Reading Time!
<written for the North Renfrew Times in Dec. 2008>
I’ve mentioned that I’m a pretty obsessive reader. This time of year seems a good one to pass along some book recommendations. Each of the books mentioned below warrants a full column review, but since that isn’t practical, they’re getting the whistle-stop version instead, with my apologies.
The Secret History of the War on Cancer is by Dr. Devra Davis, a professor of epidemiology and Director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute. Readers may be surprised to hear her contention that “many of the basic causes of cancer were identified hundreds of years ago” and that “modern cancer medicine has a collective amnesia about its own history.” Her book contains some shocking revelations about the ways in which scientists, politicians and business people have conspired to use human beings as sacrificial lambs – all in the interests of making the maximum amount of profit (think tobacco – but not just tobacco). It’s a rather sobering tale – but the final chapter cites numerous examples of new ways of doing things that hold out promise for disease prevention in the future – and it’s a very well written book by a woman who clearly knows her topic.
David C. Korten’s The Great Turning – From Empire to Earth Community (borrowed via inter-library loan) is another book containing surprising revelations. Korten charts the history of “Empire” – the now 5000-year old ordering of society through violence and hierarchy, and suggests that only a movement toward a culture based on cooperation can turn the human race off its current destructive path. He relates fascinating information about the founding fathers of American “democracy,” who worked to ensure that those born to wealth, privilege and power would be certain to retain all three. He comments “Empire flourishes when we are content to sleepwalk through life, accepting and playing by the rules presented to us. That is not what being human is supposed to be about.” His recounting of what is now understood by science about the Universe, the earth and human biology and development makes frequent reference to evolution biologist Elisabet Sahtouris, whose work I’ve referred to previously, and he offers some specific guidelines and signs of hope for what he and some other very big thinkers conceive of as the “great turning.”
Small is Possible – life in a local economy, by Lyle Estill (available at our local library) is a very inspiring account of a corner of North Carolina where a small army of determined people is proving that, as well as being beautiful, small (meaning local in scale) is indeed do-able. The author, who was born in Canada, tells the story of his transformation from a globe-trotting businessman to a locally-oriented biodiesel energy entrepreneur who now helps foster self-reliance of varying kinds in his new home, Chatham County, North Carolina.
Depletion and Abundance – Life on the New Home Front or, One Woman’s Solutions to Finding Abundance for Your Family while Coming to Terms with Peak Oil, Climate Change and Hard Times (phew, what a mouthful!) is a recent New Society Publishers book by Sharon Astyk of upstate New York. If I could buy a copy for every person (and every library) I know, I would! Writer Astyk knows her subject inside and out and is not merely extremely thorough and eminently practical, but also wonderfully self-effacing, inspiring – and funny! The book covers all practicalities from soup to nuts (the “real” economy demystified, growing food locally, parenting in hard times and a hundred other down-to-earth practicalities). It includes a 15-page appendix of “Things you can do to get ready for peak oil, climate change and difficult times,” along with an extensive recommended reading list. Near the end, she tackles the tough nut of denial and fear and makes it clear that, although she does feel fearful herself about the tough times ahead, denial is really not an option – and also that we are capable of finding surprising abundance even in hard times. In a section headed “Scared? Duh!” she says wisely, “The only antidote to fear I know is good work.” This advice certainly resonates for me!