Tag Archives: growth

“The Big Flatline” by Jeff Rubin

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Rubin_Big_FlatlineISBN 978-0-230-34218-7. “The Big Flatline – Oil and the No-Growth Economy” by Jeff Rubin was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2012. You remember Jeff don’t you? He wrote the outstanding “How Your World is About to get a Whole Lot Smaller” in 2009. It is a work that we recommend everyone reads. Not only was it a good read but it had a certain gravitas being from a man who had spent his career as the chief economist at CIBC Markets in Canada. Sadly no more. Now he is just an author who “blogs for the Huffington Post”. Nowadays he earns his money by writing about energy economics. And if there is one thing he knows it is the energy markets. So how do you follow up a classic?

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“Sustainability” Chris Goodall

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Goodall_SustainabilityISBN 978-1-4441-7440-3. The “All That Matters” book on “Sustainability” by Chris Goodall was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2012. This is a small book that fits nicely in your pocket with only 154 pages. The blurb says that “All That Matters” books are written by “the world’s leading experts”. Certainly Chris is that. We are a big fan (we admit it). We will read anything he writes including his excellent blogs. So it is interesting to see how his work has evolved over the years. Those who have followed his work can’t help but notice that THIS book reveals a lot about the current state of Chris’s mind. So, what does he think today about sustainability?

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“The Spirit Level” by Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett

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ISBN 978-0-241-95429-4. “The Spirit Level – Why Equality is Better for Everyone” written by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Picket was published by Penguin with new postscript in 2010 (originally by Allen Lane in 2009). The authors are both Professors of Epidemiology in London and York. That means they are bright people who trace the root causes of disease and ill health in human populations; why do some groups of people develop certain problems whilst others do not? What they have found (and demonstrate in this book) may not be totally original but they have bought all the evidence together in one place. And, oh boy – is this dynamite. We may be familiar with quality-of-life issues but, it seems, we didn’t know the half of it. Continue reading →

“Affluenza” by Oliver James

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ISBN 9780091900113. “Affluenza – How to be Successful & Stay Sane” by Oliver James was published by Random House in 2007. Previously James was known for his book “Britain on the Couch” but it is THIS Bestseller for which he is best known now. Almost everybody knows about this book, almost everybody thinks they know what this book is about, but at well over 500 pages how many have actually read it? You MIGHT think it is about how monetary wealth has an adverse effect on your well-being. Yes, it is about that.. But it is also about so, so, so much more. This ain’t no pop-psychology peddling a set of simple problems & easy answers. It isn’t so much “affluence” that’s the problem, it is “Americanisation”. Ouch…

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