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Summary: It's very simple. One person CAN make a difference.
Review: The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight is incredible, yet the idea behind it is incredibly simple, that each and every one of us can make a difference. While it might (I'm not sure yet) be an overstatement to say that this book changed my life, it sure did affect my attitude and renew my hope that we are not doomed to destroy the planet. This is as close to a "must read" book as I've seen in years.
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Summary: Global civilization threatened by militaryindustrial complex
Review: Some individuals feel that they already know everything Thom puts into his book "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight". If so they should step forward and lead rather than complain from the peanut gallery. This book is in essence calling out for action in the most basic sense, for individuals to make a conscious effort to conserve and preserve that which makes life sustainable. I can appreciate the way Thom spells out the situation facing humanity, mainifested in massive pollution and wasted lives physically, but at root a spiritual malaise owed to "dominator culture" fallout. Reconnecting on a local level, to our history, ecology and local economy is the solution to the danger inherent in the centralized, wasteful, authoriatarian culture we have today. Wake up, winter2, will soon be upon us, as our oil based culture will begin to consume itself if a new fuel is not found. "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" is actually pretty down to earth focused on real problems in simple and scientific terms. Developing strong, self-sufficient local communities is offered as the best survival strategy for the coming decades.
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Summary: Another self help book for the already affluent.
Review: I was told about this book by someone who read my review on "Earth Odyssey" by Mark Hertsgaard. I was asking for something more hard hitting and honest.I do have to admit the graph on page 12 is quite impressive but after that it is the same ol same ol as all the other Save the Earth books. Thom Hartmann and his views do more damage to the environment and nature then the same ol same ol culprets he mentions ie. growth, consumerism, cutting down the rain forest. Good God, hasn't that forest been leveled yet? Poor old Thom just doesn't understand that the upcoming events mentioned in "Earth Odyssey", "The Fourth Turning" by Wm. Strauss, "Guns Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond and so many other publications including the 66 mentioned at the back of this book THESE EVENTS ARE "NATURE". And then to have the oddacity to tell us poor working stiffs (you know, the ones doing all the polluting and watching all the TV) to start meditating,get religion in your life, study Astronomy 101 and start a community in the boonies with all your friends. Sounds like a 60's flash back to me. We are star dust we are golden and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden. Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind. Come on Thom, we will start a community as so many are being started now but it will be gated. We will have our tribes but they will be the tribes mentioned in "Civil War Two" by Thomas w. Chittum, tribal armies. All your friends ie Neale Donald Walsch "Conversations with G_d" will be in his community. I think they call it Cascadia. Are you still trying to succeed from the union? We will also have our religion. A quote from Carl Sagan just before he pasted away referring to life after death and religion in which he quotes Albert Einstein. "I cannot conceive of a G_d who rewards and punishes his creatures or has a will of the kind that we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death;let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egoism,cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world,together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in Nature. Thom, the writer of books, a putter down of words, a maker of 10,000 philosophies. Yet in the billions of books on the shelves there is not one that can tell him how to draw a single fleeting breath in peace and comfort. And neither will this one.
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Summary: EVERYONE ABLE TO READ SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!
Review: It is a pity that so many people are UNABLE to read and therefore understand the dangers we face and what we can and must do. This is just the same as the "Y2K crisis" which so many are eloquently trumpeting - there is no escaping the clock - these conditions WILL come! There is only one question to be answered: Will we face these situations intelligently and take appropriate action or stand around wringing our hands helplessly? In the professional drivers training that all school bus drivers must take annually there is a motto:We should be able 1)To recognize the danger, 2)Understand the defense, and, 3)Act properly in time. This is a most fitting motto for all of us to follow. We have been warned/informed of what lies ahead and it is now incumbent upon us all to get all the information we can - ignore all those who are attempting to cash in on the fear that can be generated by irresponsible individuals or groups - and GET TO WORK! There ARE alternate, proven, sources of energy which we must insist be activately employed for our use, and realize that the ONLY reason they are not in use presently - is because of MONEY! Can you guess whose money it might be? A great read!
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Summary: This book has altered the direction of my life.
Review: After having read Mr. Hartmann's book "The Last Hours...," I have a new found appreciation for what is going on OUTSIDE of my life, and that indeed I CAN make a difference, in fact, I must take responsibility TO make a difference. I felt a comfort on a deep, internal level that somehow the cravings and longings I have been feeling for sometime now are rooted in the ancient teachings of my ancestors, yet because of the fractured surroundings of the culture around me, was unable or possibly unwilling to address my TRUE needs and wants. I thank you Mr. Hartmann and shall do all I can to spread these ancient, yet contemporary words of wisdom.
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Summary: Not pleasant news, but we'd better open our eyes. MUST read.
Review: There's good reason why in Neale Donald Walsch's latest "Conversations With God" book, the very short list of "must read" books includes Thom Hartmann's Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight. There's a good chance it will change everything about how you look at life. It's inexorable: more and more of the world's biomass is being converted to human flesh as our population booms and we eat other stuff. The richer people among us (including middle-class America) may not see it yet, may still believe that SOMETHING will rescue us (something always has, right??); but like the aristocracy safe inside medieval castle walls, the fact that we ourselves haven't yet been hit by this "plague" has no bearing on the inevitability of what lies ahead. Whether we like it or not, we live in a limited space (Earth) with a finite amount of matter. All our food and all our fuel is made up of that matter. This book has extensive documentation of how we're changing the balance between ourselves and the rest of the planet. There are more and more people, using up more fuel, eating more food, tearing down more trees (often to make 99c burgers). Can anyone seriously think this can go on forever? It's not pleasant news to realize, but it's inescapable. The more people we have, the more food we need, and the more fuel we need for heat and transportation. Worse, the developing world (which has the highest population growth) is on the early part of the fuel-using curve: their consumption is increasing, yet they can only afford less-efficient engines, increasing pollution even more than would be done by additional first-world cars, which are more efficient. I was raised in a scientific discipline, and I can't imagine why it's not more apparent to us: all the energy for all the planet's activities comes from sunlight, and we're burning through our reserves of stored sunlight (fossil fuel) at an astonishing rate. We keep finding more, so far, but let's wake up, folks: sooner or later we're going to run out, and all we'll have to live on then will be *recent* sunlight: today's sunlight, and wood (grown by energy in recent years' sunlight). And unfortunately, all our solar and wind technologies depend on petroleum-based compounds - when the oil is gone, those technologies can't help any more. We must, must, must change how we live. It takes time for people to adjust to the information in this book - we need to get started - buy this book and spread the word.
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Summary: An eye opening book!
Review: I liked this book! I found it informative, and eye-opening. I couldn't put the book down. I was taken aback with the historical information and dismayed by what I had been mistakenly told in school. When I read the other reviews, I thought am I that much of a sucker, was it really that bad. But I noticed that I am slowly being changed by reading Hartmann's book. It is empowering me to question all that I see and hear. This book is just the beginning but what a beginning.
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Summary: A badly-written and ill-informed book. Don't bother.
Review: Thom Hartmann has written a puzzling book. Part 1 of his book argues that our expanding industrial/urban civilization is based on high levels of consumption of nonrenewable fossil fuels. He claims, with essentially no evidence, that fossil fuels will be mostly exhausted by 2050. The result, he says, will be population implosion due to famine, war, and disease. He has no confidence that technological advance will make any material difference. Part 2 of the book argues that humanity has come to this sorry state because of a "dominator" culture that indulges in violence and oppression. He believes that ancient tribal cultures based on simple hunting and gathering lived in peace and harmony with nature and other humans. Such claims are anthropologically naive. Part 3 claims to have a solution to it all. But it doesn't. He gives us no reason to hope that the environmental apocalypse argued in Part 1 can be avoided. Rather, he seems to be suggesting the direction humanity might take after 95% of the human race dies. For a more rational and balanced outlook on these important demographical, economic, and environmental issues, I recommend the reader investigate the writings of Julian Simon, Herman Kahn, Ronald Bailey, Wilfred Beckerman, Thomas Gale Moore, and Joel Cohen. Forget Hartmann.
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Summary: Eye-opening and very thought provoking.
Review: I started this book out with great anticipation. I found it very informative to begin with, but I got bored after awhile with so much history of the distruction to all of the ancient cultures. I was glad to learn it, but I wanted a little more I could sink my teeth in to. We need a daily bulletin like this book on current statistics. I think it's a good book to start with to make people aware. But it's got to be our job now to do something about it! Thanks Thom for bringing us this book. Think about writing another one with more day to day statistics and let's get peoples attention. I think your really going to half to shake our cages. We're all a little to comfortable.
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Summary: if you care about our future, read this book
Review: Our future depends on a quick change in our ways and attitudes toward life, earth and existence. This book can help this change and save our world
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