My Five-Star Bookshelf, Part Twenty-Seven

 
Ronald Wright, The Illustrated Short History of Progress

I missed my chance to hear Ronald Wright speak at the University of Alberta (in my own doctoral department!) in late 2012 and so regret that.

I received this book as a publisher's sampler. (What a joy it is to be an academic: free books!) This book, however, is one I should have read regardless. It's an important book, accessibly written and bearing a profound message: a society cannot advance past its natural carrying capacity, and our current global society is quickly encroaching on this critical boundary. This is highly effective environmental communication, entwined in history, cultural criticism, anthropology, and sociology.

This book, which was a Massey Lecture about a decade ago and subsequently a Canadian bestseller, is particularly enhanced by illustrations. (I must confess here that I also read an illustrated version of The Da Vinci Code, which I think made that book a much more compelling text — but nowhere near a five-star book.) I challenge you to read The Illustrated Short History of Progress and not feel moved to change the way you live. In small ways — and maybe in larger ways, too — I have, and thus this book is another that has changed my life.

And so endeth the list.