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4.5 ★★★★★
Based on 22 reviews
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★★★★★ 5
Wright is right
The fact Wright attacks popular concepts of progress is enough to merit five stars.
Until 1955, when I was 25, I naively believed progress was inevitable, natural, and simply a part of human nature and society. I attended the Earl Lectures that year. Swiss Theologian Emil Brunner presented three addresses on "Faith, Hope, and Love" at Berkeley, California. Westminster Press published his series in a book given the same title. I shall quote a few remarks.
Brunner traced the burgioning faith in progress to the nineteenth century, when "Darwin's theory of evolution seemed so to support and enlarge this optimistic evaluation of progress as to see it in a cosmic perspective." But the doctrine of progress is not the same as evolution.
"Although this idea of progress had a success for which the word 'triumph' is hardly an exaggeration, there were warning voices raised against it, voices of men of weight and importance who were not willng to accept the new doctrine," he said. "It was a new doctrine because it was not known to antiquity, it was not known in the time of the Reformation, it was unknown in all Asiatic culture. It was a new thing! The idea of progress became an axiomatic conviction which needed no proof and could not be disproved."
At one point, Brunner said, "Since Hiroshima the world does not believe in progress anymore." The end of WWII was still fresh in our memories, and I suppose that's why he said it. We know, today, that it didn't take long for much of the world to revive and renew its faith in progress. And now it's stronger--and more dangerous--than ever.
I'm not opposed to every aspect of progress. Progress, when it moves in wholesome and healthy directions, is a blessing. I'm glad my dentist is able to fill--and save--my teeth without pain. And when it came time for my doctor to pull my cataracts and replace them with implanted lenses, I marveled at the miracle. It was a quick and painless operation, and now I have wonderful vision.
It's that dogmatic idea of progress based on greed and cold indifference to global warming that concerns me. It's that ongoing waste of limited resources, whether they be animal, vegetable or mineral, that concerns me. We are pulling the carpet from beneath our feet, and the king is pulling hardest of all. And who is the king? Ignorance! Ignorance is king!
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Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2008
★★★★★ 5
My favorite book, in any genre
Ronald Wright is an amazing scholar and writer. His style is fun and easy to read while delivering impeccable historical research. I have listed to this book several times over the years and I appreciate it more each time. I recommend the audio version more than the print version because of the compelling way Mr. Wright delivers this 4-Part lecture series to his audience (now in book form).
Note to Amazon: Please make this book available on Audible, CDs are cumbersome.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2018
★★★★★ 4
How many trees do we have left?
In this book, the author takes a look at the downfall of civilizations. Yes, that's plural. There are several models of how civilization is progressing. One is that we're getting better and better as time goes by. Another, less popular one states that we are actually in decline, going down from some sort of golden age. You'll find many of these proponents in the old age homes and such. For them, the only disagreement is when we are declining from.
Wright takes a look at the cyclical nature of the rise and fall of civilizations, taking examples from several once- prospering civilizations. This book stands as a call to action that something must be done to grow smartly and be careful on how we allocate the scant resources we have left. While he doesn't hit an anything new, this book's strength is its concise nature. The several examples are familiar and in that have more impact.
The strongest example is one he visits several times to show an analogy of current times: Easter Island. This isolated speck in the Pacific was once a thriving mini-civilization with culture and art. And a lot of trees. These trees helped the islanders fish and raise their ceremonial head sculptures. However, these trees also were a poorly cultivated resource. Someone not too long ago cut down the last tree, and the island is now a wasteland and anthropological curiosity. We are doing the same thing. How many trees do we have left to cut?
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Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2009
★★★★★ 3
Good on Review Short on Direct Experience
It is an extensive review of the literature on rise and fall of civilizations with observations on our's. Extremely well footnoted and referenced it however suffers from the author appearing to have little direct primary experience in the study of his topic. Nonetheless there is good information here and substantiation of the notion that cultures come and go, frequently going as a result of the lack of capacity necessary to change group behavior in response to certain challenges. He presents compelling evidence that those overwhelming challenges often revolve around irrational and compulsive exploitation of natural resources.
Sadly I share the author's pessimism in regard to our global culture being likely to respond adequately to the ongoing destruction of our livable earthly environment. I fear the planet is headed for a massive kill off in the disturbingly near future.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2013
★★★★★ 5
I hate to be the kind of person preaching on Doom's ...
This is an impressive quick read. I hate to be the kind of person preaching on Doom's Day, but I do find the definition of progress to be a multi-faceted, direct correlation to humanity, or as this book challenges, inversely related. As Le Corbusier once stated in Towards a New Architecture, "[Progress is] the study of minute points pushed to its limits." I think that we forget that limits do exist. On a sustainability level, we seem to forget that growth is bound to a carrying capacity which is only a constant. We exceed limits in population, in wealth, in energy consumption, and we are doing so blindly because we believe we are progressing. This is the first that I heard the term "progress traps" (which I think Wright may have coined himself), and I believe we seem to fall under the impression that distilling or expanding our limitations is an ultimate form of progress, when in fact, its lack in sustainability will only push us back. If you have the time, it's a pretty quick and enlightening read. If you are still on the fence with the concepts discussed in the book, I recommend finding it at a local library before committing to buy. For me, I recommend it.
Also, if you are interested, there is a documentary based on this book called "Surviving Progress" (2011). I prefer the book so much more, but the documentary wasn't that bad.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2015