Less is More

Reviews

Jason is able to personalise the global and swarm the mind with ideas ... Heed his beautifully rendered warning. A powerfully disruptive book for disrupted times. Jason Hickel takes all we've been been told about growth and development and turns it inside out, offering instead a radically possible vision of a post-growth future. If you're looking for transformative ideas, this book is for you. A masterpiece pulling together the ecological disaster wake-up call from The Uninhabitable Earth, the economic enlightenment from Piketty's Capital, and the colonial history from Jason's own The Divide. Just ace. Eye-opening and passionate, Jason Hickel shows how the insatiable drive to increase GDP has caused the ecological crisis, reveals the historical and colonial roots of capitalism and argues that an ecologically sensitive economic based on 'degrowth' is essential for us to flourish. A masterpiece... Less is More covers centuries and continents, spans academic disciplines, and connects contemporary and ancient events in a way which cannot be put down until it's finished. So much needs to change; although beginning that change might require nothing more than asking the right question. This is a book we have all been waiting for. Jason Hickel dispels ecomodernist fantasies of 'green growth'. Only degrowth can avoid climate breakdown. The facts are indisputable and they are in this book. Jason Hickel shows that recovering the commons and decolonizing nature, cultures, and humanity are necessary conditions for hope of a common future in our common home. By extracting less we leave more for other species, other people and future generations, thus creating well-being for all. In an ecologically interconnected world, less is more. Jason Hickel takes us on a profound journey through the last 500 years of capitalism and into the current crisis of ecological collapse. He lays out how we can transition to a post-capitalist economy, but also reminds us that there are other ways of knowing and being that hold the secret to a better world. Less is More is required reading for anyone interested in what it means to live in the Anthropocene, and what we can do about it. This riveting offering explores a world that has finally woken up to the reality of climate change and ecological collapse. Arguing that a change of thinking is desperately needed, he charts a path to a post-capitalist world and an economy that is more just, caring and fun. A restorative and invigorating read for troubled times, Hickel inspires hope that there is in fact a different way to approach life and society. The global pandemic has made us realise we don't need to go back to the way it was, and this book offers up a vision of the future that we should aspire to. A must read for anyone sick of the egregious ills of the present day. Expand reviews