Well, I’m done two books so far this year: When Elephants Weep by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy, and The Party’s Over by Richard Heinberg.
When Elephants Weep was good in the way that I agreed with the thesis, it was fairly easy to read, and it had a lot of interesting anecdotes, but there wasn’t a whole lot of concrete facts or quality arguments presented. It was pretty neutral to me. Not enough to change your mind, if you’re dead-set against animals having emotion, but a nice enough read if you already believe it. 3/5
I enjoyed The Party’s Over a lot more. The numerous statistics, graphs, knowledgeable sources cited (like scientists who have spent 50 years working with oil) was enough to make me have little doubt of the coming oil peak, not to mention the news that keeps coming up about crude hitting $100 a barrel and gas prices expected to keep going up. What’s scary is the year that kept coming up: 2010. Yes, there were a lot of predictions, but the vast majority were at or near 2010. That is two years from now! Heinberg also details a terrifying picture of what peak oil could, and most likely will, bring: major wars over dwindling resources, even more catastrophic consequences for the environment when people switch to burning wood and coal for fuel, the failure of oil-based agriculture, etc. Definitely scary stuff, but strongly supported by evidence. I’d recommend this to anyone, whether they’re in doubt or are already preparing for the end of oil. Read this book! 5/5
I’m just finishing Forbidden Fruit, and after that I’ll probably be reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, then I’ll be getting into some fiction.