- Hardcover: 201 pages
- Publisher: Buccaneer Books Inc; Reprint edition (Dec 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1568495870
- ISBN-13: 978-1568495873
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 14.7 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 122,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An important document of its time,
By
This review is from: Population Bomb (Hardcover)
Having seen this book referred to on several occasions by people writing almost 40 years on, I had to buy it. And having steeled myself for the possibility of another emotional barrage like 'Silent Spring' (which nearly turned an eco-friendly teenager off the whole idea of saving the world) I was pleasantly surprised.
Ehrlich started with a catalogue of how mankind was ruining the planet, and how all, ultimately, have their roots in unprecedented human population growth. He then painted some doom-laden scenarios for the 1970s and 1980s, which fortunately, did not happen. But when examined objectively, it is apparent that despite his timing being wrong (witness: we're still here, and in twice the numbers), his message, qualitatively, stands. Having set the scene, he proceeded to discuss the things that could be done to level off the population at sustainable numbers, so that economic development could to be used to improve our quality of life, not our numbers. When tackling religion, he focuses almost exclusively on Catholicism, without acknowledging that many other religions are just as guilty in blocking debate on population growth, and of repressing women to maintain them as breeding machines to satisfy their male needs to out-breed their rivals. But on politics and economics, and their unwillingness of politicians to entertain the need for fewer people, he hits many nails squarely on their heads. Crucially, he argues that the developed countries must get their own houses in order before lecturing the less developed ones on what they might do. He reviewed past efforts at birth control and concluded that it was futile, citing the case of India, which apparently had a completely ineffectual programme of free contraception available from 1951 - the problem was that very few were willing to take it up. Another factual surprise was to read Ehrlich warn about the dangers of greenhouse gases and global warming in 1968. Again, in the event, it has proven to be less of an immediate threat, but none the less deadly in the long run. A very minor niggle is that there are few scientific references - he could have included more in the end-notes, without scaring off the lay reader for whom it was written. There are also a few places where the efforts he made to be accessible start to look like 'dumbing down'. While Ehrlich made his case forcefully, and in a very readable form, a feeling of resignation shines through: he knew that he was shouting in the wind, and that few would heed his warnings and take up his cause, at least, not until they had secured their own genetic inheritance. Speaking as another biologist, I can say that this remains just as true today. My verdict is that it is a document of its time, but none the less valuable for that. Don't dismiss it because it seems alarmist, or because Ehrlich's worst case scenarios haven't materialised yet; there's plenty of time for that in this century. Perhaps the immediacy of the predictions was a conscious decision on the part of the author to mobilise action - that if he predicted doom in 2080, nobody would take any notice. Do take a few hours - it's only a short book - to acquaint yourself with the basic science and morals of the issue, which have not changed, and you will be better prepared for the debate that is re-emerging at Copenhagen.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Useful for its historical insights as much as its content,
By A Customer
This review is from: Population Bomb (Hardcover)
A solid piece of work which raises several important issues for consideration. Of course; first published some 20 years ago, this book is valuable for the insights into the history of population issue environmentalism almost as much as it is for its content. By far the easiest criticism to make of the book is, with the benefit of hindsight, of the atempt to "crystal-ball gaze" made by the author. It's also the most trivial criticism to make as, on the one hand, 20 years of hindsight always makes it easy to criticise anothers' atempted projections; while on the other hand, the likelihood that the projections were entirely accurate, but were averted thanks to this book and others of its ilk being published, can never be known. Certainly a benchmark publication of its type.
2 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Readers should read Julian Simon's books for a counterpoint,
By A Customer
This review is from: Population Bomb (Hardcover)
Readers should read Julian Simon's books like "The Ultimate Resource 2" for counterpoints. People through work generate and develop resources and wealth and more people means more wealth. I believe that what we should be worried about is not about the number of people but about their access to education. Education will enable people to be productive members of society and productive people will provide for themselves. I find that at the core of many of the arguments against population growth there is latent racism. Is not that there is too many people is just that there is not enough like me and my friends.
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