How then, do we move backwards? How does a society, with most of the people having no clue of future events, move from being dependent on a vast and intertwined network of goods and services produced by the indigenous people of whereever, to a local resource and renewable energy based society, and do so in the timeframe available (20-30 years using the most liberal extimates, 10-20 with resonable estimates, 5-10 with worst case scenarios), all the while prices on everything increasing, world politics getting more militaristic, governments continuously reducing civil liberties, shortages of goods on the market and weather patterns resembling bad Hollywood movies?
Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:57 pm Post subject: World made by hand
I'm in the middle of reading Kunstler's new novel. This book is seriously addictive, warlords, religious zealots, plagues, cities getting nuked...all rolled into one plot. It makes me want to go out there and buy farmland and antibiotics...like right now!!! _________________ http://backtowilderness.blogspot.com http://grown-up-permaculture.com
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 10:26 am Post subject: Re: World made by hand
I finished the book late last night.....WOW!!!
Kunstler apparently has a gift for describing highly realistic scenarios. The ivy-league educated wannabe aristocrat, the trailer trash warlord, the religious fanatic......you could've picked out these people for any medium sized town in America. You could pick out people like this even on a forum like this one or LATOC.
The other thing that really struck me was his descriptions of specific places in cities. He keeps mentioning places where I have recently been to. For example, the Romanesque train station in Albany, I ate lunch on the building's steps last august. The Asia Society in NYC, I was just there last week checking out the ladies. This book has simply hit too close to home, and now I'm having trouble sleeping at night. _________________ http://backtowilderness.blogspot.com http://grown-up-permaculture.com
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:23 pm Post subject: Re: World made by hand
He's laughing all the way to the bank _________________ "By the time individuals discover that remaining resources will not be adequate for the next generation, the next generation has already been born. " David Price
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:25 pm Post subject: Re: World made by hand
This book, like Last Light, really paints a picture about 20 years in the future. The people in the book can't get very far from home, so there isn't much about places they can't get to any more.
I read it in 2 days.
Possibly the best peak oil book I've read so far.
I'd reccomend it to people who can't stand a bunch of charts and graphs.
It would make a heck of a movie. _________________ Deep in the mud and slime of things, even there, something sings.
Joined: May 29, 2006 Posts: 3 Location: Berkshire, UK
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:55 pm Post subject: Re: World made by hand
"He's laughing all the way to the bank"... good!
JHK was on BBC Newsnight in January '06 talking sense while the other morons on the show talked sh1t. That was my introduction to PO, thankyou James for that and all the other stuff you do (just in case you read this).
While reading the book I had to keep telling myself I wasn't reading a western from the 19th century.
I looked up some of the locations in the book on GoogleEarth, sad eh
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 4:18 pm Post subject: Re: World made by hand
stu2745 wrote:
"He's laughing all the way to the bank"... good!
JHK was on BBC Newsnight in January '06 talking sense while the other morons on the show talked sh1t. That was my introduction to PO, thankyou James for that and all the other stuff you do (just in case you read this).
While reading the book I had to keep telling myself I wasn't reading a western from the 19th century.
I looked up some of the locations in the book on GoogleEarth, sad eh
This is so messed up. Out of the locations described in the book, here are the ones I've been to within the last 6 months:
1. The flea market barn(aka redneck dance hall where some peasant woman made a pass at Robert) in Hebron
2. The renovated Romanesque Bank(aka ruins near the warlord's wooden palace ) in Albany
3. The Asian Society building(where Bullocks shacked up with his woman) in Upper East Side NYC
4. The Merion train station (aka where Minor was duking it out with black people in PA) outside of Philly.
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 7:27 pm Post subject: Re: World made by hand
What town do you think he was thinking of as the setting for the book, Xerces? I was thinking it might have been Schuylerville, but I'm not sure. It was definitely not Saratoga, as it was over on the east side of the Hudson. What towns are on the Battenkill?
It's a beautiful area around there. I wouldn't mind being around there post peak.
Here's the area I am talking about. I'll bet it was Cambridge, NY that is Union Grove in the book:
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:30 pm Post subject: Re: World made by hand
No, but that particular area in upstate NY seems to already be half-way there culturally. I'm saying that in the sense of people's conservative mannerisms and world view. So it's not far fetched to believe that the societies described in the book could form after 10 to 15 years of relative geographical isolation. _________________ http://backtowilderness.blogspot.com http://grown-up-permaculture.com
Posted: Tue Mar 11, 2008 9:40 pm Post subject: Re: World made by hand
Revi wrote:
What town do you think he was thinking of as the setting for the book, Xerces? I was thinking it might have been Schuylerville, but I'm not sure. It was definitely not Saratoga, as it was over on the east side of the Hudson. What towns are on the Battenkill?
It's a beautiful area around there. I wouldn't mind being around there post peak.
Here's the area I am talking about. I'll bet it was Cambridge, NY that is Union Grove in the book:
Joined: Jul 29, 2005 Posts: 251 Location: Show-Me State
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:18 pm Post subject: Re: World made by hand
Good day from Pheba, from the farm:
Sorry folks, but I did not like this book. I breezed through this short novel in just one evening. I found the writing simple. The descriptions were pat and seemed like they were copied from a "writing for Dummies" book.
For starters, having "terrorists" nuke two American cities fits right into chapter 3 of Kunstler's "Long Emergency". The last thing this country needs is more fear mongering "evildoers", "terrorists" propaganda being spoon-fed to them through shoddy fantasy novels like "World Made By Hand".
I easily saw that Kunstler envisioned himself in the role of the town mayor. Our hero defeats the bad guys, saves a woman and child from a burning building, helps the religious right set up camp, and then helps install running water in the town. What next? Raising the dead? walking on water?
Everybody gets along so beautifully. Life is perfect. Food is perfect.
Our hero has sex with a lusty 47 year old every week. And, being the perfect hero figure, he only does this because he feels sorry for her. Her husband, yes she is married, is not up to the task.
What a bunch of silly nonsense.
Of course, later on, he ends up with a perfect new family. The woman he saved from the burning building moves in with him.
Even the two bad guy groups in the book, the trailer trash truck drivers, and the religious fanatics, are good guys in disguise.
This is the most unrealistic cornucopian dream like post apocalyptic fantasy I have ever read.
How wonderful that both the small town dentist and the doctor survived the combined effects of Peak Oil, a killer virus, nuclear explosions, and assorted other hardships.
"World Made By Hand" is Kunstler's personal dream vision of his perfect world.
This is not the best peak oil book I have ever read. This is not even a good novel. Mercifully, "World Made By Hand" is short. That is the only good thing I can say about it.
My husband could not finish the book. He had to put it down.
We are farmers, and most of his assertions about growing food were not accurate and some were just plain silly.
I paid $24.95 for the book. Fortunately I purchased it from a co-op that supports anti-war efforts, including a peace march this weekend. Unfortunately I could have bought a much better book for 24.95. I reccomend getting this drivel from the library if you really want to zip through it.
Pheba.
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