Publishers Weekly
★ 01/31/2019
Three decades after bringing news of climate change to a broad audience with the book The End of Nature, environmental scholar McKibben once again examines the impact of global warming in unsettling look at the prospects for human survival. He notes at the outset that, as a writer, he owes his readers honesty, not hope, of which there’s little to be found. McKibben does find cause for optimism in two human “technologies” or innovations—nonviolent protests and solar panels—“that could prove decisive if fully employed.” But he suspects that humanity won’t do so. He also examines how Ayn Rand’s outsize influence prevented American government from effectively responding to global warming and how Exxon concealed its own researchers’ findings about the threat. His analysis factors in two other developments, in addition to global warming, as causes for worry. Unregulated artificial intelligence could lead to self-improving AI which would “soon outstrip our ability to control it,” and which might eventually deem human life unnecessary. Meanwhile, advances in bioengineering have brought new plausibility to seemingly fantastic concepts such as designer children and even immortality; McKibben makes clear that such “progress” would radically change what it means to be human. Readers open to inconvenient and sobering truths will find much to digest in McKibben’s eloquently unsparing treatise. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
"[E]ssential for anyone concerned about humanity's future." -AudioFile Magazine
APRIL 2019 - AudioFile
Narrator Oliver Wyman has the difficult task of engaging listeners with this audiobook’s grim tidings on climate change and pending social collapse. The sobering introduction, read by the author, renowned environmentalist Bill McKibben, warns listeners not to expect unwarranted hope. While McKibben is cautiously optimistic about renewable energy and the power of the people, Wyman must deliver a barrage of frightening and scientifically sound scenarios. Yet his skillful, nuanced performance is enough to keep listeners from tossing their earbuds aside in despair. Wyman spotlights sporadic moments of humor and hope and channels McKibben’s withering rage toward the powerful few who suppress climate action in favor of personal wealth. This isn’t easy listening, but it’s essential for anyone concerned about humanity’s future. A.T.N. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2019-02-04
The noted environmental activist reprises his proposals to save humanity.
For the past 30 years, McKibben (Environmental Studies/Middlebury Coll.; Radio Free Vermont: A Fable of Resistance, 2017, etc.), founder of the environmental activist organization 350.org, has been issuing urgent warnings about the consequences of climate change and the need to promote sustainable energy sources. In Enough (2003), he added to his concerns genetic engineering and artificial intelligence, which he sees as posing dire threats to humanity. Ticked off by "a dozen high profile books devoted to the idea that everything in the world is steadily improving"—notably Enlightenment Now (2018), in which Steve Pinker demonstrated his "trademark perkiness"—McKibben underscores his arguments and proposes cautiously hopeful solutions. He blames the fossil fuel industry, headed by greedy energy moguls such as the Koch brothers and Exxon executives, for impeding reforms that could stave off disaster. Offering ample evidence of the damage caused by climate change, the author feels certain that people around the world "are not just highly concerned about global warming, but also willing to pay a price to solve it" by seeing their energy bills rise, with the money spent on clean energy programs. He cites a study that concludes that "every major nation on earth could be supplying 80 percent of its power from renewables by 2030." McKibben is less persuasive in his analyses of the threats of artificial intelligence and gene editing, mainly because he gleans his information from newspaper and popular magazine articles rather than peer-reviewed scientific studies that would give his assertions more weight. Against both technologies, he recommends nonviolent resistance. Although open to the idea that new jobs will emerge when robots replace people for much work—solar panels can be installed only by humans, for example—he would like us all to take it slowly. Similarly, we need to resist gene-editing technology. While now such techniques can repair or eliminate genetically caused disease, he sees, in a dystopian future, the creation of designer babies.
A compelling call for change that would benefit from stronger sources.
