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  <title><![CDATA[A Short History of Progress]]></title>
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  <description><![CDATA[No hope, just an awareness of what's being done now and what's been done in the past, is what Ronald Wright will permit in <em>A Short History of Progress</em>, his grim, ammoniacal Massey Lectures, the 43rd in the series. In five lucid, meticulously documented essays, Wright traces the rise and plummet of four regional civilizations--those of Sumer, Rome, Easter Island, and the Maya--and judges that most, perhaps all, of humanity is making and will continue to make mistakes equally disastrous as theirs. He gives general reasons first for not reckoning we'll pull back from the brink. Important among them is an anthropological observation. As individuals, we live long lives. We evolve more slowly than we should, given our lack of vision and our aggressive, selfish nature. We seem to lack the collective wisdom and the insight into cause and effect to realize the limits to what Wright calls the &quot;experiment&quot; of civilization. What Wright calls natural &quot;subsidies&quot; underwrite civilizations' successes. The squandering of those gifts presages inevitable failure, but with careful, canny stewardship, a civilization can manage to muddle through eons. Wright cites Egypt's submission to the limits set by the Nile's annual floods and China's windblown &quot;lump-sum deposit&quot; of topsoil, used for hillside paddies instead of being put to the plough. Wright observes with unrelenting eloquence that our planetary civilization lives precariously, far beyond its means. &quot;Hope drives us to invent new fixes for old messes,&quot; he acknowledges, neither claiming nor wanting to be a prophet. We certainly have the tools for change and remediation; we also know what our ancestors did wrong and what happened to them. We're faced, our author observes, with two choices: either do nothing--what he calls &quot;one of the biggest mistakes&quot;--or try to effect &quot;the transition from short-term to long-term thinking.&quot; His evidence suggests we're taking the first alternative, which will include a swift, final ride into the dark future on the runaway train of progress. Wright's account tempts one to bet on the rats and roaches. <em>--Ted Whittaker</em>]]></description>
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    <![CDATA[A Short History of Progress]]>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[Anyone who cares about the future]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun Dec 07 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[Ronald Wright bases his book/lecture series around three seemingly simple, yet profound questions that have haunted human beings since time began. <br/><br/>'Where did we come from?' <br/>'What are we?' <br/>'Where are we going?'<br/><br/>If you have any curiosity about the answers to these qu...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/23745829">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[What an amazing book. I actually heard about this while driving back to Rochester through Buffalo one night. The author was selected as the Massey Lecturer for Canada and was on the CBC basically reading the first chapter from his book. I was fucken mesmerized. The signal finally broke and I found t...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11604406">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Charlotte]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[A Short History of Progress]]>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[Homo sapiens ]]></recommended_for>
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  <read_at>Thu Sep 11 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[REQUIRED READING for every human being.  A very succinct and straightforward account of how civilizations rise and fall.  The basic premise is that humans usually outstrip their natural resources, making their society unstable.  Civil unrest and natural disasters ensue that kill off most of the civi...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/29841478">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <name><![CDATA[Dylan]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[A Short History Of Progress: 2004 Massey Lecture]]>
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    <![CDATA[No hope, just an awareness of what's being done now and what's been done in the past, is what Ronald Wright will permit in <em>A Short History of Progress</em>, his grim, ammoniacal Massey Lectures, the 43rd in the series. In five lucid, meticulously documented essays, Wright traces the rise and plummet of four regional civilizations--those of Sumer, Rome, Easter Island, and the Maya--and judges that most, perhaps all, of humanity is making and will continue to make mistakes equally disastrous as theirs. He gives general reasons first for not reckoning we'll pull back from the brink. Important among them is an anthropological observation. As individuals, we live long lives. We evolve more slowly than we should, given our lack of vision and our aggressive, selfish nature. We seem to lack the collective wisdom and the insight into cause and effect to realize the limits to what Wright calls the &quot;experiment&quot; of civilization. What Wright calls natural &quot;subsidies&quot; underwrite civilizations' successes. The squandering of those gifts presages inevitable failure, but with careful, canny stewardship, a civilization can manage to muddle through eons. Wright cites Egypt's submission to the limits set by the Nile's annual floods and China's windblown &quot;lump-sum deposit&quot; of topsoil, used for hillside paddies instead of being put to the plough. Wright observes with unrelenting eloquence that our planetary civilization lives precariously, far beyond its means. &quot;Hope drives us to invent new fixes for old messes,&quot; he acknowledges, neither claiming nor wanting to be a prophet. We certainly have the tools for change and remediation; we also know what our ancestors did wrong and what happened to them. We're faced, our author observes, with two choices: either do nothing--what he calls &quot;one of the biggest mistakes&quot;--or try to effect &quot;the transition from short-term to long-term thinking.&quot; His evidence suggests we're taking the first alternative, which will include a swift, final ride into the dark future on the runaway train of progress. Wright's account tempts one to bet on the rats and roaches. <em>--Ted Whittaker</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
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    <rating>4</rating>
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  <read_at>Tue Nov 10 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Nov 10 11:14:44 -0800 2009</date_added>
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    <body><![CDATA[Wright's presentation is an engaging critique of human technical/material progress from the origin of the species to the present. He satisfied my appreciation for doom and gloom but not so much my guilty desire for evidence of widespread unspoiled life in harmony with nature prior to civilization. I...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/77335334">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[A Short History of Progress]]>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
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  <read_at>Tue Aug 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[This book should be compulsory reading for all world leaders. It is a collection of the lectures that Ronald Wright originally gave as part of the prestigious Canadian Massey Lecture series where an international scholar is invited to give a week long series of lectures on a political, cultural or p...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/68661871">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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  <average_rating>4.08</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
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    <body><![CDATA[This is based on the CBC Massey Lectures, broadcast in November 2004 as part of the Ideas series on CBC Radio.<br/>Could &quot;progress&quot; be humanity's biggest enemy?<br/>He poses the three questions of Gauguin; where do we come from, who are we, where are we going.<br/>To answer these for hu...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/50468483">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[A Short History of Progress]]>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
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  <read_at>Wed Jul 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[Must read! Concise look at the rise and fall of civilizations around the world and how the progress made within these societies ultimately lead to their demise. This book shows us how human ingenuity allowed civilizations around the ancient world to develop similar tools for survival without contact...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/65082369">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[A Short History of Progress]]>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
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  <published>2004</published>
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  <recommended_by><![CDATA[Ryan Armbrust]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon May 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Oct 15 06:49:15 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue May 26 08:42:36 -0700 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[Exactly what it purports to be: <em>A Short History of Progress</em>; or maybe more accurately A Short History of When Progress is Too Much Progress and Everyone Is Going to Die. Wright proposes to answer his central question -- Where are we (humanity) going? -- by exploring the progress/failure of past wave...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/35363046">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[A Short History of Progress]]>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
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  <read_at>Wed Feb 06 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jan 28 18:36:19 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Feb 06 18:18:34 -0800 2008</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[As far as book ideas go, this is a good one. The front cover quote serves its purpose in hooking people into this book: &quot;If you read one book about impending doom this year, make it this one.&quot; <br/><br/>Ronald Wright looks to civilizations past to try and understand where we are heading....<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13884522">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
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  <date_added>Wed May 06 18:34:58 -0700 2009</date_added>
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    <body><![CDATA[This book definitely confirmed what I believed to be true, is that history continues to repeat itself.  People have not learned from the mistakes made in the past and that humans continue to diminish their finite resources without any foresight or thoughts of sustainability.  We lives are too short ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/55206125">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[A Short History of Progress]]>
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    <![CDATA[No hope, just an awareness of what's being done now and what's been done in the past, is what Ronald Wright will permit in <em>A Short History of Progress</em>, his grim, ammoniacal Massey Lectures, the 43rd in the series. In five lucid, meticulously documented essays, Wright traces the rise and plummet of four regional civilizations--those of Sumer, Rome, Easter Island, and the Maya--and judges that most, perhaps all, of humanity is making and will continue to make mistakes equally disastrous as theirs. He gives general reasons first for not reckoning we'll pull back from the brink. Important among them is an anthropological observation. As individuals, we live long lives. We evolve more slowly than we should, given our lack of vision and our aggressive, selfish nature. We seem to lack the collective wisdom and the insight into cause and effect to realize the limits to what Wright calls the &quot;experiment&quot; of civilization. What Wright calls natural &quot;subsidies&quot; underwrite civilizations' successes. The squandering of those gifts presages inevitable failure, but with careful, canny stewardship, a civilization can manage to muddle through eons. Wright cites Egypt's submission to the limits set by the Nile's annual floods and China's windblown &quot;lump-sum deposit&quot; of topsoil, used for hillside paddies instead of being put to the plough. Wright observes with unrelenting eloquence that our planetary civilization lives precariously, far beyond its means. &quot;Hope drives us to invent new fixes for old messes,&quot; he acknowledges, neither claiming nor wanting to be a prophet. We certainly have the tools for change and remediation; we also know what our ancestors did wrong and what happened to them. We're faced, our author observes, with two choices: either do nothing--what he calls &quot;one of the biggest mistakes&quot;--or try to effect &quot;the transition from short-term to long-term thinking.&quot; His evidence suggests we're taking the first alternative, which will include a swift, final ride into the dark future on the runaway train of progress. Wright's account tempts one to bet on the rats and roaches. <em>--Ted Whittaker</em>]]>
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  <date_added>Thu Oct 22 09:45:35 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Oct 22 09:47:23 -0700 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[This book was phenomenal. I love the Massey Lecture series in general but this one is my favourite. It explores our notion of &quot;progress&quot; and what consequences our lust for progress has for us. It takes a look at previously dominant cultures and explores what lead to their downfall. As it t...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75376004">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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  <average_rating>4.08</average_rating>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
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  <read_at>Fri Apr 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005</read_at>
  <date_added>Tue Mar 13 10:08:07 -0700 2007</date_added>
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    <body><![CDATA[Wright knows the sky is perpetually falling, and will continue to do so at intervals as long as humans are around, unless the whole species starts thinking really, incredibly, impossibly long-term.  F***ing our environment for progress is nothing new and has been the main reason most civilizations i...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/255211">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[No hope, just an awareness of what's being done now and what's been done in the past, is what Ronald Wright will permit in <em>A Short History of Progress</em>, his grim, ammoniacal Massey Lectures, the 43rd in the series. In five lucid, meticulously documented essays, Wright traces the rise and plummet of four regional civilizations--those of Sumer, Rome, Easter Island, and the Maya--and judges that most, perhaps all, of humanity is making and will continue to make mistakes equally disastrous as theirs. He gives general reasons first for not reckoning we'll pull back from the brink. Important among them is an anthropological observation. As individuals, we live long lives. We evolve more slowly than we should, given our lack of vision and our aggressive, selfish nature. We seem to lack the collective wisdom and the insight into cause and effect to realize the limits to what Wright calls the &quot;experiment&quot; of civilization. What Wright calls natural &quot;subsidies&quot; underwrite civilizations' successes. The squandering of those gifts presages inevitable failure, but with careful, canny stewardship, a civilization can manage to muddle through eons. Wright cites Egypt's submission to the limits set by the Nile's annual floods and China's windblown &quot;lump-sum deposit&quot; of topsoil, used for hillside paddies instead of being put to the plough. Wright observes with unrelenting eloquence that our planetary civilization lives precariously, far beyond its means. &quot;Hope drives us to invent new fixes for old messes,&quot; he acknowledges, neither claiming nor wanting to be a prophet. We certainly have the tools for change and remediation; we also know what our ancestors did wrong and what happened to them. We're faced, our author observes, with two choices: either do nothing--what he calls &quot;one of the biggest mistakes&quot;--or try to effect &quot;the transition from short-term to long-term thinking.&quot; His evidence suggests we're taking the first alternative, which will include a swift, final ride into the dark future on the runaway train of progress. Wright's account tempts one to bet on the rats and roaches. <em>--Ted Whittaker</em>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
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  <date_added>Thu May 14 22:37:30 -0700 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu May 14 22:37:30 -0700 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[I read this one a couple of years back and it has stuck with me ever since. A really succinct read of the rise and fall of a number of civilizations and the lessons to be learned. I think it is very much of our time and how we need to review humankind and our relationship to this planet.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/56147019]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/56147019]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>66200452</id>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[A Short History of Progress]]>
  </title>
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    <![CDATA[No hope, just an awareness of what's being done now and what's been done in the past, is what Ronald Wright will permit in <em>A Short History of Progress</em>, his grim, ammoniacal Massey Lectures, the 43rd in the series. In five lucid, meticulously documented essays, Wright traces the rise and plummet of four regional civilizations--those of Sumer, Rome, Easter Island, and the Maya--and judges that most, perhaps all, of humanity is making and will continue to make mistakes equally disastrous as theirs. He gives general reasons first for not reckoning we'll pull back from the brink. Important among them is an anthropological observation. As individuals, we live long lives. We evolve more slowly than we should, given our lack of vision and our aggressive, selfish nature. We seem to lack the collective wisdom and the insight into cause and effect to realize the limits to what Wright calls the &quot;experiment&quot; of civilization. What Wright calls natural &quot;subsidies&quot; underwrite civilizations' successes. The squandering of those gifts presages inevitable failure, but with careful, canny stewardship, a civilization can manage to muddle through eons. Wright cites Egypt's submission to the limits set by the Nile's annual floods and China's windblown &quot;lump-sum deposit&quot; of topsoil, used for hillside paddies instead of being put to the plough. Wright observes with unrelenting eloquence that our planetary civilization lives precariously, far beyond its means. &quot;Hope drives us to invent new fixes for old messes,&quot; he acknowledges, neither claiming nor wanting to be a prophet. We certainly have the tools for change and remediation; we also know what our ancestors did wrong and what happened to them. We're faced, our author observes, with two choices: either do nothing--what he calls &quot;one of the biggest mistakes&quot;--or try to effect &quot;the transition from short-term to long-term thinking.&quot; His evidence suggests we're taking the first alternative, which will include a swift, final ride into the dark future on the runaway train of progress. Wright's account tempts one to bet on the rats and roaches. <em>--Ted Whittaker</em>]]>
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  <published>2004</published>
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  <read_at>Thu Nov 18 00:00:00 -0800 2004</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[Ronald Wright is a smart man and a good thinker. This extended essay cum lectures is a provocative and important grappling with our understanding of what 'progress' means...it is a critical idea...we all need to grapple with it.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/66200452]]></url>
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[A Short History of Progress]]>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
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    <body><![CDATA[This is a lucid essay on where we come from, what we are and where we are going as human. Ronald Wright gives us a grim account of 4 civilizations : Sumerian, Mayas, Easter Island, Rome that plundered their nests and destroyed themselves all in the name of progress and the pursuit of riches. Is man ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2718130">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2718130]]></url>
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      <review>
  <id>46062312</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Jason]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[A Short History of Progress]]>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
</book>

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    <body><![CDATA[I'm not sure that there is anything original about Wright's argument: civilizations tend towards environmental excesses that lead to their demise.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46062312]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/46062312]]></link>
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[A Short History of Progress]]>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2004</published>
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  <read_at>Sat Jan 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009</read_at>
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    <body><![CDATA[This was a very apt accompaniment to the <em>Battlestar Galactica</em> pilot/miniseries. Also? Depressing. But worth reading.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44249710]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/44249710]]></link>
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[Excellent short and informative read. Explains, or at least illuminates, our suicidal tendency as a civilization and a species.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/52462438]]></url>
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      <review>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[Great book. Shows just how stupid we humans are. Our civilizations insist on making the same mistakes over and over again!]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/51446904]]></url>
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    <![CDATA[Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. The twentieth century—a time of unprecedented progress—has produced a tremendous strain on the very elements that comprise life itself: This raises the key question of the twenty-first century: How much longer can this go on? With wit and erudition, Ronald Wright lays out a-convincing case that history has always provided an answer, whether we care to notice or not. From Neanderthal man to the Sumerians to the Roman Empire, <em>A Short History of Progress</em> dissects the cyclical nature of humanity’s development and demise, the 10,000-year old experiment that we’ve unleashed but have yet to control.    <p>It is Wright’s contention that only by understanding and ultimately breaking from the patterns of progress and disaster that humanity has repeated around the world since the Stone Age can we avoid the onset of a new Dark Age. Wright illustrates how various cultures throughout history have literally manufactured their own end by producing an overabundance of innovation and stripping bare the very elements that allowed them to initially advance. Wright's book is brilliant; a fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid.</p>]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[Worried about humanity affecting climate? Concerned that we don't treat each other with the respect that you think everyone deserves? Wondering what will become of us as a society or even as a species? <br/><br/>Mr. Wright look back at 5 other cultures to find common threads of behaviour that one ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8471744">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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</GoodreadsResponse>