The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Revised and Updated : The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late

Rating:
Summary: Essential impressive reading for mandatory change
Review: I was shocked, entertained, surprised, touched and extremely moved by the contents of this well written eye-opening book. Opposed to other peak-oil subject books this book is not concentrating on the numbers and technical solutions but on our cultural roots and our pathological and illogical behavior as a result. The spiritual part of this book did not bother me at all despite the fact that I don't consider myself as a very spiritual person. I can fully understand his strong arguments to dig into our roots and that we must learn from the point we strayed to the path of superior feeling, materialism, short-term profits, etc... Hartmann delivers his point very well and I recommend this book to all people who think that we can work our way out of this mess we are in by wishfull thinking or technological inventions and to all people who see no way out of it at all (so this are about all people in the industrialized world). We only have to reinvent ourselves and this book shows us the way. Without a doubt one of the top five most important books I have ever read in my life if not the number one. I even think that this book should be read by all children in every school in Europe and America!

Rating:
Summary: A book I've given to many friends
Review: This book is an eye-opener. It can change the way you look at things from the start. Yes, it deals with the peak-oil issue but from a deeply felt, insightful viewpoint that makes us look at energy not just as fossil fuel but as sunlight itself. It delves into concepts of living off current sunlight versus ancient sunlight and the implications of a culture built upon such cheap, abundant energy and the upcoming diminishing of such a source -- the last hours of it. Thom Hartman expresses a genuine concern and vision for the future of humanity against a backdrop of the insights shared in this wonderful book. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most important books of our time
Review: Thom Hartmann's "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" is extremely important and cogent, and needs to be read and absorbed by many to ensure the possibility of a future for the human race and all other life on Earth. Divided into three main parts, this book explains in detail where we are, how and why we got here, and what we can do for a brighter future. Very practical, well-researched, comprehensive. I am not aware of a better book on the issues, especially since it not only sets out the realities of our situation (dependence on dwindling oil and clean-water supplies, destruction of forests and plant/animal species, unsustainable population growth, frequent wars, third-world and first-world impoverishment, etc.), but also explains why, fundamentally, human civilization has gotten us into this mess (tracing the causes back thousands of years to the basis of civilization and comparing the recent city-state or nation-state lifestyle to that of the much older tribe), and what we can possibly do to change our course and save our children and their children and the planet they will inherit.

I would give a more detailed or articulate description, but I lent my copy out the day I finished reading it, and several people are already waiting in line to borrow it. If there is a book to buy multiple copies of and give away, this is the best one I have found. Do not let it sit on the bookshelf indefinitely - after you read it, pass it around, from one person to another, making sure it never stays the same place, unread, for long. If you must keep a copy for your own reference, at least buy a second one to pass around to your friends.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most important books of our time
Review: Thom Hartmann's "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" is extremely important and cogent, and needs to be read and absorbed by many to ensure the possibility of a future for the human race and all other life on Earth. Divided into three main parts, this book explains in detail where we are, how and why we got here, and what we can do for a brighter future. Very practical, well-researched, comprehensive. I am not aware of a better book on the issues, especially since it not only sets out the realities of our situation (dependence on dwindling oil and clean-water supplies, destruction of forests and plant/animal species, unsustainable population growth, frequent wars, third-world and first-world impoverishment, etc.), but also explains why, fundamentally, human civilization has gotten us into this mess (tracing the causes back thousands of years to the basis of civilization and comparing the recent city-state or nation-state lifestyle to that of the much older tribe), and what we can possibly do to change our course and save our children and their children and the planet they will inherit.

I would give a more detailed or articulate description, but I lent my copy out the day I finished reading it, and several people are already waiting in line to borrow it. If there is a book to buy multiple copies of and give away, this is the best one I have found. Do not let it sit on the bookshelf indefinitely - after you read it, pass it around, from one person to another, making sure it never stays the same place, unread, for long. If you must keep a copy for your own reference, at least buy a second one to pass around to your friends.