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Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future
by Bill McKibben

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199358.Deep_Economy_The_Wealth_of_Communities_and_the_Durable_Future?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172621234m/199358.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199358.Deep_Economy_The_Wealth_of_Communities_and_the_Durable_Future?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/43861.Bill_McKibben">Bill McKibben</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/9580416?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 5 of 5 stars Deep Economy review
 
 I have frequented the library a lot this year. This book has by far been the best yet. It is prophetic in so many ways...
 
 First, I'll get my main critique out of the way: McKibben uses some primary sources to back up his stats, but not enough. I cringed too many times while referring to his endnotes only to see a secondary source for a large research study or astonishing national or international statistics, With that said, I will only quote from his book in this brief incomplete review.
 
 McKibben convincingly points out many present and future global problems stemming in part from the current American attachment to wealth and getting more for less. He starts out acknowledging how our capitalist system since Adam Smith has greatly improved the lives of Americans and other developed countries through the efficiency of production by way of industrialization bringing the accumulation of wealth and hence a higher standard of living. Yet, in the name of economic growth, we have elevated the value of efficiency above and beyond other important values (e.g. environmental sustainability, sustaining local economic communities, healthy food choices, etc. ). Through analyses of different industries, with special attention to agriculture, McKibben shows how our American social psyche of always craving more has become a misguided pursuit of happiness. In fact, he utilizes recent global happiness studies to show that there is a correlation between money and happiness up to about $10,000 per capita income, but not beyond that point (p. 41).
 Here are some other random statistics and facts that are shocking, profound, and otherwise give a flavor for this book:
 
 The GNP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita roughly tripled from 1950-2006 (p. 34).
 
 The Average American house size doubled since 1950 yet the household size shrank (p. 34).
 
 "The average new European home is less than half the size of one [in the US:]" (p. 222).
 
 Europeans use about half as much energy per capita as Americans (p. 222).
 
 "Wal-Mart is the largest seller of food in the world" (p. 53).
 
 "The average bite of American food as traveled 1500 miles changing hands an average of 6 times" (p. 64).
 
 "CSAs charge half for vegetables of what supermarkets charge" (p. 91). [CSA- Community Supported Agriculture local co-operatives:]
 
 McKibben, without a liberal or conservative angle, proposes that a reinvestment in local economic communities by the local individuals and companies themselves is a viable approach to many environmental and social-communal problems today and in the foreseeable future.
 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/214938?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Jon's review
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status: Read in November, 2007

Deep Economy review

I have frequented the library a lot this year. This book has by far been the best yet. It is prophetic in so many ways...

First, I'll get my main critique out of the way: McKibben uses some primary sources to back up his stats, but not enough. I cringed too many times while referring to his endnotes only to see a secondary source for a large research study or astonishing national or international statistics, With that said, I will only quote from his book in this brief incomplete review.

McKibben convincingly points out many present and future global problems stemming in part from the current American attachment to wealth and getting more for less. He starts out acknowledging how our capitalist system since Adam Smith has greatly improved the lives of Americans and other developed countries through the efficiency of production by way of industrialization bringing the accumulation of wealth and hence a higher standard of living. Yet, in the name of economic...more

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