<![CDATA[The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilization]]>

false <![CDATA[The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilization]]>

66668

From the author of the #1 bestselling and Governor General’s Literary Award-winning The Ingenuity Gap – an essential addition to the bookshelf of every thinking person with a stake in our world and our civilization. This is a groundbreaking, essential book for our times. Thomas Homer-Dixon brings to bear his formidable understanding of the urgent problems that confront our world to clarify their scope and deep causes. The Upside of Down provides a vivid picture of the immense stresses that are simultaneously converging on our societies and threatening a breakdown that would profoundly shake civilization. It shows, too, how we can choose a better route into the future. With the immediacy that characterized his award-winning international bestseller, The Ingenuity Gap, Homer-Dixon takes us on a remarkable journey – from the fall of the Roman empire to the devastation of the 9/11 attacks in New York, from Toronto in the 2003 blackout to the ancient temples of Lebanon and the wildfires of California. Incorporating the newest findings from an astonishing array of disciplines, he argues that the great stresses our world is experiencing – global warming, energy scarcity, population imbalances, and widening gaps between rich and poor – can’t be looked at independently. As these stresses combine and converge, the risk of breakdown rises. The first signs are appearing in the wastelands of the Arctic, the mud-clogged streets of Gonaïves, Haiti, and the volatile regions of the Middle East and Asia. But while the consequences of denial in our more perilous world are dire, Homer-Dixon makes clear that we can use our emerging understanding of the complex systems in which we live to avoid catastrophic collapse in a way the Roman empire could not. This vitally important new book shows how, in the face of breakdown, we can still provide for the renewal of our global civilization. We are creating the conditions for catastrophe, but by understanding the underlying principles that make human and natural systems resilient – and by working together to put those principles into effect – we can still limit the severity of collapse and foster regeneration, innovation, and renewal.

64649

2006

The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilization

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228

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Well-written and compelling
100 pages of endnotes (I love footnotes, and endnotes are almost as good)
Makes a consistent argument about energy returns on investment being fundamental to society’s functioning, historically and currently

The bad:

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"[Economic] growth makes the new industries and generates the new jobs needed to absorb technologically displaced workers. The American economy, for example, must expand 3 to 5% annually--doubling in size every fifteen to twenty-five years...more...]]> 5 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon May 11 09:43:34 -0700 2009 Mon May 11 09:59:34 -0700 2009
I have interviewed the author twice for the C-Realm Podcast, once before reading the book and once...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Aug 16 16:38:28 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 16:47:48 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu May 21 12:54:29 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 12:57:41 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Dec 11 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 11 13:44:54 -0800 2008 Thu Dec 11 13:48:14 -0800 2008 Essential reading for geopoli...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Mar 25 13:36:08 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 25 13:37:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Aug 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 20 22:06:30 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 18 23:17:27 -0700 2009 more...]]> 1 0 false false Mon Oct 15 18:57:59 -0700 2007 Sat Oct 20 16:25:08 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Aug 16 13:37:36 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 27 18:33:24 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 13:37:36 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Feb 03 06:09:45 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 03 06:11:05 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Sep 16 18:42:55 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 16 18:51:41 -0700 2007
this book dovetails well with 7 life lessons of chaos, deep economy, Ishmael, and many others.]]> 5 0 false false Wed Aug 27 09:58:52 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 27 09:59:20 -0700 2008
http://omaried.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/...
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Read this book.]]> 0 0 false false Wed Apr 29 20:25:51 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 19:25:07 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 29 20:25:51 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 29 18:48:44 -0700 2008 Sat Dec 20 14:40:01 -0800 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=66668