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Already Extinct: A Parrhesiastic Statement
Already Extinct is a critical analysis of the state of the environment, and a provocation for anyone who wants to create a sustainable society. Many argue that knowing the grim truths of our current relationship with the natural environment will lead to social paralysis. Minoru Kyo believes otherwise, and We don't understand the problem; we couldn't do anything about it if we did; and we wouldn't do anything about it if we could.
- GenresScienceNonfiction
306 pages, Paperback
First published June 15, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 7, 2020
I had to look up what parrhesiastic means; it certainly fits. This is the best book-form summary of our predicament that I have yet come across. For all: Highly recommended; for those truly interested in the subject: Essential reading... the revelations and conclusions in which that many readers will fail to accept due to the behavioural psychology predispositions our species has evolved with and that our "civilization" is plagued with that the author touched on.
I had not previously heard of Kyo. But he utilizes insights from dozens of sources and experts with whom I have become very familiar, from James Hansen and Johan Rockstrom, to Jared Diamond and Amory Lovins... and Speth and Foster and Daly and Chomsky and and and and.
There may be better books in the subjects of ecology or sustainability or industrial agriculture, or the science of climate change or the politics of climate change, or agnotology, etc etc., but this is an excellent, frank, blunt, grim synthesis.
What makes it most compelling and almost unique is Kyo's avoidance of sugarcoating, his refusal to spoon up the usual late-chapter "after all that bad news... good news! it's not too late, if we only..." and his logical, rational empitically-derived matter-of-fact conclusion: WASF. Toolatefor2.blogspot.com
I had not previously heard of Kyo. But he utilizes insights from dozens of sources and experts with whom I have become very familiar, from James Hansen and Johan Rockstrom, to Jared Diamond and Amory Lovins... and Speth and Foster and Daly and Chomsky and and and and.
There may be better books in the subjects of ecology or sustainability or industrial agriculture, or the science of climate change or the politics of climate change, or agnotology, etc etc., but this is an excellent, frank, blunt, grim synthesis.
What makes it most compelling and almost unique is Kyo's avoidance of sugarcoating, his refusal to spoon up the usual late-chapter "after all that bad news... good news! it's not too late, if we only..." and his logical, rational empitically-derived matter-of-fact conclusion: WASF. Toolatefor2.blogspot.com
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2013
This is a bold book for those interested in the current state of our relationship with Nature (whatever that is).
It is a provocation from beginning to end (you might want to skip the first chapter as it too is a provocation – but go back to it, because it relates to the topic). But the author delivers on his promise to provide an uncompromised perspective on our resource extraction, the realities of alternative energy, and our organizational barriers (media, education, politics) that prevent a rational or timely response to what looks to be a grim experience for the next few generations.
And the author did not succumb to what most writers do when writing about the environment: a contrived happy ending. My greatest irritation in this genre is the need to come up with some cheerful story that is clearly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.
The book can be technical at times, but it is generally written for the non-technical reader with good explanations and examples for difficult concepts. I also liked the quality of the references, many available online from credible agencies and organizations.
It is a provocation from beginning to end (you might want to skip the first chapter as it too is a provocation – but go back to it, because it relates to the topic). But the author delivers on his promise to provide an uncompromised perspective on our resource extraction, the realities of alternative energy, and our organizational barriers (media, education, politics) that prevent a rational or timely response to what looks to be a grim experience for the next few generations.
And the author did not succumb to what most writers do when writing about the environment: a contrived happy ending. My greatest irritation in this genre is the need to come up with some cheerful story that is clearly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.
The book can be technical at times, but it is generally written for the non-technical reader with good explanations and examples for difficult concepts. I also liked the quality of the references, many available online from credible agencies and organizations.
January 28, 2015
I thought I'd throw in my two cents since this book doesn't have a lot of reviews.
I had been waiting to read this kind of book for a while. I know I am not alone in believing that we will not act on climate change with the speed necessary to prevent a series of cascading tipping points that will radically alter the biosphere (likely beyond what humans can inhabit). I read this book partly because I had just read Naomi Klein's latest book, Capitalism vs. Climate (my review here), and found its conclusions a little unsatisfying.
The book follows a loose reductive thesis "We don't understand the problem, we couldn't do anything about it if we did, and we wouldn't do anything about it if we could." The three sections co-ordinate roughly to the current state of the physical environment and the structure of our extractivist economy, emerging technologies to mitigate or help us adapt to climate change, and the political/economic roadblocks to urgent action.
In a way, the book isn't anything new. I maintain that Mark Lynas' Six Degrees is still as good as any description of the urgency and scale of the problem. Clive Hamilton's Earthmasters as well as bits of Naomi Klein's book cover pretty well the pitfalls of Geoengineering, and Monbiot's Heat, though now likely out of date, talks about engineering solutions (& where there is a lack thereof). Broader comments on materialism and the need for degrowth economies are even more abundant and pre-date the last decade or so of post-An Inconvenient Truth literature.
The meat of any pessimists view of climate is ultimately in our political, social, and cultural systems - the final third of the book. There is nothing new here: The media, the entanglement of state and corporation, capital M Materialism, and denialism. Again, it adds nothing that Naomi Klein, Naomi Oreskes, Monbiot, and other authors have contributed to the issue.
The book is radically different only in its conclusion - that we will not accomplish anything. It avoids tying up all this dystopian horribleness in some particular call to action. The problem with this line of argument is in our existential ennui, short of taking our own lives, people must do something even if that something is futile.
Here, the book to read is Bill McKibben's Eaarth and it's also worth checking out The Dark Mountain Project. Both accept significant levels of disruption but offer alternative models of living and relating to one-another. These models, particularly TDMP, do not require us to be working towards anything. They just offer some nice ways to live given what we know is true.
This is my main issue with the book. The author said that "shying away from the impacts of our current trajectory leads to our complacency..." yet the author offers nothing but even more reasons to be complacent and depressed.
I had been waiting to read this kind of book for a while. I know I am not alone in believing that we will not act on climate change with the speed necessary to prevent a series of cascading tipping points that will radically alter the biosphere (likely beyond what humans can inhabit). I read this book partly because I had just read Naomi Klein's latest book, Capitalism vs. Climate (my review here), and found its conclusions a little unsatisfying.
The book follows a loose reductive thesis "We don't understand the problem, we couldn't do anything about it if we did, and we wouldn't do anything about it if we could." The three sections co-ordinate roughly to the current state of the physical environment and the structure of our extractivist economy, emerging technologies to mitigate or help us adapt to climate change, and the political/economic roadblocks to urgent action.
In a way, the book isn't anything new. I maintain that Mark Lynas' Six Degrees is still as good as any description of the urgency and scale of the problem. Clive Hamilton's Earthmasters as well as bits of Naomi Klein's book cover pretty well the pitfalls of Geoengineering, and Monbiot's Heat, though now likely out of date, talks about engineering solutions (& where there is a lack thereof). Broader comments on materialism and the need for degrowth economies are even more abundant and pre-date the last decade or so of post-An Inconvenient Truth literature.
The meat of any pessimists view of climate is ultimately in our political, social, and cultural systems - the final third of the book. There is nothing new here: The media, the entanglement of state and corporation, capital M Materialism, and denialism. Again, it adds nothing that Naomi Klein, Naomi Oreskes, Monbiot, and other authors have contributed to the issue.
The book is radically different only in its conclusion - that we will not accomplish anything. It avoids tying up all this dystopian horribleness in some particular call to action. The problem with this line of argument is in our existential ennui, short of taking our own lives, people must do something even if that something is futile.
Here, the book to read is Bill McKibben's Eaarth and it's also worth checking out The Dark Mountain Project. Both accept significant levels of disruption but offer alternative models of living and relating to one-another. These models, particularly TDMP, do not require us to be working towards anything. They just offer some nice ways to live given what we know is true.
This is my main issue with the book. The author said that "shying away from the impacts of our current trajectory leads to our complacency..." yet the author offers nothing but even more reasons to be complacent and depressed.
May 19, 2015
An outstanding non-fiction book about the environment and the challenges we face if we want to keep our planet healthy. I would very much recommend this book.
May 5, 2021
Though a decade old, it holds up better than most of the books being written on the social aspects of the collective inaction on the climate crisis.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews