Some interesting (and some less than interesting) essays on the sociopolitical implications of peak oil and the sustainability of industrial civilization in general.

Not a general introduction to the concept of peak oil. Read Heinberg's excellent "Party's Over: Oil, War, and the Fate of Industrial Societies" for a more structured, accessible introduction to the topic if you're unfamiliar with the subject matter.

If you don't know much about peak oil, or if you lean right politically (given Heinberg's unmistakable left-liberal sensibility and politics), you should probably just skip this one. ( )

Whilst it would be easy to dismiss Richard Heinberg as a grumpy pastoralist who wishes us all to return to the land, he does raise many valid points about modern society's reliance on cheap energy and the token dismissal of future energy problems being solved by the vague cloud of "technology".

I do however feel his love of primitive peoples undermines some of his arguments. Whilst the series of essays has some good material in terms of Peak Oil, evolution of modern society and America's post ww2 boom, there's some curveballs in there. One such example is as a "letter from the future" which takes an otherwise non fiction book straight into the realm of speculative fiction and just feels out of place; it almost reads as a blurb of a teen dystopian novel.

Overall, it's not a bad book on the topic of society's decline but I wouldn't be rushing out for a copy. ( )

Heinberg has written a very different sort of 'peak oil' book with Peak Everything. Rather than focusing on the technical issues- e.g. when certain events are likely to occur, economic and political impacts etc- he's decided to look at it all from a social and historical perspective, which is the sort of thing I'm more interested in. So there are chapters on how technology controls us, the effect of fossil fuels and consumerist philosophy on art and architecture, the psychology of peak oil and climate change and the power of language. I was particularly fascinated by Heinberg's brief outlines of recent history, and how the energy provided by fossil fuels can be seen as responsible for almost all aspects of society- including movements like feminism (described by Heinberg as "an inevitable byproduct" of the need to continue economic expansion and keep consumerism going), and how the baby boomer generation turned out.

Unsurprisingly, this isn't the happiest of books- I can't imagine an informative book on the near future of civilisation being so- with the exception of the rather inspiring chapter 50 Million Farmers, though even that may be looked at in a depressing manner by some. But Heinberg gives the reader a lot of food for thought, and, while he never tries to deny the fact that this is all very depressing stuff, his generally sympathetic, friendly tone always reminds you that you're not alone in this.

Peak Everything certainly isn't a book for those new to the peak oil issue, and the issues that always come with it, but for those looking for a less technical, more philosophical look at it, this is highly recommended reading. ( )

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