nearly a decade later, most of the book remains as pertinent as when it was written. while thom hartmann is an exceptional writer, there ...more
this was originally published in 1999, when we had "now reached the halfway point of our supplies of oil." nearly a decade later, most of the book remains as pertinent as when it was written. while thom hartmann is an exceptional writer, there ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in July, 2006
Right in the title, the author makes a most important point about the way our society is operating. The nature of our crisis is simple: to feed our economy and way of life, we are exhausting a stored reserve of ancient sunlight that took millennia to form. The consequence is both that this supply of easy energy will end and that we are dumping all that stored C02 into the atmosphere where it warms our climate. Hartmann explains all of this, as well as how he thinks our culture got to t...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2005
Read this book if you dare. It will haunt you.
Global warming is the least of our problems. Mankind has had and will continue to have effects on this planet of immense impact. To ignore that and fail to do what is necessary to alter the direction we are going as a species is folly. We fail to comprehend the changes all around us in terms of the using up/pollution of resources necessary to sustain life as we know it. We fail to appreciate the necessity for a sustainable ecosystem including spe...more
Global warming is the least of our problems. Mankind has had and will continue to have effects on this planet of immense impact. To ignore that and fail to do what is necessary to alter the direction we are going as a species is folly. We fail to comprehend the changes all around us in terms of the using up/pollution of resources necessary to sustain life as we know it. We fail to appreciate the necessity for a sustainable ecosystem including spe...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
everyone who breathes.
This is perhaps the most important book our culture may ever have the chance to read. Even if you walk away already having known the facts presented within (very unlikely), the call to seeing the fundamental reason behind the plight we currently find ourselves in is the core of this book. I don't believe you can effectively have any position on global warming or world hunger without seeing things as they truly stand, and this is the very first book I have read that has provided that viewpoint....more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
Everyone
Excellent and passionate - I'd have given this book five stars except for some factual errors that were kind of jarring and made it hard to trust any other data if I didn't know whether or not it was correct. But the main thrust of the book is beyond reasonable debate, the point that our society as it currently operates is unsustainable both because we're rendering our environment unlivable and because the fossil fuels are finite and we're running through them at a speed that guarantees we'll r...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2004
This is an important book - How did we get to the place we are environmentally? Talks about old cultures - living within their means, cooperatively and new cultures with our dominator competitive, society without regard for ruining the earth. Suggests how to reconnect to the earth. I started drying my clothes on the clothes-line religiously - to use the energy given to us by the sun rather than relying on "ancient sunlight".
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in October, 2007
This is a powerful book about not only specific reasons to conserve energy and resources and how to do it, but also how we need to completely change our values and worldview in order to really have an impact. This book was one of 2 that inspired Leonardo Di Caprio's 11th Hour movie on environmentalism.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
recommended to Kelly by:
David Chadwick
I almost gave this book a three because it wasn't edited will enough and the language lacks precision. However, the book was very informative, and delivers this information in a way that stays with you. It gives a broad picture of the plight of humanity and I highly recommend reading it.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
This is a book which will make you think about the way that we do things on this planet. We've made a lot of mistakes, which Hartmann points out, but there are solutions, which he offers.
I love a book that's about solutions and not problems.
A good read.
I love a book that's about solutions and not problems.
A good read.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in November, 2006
We live in the Garden of Eden and it all proceeds directly from the Sun. That we are squandering this gift on trips to the store in SUV's to buy milk is mind boggling. It took me awhile to finish this book but it was worth the contemplation.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2005
it paints a pretty depressing picture of our current depletion of fossil fuels and other human atrocities destroying the planet. but it also really, really inspired me. it is really important that you read this book.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
While starting out extremely depressing, this book has inspired me to think outside of the current culture to see if I can make the changes that I would like to see in the world. :) very gandhi-esque.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2007
One of the best books I've read about how the energy we use was created, how it is stored, how we are using it up, and what we can do about it. A DYNAMIC, DIFFICULT TO READ and HOPEFUL book.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in May, 2007
Lots of crazy facts that are hard to believe, and I'm not to sure of dude's credentials, but it is a sensational read and will make you think the world is going to end.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2008
Just finished this book and it felt a little dated but I liked it alot. I particulalry liked the idea of older and younger cultures. Thom has a broad view of things.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
"I really enjoyed this book although initially alarming, there is reassurance that we can relearn to live a sustainable life as our ancient ancestors once did. "
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
