A very short work that I took way way too long to complete. Now on to the work:

An excellent read. This book provides a very quick overview of the problems our society is facing now. He looks at past civilizations, the problems they faced and the reasons they faded away into non-existence. He then tries to show how those things are applicable to us at this time.

The great thing about the book is that it is small. At only about 130 or so pages, it should be a quick read. However, there are a few problems. First is the sheer number of endnotes in the book. Almost 1/3 of the book is devoted to the endnotes. I don’t mind some to provide reference materials, but 40 pages worth? That’s too much.

The second problem is more serious. The book lacks detail. He mentions many things, but they’re all covered at the most generic and basic level. Maybe this was his goal – to provide something easy for everyone to read. However, this topic is too important to just get surface treatment. Luckly, Jared Diamond has written a more detailed book on the topic. I have picked it up and have started to read:

“Collapse :how societies choose to fail or succeed”

I’ll write about it once I’m done.