I finished this book in January 2022. I recommend this book 2/10.
This book left me with very little of anything. It is an easy read with some great cartoons. But, the attempt by the author to string his experience as an artist, scientist, designer, engineer—and how we make too much of everything was lost on me. I don't want to say that it was a waste of my time, but by the last page, it is hard to say otherwise.
Get your copy here.
My notes and thoughts:
We could pass a law. You can only make 5 new things in your lifetime.
Simply reject the Plentitude. Perhaps you won't eat junk food. Perhaps you won't wear T-shirts with writing on the front. Perhaps you won't watch daytime TV. Perhaps you think tearing down the rainforest to make way for cattle farms is wrong.
Quality over Quantity. No one seems to mind a massive plethora of fine restaurants. It's only the plethora of fast-food chain joints that is loathsome.
Zero-growth economies. Here is the problem of the Plentitude is reduced to the part that says that it must grow by 3.5 % every year or be declared a recession.
Just make good stuff: just the food, the medicine, the housing, the necessary clothing. Take the good part of the culture, but leave the rest.
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