Hoodwinking the Nation

by Julian L. Simon

Most people in the United States believe that our environment is getting dirtier, we are running out of natural resources, and population growth is a burden and a threat. These beliefs according to Simon, are entirely wrong. Why do the media report so much false bad news about these? And why do we believe it? Those are the questions distinguished scholar, Julian Simon set out to answer in this book.

Genres: Economics, Science, Environment, Nonfiction

154 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Eric_W]

I have always been a fan of Julian Simon who provided a useful antidote to the apocalyptic thinking (my crap-detector goes into overdrive when people indulge in that form of argument) of the likes of Paul Ehrlich, et al.

I first ran across Simon after I read a long article about the famous bet back in the early eighties. (http://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/02/mag...) Essentially a battle between two schools of thought, the Malthusians v. the Cornucopians, the bet enlivened the debate between two ways of looking at the world.

I was reminded of this book recently when I read Penn Jillette's homage to books and reading http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/boo... in which he cites Simon's book as being important to changing his perspective.

I note there is a soon-to-be-released book about the famous bet in which the author takes a different tack. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/boo... I would quibble with his rather broad statement that it was the bet that created the gulf between economists and environmentalists, but I look forward to getting a copy of his book for my kindle when it's released in early September.

[Beth Haynes · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 60's and 70's, Julian Simon went head-to-head against the doomsday preachers of environmentalism. In this book he examines why there are so many biologists who are environmental alarmists, and why the alarmist point of view is so dominant in the media and public discourse--especially when so much evidence exists that this point of view is wrong!! Simon then presents a better way of approaching these important issues--including a scientific (as opposed to a political-psychological) approach to understanding the true state of our world. A key contribution Simon is able to make as an economist is to point out and explain important fallacious assumptions of the environmental doomsters: 1) zero-sum mentality, 2)finiteness as a starting point of reasoning, 3) and the lack of an understanding of the processes of wealth creation and efficient resource utilization.

Only 127 pages, so its a quick, informative read.

[Shawn]

I've only read a one or two essays in this collection by the preeminent Julian Simon, but those were informative.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

originally ordered 8/17/99 - Simon's essays are about how the media wrongly shapes opinion toward "gloom & doom". Picks on statistics of both Bill Bennett & Al Gore. Lesson for all to be skeptical