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The Dragonfly Will Be the Messiah
In twenty short books, Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement.In The Dragonfly Will Be the Messiah , the celebrated pioneer of the 'do-nothing' farming method reflects on global ecological trauma and argues that we must radically transform our understanding of both nature and ourselves in order to have any chance of healing.Over the past 75 years, a new canon has emerged. As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans, visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet, and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration. Their words have endured through the decades, becoming the classics of a movement. Together, these books show the richness of environmental thought, and point the way to a fairer, saner, greener world.
87 pages, Paperback
Published August 26, 2021
41 people are currently reading
785 people want to read
About the author
Masanobu Fukuoka
27 books391 followersMasanobu Fukuoka was born in 1914 in a small farming village on the island of Shikoku in Southern Japan. He was educated in microbiology and worked as a soil scientist specializing in plant pathology, but at the age of twenty-five he began to have doubts about the "wonders of modern agriculture science."
While recovering from a severe attack of pneumonia, Fukuoka experienced a moment of satori or personal enlightenment. He had a vision in which something one might call true nature was revealed to him. He saw that all the "accomplishments" of human civilization are meaningless before the totality of nature. He saw that humans had become separated from nature and that our attempts to control or even understand all the complexities of life were not only futile, they were self-destructive. From that moment on, he has spent his life trying to return to the state of being one with nature.
At the time of his revelation, Fukuoka was living in a Japan that was abandoning its traditional farming methods and adopting Western agriculture, economic and industrial models. He saw how this trend was driving the Japanese even further from a oneness with nature, and how destructive and polluting those practices were. As a result, he resigned his job as a research scientist and returned to his father's farm on Shikoku determined to demonstrate the practical value of his vision by restoring the land to a condition that would enable nature's original harmony to prevail.
Through 30 years of refinement he was able to develop a "do-nothing" method of farming. Without soil cultivation such as plowing or tilling, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, weeding, pruning, machinery or compost, Fukuoka was able to produce high-quality fruit, vegetables and grains with yields equal to or greater than those of any neighboring farm.
In his 60's, Fukuoka sat down to document what he had seen and done. In 1975 his first book "One Straw Revolution" was released and has had a profound impact on agriculture and human consciousness all over the world. "One Straw Revolution" was followed by "The Natural Way of Farming" and then by "The Road Back To Nature."
Since 1979, Fukuoka has been touring, giving lectures and sowing the seeds of natural farming all over the world. In 1988 he was given Deshikottan Award, and the Ramon Magsaysay Award. In 1997 he received the Earth Council Award.
from http://fukuokafarmingol.info/fintro.html
While recovering from a severe attack of pneumonia, Fukuoka experienced a moment of satori or personal enlightenment. He had a vision in which something one might call true nature was revealed to him. He saw that all the "accomplishments" of human civilization are meaningless before the totality of nature. He saw that humans had become separated from nature and that our attempts to control or even understand all the complexities of life were not only futile, they were self-destructive. From that moment on, he has spent his life trying to return to the state of being one with nature.
At the time of his revelation, Fukuoka was living in a Japan that was abandoning its traditional farming methods and adopting Western agriculture, economic and industrial models. He saw how this trend was driving the Japanese even further from a oneness with nature, and how destructive and polluting those practices were. As a result, he resigned his job as a research scientist and returned to his father's farm on Shikoku determined to demonstrate the practical value of his vision by restoring the land to a condition that would enable nature's original harmony to prevail.
Through 30 years of refinement he was able to develop a "do-nothing" method of farming. Without soil cultivation such as plowing or tilling, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, weeding, pruning, machinery or compost, Fukuoka was able to produce high-quality fruit, vegetables and grains with yields equal to or greater than those of any neighboring farm.
In his 60's, Fukuoka sat down to document what he had seen and done. In 1975 his first book "One Straw Revolution" was released and has had a profound impact on agriculture and human consciousness all over the world. "One Straw Revolution" was followed by "The Natural Way of Farming" and then by "The Road Back To Nature."
Since 1979, Fukuoka has been touring, giving lectures and sowing the seeds of natural farming all over the world. In 1988 he was given Deshikottan Award, and the Ramon Magsaysay Award. In 1997 he received the Earth Council Award.
from http://fukuokafarmingol.info/fintro.html
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
November 8, 2023
Some of y’all should’ve just read this instead of taking all those shrooms…
August 28, 2021
1.5 rounded up
Having recently read and enjoyed another book from the Green Ideas series I was looking forward to picking this up, but I'm sad to report this was a big disappointment.
This reads like a heavily abbreviated version of a full length book by Masanobu Fukuoka (I can't quite find which one!) and in some ways it's difficult to review an excerpt of a longer piece when you're unsure if better context might make a text hang together better, but suffice it to say that this made for a frustrating read for this reader. Fukuoka is known for his 'do nothing' method of farming but I found this essay-length book left me more confused than before I read it as to what he actually stood for -- his ideas and written manifesto for an alternative method of farming felt problematic, unrealistic and outdated; some ideas seemed like they'd cause more harm than good. All the research was anecdotal and not based in actual legitimate scientific studies.
On a positive note, the text is presented in an accessible manner and made for a quick read but I'm afraid to say the ideas are not ones that will stick with me. I'm optimistic the third book in the series that I have an ARC of - Man's War Against Nature - will be more my cup of tea.
Thank you Netgalley and Penguin UK for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
Having recently read and enjoyed another book from the Green Ideas series I was looking forward to picking this up, but I'm sad to report this was a big disappointment.
This reads like a heavily abbreviated version of a full length book by Masanobu Fukuoka (I can't quite find which one!) and in some ways it's difficult to review an excerpt of a longer piece when you're unsure if better context might make a text hang together better, but suffice it to say that this made for a frustrating read for this reader. Fukuoka is known for his 'do nothing' method of farming but I found this essay-length book left me more confused than before I read it as to what he actually stood for -- his ideas and written manifesto for an alternative method of farming felt problematic, unrealistic and outdated; some ideas seemed like they'd cause more harm than good. All the research was anecdotal and not based in actual legitimate scientific studies.
On a positive note, the text is presented in an accessible manner and made for a quick read but I'm afraid to say the ideas are not ones that will stick with me. I'm optimistic the third book in the series that I have an ARC of - Man's War Against Nature - will be more my cup of tea.
Thank you Netgalley and Penguin UK for the advance copy, which was provided in exchange for an honest review.
December 31, 2021
3- I liked the practical bit about natural farming, the philosophical musings (which made up most of the book) seemed pretty basic to me and not necessarily well-substantiated. Although I respect the fact that Fukuoka was thinking about our estrangement from nature long before it became a thing.
February 23, 2022
This green little pamphlet-sized book with a dragonfly on its cover is nothing less than a blueprint for a new model of how we might structure a post-industrial post-carbon society, as much as it is a blueprint for the mindset that's going to take us there and into a world re-integrated with natural systems, as opposed to our current one which is more like a parasitic growth. You can think of the book like a seed thrown out the window of a passing car ready to take root and propagate a whole ecosystem of new ideas in whatever new habitat it happens to find itself. Really a remarkable mind, Mr Fukuoka.
Read
August 6, 2021I had such high hopes for this one. Penguin's various Ideas series are lovely little books, even if reading this as a Netgalley ARC meant I wouldn't get the physical satisfaction of the pocketable paperback. The title, obviously; I do love a dragonfly, and I was just recently saying how since they'd made it through the last three great extinctions, they would quite likely dart through our current one too. The author is known for preaching 'Do-Nothing Farming', and as someone who always grumps for a couple of days when the communal garden gets mown, weeded or whatever, discomfiting the bees, that sounds like a movement I can get behind. And he opens with a joyous description of the green epiphany which, back before the Second World War, set him on this path:
"I saw nature directly. It was pure and radiant, what I imagined heaven to be. I saw the mountains and rivers, the grasses and trees, the flowers, the small birds and the butterflies as if for the first time. I felt the throbbing of life, delighted in hearing the songbirds and the sound of rustling leaves. I became as light as the wings of a dragonfly, and felt as if I were flying as high as the mountain peaks."
Alas, it's downhill from there. One potentially promising section starts with Fukuoka's observations of how rice, left to its own devices, will naturally hybridise, even outside its own species – but anything we might have gleaned from that is lost by his conclusion that this shows we simply shouldn't classify plants at all: "We would be better off simply appreciating all the diverse forms nature has provided and not interfering." History is full of apparently love-filled revelation which led to nasty places, and here's another one for the list. Mysticism, founded as it must be on experiences which can only be imperfectly captured by a language not evolved to handle them, can very easily shade into anti-intellectualism, but this is a particularly unabashed example: "Actually, I think people would be better off without words altogether." Talking to another writer about their works, Fukuoka says "I've written mine with the idea that books are not useful at all." When he talks about how each fresh discovery science makes just leaves people with more questions, wanting to know yet more, he seems genuinely to think that's a bad thing. One of several points where I once more lamented that I was reading this as an ebook, but this time because if I'd had a physical copy, I could have thrown it across the room without worrying about knackering my 'phone.
So it continues. At best, the book's middle section offers statements of the bleeding obvious: "Even if we speak of the freedom of capitalism, one cannot wilfully act with unlimited freedom, and not everything can be distributed equally, as communism suggests." Yes, middlemen often screw over both farmers and customers when it comes to the price of food – but now, to the inherent evils of that, we can add the second-order consequence that it might encourage people to seek answers in a philosophy as noxious as this. Because when we're not getting time-worn cliches presented as stunning new information in the manner you'd expect to find on a local newspaper's letters page ("I call it 'the mad course of genetic engineering.'"), we're often being ushered into the territory where hippy twaddle goes from vaguely annoying to outright worrying. Fukuoka pushes back against Darwin with a classic misunderstanding of his theories: "One question I have about this theory is: What basis was used to determine which species are higher or lower, and which are strong or weak?" Yet he manages the remarkable double of apparently being fine with social Darwinism; he's fine with letting pests "thin out the weakest individuals" on his farm, and his scepticism of medicine suggests the same holds for the wider world too. "To speak of creatures as beneficial insects, harmful insects, pathogenic bacteria, or troublesome birds is like saying the right hand is good and the left hand is bad." "The only thing for people to decide is how they can best achieve a death that complies with nature's will." I've no interest in prolonging life when its quality has fled, but this seems to go a long way past that. Even when it comes to re-vegetating deserts, one of the other things with which he's most associated, he seems to go maddeningly back and forth. So far as I can make out, his conclusion is that natural deserts are fine but man-made ones should be re-greened. From which it presumably follows that if some cosmic catastrophe threatened Earth, we should let nature take its course there too, and have all these precious ecosystems wiped out? Or is only Earthbound nature which he counts as nature?
This is, of course, only an excerpt from a longer 1996 work, The Ultimatum Of GOD NATURE (though isn't that a classic green ink title?). Possibly it has been excerpted in such a way as to make the original writer look bad, or perhaps Larry Korn's translation is to blame, though certainly that has never been my experience of the Ideas range in the past. Certainly it sounds as if Fukuoka's practical impact on the world, especially in terms of encouraging sustainable farming, was far more beneficial than you'd expect from reading this. Towards the end one even starts to glimpse how, with sections on pine blight, soil exhaustion and desertification that deplore short-term solutions (chemical spraying, building monumental dams and so forth) in favour of taking a holistic approach and addressing the wider causes. Here we get detailed, plausible, practical information on fixes. But that is precisely to apply the human quest for knowledge, and science, and book-larnin', and all those things the early sections of the book have been deploring, and use them to wise ends – rather than the retreat into quietist mulch which Fukuoka has been advocating.
"I saw nature directly. It was pure and radiant, what I imagined heaven to be. I saw the mountains and rivers, the grasses and trees, the flowers, the small birds and the butterflies as if for the first time. I felt the throbbing of life, delighted in hearing the songbirds and the sound of rustling leaves. I became as light as the wings of a dragonfly, and felt as if I were flying as high as the mountain peaks."
Alas, it's downhill from there. One potentially promising section starts with Fukuoka's observations of how rice, left to its own devices, will naturally hybridise, even outside its own species – but anything we might have gleaned from that is lost by his conclusion that this shows we simply shouldn't classify plants at all: "We would be better off simply appreciating all the diverse forms nature has provided and not interfering." History is full of apparently love-filled revelation which led to nasty places, and here's another one for the list. Mysticism, founded as it must be on experiences which can only be imperfectly captured by a language not evolved to handle them, can very easily shade into anti-intellectualism, but this is a particularly unabashed example: "Actually, I think people would be better off without words altogether." Talking to another writer about their works, Fukuoka says "I've written mine with the idea that books are not useful at all." When he talks about how each fresh discovery science makes just leaves people with more questions, wanting to know yet more, he seems genuinely to think that's a bad thing. One of several points where I once more lamented that I was reading this as an ebook, but this time because if I'd had a physical copy, I could have thrown it across the room without worrying about knackering my 'phone.
So it continues. At best, the book's middle section offers statements of the bleeding obvious: "Even if we speak of the freedom of capitalism, one cannot wilfully act with unlimited freedom, and not everything can be distributed equally, as communism suggests." Yes, middlemen often screw over both farmers and customers when it comes to the price of food – but now, to the inherent evils of that, we can add the second-order consequence that it might encourage people to seek answers in a philosophy as noxious as this. Because when we're not getting time-worn cliches presented as stunning new information in the manner you'd expect to find on a local newspaper's letters page ("I call it 'the mad course of genetic engineering.'"), we're often being ushered into the territory where hippy twaddle goes from vaguely annoying to outright worrying. Fukuoka pushes back against Darwin with a classic misunderstanding of his theories: "One question I have about this theory is: What basis was used to determine which species are higher or lower, and which are strong or weak?" Yet he manages the remarkable double of apparently being fine with social Darwinism; he's fine with letting pests "thin out the weakest individuals" on his farm, and his scepticism of medicine suggests the same holds for the wider world too. "To speak of creatures as beneficial insects, harmful insects, pathogenic bacteria, or troublesome birds is like saying the right hand is good and the left hand is bad." "The only thing for people to decide is how they can best achieve a death that complies with nature's will." I've no interest in prolonging life when its quality has fled, but this seems to go a long way past that. Even when it comes to re-vegetating deserts, one of the other things with which he's most associated, he seems to go maddeningly back and forth. So far as I can make out, his conclusion is that natural deserts are fine but man-made ones should be re-greened. From which it presumably follows that if some cosmic catastrophe threatened Earth, we should let nature take its course there too, and have all these precious ecosystems wiped out? Or is only Earthbound nature which he counts as nature?
This is, of course, only an excerpt from a longer 1996 work, The Ultimatum Of GOD NATURE (though isn't that a classic green ink title?). Possibly it has been excerpted in such a way as to make the original writer look bad, or perhaps Larry Korn's translation is to blame, though certainly that has never been my experience of the Ideas range in the past. Certainly it sounds as if Fukuoka's practical impact on the world, especially in terms of encouraging sustainable farming, was far more beneficial than you'd expect from reading this. Towards the end one even starts to glimpse how, with sections on pine blight, soil exhaustion and desertification that deplore short-term solutions (chemical spraying, building monumental dams and so forth) in favour of taking a holistic approach and addressing the wider causes. Here we get detailed, plausible, practical information on fixes. But that is precisely to apply the human quest for knowledge, and science, and book-larnin', and all those things the early sections of the book have been deploring, and use them to wise ends – rather than the retreat into quietist mulch which Fukuoka has been advocating.
May 8, 2022
This is the second of the Penguin 'Green Ideas' series that I've read so far. I enjoyed the first half a lot more than the latter half, probably because it was about the philosophies behind natural farming rather than the actual methods. This is, however, still a fantastic book, and very accessible for someone with limited environmental knowledge (like me).
I would love to know more about Masanobu Fukuoka's life and how far his ideas of natural farming have spread - maybe more in the east than the west?
My favourite line follows his criticism of modern religion and intellectual culture: 'human beings are nothing more than animals dancing to a tune piped by their own ideas.'
I would love to know more about Masanobu Fukuoka's life and how far his ideas of natural farming have spread - maybe more in the east than the west?
My favourite line follows his criticism of modern religion and intellectual culture: 'human beings are nothing more than animals dancing to a tune piped by their own ideas.'
March 16, 2022
Masanobu Fukuoka was mainly known for his works advocating natural farming and re-vegetation of desertified lands, and his authoritative book The One-Straw Revolution that introduces his methods for natural farming. To put it simply, his ideas campaign the need for ‘do-nothing’ farming methods that are in contrast with the complexities of modern farming. Looking at the timeline of Masanobu’s campaign, he was among the earliest advocates that question monoculture and other modern farming methods that were introduced during the Green Revolution in the past few decades.
In four short chapters, this pamphlet highlights Masanobu’s philosophies which begin with his calling for natural farming. His arguments with regard to natural farming are sound, with proofs of his personal experience working as a microbiologist in pre-war Japan and his interactions with many people from different parts of the world discussing his and their views on natural farming. He argues that modern perspectives have been corrupted by science and (sometimes) by religious imposters who seek more profits and powers by imposing unsustainable ideas on laypeople. He says, “I look forward to the day when there is no need for sacred scriptures or sutras. The dragonfly will be the messiah.”
While some of his claims are agreeable to me, I find it quite difficult to agree to his repudiation of science. In the second part Reconsidering Human Knowledge, Masanobu argues, “With increased ‘knowledge’ comes an increased desire for more knowledge, and then people work and work to invent machines to help them achieve even greater knowledge.” While this is true, and I once held a similar dystopian view about the future of humanity, I consider there’s a wisdom in the scientific approach to solve our problems, while also considering the importance of returning to the natural state of the world in order to sustain the future of humanity. Masanobu’s opinions intrigued me further to think if there’s any endpoint, some non-negotiable limit to how humans can thrive technologically, but still live in harmony with nature.
As the materials on this pamphlet are taken from The Ultimatum of GOD NATURE, first published in Japanese in 1996, there is a 20-year gap between the time when Masanobu first laid out his ideas and the current state of affairs. For instance, more people have become aware of climate change and its consequences to the future of humanity. The term ‘net-zero’ has become more widely understood, and many of us understand the need to reach net-zero by 2050, that we are now on earth on borrowed time. Policymakers in both developed and developing countries now consider climate change as part of the equations in policymaking, with the UN Climate Change conference (COP) being held annually since 1995 up until now to discuss agendas on mitigating climate disasters.
While I don’t 100% buy Masanobu’s ideas, I think it’s a good initiative by Penguin, to publish a series of Penguin Books – Green Ideas comprising 20 short publications to highlight salient points of contemporary philosophers and scientists regarding the climate issues. People of the 21st century are busy, most of us might not have time to read books or we might be doing it in between commuting and catching the next agenda in our schedules, but this short pamphlet and other books in the series might be a ‘wake-up’ call to see what a layperson can do with regards to climate issues.
In four short chapters, this pamphlet highlights Masanobu’s philosophies which begin with his calling for natural farming. His arguments with regard to natural farming are sound, with proofs of his personal experience working as a microbiologist in pre-war Japan and his interactions with many people from different parts of the world discussing his and their views on natural farming. He argues that modern perspectives have been corrupted by science and (sometimes) by religious imposters who seek more profits and powers by imposing unsustainable ideas on laypeople. He says, “I look forward to the day when there is no need for sacred scriptures or sutras. The dragonfly will be the messiah.”
While some of his claims are agreeable to me, I find it quite difficult to agree to his repudiation of science. In the second part Reconsidering Human Knowledge, Masanobu argues, “With increased ‘knowledge’ comes an increased desire for more knowledge, and then people work and work to invent machines to help them achieve even greater knowledge.” While this is true, and I once held a similar dystopian view about the future of humanity, I consider there’s a wisdom in the scientific approach to solve our problems, while also considering the importance of returning to the natural state of the world in order to sustain the future of humanity. Masanobu’s opinions intrigued me further to think if there’s any endpoint, some non-negotiable limit to how humans can thrive technologically, but still live in harmony with nature.
As the materials on this pamphlet are taken from The Ultimatum of GOD NATURE, first published in Japanese in 1996, there is a 20-year gap between the time when Masanobu first laid out his ideas and the current state of affairs. For instance, more people have become aware of climate change and its consequences to the future of humanity. The term ‘net-zero’ has become more widely understood, and many of us understand the need to reach net-zero by 2050, that we are now on earth on borrowed time. Policymakers in both developed and developing countries now consider climate change as part of the equations in policymaking, with the UN Climate Change conference (COP) being held annually since 1995 up until now to discuss agendas on mitigating climate disasters.
While I don’t 100% buy Masanobu’s ideas, I think it’s a good initiative by Penguin, to publish a series of Penguin Books – Green Ideas comprising 20 short publications to highlight salient points of contemporary philosophers and scientists regarding the climate issues. People of the 21st century are busy, most of us might not have time to read books or we might be doing it in between commuting and catching the next agenda in our schedules, but this short pamphlet and other books in the series might be a ‘wake-up’ call to see what a layperson can do with regards to climate issues.
June 9, 2022
An inspiring essay about the state of the world we live in and how we could improve, both environmentally and spiritually. The author is the founder of the so-called 'do-nothing' farming method, preferring to keep human intervention at a minimum and let nature nourish itself. I will definitely read his main publication 'The One Straw Revolution'. Though at some points within this essay it feels like the author is too standoff-ish and spiteful towards modern society, and sometimes ideas loose themselves in his argumentation.
September 1, 2022
I would like to believe his revegetation theory works but the author provides little scientific evidence for his readers.
August 24, 2021
Masanobu Fukuoka is a famous botanist who for 75 years has been pursuing the theory of non-doing agriculture (The Natural Way of Farming), which in turn is inspired by the Buddhist concept of Mu (without).
This is a kind of history of his thought, from the first revelations before the Second World War to a whole series of practical ideas to put, or rather not put, agriculture in motion, leaving it to nature itself.
Unfortunately, my knowledge of botany is very poor so I can not base on factual data my reaction a little bit of bewilderment and a little bit of disbelief that caused me this little ebook, but let's just say that I would love that what the author wrote was not only very feasible, but absolutely functional.
Masanobu Fukuoka é un botanico molto famoso che da 75 anni porta avanti la teoria dell'agricoltura del non fare, che si ispira a sua volta al concetto buddista del Mu (senza).
Questa é una specie di storia del suo pensiero, dalle prime rivelazioni prima della seconda guerra mondiali a tutta una serie di idee pratica per mettere, anzi non mettere, in moto l'agricoltura lasciando praticamente fare alla natura stessa.
Purtroppo le mie nozioni di botanica sono scarsissime quindi non posso fondare su dati di fatto la mia reazione un po' di sconcerto e un po' di incredulitá che mi ha causato questo piccolo ebook, ma diciamo pure che mi piacerebbe tanto che quanto scritto dall'autore fosse non solo molto praticabile, ma assolutamente funzionante.
I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.
This is a kind of history of his thought, from the first revelations before the Second World War to a whole series of practical ideas to put, or rather not put, agriculture in motion, leaving it to nature itself.
Unfortunately, my knowledge of botany is very poor so I can not base on factual data my reaction a little bit of bewilderment and a little bit of disbelief that caused me this little ebook, but let's just say that I would love that what the author wrote was not only very feasible, but absolutely functional.
Masanobu Fukuoka é un botanico molto famoso che da 75 anni porta avanti la teoria dell'agricoltura del non fare, che si ispira a sua volta al concetto buddista del Mu (senza).
Questa é una specie di storia del suo pensiero, dalle prime rivelazioni prima della seconda guerra mondiali a tutta una serie di idee pratica per mettere, anzi non mettere, in moto l'agricoltura lasciando praticamente fare alla natura stessa.
Purtroppo le mie nozioni di botanica sono scarsissime quindi non posso fondare su dati di fatto la mia reazione un po' di sconcerto e un po' di incredulitá che mi ha causato questo piccolo ebook, ma diciamo pure che mi piacerebbe tanto che quanto scritto dall'autore fosse non solo molto praticabile, ma assolutamente funzionante.
I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.
April 23, 2022
An interesting read, a period piece of sorts, chock full of thought-provoking ideas and experiences, from a (dare I say) different voice (in being less Western and transparent/cognizant of that).
It was particularly interesting reading this relatively soon after Lovelock's We Belong to Gaia, which, conceptually, felt, hmmmm, broader in scope, but this felt like it supported (at least some aspects of) the thesis and put additional meat on (some of) the bones.
The author passed away more than a decade ago, and, as I understand it, the content assembled here was originally published elsewhere, between 1996 and 2012. Republished as a (surprisingly cohesive and thought-provoking) standalone here, this slender volume is installment 17 in the Penguin Green Ideas collection. I think the editors/publishers did well to place this in the final quarter of the series - it might not have resonated as well had I read it sooner. But, arriving at this point in the journey, it felt like a nicely shaped puzzle piece falling comfortably into place.
As has been the case, for the most part, throughout, acquiring the boxed set was well worth the investment ... and the minor hassle of acquiring it... Sadly, as my local independent bookstore confirmed, it is not available for sale (in the slipcase collection) in the U.S. What a shame! (Fortunately, thanks to our modern, global economy, it's not that difficult to order it from a UK supplier). Having now reached the three-quarter point, I'm ecstatic that I found and bought it. Well worth the effort, money, and time. Frankly, I can't recommend the collection (warts and imperfections and all ... including the challenges of getting a copy/set in the U.S.) enough.
It was particularly interesting reading this relatively soon after Lovelock's We Belong to Gaia, which, conceptually, felt, hmmmm, broader in scope, but this felt like it supported (at least some aspects of) the thesis and put additional meat on (some of) the bones.
The author passed away more than a decade ago, and, as I understand it, the content assembled here was originally published elsewhere, between 1996 and 2012. Republished as a (surprisingly cohesive and thought-provoking) standalone here, this slender volume is installment 17 in the Penguin Green Ideas collection. I think the editors/publishers did well to place this in the final quarter of the series - it might not have resonated as well had I read it sooner. But, arriving at this point in the journey, it felt like a nicely shaped puzzle piece falling comfortably into place.
As has been the case, for the most part, throughout, acquiring the boxed set was well worth the investment ... and the minor hassle of acquiring it... Sadly, as my local independent bookstore confirmed, it is not available for sale (in the slipcase collection) in the U.S. What a shame! (Fortunately, thanks to our modern, global economy, it's not that difficult to order it from a UK supplier). Having now reached the three-quarter point, I'm ecstatic that I found and bought it. Well worth the effort, money, and time. Frankly, I can't recommend the collection (warts and imperfections and all ... including the challenges of getting a copy/set in the U.S.) enough.
July 16, 2022
"It's true that I have written several books... but you seem to have written your books believing they would be useful to other people. I've written mine with the idea that books are not useful at all," writes Fukuoka.
This one certainly isn't.
These are the disjointed ramblings of someone who likes to philosophize. Some of it is contradictory. The do-nothing farming method is interesting, but I don't understand why Penguin put this together this way. 😕
This one certainly isn't.
These are the disjointed ramblings of someone who likes to philosophize. Some of it is contradictory. The do-nothing farming method is interesting, but I don't understand why Penguin put this together this way. 😕
September 3, 2022
Very difficult read- a lot of seemingly outlandish and angry statements without offering concrete backing or alternatives. Pitting the west against the east- entirely pointless. And romanticizing the past while fully rejecting science and technology. I still gave it 3 stars because it helped me to question my beliefs, some very firmly held- as well as for the beautiful and romantic descriptions of supreme nature and the concept of Mu.
March 5, 2023
It's an extended essay and again opinion rather than backed up fact. In this case though the gardening/science opinion has been tested by praxis. The politics less so and I frankly thought he was wrong on some points. The gardening is a good provocation. I don't know enough to know whether he is right or wrong but it does make me want to know more!
July 4, 2022
Tää oli sillee puoliks höpönlöpöä mut sit ku se rupes selittää miten olla maanviljelijä japanis nii mä olin sillee joo word tää on vituhyvä
February 10, 2024
Misconstrues evolutionary theory and then attacks it. Same with genetics.
The bits about "do-nothing" farming are interesting, but anecdotal.
The bits about "do-nothing" farming are interesting, but anecdotal.
February 28, 2022
although an interesting philosophy with regard to the humanistic view of nature and knowledge systems, I didn't fully agree with a lot of the arguments. the issues of dessertification and natural farming discussed later on in the book did provide an interesting insight into how commercialisation and overpopulation can effect natural systems and gave practical tips on doing things differently.
May 15, 2025
A confusing little book, containing less than a hundred pages on our estrangement to nature, the pressing need for a sacral and spiritual reconnection, and dated musings on de-desertification and less-industrialised agriculture.
Masanobu Fukuoka's stuck in a contradiction between rejecting bookish knowledge, and embracing science to prevent environmental degradation. His philosophy feels over-simplistic at best and quite harmful at worst.
This work skirts close to advocating depopulation, deindustrialisation, and a rejection of academia.
Masanobu Fukuoka's stuck in a contradiction between rejecting bookish knowledge, and embracing science to prevent environmental degradation. His philosophy feels over-simplistic at best and quite harmful at worst.
This work skirts close to advocating depopulation, deindustrialisation, and a rejection of academia.
June 30, 2024
(4.5) A truly lovely read and likely my favourite read from this collection thus far. The writing was poetic and practical. I could sense the author's wisdom while I read it; it sometimes felt quite philosophical. It was riddled with beautiful thoughts and quotes like
"We can never understand the wonderful ways of this world, but is it not enough to simply enjoy our time here and be grateful?"
The book left me with lots of heartwarming moments and hope. I learnt and felt lots through this book. Defs worth a read!
"We can never understand the wonderful ways of this world, but is it not enough to simply enjoy our time here and be grateful?"
The book left me with lots of heartwarming moments and hope. I learnt and felt lots through this book. Defs worth a read!
February 21, 2025
This was a great read for someone to become acquainted with Fukuoka's philosophy. As someone who had never heard of him before, picking this up really challenged my ways of thinking and often made me go, "hmm, that's an interesting way to put it". Do I agree with all of it? I don't know. Though, it was refreshing to change my perspective and try to look at the world and its established theories in a new manner.
Enjoyable read. If this interested you, maybe read the full book called 'Sowing Seeds in the Desert'.
Enjoyable read. If this interested you, maybe read the full book called 'Sowing Seeds in the Desert'.
January 27, 2026
I never write reviews, but this book made me jump out of my chair several times for mostly bad reasons. It’s hard for me to decide whether I hated it or secretely enjoyed it for being so provocative and against my beliefs. Whether one agrees or not with his views and thoughts, it is undeniable that Masanobu Fukuoka had an independent and critical mind. He followed his instinct and questioned our existence, our purpose, and the conflicting paths humans have pursued regarding our connection with nature—most specifically our flaws as a species, as we ironically fail to protect nature even when that is supposedly our utmost goal. I respect him for that.
I enjoyed the start of the book and the multiple attempts and challenges the author faced while perfecting his intuitive “do-nothing” farming method. I appreciated reading how he eventually came to realize that one thing is trying to do close to nothing, and another entirely different thing is abandonment. Those paragraphs felt experimental and sincere.
However, my mixed feelings prevailed throughout most of the book, and some chapters genuinely blew my mind for being overloaded with nonsense. I felt the book contained numerous inaccurate statements. Several comparisons were made in a very abstract way, with distorted generalisations that were rarely backed by anything other than his personal convictions.
Fukuoka argues that ever since Descartes introduced the premise that the very act of doubting one’s existence proves the existence of a thinking self—resulting in the famous “I think, therefore I am”—humans have been trying to know too much and trying too hard to understand things we shouldn’t. In his view, we are wasting our time when we could instead be enjoying the light of the sun on young green leaves or fusing our bodies with the moist soil beneath us.
From what I understood, he believes it is a waste of time to intellectualise a simple, radiant, and beautiful sight by “contaminating” it with scientific explanations. For example, sometimes when I look at the green leaves of a plant, I am happy and amused to know that they appear green because they contain chlorophyll, which absorbs blue and red wavelengths from sunlight to drive photosynthesis. Green light and near-infrared radiation are reflected instead, due to the leaf’s internal cellular structure, high water content, and air spaces between its cells. This contrast signals plant health and vigor and can be measured through remote sensing at a landscape scale. To me, this is fascinating and potentially useful for restoring degraded areas by seing where ecosystems are most degraded at the landscape scale. To him, this type of technology seems largely useless, since we could already be spending our time regenerating ecosystems directly with our hands in the soil. I understand that things could be simpler.
What bothers me, however, is the author’s claim that we cannot truly understand or even admire nature if we approach it from a scientific perspective, by dividing, individualising, and compartmentalising it. Why isn’t that also worth doing? Isn’t our pursuit of knowledge proof that we care—that we are curious, stubborn, persistent, relentless, and patient? That we want to connect with nature by being fascinated by it, by admiring it, studying it, and by wanting to understand the intricate and complex factors that shape it?
Scientific knowledge may never fully grasp the complexity and the reasons behind why nature is what it is. However, to discredit science altogether and propose a new theory of evolution based on clay pellets with different "programmed" seeds of animals, plants, bacteria, fungi, being distributed by “the Creator” is... well... beyond my comprehension. Why go back hundreds of years in scientific understanding in order to oversimplify our relationship with nature?
I think the chapter where he criticizes the (as he calls) "flat single-plane" Darwin's theory of natural selection is absolutely offpoint and has several misinterpretations. The author does not seem to know that the "survival of the fittest" does not equal to the "survival of the strongest", but the survival of the individuals that are most adapted and successful in reproducing. Additionally, he criticizes the theory because it considers that humans are the "most evolved" species. I find this odd, since humans are almost entirely absent from Darwin's book "On the Origin of Species" (1859). Darwin purposefully avoided the subject of human origins to prevent immediate prejudice against his broader theory, famously offering only a single sentence: "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history". Actually, before Darwin, many believed in a linear "Great Chain of Being" with humans at the top. Darwin replaced this with the Tree of Life, a branching model where all living species are at the ends of their own branches. Every species alive today has been evolving for exactly the same amount of time—roughly 3.5 to 4 billion years—since the origin of life. From this perspective, a bacterium is just as "evolved" as a human because it has successfully navigated billions of years of environmental changes to exist today.
I also felt there were constant contradictions in Fukuoka’s statements:
“Just as human beings do not know themselves, they cannot know nature.”
“Perhaps the people who most easily perceive that nature is sacred are a few religious people, artists of great sensitivity, and children.”
“The poets who write about nature, the painters who turn it into works of art, the people who compose music, the sculptors… I would like to believe that they are the ones drawn to what is truly meaningful.”
“But if an artist’s understanding of nature is unclear (…)”
Even if one believes that understanding nature simply means admiring its beauty, ugliness, violence, or serenity, this still involves rationalising and processing experience. That, too, is a form of understanding. A child will have curiosity and ask questions of why is the moon so big, so bright, why is it round and not squared, why is it far away, is the moon the sister of the sun, can we touch it? Does that mean a child is no longer able to understand the pure essence of the moon, just because she is naturally developing her curious mind? Personally, I feel I am able to admire the moon even more now as an adult, since I am aware that it is orbiting around my planet at a speed of 1.022 km per second. I am amazed how my period comes naturally around the time when the moon is full, and how I might feel some ovulation cramps when the moon cannot be seen. Understanding the moon makes me understand myself.
When it comes to whether scientific attempts to understand nature are useful or pointless, my views differ greatly from Fukuoka’s. Unfortunately, we live in a world governed by greed and exploitation. These forces cause the destruction of natural ecosystems, the fragmentation of habitats, and irreversible environmental damage. Understanding nature and being able to explain its importance through substantial data and evidence is crucial to resisting those forces and educating the masses. In order to protect nature, we must understand it and communicate its value to those who make higher-level decisions.
Nevertheless, I appreciate Fukuoka’s originality, his philosophical questioning, and his defiance of mainstream thought that is too often shaped and financed by corporations that profit from it. I think the chapter on the theory of evolution is absolutely disastrous though. Despite my criticism, I believe his work remains an important provocation and a reminder that our relationship with nature is deeply flawed. The book ultimately leaves me with the idea that awe alone does not protect ecosystems; and that we must be informed, deliberate, and organised in protecting and restoring the Earth, perhaps with all tools that are available. Yet it also reminds me that theory alone, without practical effort and the courage to act, risks becoming another form of inaction.
I enjoyed the start of the book and the multiple attempts and challenges the author faced while perfecting his intuitive “do-nothing” farming method. I appreciated reading how he eventually came to realize that one thing is trying to do close to nothing, and another entirely different thing is abandonment. Those paragraphs felt experimental and sincere.
However, my mixed feelings prevailed throughout most of the book, and some chapters genuinely blew my mind for being overloaded with nonsense. I felt the book contained numerous inaccurate statements. Several comparisons were made in a very abstract way, with distorted generalisations that were rarely backed by anything other than his personal convictions.
Fukuoka argues that ever since Descartes introduced the premise that the very act of doubting one’s existence proves the existence of a thinking self—resulting in the famous “I think, therefore I am”—humans have been trying to know too much and trying too hard to understand things we shouldn’t. In his view, we are wasting our time when we could instead be enjoying the light of the sun on young green leaves or fusing our bodies with the moist soil beneath us.
From what I understood, he believes it is a waste of time to intellectualise a simple, radiant, and beautiful sight by “contaminating” it with scientific explanations. For example, sometimes when I look at the green leaves of a plant, I am happy and amused to know that they appear green because they contain chlorophyll, which absorbs blue and red wavelengths from sunlight to drive photosynthesis. Green light and near-infrared radiation are reflected instead, due to the leaf’s internal cellular structure, high water content, and air spaces between its cells. This contrast signals plant health and vigor and can be measured through remote sensing at a landscape scale. To me, this is fascinating and potentially useful for restoring degraded areas by seing where ecosystems are most degraded at the landscape scale. To him, this type of technology seems largely useless, since we could already be spending our time regenerating ecosystems directly with our hands in the soil. I understand that things could be simpler.
What bothers me, however, is the author’s claim that we cannot truly understand or even admire nature if we approach it from a scientific perspective, by dividing, individualising, and compartmentalising it. Why isn’t that also worth doing? Isn’t our pursuit of knowledge proof that we care—that we are curious, stubborn, persistent, relentless, and patient? That we want to connect with nature by being fascinated by it, by admiring it, studying it, and by wanting to understand the intricate and complex factors that shape it?
Scientific knowledge may never fully grasp the complexity and the reasons behind why nature is what it is. However, to discredit science altogether and propose a new theory of evolution based on clay pellets with different "programmed" seeds of animals, plants, bacteria, fungi, being distributed by “the Creator” is... well... beyond my comprehension. Why go back hundreds of years in scientific understanding in order to oversimplify our relationship with nature?
I think the chapter where he criticizes the (as he calls) "flat single-plane" Darwin's theory of natural selection is absolutely offpoint and has several misinterpretations. The author does not seem to know that the "survival of the fittest" does not equal to the "survival of the strongest", but the survival of the individuals that are most adapted and successful in reproducing. Additionally, he criticizes the theory because it considers that humans are the "most evolved" species. I find this odd, since humans are almost entirely absent from Darwin's book "On the Origin of Species" (1859). Darwin purposefully avoided the subject of human origins to prevent immediate prejudice against his broader theory, famously offering only a single sentence: "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history". Actually, before Darwin, many believed in a linear "Great Chain of Being" with humans at the top. Darwin replaced this with the Tree of Life, a branching model where all living species are at the ends of their own branches. Every species alive today has been evolving for exactly the same amount of time—roughly 3.5 to 4 billion years—since the origin of life. From this perspective, a bacterium is just as "evolved" as a human because it has successfully navigated billions of years of environmental changes to exist today.
I also felt there were constant contradictions in Fukuoka’s statements:
“Just as human beings do not know themselves, they cannot know nature.”
“Perhaps the people who most easily perceive that nature is sacred are a few religious people, artists of great sensitivity, and children.”
“The poets who write about nature, the painters who turn it into works of art, the people who compose music, the sculptors… I would like to believe that they are the ones drawn to what is truly meaningful.”
“But if an artist’s understanding of nature is unclear (…)”
Even if one believes that understanding nature simply means admiring its beauty, ugliness, violence, or serenity, this still involves rationalising and processing experience. That, too, is a form of understanding. A child will have curiosity and ask questions of why is the moon so big, so bright, why is it round and not squared, why is it far away, is the moon the sister of the sun, can we touch it? Does that mean a child is no longer able to understand the pure essence of the moon, just because she is naturally developing her curious mind? Personally, I feel I am able to admire the moon even more now as an adult, since I am aware that it is orbiting around my planet at a speed of 1.022 km per second. I am amazed how my period comes naturally around the time when the moon is full, and how I might feel some ovulation cramps when the moon cannot be seen. Understanding the moon makes me understand myself.
When it comes to whether scientific attempts to understand nature are useful or pointless, my views differ greatly from Fukuoka’s. Unfortunately, we live in a world governed by greed and exploitation. These forces cause the destruction of natural ecosystems, the fragmentation of habitats, and irreversible environmental damage. Understanding nature and being able to explain its importance through substantial data and evidence is crucial to resisting those forces and educating the masses. In order to protect nature, we must understand it and communicate its value to those who make higher-level decisions.
Nevertheless, I appreciate Fukuoka’s originality, his philosophical questioning, and his defiance of mainstream thought that is too often shaped and financed by corporations that profit from it. I think the chapter on the theory of evolution is absolutely disastrous though. Despite my criticism, I believe his work remains an important provocation and a reminder that our relationship with nature is deeply flawed. The book ultimately leaves me with the idea that awe alone does not protect ecosystems; and that we must be informed, deliberate, and organised in protecting and restoring the Earth, perhaps with all tools that are available. Yet it also reminds me that theory alone, without practical effort and the courage to act, risks becoming another form of inaction.
Read
October 16, 2024ele é um velhinho japonês arrogante mas tem razão.
"In a single leaf, a single flower, I was moved to appreciate all the beautiful forms of this world. What I saw was simply the green of the trees sparkling in sunlight. I saw no deity other than the trees them-selves, nor did I perceive a spirit or soul of vegetation hidden within the trees. When I viewed the world with an empty mind, I was able to perceive that the world before me was the true form of nature, and the only deity I would ever worship."
"Once long ago, when I was in the mountains, I unconsciously wrote, 'The mountains, rivers, grasses and trees are all Buddha, on a piece of wood. At other times I would suggest that 'God' refers to the absolute truth that transcends time and space. Perhaps an even better description, I sometimes thought, was Lao-tse's term 'The Nameless. I was really just struggling with words. Actually, I think people would be better off without words altogether."
"This is only one type of many religious imposters who hold both the deities and the people captive and run around acquiring believers in order to make money and gain power. But many of them are popular and well regarded, and would not seem to be the stereotypical image of an imposter. This paradox leads me to reflect on how human beings are nothing more than animals dancing to a tune piped by their own ideas.
I look forward to the day when there is no need for sacred scriptures or sutras. The dragonfly will be the messiah."
"Once people create a mental image of the 'moon, the moon takes concrete form and we want to 'know the moon,' and then discover more and more about the moon. This desire eventually leads to actually traveling to the moon and retrieving stones to bring back to earth for further research. The next thing you know we are building space stations, and who knows what else might follow.
With increased 'knowledge' comes an increased desire for more knowledge, and then people work and work to invent machines to help them achieve even greater knowledge. But even if proof" is found, only more questions will arise from that so-called proof.
The desire for knowledge becomes endless and we lose sight of our place in the world. In the end, the true essence of the moon is more clearly seen through the eyes of a child."
"It is easy to liken the flow of time to the flow of a river. But even the phenomenon of water flowing in a river presents challenges of perception. When you stand on a riverbank and look at the water, you can clearly see that the water is flowing in one direction.
But if you are in a boat moving at the same speed as the water, the river does not seem to be flowing at all: rather the riverbank appears to be moving upstream."
"It is one thing to think that within the constant changes of all things and phenomena there must be some corresponding fixed laws, but humans cannot seem to be satisfied until they have expressed these laws mathematically."
"People have concluded that the life and death of other living things in nature is the life and death of the physical body, but with human beings there is also the question of whether life ends with death or continues after it. People so agonize over the many ideas on this subject - whether people's souls continue after death, whether there is another world where spirits go after death, whether people are born again - that they can hardly manage to simply die."
"Anyway, none of these ideas - life, death, spirit, the soul - escapes the framework of relative thought. They are nothing more than abstract notions built up of judgments and circular reasoning based on human thinking. People have created a world of ghosts called the hereafter. But no matter how much humans search for freedom from the fear of not knowing, in the end, they should just return to the reality of nature and live their lives in peace."
"I have often said that value does not lie in material goods themselves, but when people create the conditions that make them seem necessary, their value increases. The capitalist system is based on the notion of ever-increasing production and consumption of material goods, and therefore, in the modern econ-omy, people's value or worth comes to be determined by their possessions. But if people create conditions and environments that do not make those things nec-essary, the things, no matter what they are, become valueless. Cars, for example, are not considered to be of value by people who are not in a hurry. Economies that aim at production and consumption of unnecessary products are themselves meaningless. People could get along perfectly well without unnecessary goods if they lived a life in which nature provided everything - assuming, of course, that they had access to the natural world. But this has become increasingly difficult in the wake of commodity agriculture and the global dominance of agribusiness. Indeed, one can ask of capitalism: 'Why are human beings not satisfied, as are the birds, with what they can glean? Why do they earn their sustenance by the sweat of their brows and suffer so?'"
"In a single leaf, a single flower, I was moved to appreciate all the beautiful forms of this world. What I saw was simply the green of the trees sparkling in sunlight. I saw no deity other than the trees them-selves, nor did I perceive a spirit or soul of vegetation hidden within the trees. When I viewed the world with an empty mind, I was able to perceive that the world before me was the true form of nature, and the only deity I would ever worship."
"Once long ago, when I was in the mountains, I unconsciously wrote, 'The mountains, rivers, grasses and trees are all Buddha, on a piece of wood. At other times I would suggest that 'God' refers to the absolute truth that transcends time and space. Perhaps an even better description, I sometimes thought, was Lao-tse's term 'The Nameless. I was really just struggling with words. Actually, I think people would be better off without words altogether."
"This is only one type of many religious imposters who hold both the deities and the people captive and run around acquiring believers in order to make money and gain power. But many of them are popular and well regarded, and would not seem to be the stereotypical image of an imposter. This paradox leads me to reflect on how human beings are nothing more than animals dancing to a tune piped by their own ideas.
I look forward to the day when there is no need for sacred scriptures or sutras. The dragonfly will be the messiah."
"Once people create a mental image of the 'moon, the moon takes concrete form and we want to 'know the moon,' and then discover more and more about the moon. This desire eventually leads to actually traveling to the moon and retrieving stones to bring back to earth for further research. The next thing you know we are building space stations, and who knows what else might follow.
With increased 'knowledge' comes an increased desire for more knowledge, and then people work and work to invent machines to help them achieve even greater knowledge. But even if proof" is found, only more questions will arise from that so-called proof.
The desire for knowledge becomes endless and we lose sight of our place in the world. In the end, the true essence of the moon is more clearly seen through the eyes of a child."
"It is easy to liken the flow of time to the flow of a river. But even the phenomenon of water flowing in a river presents challenges of perception. When you stand on a riverbank and look at the water, you can clearly see that the water is flowing in one direction.
But if you are in a boat moving at the same speed as the water, the river does not seem to be flowing at all: rather the riverbank appears to be moving upstream."
"It is one thing to think that within the constant changes of all things and phenomena there must be some corresponding fixed laws, but humans cannot seem to be satisfied until they have expressed these laws mathematically."
"People have concluded that the life and death of other living things in nature is the life and death of the physical body, but with human beings there is also the question of whether life ends with death or continues after it. People so agonize over the many ideas on this subject - whether people's souls continue after death, whether there is another world where spirits go after death, whether people are born again - that they can hardly manage to simply die."
"Anyway, none of these ideas - life, death, spirit, the soul - escapes the framework of relative thought. They are nothing more than abstract notions built up of judgments and circular reasoning based on human thinking. People have created a world of ghosts called the hereafter. But no matter how much humans search for freedom from the fear of not knowing, in the end, they should just return to the reality of nature and live their lives in peace."
"I have often said that value does not lie in material goods themselves, but when people create the conditions that make them seem necessary, their value increases. The capitalist system is based on the notion of ever-increasing production and consumption of material goods, and therefore, in the modern econ-omy, people's value or worth comes to be determined by their possessions. But if people create conditions and environments that do not make those things nec-essary, the things, no matter what they are, become valueless. Cars, for example, are not considered to be of value by people who are not in a hurry. Economies that aim at production and consumption of unnecessary products are themselves meaningless. People could get along perfectly well without unnecessary goods if they lived a life in which nature provided everything - assuming, of course, that they had access to the natural world. But this has become increasingly difficult in the wake of commodity agriculture and the global dominance of agribusiness. Indeed, one can ask of capitalism: 'Why are human beings not satisfied, as are the birds, with what they can glean? Why do they earn their sustenance by the sweat of their brows and suffer so?'"
August 25, 2021
Masanobu Fukuoka’s short text, The Dragonfly Will Be the Messiah (Green Ideas) is part of a larger body of work titled, Sowing Seeds in the Desert. The premise of this short snippet sounded wonderful (hence why I requested it). However, I struggled to finish reading it.
As someone who can’t keep anything alive, I appreciated Fukuoka’s hands-off approach to farming. I think that some of his research findings are interesting. However, without using a scientific method, readers can’t believe his findings and even Fukuoka notes that the results may not be accurate. His beliefs are phrased as truths without any scientific data or research to back up his ideas. At one point, Fukuoka notes, “Although the climate and other conditions are different, I believe that this basic method will also work in revegetating the deserts.”
I was also curious about the translation as there is some awkward phrasing, such as, “All the confusion, all the agony that had obsessed me disappeared with the morning mist.” Furthermore, there are vague sentences such as this one: “One Sunday, five or six soldiers from the nearby air force unit came to visit on their day off. […] The following morning they disappeared into the southern sky. It still breaks my heart to recall the boyish faces of those young men.” I’m not sure why it broke the author’s heart “to recall the boyish faces of those young men” as it’s not clear from the text.
Although nature lovers may enjoy this text, I worry that Fukuoka romanticizes and oversimplifies nature and the past. If my Japanese was better, I’d read the original in order to determine if the concerns I have are also present in the original text or if it’s the translation.
I may not be the target reader, but there is definitely a reader out there who would love this! I would recommend this short work to readers interested in nature, geography and/or philosophy.
My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Classics for allowing me to read an ARC of this short classic in return for an honest review. I greatly appreciate it!
As someone who can’t keep anything alive, I appreciated Fukuoka’s hands-off approach to farming. I think that some of his research findings are interesting. However, without using a scientific method, readers can’t believe his findings and even Fukuoka notes that the results may not be accurate. His beliefs are phrased as truths without any scientific data or research to back up his ideas. At one point, Fukuoka notes, “Although the climate and other conditions are different, I believe that this basic method will also work in revegetating the deserts.”
I was also curious about the translation as there is some awkward phrasing, such as, “All the confusion, all the agony that had obsessed me disappeared with the morning mist.” Furthermore, there are vague sentences such as this one: “One Sunday, five or six soldiers from the nearby air force unit came to visit on their day off. […] The following morning they disappeared into the southern sky. It still breaks my heart to recall the boyish faces of those young men.” I’m not sure why it broke the author’s heart “to recall the boyish faces of those young men” as it’s not clear from the text.
Although nature lovers may enjoy this text, I worry that Fukuoka romanticizes and oversimplifies nature and the past. If my Japanese was better, I’d read the original in order to determine if the concerns I have are also present in the original text or if it’s the translation.
I may not be the target reader, but there is definitely a reader out there who would love this! I would recommend this short work to readers interested in nature, geography and/or philosophy.
My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Classics for allowing me to read an ARC of this short classic in return for an honest review. I greatly appreciate it!
August 25, 2021
Masanobu Fukuoka’s short text, The Dragonfly Will Be the Messiah (Green Ideas) is part of a larger body of work titled, Sowing Seeds in the Desert. The premise of this short snippet sounded wonderful (hence why I requested it). However, I struggled to finish reading it.
As someone who can’t keep anything alive, I appreciated Fukuoka’s hands-off approach to farming. I think that some of his research findings are interesting. However, without using a scientific method, readers can’t believe his findings and even Fukuoka notes that the results may not be accurate. His beliefs are phrased as truths without any scientific data or research to back up his ideas. At one point, Fukuoka notes, “Although the climate and other conditions are different, I believe that this basic method will also work in revegetating the deserts.”
I was also curious about the translation as there is some awkward phrasing, such as, “All the confusion, all the agony that had obsessed me disappeared with the morning mist.” Furthermore, there are vague sentences such as this one: “One Sunday, five or six soldiers from the nearby air force unit came to visit on their day off. […] The following morning they disappeared into the southern sky. It still breaks my heart to recall the boyish faces of those young men.” I’m not sure why it broke the author’s heart “to recall the boyish faces of those young men” as it’s not clear from the text.
Although nature lovers may enjoy this text, I worry that Fukuoka romanticizes and oversimplifies nature and the past. If my Japanese was better, I’d read the original in order to determine if the concerns I have are also present in the original text or if it’s the translation.
I may not be the target reader, but there is definitely a reader out there who would love this! I would recommend this short work to readers interested in nature, geography and/or philosophy.
My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Classics for allowing me to read an ARC of this short classic in return for an honest review. I greatly appreciate it!
As someone who can’t keep anything alive, I appreciated Fukuoka’s hands-off approach to farming. I think that some of his research findings are interesting. However, without using a scientific method, readers can’t believe his findings and even Fukuoka notes that the results may not be accurate. His beliefs are phrased as truths without any scientific data or research to back up his ideas. At one point, Fukuoka notes, “Although the climate and other conditions are different, I believe that this basic method will also work in revegetating the deserts.”
I was also curious about the translation as there is some awkward phrasing, such as, “All the confusion, all the agony that had obsessed me disappeared with the morning mist.” Furthermore, there are vague sentences such as this one: “One Sunday, five or six soldiers from the nearby air force unit came to visit on their day off. […] The following morning they disappeared into the southern sky. It still breaks my heart to recall the boyish faces of those young men.” I’m not sure why it broke the author’s heart “to recall the boyish faces of those young men” as it’s not clear from the text.
Although nature lovers may enjoy this text, I worry that Fukuoka romanticizes and oversimplifies nature and the past. If my Japanese was better, I’d read the original in order to determine if the concerns I have are also present in the original text or if it’s the translation.
I may not be the target reader, but there is definitely a reader out there who would love this! I would recommend this short work to readers interested in nature, geography and/or philosophy.
My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Classics for allowing me to read an ARC of this short classic in return for an honest review. I greatly appreciate it!
July 10, 2022
This is not a real review, just some thoughts I like to write down.
Das ist keine richtige Bewertung, nur ein paar Gedanken, die ich aufschreiben wollte.
Hm, noch ein anstrengendes Buch der Green Ideas. Ich schliesse mich gerne an, dass mit dem Aussterben der Menschheit kein Gott dastehen wird, der uns wiederaufleben lassen wird, dass wir viel, viel mehr Rücksicht auf die Natur nehmen müssen, sie schützen müssen, sie zu grossen Teilen in Ruhe lassen müssen und aufhören sollten, unsere Lebensgrundlage zu zerstören. Aber: Alternativen zu Darwins Evolutionstheorie aufzustellen, verknüpft mit Buddhismus und der Relativität der Zeit? Kann und will ich nicht folgen. "Do nothing" als Landwirtschaftsalternative propagieren wobei nie mehr als 5% Ertragsverluste entstehen ohne das mit wirklichen wissenschaftlichen Daten zu stützen? Illusorisch. Die komplette Biosphäre als eine Einheit anzusehen, in welcher alles mit allem verbunden ist und alles den gleichen Wert hat? Schöne Vorstellung, die aber nicht der Realität entspricht.
Auch hier wieder gute Grundgedanken, die mir aber oft zu weit gehen und nicht mehr viel mit der Welt zu tun haben, in der wir leben.
Das ist keine richtige Bewertung, nur ein paar Gedanken, die ich aufschreiben wollte.
Hm, noch ein anstrengendes Buch der Green Ideas. Ich schliesse mich gerne an, dass mit dem Aussterben der Menschheit kein Gott dastehen wird, der uns wiederaufleben lassen wird, dass wir viel, viel mehr Rücksicht auf die Natur nehmen müssen, sie schützen müssen, sie zu grossen Teilen in Ruhe lassen müssen und aufhören sollten, unsere Lebensgrundlage zu zerstören. Aber: Alternativen zu Darwins Evolutionstheorie aufzustellen, verknüpft mit Buddhismus und der Relativität der Zeit? Kann und will ich nicht folgen. "Do nothing" als Landwirtschaftsalternative propagieren wobei nie mehr als 5% Ertragsverluste entstehen ohne das mit wirklichen wissenschaftlichen Daten zu stützen? Illusorisch. Die komplette Biosphäre als eine Einheit anzusehen, in welcher alles mit allem verbunden ist und alles den gleichen Wert hat? Schöne Vorstellung, die aber nicht der Realität entspricht.
Auch hier wieder gute Grundgedanken, die mir aber oft zu weit gehen und nicht mehr viel mit der Welt zu tun haben, in der wir leben.
April 18, 2022
this lil book was a pocketbook that although I'm not the biggest fan of-- I'm happy to have read and even happier that it was a very quick read. I think the overall content of the book (sustainable 'do-nothing' farming methods) is something that should be thought about more and put into practice but I don't think creating a book for it was necessary-- at least not a pocketbook like this. a lot of the content felt repetitive and instead of doing a book one could have created a series of short collections? or even an article? it just seemed much to create a 90-page book to say the same thing. the basic gist of it was that humans should take a more hands-off approach to farming to allow nature to take on its natural course. it questions whether we cause more damage in trying to do what we think is truly helping without really grasping the idea that we may have no clue what the hell we doing.
May 3, 2025
J'ai failli mettre 1/5.
Alors qu'il était malade, l'auteur a été ébahi par la nature et a développé l'envie de faire les choses mieux pour Mère Nature.
Le souci est qu'il fait ça en : reniant la science et ses avancées, critiquant jusqu'à l'intérêt du langage (puisqu'en apprenant le mot "Lune", l'enfant comprend qu'il n'est pas la Lune lui-même et s'éloigne ainsi de la nature). Il y a une analyse minable et plutôt fausse du capitalisme et du communisme (qui partent, et c'est pas mal, d'une critique du consumérisme qui pollue).
Du point de vue agricole, les trois pages finales sont peut-être intéressantes mais le reste du livre est effarant de... privilège d'héritier d'une ferme qui a pu tenter plein de trucs et voyager partout et vient ensuite cracher sur tout en prétextant une réflexion derrière.
Je suis acerbe, mais j'ai perdu mon temps à lire ce livre
Alors qu'il était malade, l'auteur a été ébahi par la nature et a développé l'envie de faire les choses mieux pour Mère Nature.
Le souci est qu'il fait ça en : reniant la science et ses avancées, critiquant jusqu'à l'intérêt du langage (puisqu'en apprenant le mot "Lune", l'enfant comprend qu'il n'est pas la Lune lui-même et s'éloigne ainsi de la nature). Il y a une analyse minable et plutôt fausse du capitalisme et du communisme (qui partent, et c'est pas mal, d'une critique du consumérisme qui pollue).
Du point de vue agricole, les trois pages finales sont peut-être intéressantes mais le reste du livre est effarant de... privilège d'héritier d'une ferme qui a pu tenter plein de trucs et voyager partout et vient ensuite cracher sur tout en prétextant une réflexion derrière.
Je suis acerbe, mais j'ai perdu mon temps à lire ce livre
August 5, 2021
Fukuoka, who spearheaded the 'do-nothing' farming movement, uses this short collection of essays to call us to reassess and restructure our outlook on farming for a more sustainable future. Delving into the radical changes the world must make to avoid catastrophe and the many layers of misunderstandings and misinformation we'd need to unlearn to really understand. Again drawing on his own history in plant pathology to raise some interesting arguements and not only giving us the science but posing ethical and spiritual queries for the reader to think about. Full of strikingly beautiful prose at points, this invoked a very real connection with a nature - this definitely read more like a thought experiment or manifesto.
October 22, 2021
While this was a beautiful book on musings and our relationship with nature it was a little bit lacking focus.
I did appreciate the takes on farming and comparisons to big industry.
Still, I am very excited to read the rest of the Green Ideas books.
A beautiful passage:
There has never been a generation like the present where people's hearts are so badly wounded. This is true of every are of society - politics, economics, and culture. It is reflected in the degradation of the environment, which comes about through the material path humanity has chosen. Now we have the ugly sight of industry, government, and the military joining forces in the struggle for ultimate power.
Thank you Penguin Press and Netgalley for the eARC.
I did appreciate the takes on farming and comparisons to big industry.
Still, I am very excited to read the rest of the Green Ideas books.
A beautiful passage:
There has never been a generation like the present where people's hearts are so badly wounded. This is true of every are of society - politics, economics, and culture. It is reflected in the degradation of the environment, which comes about through the material path humanity has chosen. Now we have the ugly sight of industry, government, and the military joining forces in the struggle for ultimate power.
Thank you Penguin Press and Netgalley for the eARC.
January 13, 2024
The world population has increased by 2 billion since 1998. The only reason we have enough food for the population is because farmers use the scientific techniques that Fukuoka objects to : synthetic fertilizers, irrigation, pesticides and crop hybridization. If all farmers adopted Fukuoka's "do nothing" farm method, there would be global famine. Instead, the only places where famine exists are places where food distribution has been disrupted by warfare.
His chapter on worldwide desertification misses the fact that the main cause of desert expansion is climate change due to greenhouse gases. Sprinkling seeds on bare ground and mulching them is not going to result in deserts retreating.
Fukuoka meant well, but his ideas are unpractical and dangerous.
His chapter on worldwide desertification misses the fact that the main cause of desert expansion is climate change due to greenhouse gases. Sprinkling seeds on bare ground and mulching them is not going to result in deserts retreating.
Fukuoka meant well, but his ideas are unpractical and dangerous.
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