by Bill McKibben
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Product Description
“Masterfully crafted, deeply thoughtful and mind-expanding.”—Los Angeles Times In this powerful and provocative manifesto, Bill McKibben offers the biggest challenge in a generation to the prevailing view of our economy. Deep Economy makes the compelling case for moving beyond “growth” as the paramount economic ideal and pursuing prosperity in a more local direction, with regions producing more of their own food, generating more of their own energy, and even creating more of their own culture and entertainment. Our purchases need not be at odds with the things we truly value, McKibben argues, and the more we nurture the essential humanity of our economy, the more we will recapture our own.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Divorcing "More" from "Better", 2008-05-12
Many books have come along in the last several years that try to explain why MORE is not making us HAPPIER. Cliff notes: research indicates that health is most important to our happiness, followed by making at least $10-13,000 per year. Close relationships count, too. Marriage is a plus. Kids....not so much.
As McKibben points out in the opening pages, "More" and "Better" began to be linked in the post-war economy. But not anymore.
McKibben writes, "On the list of important mistakes we've made as a species, this one seems pretty high up. A single-minded focus on increasing wealth has driven the planet's ecoligical systems to the brink of failure, without making us happier. How did we screw up?"
McKibben continues by both charting our screw-ups, and pointing out useful ways that we can live happier and healthier lives. The main tenet of the book is that we must divorce the ideas of "More" from "Better." At a point, "More" means finding a place to store it all.
If you've read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Deep Economy's Chapter 2, "The Year of Eating Locally," will feel like a review. On the plus side, McKibben manages to make a conclusion that took Pollan an entire book to suggest: eating locally (1) is better for the environment (doesn't require as much fossil fuel from farm to table); (2) is better for the local economy (keeping the profits close-by); 3) tastes better (tomotoes allowed to ripen on the vine for their whole lives develop all the sugars and nutrients that make tomatoes taste like tomatoes); and (4) feels better to support farmers you can meet and with whom you shake hands.
In subsequent chapters, McKibben bounces among topics ranging from local radio, a shortened workweek, commute times, and consumer culture. To emphasize his points, he calls on others' research and hooks them to his own global insights from experiences in China, Guatemala and other countries.
My favorite thing about McKibben's book is that it is accessible, and therefore a very solid start to helping us re-imagine what we as individuals can stand for...and against in building better lives for ourselves and future generations. McKibben has solidified the hunches that many of us feel - that living more simply and more locally is a key to personal happiness, and good for our communities, too.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 More read this please, 2008-05-07
Great book with great ideas. I hope others read this and it effects some change. I wasn't expecting a state of the radio review but it fits and can affect communities. Highly recommended.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Deep Economy - The Wealth of Communities and the Dura ble Future, 2008-05-02
Sometimes I read books that I feel everyone should read, but in this case it is a book they should not just read, but understand and then act upon that understading. Bill McKibben discusses how, through the strength of communities, we achieve a durable future, but in exploring that future, how we should act now. I recommend McKibben's work to all who care about how we live tomorrow and how the generations to come survive.
He tells an alarming story about what's ahead ecologically if we contine to live as we do, but gives us an answer through exploring and building our Deep Economy.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Great Intro, Lacks Depth, 2008-04-28
While Mr. McKibben brings some thought-provoking ideas to light, his book reads less like an economic template and more like a drawn out Time Magazine editorial. The accessibility of it doesn't make it any less worthwhile, but it lacks the nitty-gritty detail that economics buffs, like myself, look for. In that regard, the title of the book is a misnomer.
Still, "Deep Economy" will leave you thinking even more so about the moral and ecological shortcomings of our current economic policies--and thirsting for more knowledge on how to fix it. Just don't expect "Deep Economy" to be the green answer to "The Wealth of Nations."
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent., 2008-04-27
I read this book, then bought copies for the my mother and my sister. I want everyone I know to read it.
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