Category Archives: Books

Why Civilizations Fail by William Ophuls

Posted on May 23, 2017 by

[ These are my notes from the book, not a proper book review, and since the notes are disjointed, you’d be wise to buy the book–  it’s excellent!  Plus then it’s on your shelf for future generations to understand what … Continue reading →

Posted in Collapse of Civilizations | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Chemical industrial farming is unsustainable. Why poison ourselves when pesticides don’t save more of our crops than in the past?

Posted on March 16, 2017 by

Pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides destroy soil, ecosystems, and a third of the crop is still lost to pests, just as in the many millennia of farming before chemicals. [ This is a book review of Dyer’s “Chasing the Red Queen”, … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Agriculture, Biodiversity Loss, Chemicals, Overshoot, Pesticides, Soil | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Chemical industrial farming is unsustainable. Why poison ourselves when pesticides don’t save more of our crops than in the past?

Book review of “Empires and Barbarians: the fall of Rome and the birth of Europe”

Posted on February 14, 2017 by

[ After these introductory comments is my book review of Heather’s “Empires and Barbarians: the fall of Rome and the birth of Europe. What follows is from Ward-Perkins “The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization” about the role … Continue reading →

Posted in Collapse of Civilizations, Roman Empire, Supply Chains | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Book review of “Empires and Barbarians: the fall of Rome and the birth of Europe”

Book review of Failing states, collapsing systems biophysical triggers of political violence by Nafeez Ahmed

Posted on January 31, 2017 by

[ In this post I summarize the sections of Nafeez’s book about the biophysical factors that bring nations down (i.e. climate change drought & water scarcity, declining revenues after peak oil, etc.) The Media tend to focus exclusively on economic … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Cascading Failure, Caused by Scarce Resources, Collapse of Civilizations, Collapsing, Drought, Drought, Exports decline to ZERO, Interdependencies, Limits To Growth, Middle East, Net Energy Cliff, Other Experts, Over Oil, Overpopulation, Peak Oil, Violence, War & Violence | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

After the harvest – protecting food from rats, mold, insects, fire, and bacteria

Posted on January 28, 2017 by

[ Current post-harvest storage is totally out of scale with what future generations will need. Now we have mainly gargantuan grain elevators, some so huge they can store enough grain for most of the U.S. for weeks at a time.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Agriculture, Books | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Ward-Perkins “The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization”

Posted on January 10, 2017 by

[ This is a book review of Ward-Perkins “The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization“. What sparked my interest in reading several books on the decline of Rome was when James Howard Kunstler  (KunstlerCast 278) interviewed me about … Continue reading →

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How corporations used conservative religion to gain wealth and power and undo the New Deal

Posted on January 9, 2017 by

Source: Republican Jesus [ This is a book review of One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America by Kevin Kruse (2016), followed by excerpts from the book.  Much of this introduction is my take on what this … Continue reading →

Posted in Corruption, Corruption, Distribution of Wealth | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on How corporations used conservative religion to gain wealth and power and undo the New Deal

A book review of “Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America“ by David J. Silverman

Posted on January 7, 2017 by

[ This is a book review of “Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America“ by David J. Silverman 2016. I found this book hard to put down.  It should be read because it tells the role guns played … Continue reading →

Posted in Guns, Human Nature, Social Disorder, Violence, War | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on A book review of “Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America“ by David J. Silverman

Book review of “Too Hot to Touch: The Problem of High-Level Nuclear Waste”

Posted on January 2, 2017 by

A book review by Alice Friedemann of “Too Hot to Touch: The Problem of High-Level Nuclear Waste” by William M. Alley & Rosemarie Alley. 2013. Cambridge University Press. [ It is outrageous that on top of climate change and using … Continue reading →

Posted in Energy, Nuclear, Nuclear, Nuclear Power, Nuclear Waste | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Notes from “The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World” by Steve LeVine

Posted on December 2, 2016 by

[ My notes from 2015 “The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World” by Steve LeVine follow this introduction. I read this book because I’ve done extensive research on batteries and was surprised by all the … Continue reading →

Posted in Automobiles, Batteries, Energy | Tagged , | 1 Comment