Reviews for Beyond civilization

The average rating for Beyond civilization based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-03-22 00:00:00 Jason Hernandez I know I gave the book five stars, but that's a very conflicted five stars. Let me explain. First of all, Quinn's premise (which he sets out in his other books such as Ishmael, Story of B, and My Ishmael {all fiction}) is that our culture's destruction of the Earth is based on our adherence to our belief system (called cultural 'memes') and lifestyle. We may try to limit the harm we cause through gov't programs, until our culture changes, we're going downhill fast. Now, to really understand his premise you're going to have to read the book yourself (actually, Ishmael is a better precursor), but our essential faulty lifestyle/beliefs are mass globalization and over-stretching of resources. What does Quinn suggest instead? Well, for me, the answer to this question was like opening a present.... except one that's been wrapped in several layers of paper with copper wire in Matryoshka-doll style. That was fine, considering an adequate solution is really a step-by-step, problem-solution process and not just a quick fix, but I think that lead greatly to my mixed feelings. I was caught in my own anticipation for the 'great answer' that, when it turned out to be similar to '42', I was a little dissapointed. The premise is, essentially, simplistic. BUt it's enaction, not it's premise, that is the hard part. So my reaction goes as follows- Anticipation, shock, anger and near abandonment, newfound hope, and humility (Quinn directs a few pages to people with my type of thinking, so I had to swallow my pride a little bit). The whole switch from a hierarchal society to a tribal one (and before you groan in protest, I'm talking tribal as in a group of people work together and share the profit. No loin-cloths, crude spears, or witch doctors included) will be more difficult to enact that Quinn describes. I find it difficult to imagine some professions being made tribal (but hey, Quinn openly admits his suggestions are open to renovation) but my main complaint was that it forced many to be entreupaneurs, which will be difficult. By the end of the book, however, I felt better about this. What did I like about the book? Number one best thing- he doesn't make this sunshine-and-rainbow speech about people being less selfish and how we should all join hands and sing kumbaya. He accepts that people have good and bad within them, and this premise requires our vision to change, not our natures. Quinn also has a quite a knack for showing solutions/problems with great accuracy in metaphors/allegories. He's quite the original thinker, and gives us less-than-philosophical-types the tools to deal with the problems with our 'civilization' in a new way that, hopefully, won't perpetuate the problem. Lastly, our action doesn't need to involve everyone and doesn't rely on us converting the masses to this new way of living. It just involves a few quietly doing things another way. Overall, I still need some time to completely absorb the material, but I really like the book and the way Quinn presents his premise as the beginning of a new way of thinking. I like the idea of our culture moving forward into a completely new way of thinking, living, and working. I just have to figure out how this is going to work for me.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-08-28 00:00:00 Rene Maradiaga 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.