Sunday, July 7, 2013

An Update from the Hermit Cave

Previously, I announced that my new book would be available in June.  Reality didn’t cooperate.  Sorry!  A neat book fell out of the sky, and I decided to review it, and add it to the collection.  So, the writing and editing are now done and final.
The good news is that the Kindle version of Sustainable or Bust successfully uploaded on July 4, and is now available globally.  The price is just $2.99.  Amazon Prime members can “borrow” the book free of charge.
You don’t need to own a Kindle to acquire and read a Kindle book.  Free software is available from Amazon to turn your Mac or PC into a Kindle.  This allows you to read on a big, bright screen — a pleasant benefit for those whose eyes have seen better days.
I also reduced the price for the Kindle version of my first book, What Is Sustainable, to $2.99. 
The paperback version is done, but there is an issue with the printer, CreateSpace.  They are using awesome new software to improve the submission process.  Unfortunately, the software is beta, and it adds two pages to my book, which screws up the page numbers in the table of contents and index.  I’m hoping for a fix this week.  Then, I click OK, they send me a proof copy, I bless it, and click Publish (probably later than this week).  I’m not going to predict how soon it will be available from non-US Amazon sites, but I don’t expect a significant delay.  The price will be $14.95.
Here’s the description:
Clearly, the “normal” way of life is the opposite of genuine sustainability, and it has an expiration date.  Any way of life that is fully in balance with the family of life must be genuinely sustainable, a healthy path with a future.  At present, too few really comprehend this concept.  It would be wise to learn, and Sustainable or Bust is a useful tool for the job.
Seven-point-something billion people can’t switch to sustainable living this afternoon, because it’s temporarily impossible.  But the collapse of industrial civilization is now in its early stages, and when it’s done, the human sphere will be much smaller, slower, and simpler.  Decades down the road, many new options will become possible, including genuine sustainability.
We could help our descendants find a more direct path to health and balance by learning about sustainability now, and sharing this wisdom with the young ones.  There’s never been a better time to hit the books and feed our minds — before the lights go out.  Nothing can change until ideas change.
My first book, What Is Sustainable, presented an introduction to genuine sustainability, with an emphasis on food.  Sustainable or Bust is a collection of 64 book reviews, and 16 rants.  It’s a gallery of thinkers, scholars, and ideas that might make “normal” minds itch and squirm.  This book is for pilgrims who are awake, alive, and weary of normal — minds hungry for outside-the-box ideas.
I don’t expect to see the end of the collapse.  What the survivors, if any, choose to do is entirely beyond my control.  I am not responsible for the decisions they make, but I am responsible for doing what I can to help them understand their history, predicament, and options.  Who are we?  Where are we from?  How did we get here?

2 comments:

Richard Sutton said...

Thanks for this important post. I wonder if you recent (6K years +/-)collective decision to forget the past can ever be tempered. For many years, I've wondered about the academic canon of Neanderthal inferiority, especially considering they were a people with more than 40,000 years of success in an inhospitable environment. I really enjoyed your take on the Chauvet painters -- Too smart white guys! The newest genetic research is pointing out the enduring nature of the Neanderthal genes and also those of a remote culture in Russia, the Denisovans. We are certainly a much more diverse, dysfunctional family than the science I grew up on admitted.

What Is Sustainable said...

Richard, Finlayson is quite sympathetic to the Neanderthals. He works with the Gibraltar Museum. Gibraltar is where the most recent Neanderthal remains have been found. He talks a lot about the folks who lived in the cave there. Other caves are now underwater. It looks like he might be starting to explore the underwater caves. Go to Youtube and search for Clive Finlayson.