The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency to Local Resilience Transition Guides: Amazon.co.uk: Rob Hopkins: Books

Review

This book by the visionary architect of the Transition movement is a must-read labelled immediate . Growing numbers with their microscopes trained on peak oil are convinced that we have very little time to engineer resilience into our communities before the last energy crisis descends. This issue should be of urgent concern to every person who cares about their children, and all who hope there is a viable future for human civilisation post-petroleum. --Jeremy Leggett, founder of Solarcentury and SolarAid, and author of

The Transition concept is one of the big ideas of our time. Peak oil and climate change can so often leave one feeling depressed and disempowered. What I love about the Transition approach is that it is inspirational, harnessing hope instead of guilt, and optimism instead of fear. The Transition Handbook will come to be seen as one of the seminal books which emerged at the end of the Oil Age and which offered a gentle helping hand in the transition to a more local, more human and ultimately more nourishing future. --Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association

Rob Hopkins is the Gentle Giant of the green movement, and his timely and hugely important book reveals a fresh and empowering approach that will help us transition into a materially leaner but inwardly richer human experience. Full of reliable, readable, far-reaching scholarship, and warm-hearted practical advice on how to instigate transition culture wherever you are, this book will energise and regenerate your commitment to place, community and simple living. There is no better call to action than this book, and no better guide to the hands-on creation of a liveable future. --Dr Stephan Harding, co-ordinator of the MSc in Holistic Science at Schumacher College and author of Animate Earth: Science, Intuition and Gaia

I can find nothing - absolutely nothing - wrong with The Transition Handbook. The format of this manual is extremely appealing. It is printed on heavy recycled paper, designed with simple natural colour tones, and is chock-full of exceedingly practical group exercises for clarifying and practising its principles. To its credit, this book does not sugar coat the daunting reality of peak oil and climate change, but rather it offers a positive vision of preparation and myriad practical steps for manifesting it. (For full review see website below) --Carolyn Baker, carolynbaker.net

Rob Hopkins is the Gentle Giant of the green movement, and his timely and hugely important book reveals a fresh and empowering approach that will help us transition into a materially leaner but inwardly richer human experience. Full of reliable, readable, far-reaching scholarship, and warm-hearted practical advice on how to instigate transition culture wherever you are, this book will energise and regenerate your commitment to place, community and simple living. There is no better call to action than this book, and no better guide to the hands-on creation of a liveable future. --Dr Stephan Harding, co-ordinator of the MSc in Holistic Science at Schumacher College and author of Animate Earth: Science, Intuition and Gaia

Product Description

We live in an oil-dependent world, and have got to this level of dependency in a very short space of time, using vast reserves of oil in the process without planning for when the supply is not so plentiful. Most of us avoid thinking about what happens when oil runs out (or becomes prohibitively expensive), but The Transition Handbook shows how the inevitable and profound changes ahead can have a positive outcome. These changes can lead to the rebirth of local communities, which will grow more of their own food, generate their own power, and build their own houses using local materials. They can also encourage the development of local currencies, to keep money in the local area. There are now over 30 Transition Towns in the UK, with more joining as the idea takes off. With little proactivity at government level, communities are taking matters into their own hands and acting locally. If your town is not a Transition Town, this upbeat guide offers you the tools for starting the process.

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31 of 31 people found the following review helpful

essential reading 30 April 2008

By DJ

Format:Paperback

I'm two thirds way through this book and overall find it an inspiring read. The first section in particular summarises some of the issues in a very easy to understand style. I liked the section on psychology particularly - I think both grieving, shock and addiction models are useful to understanding the apparently irrational responses of people to climate change and peak oil.

The rest of the book is harder to read - a lot of detail about how one should go about starting a transition initiative. Some of this stuff makes very important points about embedding the initiative into the community and I appreciate that it is derived from experience. At the same time I found it somewhat prescriptive, especially the directions for conducting meetings/workshops etc. This is a bit of a turn off - there are of course lots of ways of doing these things and I feel it would have been better just to refer to some resources or put these in appendices.

We have to act on climate change and peak oil and I buy the resilient local economy model. There is lots of useful stuff in this book, maybe some of it just more detailed than necessary.

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26 of 28 people found the following review helpful

An exceptional book in its class. 23 Mar 2008

By T. Dorling

Rob Hopkins has produced a brilliant assessment of the two major problems facing the world today, that of the depletion of oil and the rapidly changing global climate. He explains the scale of the crisis we all face, and outlines how our response to this crisis could result in a better world for everyone, if we act now.

The first chapters of the book explain clearly how the duel problems of peak oil and climate change threaten every aspect of our modern way of life. Hopkins goes on to offer his own analysis of how each of us can respond to the crisis from the level of our local community. He makes it clear that only by acting together in an informed way, can we successfully bring about an effective transition to a viable future, no longer dependent on oil.

Extremely inspiring, relevant and a must read for everyone who is concerned about the future of our world. I give it 5 stars.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

a "compelling and engaging vision of a post carbon world" 17 April 2009

By Jeremy Williams TOP 1000 REVIEWER

`The Transition Handbook: from oil dependency to local resilience` is the guidebook to the Transition Towns movement. It explains the problems of peak oil and climate change, presents re-localization and resilience as responses that will transition us to a post-carbon future, and describes how you can set up your own transition initiative.

All of this is divided into three broad sections, `the head', `the heart', and `the hands'. First, the problem, and Hopkins explains peak oil and climate change in simple and straightforward terms. He avoids the controversies, and focuses on the local - these are things that will affect each of us, in our every day lives.

`The heart' deals with motivation, and Hopkins draws on addiction therapy and psychology to talk about how people perceive threats, and how they handle change. The environmental movement is failing because it lacks a "compelling and engaging vision of a post carbon world". Instead,the Transition Towns model us a positive articulation of the future. It captures the imagination, empowers and energises.

`The Hands' gets down to the practical details, from the principles of Permaculture, how to write a press release, working with a local council, films to show, the experiences those who have gone before. There are sections on running productive meetings or discussions with large numbers of people. It's practical and realistic, and really does feel like a handbook or a manual. (I should also mention that from a design point of view, The Transition Handbook is a nice piece of work. It's big and square and has wide margins that invite you to scribble notes.)

Transition Towns is the rarest of things, being a response to climate change and peak oil that is positive and proactive. "Too often environmentalists try to engage people in action by painting apocalyptic visions of the future as a way of scaring them into action" says Hopkins. "What would happen if we came at this the other way round, painting a picture of the future so enticing that people instinctively feel drawn towards it."