Books we have read
Gaia James Lovelock
Gaia James Lovelock
Silent
Spring Rachel
Carson
The Road Cormac
McCarthy
Then Julie
Myerson
Solar Ian
McEwan
Animal,
Vegetable, Miracle Barbara
Kinsolver
Soil not Oil Vandana
Shiva
How Bad are
Bananas Mike
Berners-Lee
Collapse Jared
Diamond
The Secret
Life of Stuff Julie
Hill
The Story of
Stuff Annie
Leonard
Confessions
of an Eco-Sinner Fred
Pearce
Small is
Beautiful E.F.
Schumacher
The Natural
History of Selborne Gilbert
White
Storms of my
Grandchildren James
Hansen
Suggestions of future books:
When Rivers
Run Dry Fred
Pearce
Silent
Spring Revisited Conor
Mark Jameson
Children of
Men P.D.
James
Rethinking Macroeconomics
for Sustainability Alejandro
Nadal
Sustainable
Energy without the Hot Air David J.C. Mackay
(Downloadable for free from www.withouthotair.com)
The End of
Oil Paul
C. Roberts
The End of
Food Paul
C. Roberts
Only One
Earth Barbara
Ward & Rene Dubos
Bad Food
Britain Joanna
Blythman
How to Live
a Low Carbon Life Chris
Goodall
Operating
Manual for Spaceship Earth R. Buckminster
Fuller
Critical
Path R.
Buckminster Fuller
Prosperity
without Growth Tim
Jackson
Sacred
Economics Charles
Eisenstein
Peak
Everything Richard
Heinberg
Six Degrees Mark
Lynas
The Killing
of the Countryside Graham
Harvey
Carbon
Fields Graham
Harvey
I have just finished ‘How much is Enough?’ by Robert and Edward Skidelsky which I found a very thought provoking read. It begins by considering how we got to the current state of ever increasing growth and consumption via a look at economic history, in particular the classic economic theory of Keynes and the philosophy of Aristotle. Keynes thought that increasing production and national wealth would lead to lower work hours and more leisure for citizens. This has not happened in the rush for increasing growth, and so the Sidelskys wonder why, where is all this increasing wealth going and what is it all for.
ReplyDeleteThey consider happiness is too fleeting and subjective a concept to aim for, but the meeting of certain basic goods would lead to a ‘good life’ which all citizens could enjoy. They identify the 7 basic goods to be Health, Security, Respect, Personality, Harmony with Nature, Friendship and Leisure. Once these basic goods are met the suggestion is that most citizens would experience a happy and fulfilled life, a good life, without endlessly being encouraged to want more.
As the Sidelskys unpick the elements of each basic good, I found that this made a lot of sense, and although they have some challenging things to say about environmentalism and the provision of a basic income for all, it did make me think. It is also an optimistic glimpse of how things could be, if we citizens wanted it enough to ignore the calls of the advertisers, big companies, and the politicians in thrall to continuing national growth at all costs. So I would certainly recommend this book, it should be on the Green Readers list to read, and some of our group have certainly read it.
Hey Maggie, thanks for your critique of the book! I will consider reading it as well. A few years ago, I read The Last Wild trilogy with my older son. Now, I'm reading it with my younger son, and I would recommend it for your Green Books. It would break up the streak of non-fiction books you've read, and it shows the link between fascism and environmental degradation that Trump now threatens us with today. The first of the trilogy was written in 2013 and the other two followed quickly after.
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