A Celebration of American family folklore Book

Three Stars For The Topic Covered

It's a harsh title, but I display it for a reason. This is the second book I've read this year (and in general) regarding a potential post-civilisation based society, the first being Endgame by Derrick Jensen. While the just mentioned title had some issues - very lengthy in subject being one of them - I was ultimately impressed with the authors proposals and reasoning.

This collection of thought is far shorter (192 pages) than Endgame, and is my first reading of anything by Daniel Quinn. My first impression is that I should of perhaps read his other work first - and I should probably recommend you do to - as even he advises the reader to do so. However, this doesn't render the ideas this book presents incomprehensible; there's other reasons at play as to why this still happens (at least in my reading experience).

Let's keep this short. A review should inform you, the potential reader, of what you're getting into if you choose to pick this book up. So I'll make certain to be clear in my opinion. The premise of this text is interesting enough to bother reading, simply because there's not enough layman style books out there on new ways of conducting human affairs - collectively - via mainstream sources. So if you're reading this, and haven't even thought of post-capitalism as something that exists (or simply haven't realised socialism, communism and capitalism can be superseded by something new), then I recommend you pick this up, and also start looking for other titles; the subject in question is way more important than any nitpickings a reviewer like myself may have.

If you're already aware of the above, and you're looking for new material to digest (because let's face it, this is an interesting, and, not to mention, defining subject of our time), then I can't recommend this title. Stylistically, I found this a jarring read to it's core. The body is divided into six short parts, with a sub-heading on every page, which gives the book an almost self-help / lifestyle guide style for the reader. The problem with choosing this particular way of conveying the topic, is that each page needs to wrap up the microtopic it's covering before the next page begins (and, as such, a new topic). There is some overlap across pages in subject, but it overwhelmingly sticks to this formula throughout.

This wouldn't be a problem by itself, but combined with the next factor, it becomes an prominent issue. Starting out, Quinn had me thoroughly engaged. He presents interesting points and topics for the reader to ponder. However, about mid-way through, Beyond Civilisation starts to collapse in on itself. Which, quite frankly, is incredible, considering how short it is.

Quinn flits between subjects regularly; presenting new ideas without having previously wrapped up on former ones in any kind of neat fashion. For such a strong title, I was expecting something in the style of a manifesto. Robust and clear, with a strong underpinning theme (or message) to hold the expansive sub-topics touched upon together. Instead, I felt like I was reading a diary, or notes made by the author in prelude to a larger, more comprehensible topic. There's good messages conveyed here and there, and Quinn had me looking at certain aspects of our society in a new way at times, but I was overwhelmingly irritated at how little structure there was in this book.

Fingers crossed there's better out there.