A book that offers convincing historical and environmental thinking.
A comprehensive survey of human history—which reveals a grave ecological predicament—suggests that reconnection with nature and redirection of technology could create a new, sustainable lifestyle.
“Somewhere along the way we lost sight of what it means to be human,” Stadtmiller (Electronics, 2003, etc.) laments in this book. In the search for an ever more convenient lifestyle, humanity introduced a false dichotomy between technology and nature, according to the author. Life should not be a contest against nature, he contends, but a partnership with it—with technology acting as a force for good rather than an instigator of pollution. As the title suggests, the book comprises three sections. The first is nothing less than a thorough, lucid tour through human history, from the Big Bang through the space race and the ascendancy of computers—quite an achievement in 170 pages. The author zeros in on human evolution: tool use, brain power, hunter-gatherers, and the rise of civilizations and religions. His short synopses of Christianity and Islam are especially helpful. In Part II, he considers the keys to life on Earth—energy, clean air and water, and biodiversity—and how these are changed through human action. For instance, he clearly and forthrightly sets out evidence for climate change in Chapter 10. The final section emphasizes the necessity of getting back to a “Native Earth Society” based on simplicity and respect for nature. His case for cutting consumption is not only environmental, but also monetary. The information about energy ratings and usage is perhaps overly technical for laypeople, but tips for ensuring appliances are as efficient as possible are straightforward. The advice embraces a continuum of radicalism: yes, some may cycle or carpool, the book acknowledges, but those who commute alone by automobile can still be environmentally conscious by checking tire pressure regularly, using cruise control, etc. A pleasant late section of the memoir relates how Stadtmiller’s early nature connection was developed at his grandparents’ Pennsylvania farm. His image of a future society—especially zero population growth—may seem too good to be true, yet he gives achievable steps for working toward one’s ideals.
A book that offers convincing historical and environmental thinking.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 407
Publisher: Dog Ear Publisher
Review Posted Online: Sept. 8, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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