What do you think?
Rate this book
Entropia: Life Beyond Industrial Civilisation
When industrial civilisation collapsed in the third decade of the 21st century, a community living on a small island in the South Pacific Ocean found itself permanently isolated from the rest of the world. With no option but to build a self-sufficient economy with very limited energy supplies, this community set about creating a simpler way of life that could flourish into the deep future. Determined above all else to transcend the materialistic values of the Old World, they made a commitment to live materially simple lives, convinced that this was the surest path to genuine freedom, peace, and sustainable prosperity. Seven decades later, in the year 2099, this book describes the results of their remarkable living experiment.
204 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2013
28 people are currently reading
616 people want to read
About the author
Samuel Alexander
18 books49 followersDr. Samuel Alexander, co-director of the Simplicity Institute, is a lecturer at the Office for Environmental Programs, University of Melbourne, Australia, teaching a course called ‘Consumerism and the Growth Economy: Interdisciplinary Perspectives’ into the Masters of Environment. He is also a Research Fellow with the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute. He is author of Prosperous Descent: Crisis as Opportunity in an Age of Limits (2015) and Entropia: Life Beyond Industrial Civilisation (2013), and editor of Voluntary Simplicity: The Poetic Alternative to Consumer Culture (2009) and co-editor of Simple Living in History: Pioneers of the Deep Future (2014).
As well as his academic work, in recent years Sam has been working on a ‘simpler way’ demonstration project called Wurruk’an. He is also founder of the Simplicity Collective, a website and social network dedicated to exploring the relationships between voluntary simplicity, energy descent, and post-growth / degrowth economics. Dr. Alexander’s PhD thesis, conducted through Melbourne Law School, is entitled “Property beyond Growth: Toward a Politics of Voluntary Simplicity”.
As well as his academic work, in recent years Sam has been working on a ‘simpler way’ demonstration project called Wurruk’an. He is also founder of the Simplicity Collective, a website and social network dedicated to exploring the relationships between voluntary simplicity, energy descent, and post-growth / degrowth economics. Dr. Alexander’s PhD thesis, conducted through Melbourne Law School, is entitled “Property beyond Growth: Toward a Politics of Voluntary Simplicity”.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 14, 2020
In 1848, John Stuart Mill wrote that the economy would at some point no longer be able to continue growing, and that the answer at that time would be “the stationary state”. Today, we still pretend Herman Daly, and all writing about the Steady State Economy doesn’t exist because such an obvious solution would threaten capitalism. But without a steady state economy, U.S. empire must continue to grow daily on a finite planet (heading us closer to extinction and total economic collapse) or die; oh, the things teachers never told us. Post collapse, a bag of manure could be worth more than a bag of gold. In “Entropia”, People live on an island to engage in a voluntary post-carbon economy and society. Reading this fiction experience is supposed to teach us about our collective de-carbonized future. Entropia had both an Advisory Council, which decides on social and economic policy, and a People’s Council, which determines rules and regulations for the citizens. Members of the Advisory Council had to take a vow of poverty while in office which kept its role in alignment with the public good.
Having read dozens of books about peak oil – post oil, I had high hopes for this book but it was slightly better than a “meh”. This book talks about matches and medicine on the island but quite frankly doesn’t explain how citizenry could have any to use each year for decades on an island without deliveries. Too many of this book’s stories involved things that didn’t seem possible long-term, for example simply maintaining musical instruments in harsh marine environments. I lived a few years along the Pacific Ocean and saw how fast piano strings rusted, new guitar tuners looked pitted and ugly, with strings always needing to be changed, and instruments forced to live locked in cases away from the salt spray. In the finest house on Kauai today, all remote controls live inside sealed baggies because of basic corrosion, so imagine what happens to complex instruments. The musical portion of Entropia (lots of instrument playing) also seems fantasy land given the basics of most product manufacture (resupplying cane, synthetic valve oil, metal string manufacture, and highly unlikely corrosion-free storage on a small island abandoned by the world). We know, for example, that tennis balls used at Wimbledon annually travel 50,000 miles and cross 11 countries and four continents, so imagine the post-carbon rust-filled island of Entropia continuing music making with western instruments with zero supply chains. Pretty unrealistic, and realistic on such a dark subject racing towards us was what I was looking for. The 2008 “Plan C” by Pat Murphy kicked this book’s ass. You’d learn more than Entropia teaches by reading anything by Richard Heinberg, John Michael Greer, William R. Catton, Chris Hedges, Albert Bates, Ozzie Zehner, Dmitry Orlov, Carolyn Baker, James Howard Kunstler, or Derrick Jensen.
Having read dozens of books about peak oil – post oil, I had high hopes for this book but it was slightly better than a “meh”. This book talks about matches and medicine on the island but quite frankly doesn’t explain how citizenry could have any to use each year for decades on an island without deliveries. Too many of this book’s stories involved things that didn’t seem possible long-term, for example simply maintaining musical instruments in harsh marine environments. I lived a few years along the Pacific Ocean and saw how fast piano strings rusted, new guitar tuners looked pitted and ugly, with strings always needing to be changed, and instruments forced to live locked in cases away from the salt spray. In the finest house on Kauai today, all remote controls live inside sealed baggies because of basic corrosion, so imagine what happens to complex instruments. The musical portion of Entropia (lots of instrument playing) also seems fantasy land given the basics of most product manufacture (resupplying cane, synthetic valve oil, metal string manufacture, and highly unlikely corrosion-free storage on a small island abandoned by the world). We know, for example, that tennis balls used at Wimbledon annually travel 50,000 miles and cross 11 countries and four continents, so imagine the post-carbon rust-filled island of Entropia continuing music making with western instruments with zero supply chains. Pretty unrealistic, and realistic on such a dark subject racing towards us was what I was looking for. The 2008 “Plan C” by Pat Murphy kicked this book’s ass. You’d learn more than Entropia teaches by reading anything by Richard Heinberg, John Michael Greer, William R. Catton, Chris Hedges, Albert Bates, Ozzie Zehner, Dmitry Orlov, Carolyn Baker, James Howard Kunstler, or Derrick Jensen.
May 22, 2016
This is essentially a manifesto for a sustainable way of living. It's presented as the fictional account of an island society protected from the general collapse of global civilization. There are some good ideas here and I strongly identify with the themes of this book.
However I can't honestly say this is a satisfying read. The presentation style gets tedious after a few chapters. We are supposed to believe that the narrator has left the successful island of Entropia and is telling us all about it in the past tense. However this never feels particularly authentic because there are no funny annecdotes, no fleshed out characters, no tension. The story is essentially a projection about what life could and should be like in the future: "we do this with our resources because of this"..."our political structure is like this for these reasons"... etc and the device of telling it in the past tense just gets in the way after a while.
The tone is also a bit waffly. There's often times long paragraphs with only a word or two of substance.
Conspicuously absent in this discussion of Entropia is the subject of information technology. There doesn't seem to be much mention of communications or computers. This was disappointing to me because I was (am) curious to know how these technologies fit in with the author's vision of a sustainable society. I also wondered why none of the young folk of the island ever attempted to reestablish contact with other parts of the world. These omissions are somewhat explained at the end of the book.
By the way, it's worth sticking it out for the ending. If you're understandably bored in the middle of the book you may be reassured that something interesting does indeed happen in the last chapters.
I have probably sounded a little critical so far but there were a lot of things that resonated with me. Probably my favourite part of the book was the "charter for the deep future" - basically the constitutional statement for the people of Entropia. For example: "We affirm that providing enough for everyone, forever, is the defining objective of our economy, which we seek to achieve by working together in free association".... "We affirm that maintaining a healthy environment require creating a stationary state economy that operates within environmental and energy limits" ...etc etc.
Apparently there has been the creation of an actual planned community based on the ideas in Entropia. So I'm eager to hear about it perhaps in a future book by this author.
However I can't honestly say this is a satisfying read. The presentation style gets tedious after a few chapters. We are supposed to believe that the narrator has left the successful island of Entropia and is telling us all about it in the past tense. However this never feels particularly authentic because there are no funny annecdotes, no fleshed out characters, no tension. The story is essentially a projection about what life could and should be like in the future: "we do this with our resources because of this"..."our political structure is like this for these reasons"... etc and the device of telling it in the past tense just gets in the way after a while.
The tone is also a bit waffly. There's often times long paragraphs with only a word or two of substance.
Conspicuously absent in this discussion of Entropia is the subject of information technology. There doesn't seem to be much mention of communications or computers. This was disappointing to me because I was (am) curious to know how these technologies fit in with the author's vision of a sustainable society. I also wondered why none of the young folk of the island ever attempted to reestablish contact with other parts of the world. These omissions are somewhat explained at the end of the book.
By the way, it's worth sticking it out for the ending. If you're understandably bored in the middle of the book you may be reassured that something interesting does indeed happen in the last chapters.
I have probably sounded a little critical so far but there were a lot of things that resonated with me. Probably my favourite part of the book was the "charter for the deep future" - basically the constitutional statement for the people of Entropia. For example: "We affirm that providing enough for everyone, forever, is the defining objective of our economy, which we seek to achieve by working together in free association".... "We affirm that maintaining a healthy environment require creating a stationary state economy that operates within environmental and energy limits" ...etc etc.
Apparently there has been the creation of an actual planned community based on the ideas in Entropia. So I'm eager to hear about it perhaps in a future book by this author.
March 15, 2017
Most of the negative reviews I've seen for this are from people who were hoping for something more like the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach or some sexy sci-fi allegory for challenging empire, like Star Wars or Snowpiercer. This is more like Daniel Quinn's book Ishmael where it's technically fiction but you can tell the characters are basically just speaking the author's thoughts. Personally, I think people have already come up with enough clever allegories for the world's problems. What we need now are more realistic thought experiments, and in my opinion this book is a pretty good attempt at that. I wouldn't say that the community described is necessarily the perfect ideal for humanity. I've actually done some of my own thought experiments like this and I'm of the opinion that the level of technology will have to be even simpler for true sustainability (http://aproposalforprimitivism.blogsp...) but he kind of leaves it open for debate. The utopia is still a work in progress where the inhabitants hope to find ways of maintaining certain technologies while not actually being totally certain they can do it. Even the "mistakes", which in most cases are only shortcomings of the characters and not Samuel Alexander himself, are helpful to think about. Overall this book gives us a lot to consider about society, the future and just life in general. I hope to see more writers take on this challenge of designing realistic utopias. And I hope to see more people actually create them!
October 26, 2024
This book is similar to Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach, a combination of green politics manifesto and green religious gospel disguised as a novel.
It disingenuously claims to not be utopian, but that's only because the premise forgoes technocratic cornucopianism. Wishful thinking and accepting unrealistic outcomes are still crucial to suspend disbelief. Both religion and ideology, green or otherwise, demand uncritical thinking.
There are some good ideas, but they're in a context that is entirely too idealistic and optimistic. The extreme romanticism is nauseating.
In addition, this book promotes in excess the typical green world-building standards: marxism, feminism, vegetarianism, and queernormativity; valuing subjectivity more than objectivity; and the overemphasis on art, feelings, sensuality, and egalitarianism. I can do without all these, but otherwise enjoy reading about possible post-collapse futures.
It disingenuously claims to not be utopian, but that's only because the premise forgoes technocratic cornucopianism. Wishful thinking and accepting unrealistic outcomes are still crucial to suspend disbelief. Both religion and ideology, green or otherwise, demand uncritical thinking.
There are some good ideas, but they're in a context that is entirely too idealistic and optimistic. The extreme romanticism is nauseating.
In addition, this book promotes in excess the typical green world-building standards: marxism, feminism, vegetarianism, and queernormativity; valuing subjectivity more than objectivity; and the overemphasis on art, feelings, sensuality, and egalitarianism. I can do without all these, but otherwise enjoy reading about possible post-collapse futures.
April 22, 2017
The content of the book (the ideas & ideals expressed) were great, however, for a novel, I found the writing style a little dry, particularly in the beginning. I read the book because I was interested in the topic and I'm glad I did, but for a work of fiction, it didn't have a strong narrative focus to draw me in. I felt this was a shame, as the book might be picked up by people with no interest in the idea of simply living, but without that special spark, those people might put the book down without reading it & miss out on the important lessons contained in this allegorical work.
July 19, 2025
I was really interested in the concept of this book and, as a Quaker with a soft spot for Thoreau, I have some sympathy with the perspective. However, I was disappointed with the book on quite a few levels. Even more than Huxley's 'Island' it reads like an academic thought experiment and not a novel.
My three main criticisms would be:
Firstly, it feels a bit dated. It doesn't deal with water availability, wild fires, extreme weather or species extinction. A group of people living on an island doing some kind of off-grid living experiment sounds quite idyllic doesn't it? But what about in a collapsing climate?
Secondly, it goes over food production and education - it says virtually nothing about health and social care. It also asserts that people will use contraception to keep the birth rate down but doesn't explain how a post-industrial society comes by effective forms of contraception using only what they have on the island.
Surely that is one of the main concerns people have about simplicity? Simplicity doesn't sound so good if it means no antibiotics, no birth control and no anaesthetic.
Lastly, as someone who spent most of my life living on a small island, the author does not authentically sound like an islander. He doesn't engage with the ways island communities have functioned or survived in the past. The narrator contrasts life on the island against 'western civilisation' but ignores the island based sub-cultures that are very much part of western civilisation (crofting?) that have a long tradition. Also - surely the people that know most about sustainable living on South Pacific islands are South Pacific islanders?
Ursula Le Guin - Always Coming Home - I loved this so much more as a description of post-industrial society.
My three main criticisms would be:
Firstly, it feels a bit dated. It doesn't deal with water availability, wild fires, extreme weather or species extinction. A group of people living on an island doing some kind of off-grid living experiment sounds quite idyllic doesn't it? But what about in a collapsing climate?
Secondly, it goes over food production and education - it says virtually nothing about health and social care. It also asserts that people will use contraception to keep the birth rate down but doesn't explain how a post-industrial society comes by effective forms of contraception using only what they have on the island.
Surely that is one of the main concerns people have about simplicity? Simplicity doesn't sound so good if it means no antibiotics, no birth control and no anaesthetic.
Lastly, as someone who spent most of my life living on a small island, the author does not authentically sound like an islander. He doesn't engage with the ways island communities have functioned or survived in the past. The narrator contrasts life on the island against 'western civilisation' but ignores the island based sub-cultures that are very much part of western civilisation (crofting?) that have a long tradition. Also - surely the people that know most about sustainable living on South Pacific islands are South Pacific islanders?
Ursula Le Guin - Always Coming Home - I loved this so much more as a description of post-industrial society.
November 11, 2018
Inspiring and alarming
In narrative form Sam Alexander brings to life the magnitude of our challenges and also a way forward. I am still digesting this book but I feel something has shifted within me. Concerned as I was, reading this book exposed that I assumed I could have it all, ecologically sustainable living and my laptop, a just society and flights to foreign countries for holidays. I want to say this is still possible but this book suggests it may not be and the hardest work of letting go of our habits of mind may just about be beyond our capabilitues. It exposes the kinds of hard choices we will have to make, and for that I am enormously grateful.
In narrative form Sam Alexander brings to life the magnitude of our challenges and also a way forward. I am still digesting this book but I feel something has shifted within me. Concerned as I was, reading this book exposed that I assumed I could have it all, ecologically sustainable living and my laptop, a just society and flights to foreign countries for holidays. I want to say this is still possible but this book suggests it may not be and the hardest work of letting go of our habits of mind may just about be beyond our capabilitues. It exposes the kinds of hard choices we will have to make, and for that I am enormously grateful.
October 4, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. So much knowledge crammed into one-hundred and seventy six pages. Finding a balance and a composure in life through Stoic wisdom and simple living tips written into a captivating narrative.
“How much is enough?”
“All truely wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in personal experience.”
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you do not have.”
“How much is enough?”
“All truely wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in personal experience.”
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you do not have.”
April 30, 2021
Worth reading
This cautionary tale of the no so far fetched possibility of an industrial civilization collapse contains enough doses of reality make anyone wish a simpler life. Possible? Is up to each of us if only we can part from the deeply ingrained desire for material growth that has been driving humanity for far too long.
This cautionary tale of the no so far fetched possibility of an industrial civilization collapse contains enough doses of reality make anyone wish a simpler life. Possible? Is up to each of us if only we can part from the deeply ingrained desire for material growth that has been driving humanity for far too long.
August 18, 2020
If you’re not super in to Sustainability this may be a dry read but if you give it a chance, it could change your whole outlook on life and make you search within to ask yourself some uncomfortable questions. All I will say is, if you give this book a chance, it may make you a better person.
September 26, 2022
I am still rereading Entropia and will probably always continue to do so. It is a must read for anyone interested in a better and kinder world. I consider this a must read for everyone. A thousand star rating from me.
April 2, 2020
One of the best books I have read, that presents a very important message
August 22, 2020
Beautiful and poignant. The first example I´ve come across of what you might call a "permaculture novel". Highly recommended.
July 1, 2024
I really enjoyed this book and the ideas in it. Didn’t expect the twist at the end at all. The ideas in it aren’t perfect but it has definitely been well thought out.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 17, 2014
Not my cup of tea. Despite the premise, there is almost no fiction here - it reads like an essay. Although well-written, it is too didactic for any audience but the already converted. As (mostly) one of the converted I was happy to read along until I disagreed (with the vegan/vegetarian and anti-marriage ideas). How the island society proposed to have milking goats but not eat meat, remains a mystery. Perhaps if I read further, I'd find that they neutered the excess males and kept them eating their heads off in some far corner of the island.
I believe the author is setting up an eco-village close to where I live, where a number of permaculturalists will live rent-free. I'd be much more interested to read his actual real-life experiences of that experiment.
I believe the author is setting up an eco-village close to where I live, where a number of permaculturalists will live rent-free. I'd be much more interested to read his actual real-life experiences of that experiment.
December 2, 2014
This has been written in prosaic style which at first I found to be slightly irritating given the gravity of the topic . A fictional supposition that bends time and has as it's premise the fortuitous awakening of an individual millionaire. Which was well conceived by Samuel but I personally felt it to be wishful thinking. However it did manage to redeem itself by books end and serves very well as an extension of the discussion Theroux had begun and as story that can be continued through the ecovillage platform he provides links to in the epilogue. So bravo Mr Alexander and thanks.
December 17, 2015
While I am sympathetic with the ideals of this book, like most idealistic imaginings it fails to take into account the vices and weaknesses of human nature. As the author clearly pointed out himself,
“After all, when has reason ever been enough for humankind to act? We are anything but rational, evidence-based creatures.”
For me, a practical, realistic and applicable philosophy must deal with the uglier side of human nature.
“After all, when has reason ever been enough for humankind to act? We are anything but rational, evidence-based creatures.”
For me, a practical, realistic and applicable philosophy must deal with the uglier side of human nature.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews