A Short History of Progress - Couverture souple

Wright, Ronald

 
9780786715473: A Short History of Progress
Couverture souple
ISBN 10 : 0786715472 ISBN 13 : 9780786715473
Editeur : Da Capo Press, 2005

Synopsis

A brilliant, sobering, highly readable, and utterly fascinating rumination on the hubris at the heart of human development and the pitfalls we still may have time to avoid

Each time history repeats itself, the cost goes up. We live at a time of runaway growth in human numbers, consumption, and technology. The great question we now face is how, and whether, this can go on. Ronald Wright argues that our modern predicament, though new in scale, is as old as humankind.

A Short History of Progress is nothing less than a concise history of the world since Neanderthal times, elegantly written, brilliantly conceived, and stunningly clear in its warming to us now. Wright shows how human beings have a way of walking into "progress traps," beginning with the worldwide slaughter of big game in the Stone Age. The same pattern of overconsumption then took a new form as many of the world's most creative civilizations--Mesopotamia, the Maya, the Roman Empire--fell victim to their own success.

Only by understanding our pattern of progress and disaster, Wright contends, can we hope to change our ways and ensure that civilization has a longterm future.

"[Ronald Wright] is an historical philosopher with a profound understanding of other cultures."--Jan Morris

"A wise, timely, and brilliant book."--Toronto Globe and Mail

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À propos de l'auteur

Ronald Wright is an award-winning novelist, historian, and essayist. His first novel, A Scientific Romance, won the 1997 David Higham Award for Fiction and was a Sunday Times, Globe and Mail, and New York Times book of the year. Ronald Wright lives in British Columbia.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
Da Capo Press
Date d'édition
2005
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
0786715472
ISBN 13 
9780786715473
Reliure
Broché
Nombre de pages
224
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
non disponible

Autres éditions populaires du même titre

9781841958309: A Short History Of Progress

Edition présentée

ISBN 10 :  1841958301 ISBN 13 :  9781841958309
Editeur : Canongate Books, 2006
Couverture souple