Speed kills. In this era of acceleration of all ...
Speed kills. In this era of acceleration of all things human, most of us intuitively understand that too much speed kills, and that addiction to speed is a death sentence. For the last several centuries, acceleration of our species’ activities has exponentially outrun the capacity of Planet Earth's natural resources necessary to maintain the pace. The marvels of our technological wizardry contribute to the acceleration while simultaneously and effectively masking recognition of the obvious.<br /><br />Throw in the present-day break up of truth and moral values into fractals so numerous as to blur our recognition of larger patterns of both common and empirical sense, unquestioned adherence to the globally dominant paradigm of growth-at-any cost risks the crash of systems everywhere.<br /><br />With this book on Soil and Nurture Capitalism, Woody Tasch pulls threads of wisdom from the wisest of our predecessors, strands of seminal thinking from today’s thought leaders (including his own), and weaves them into a compelling case for slowing down. The case is by no means Luddite; it is an exquisite argument for re-balancing the way we conduct our business and our relationship with the planet. Whether it's food or finance, monetarism or militarism, the economic case for paying attention to the negative externalities spawned by our addiction to speed and unfettered growth is necessary to change the helter skelter paradigm.<br /><br />Soil is his litmus test for analyzing planet / human health and real wealth; soil is the antidote, the metaphor, the medium and the message.<br /><br />This book is not a polemic scold…(who can stomach more of that depression)? It is at once uplifting, pragmatic, and laced with Woody’s irrepressible humor—most often wry, appropriately  skewering, and on balance, ever-optimistic. Dry college texts and treatises on our current condition should aspire to deliver knowledge and wisdom in similar fashion.<br /><br />Besides all that, we get to learn who Georgescu-Roegen is.<br /><br />And the poetry? Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, the poetry is pure bonus.
Rating: 5 stars