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There is a contagious psychospiritual disease of the soul, a parasite of the mind, that is currently being acted out en masse on the world stage via a collective psychosis of titanic proportions. This mind-virus—which Native Americans have called "wetiko"—covertly operates through the unconscious blind spots in the human psyche, rendering people oblivious to their own madness and compelling them to act against their own best interests.
Drawing on insights from Jungian psychology, shamanism, alchemy, spiritual wisdom traditions, and personal experience, author Paul Levy shows us that hidden within the venom of wetiko is its own antidote, which once recognized can help us wake up and bring sanity back to our society.
BEFORE THEY VANISH
The authors argue that conservationists have placed too much emphasis on the extinction of entire species, which occurs gradually enough that we only detect it in the direst of cases. By that time, meaningful action may be impossible. By shifting our focus to identifying extinction threats at the more localized population level, we can intervene more rapidly and effectively to prevent broader declines before it's too late. This change in perspective represents a critical step in saving these vanishing species; early detection and intervention may be our last, best hope for stemming the tide of this global crisis.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
We highly recommend these books. We think you will enjoy them. This is far from a complete list. Visit often for more books to broaden your mind, inform your decisions, and enhance your life.
Readers will also appreciate this podcast: IF BOOKS COULD KILL.
Frappes and Fiction — book reviews
Challenging Science Fiction: KIM STANLEY ROBINSON
HAKUIN EKAKU — Explore Zen Buddhism: A Reader's Guide to the Great Works.
ST. JOHN’S READING LIST: A GREAT BOOKS CURRICULUM
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, January 2024
You saw the movie, now read all about the history of The Bomb.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS READING LIST: You saw the movie, now read the books.
The Great Taking (available for free online), Wall Street veteran David Rogers Webb traces the legislative history of these developments. The rules go back 50 years, to when trading stocks and bonds was done by physical delivery – shuffling paper certificates bearing titles in the names of the purchasers from office to office. In the 1970s, this trading became so popular that the exchanges could not keep up, prompting them to turn to “dematerialization” or digitalization of the assets. The Depository Trust Company (DTC) was formed in 1973 to alleviate the rising volumes of paperwork. The DTCC was established in 1999 as a holding company to combine the DTC and the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC).
OVERSHOOT
“Posterity doesn't vote, and doesn't exert much influence in the marketplace. So the living go on stealing from their descendants.”
― William R. Catton Jr.,
Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change
“Fate, he explained, is shaping history when what happens to us was intended by no one and was the summary outcome of innumerable small decisions about other matters by innumerable people.”
― William R. Catton Jr.
Why Do We Have Large Scale Civilizations?
BROAD INTEREST—Books that will help you understand how the real world works.
ON CHINA: China is a country one must know and appreciate. This collection doesn’t come close to representing its vaste literature, philosophic thought and history.
RUSSIA: There are so many great books on Russia, Russian history, and brilliant Russian literature. It’s an extremely important history to understand.
The long-term solution for world peace, our species posterity, and the protection of life.
Ecosocialist Bookshelf
If climate activism frequently takes an apocalyptic tone, stuffed with theological expectancy, it is because, as Catherine Keller argues, "theology […] articulates what unconditionally matters".
The planet is what unconditionally matters, since it is the undercommon ground of all life. We can’t simply add ‘ecology’ to a list of issues concerning the left, because it is the unconditional condition for everything else.
It’s all dying, and somehow it isn’t enough to point out that ‘consumers’ are not to blame. To what imaginary tribunal are we pleading innocence, anyway? Besides, we’re all implicated, because the infrastructure of life depends on fossil capital.
And throwing ourselves into activism can leave us feeling even more helpless, even more guilty, because of how massed the forces are against change. ‘Doing something’, even if it doesn’t necessarily help, becomes a way to master that feeling.
Anxiety is a threat-response. It needn’t be a present threat, or even a real threat, as long as we believe in the idea of the threat. In fact, anxiety in the properly psychoanalytic sense is a response to an unknown, enigmatic danger.
The provided texts explore the degrowth movement and its relationship to Marxism, mainly through the lens of Kohei Saito's work. Saito argues that capitalism inherently necessitates growth and that degrowth communism, as envisioned by Marx in his later writings, is the only viable path to a sustainable future. The author, Gareth Dale, agrees with Saito's analysis but raises questions about the historical trajectory of Marxism, suggesting that the adoption of a productivist approach by Marxists may be due to the integration of Marxist theory into projects aimed at managing capitalism rather than replacing it. Dale also explores the potential for social movements, such as workers' cooperatives and municipalist initiatives, to contribute to degrowth communism but acknowledges the challenges posed by the capitalist state and the need to develop further a strategy for achieving this goal.
Andrew Greenfield
LIFEHOUSE
Taking Care of Ourselves in a World on Fire
Verso
Drawing lessons Black Panther survival programs, the Occupy Sandy disaster-relief effort and solidarity networks of crisis-era Greece, as well as autonomous Rojava, Greenfield argues that mutual care and local power can help shelter us in a time of global catastrophes.
Karl Marx
CAPITAL, VOLUME 1
Princeton University Press
An ambitious new English translation of Marx’s masterwork, based on the second German edition, which Marx personally edited. Only time and careful study will decide whether it successfully replaces Ben Fowkes’s widely-admired translation, published by Penguin Books nearly half a century ago.
Joe Roman
EAT, POOP, DIE
How Animals Make Our World
Hachette Book Group
If forests are the lungs of the planet, then migrating animals are its heart and arteries, a global conveyor belt of crucial, life-sustaining nutrients. Roman shows how animals’ basic biological activities — endless cycles of eating, pooping and dying — make and remake the world. Understanding these processes is a vital part of all serious efforts to repair our damaged planet.
Beverley Best
THE AUTOMATIC FETISH
The Law of Value in Marx’s Capital
Verso
Volume 3 of Capital was assembled and edited by Engels, after Marx’s death. Some academics claim that the result seriously misrepresents Marx’s views — but Beverley Best disagrees. Going step by step through the book, she shows conclusively that it brilliantly completes the analysis Marx began in Volume 1. Its “consistency, clarity, and logical flow” provide a powerful presentation of Marx’s most important ideas that rewards careful study.
On Barak
HEAT, A HISTORY
Lessons from the Middle East for a Warming Planet
University of California Press
Despite record-breaking temperatures, most people fail to fully grasp the gravity of global heating. Using examples from the hottest places on earth, Barak shows how we have become desensitized, and charts a way out of short-term thinking, towards meaningful action.
Hans A. Baer and Merrill Singer
BUILDING THE CRITICAL ANTHROPOLOGY OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Towards a Socio-Ecological Revolution
Routledge
Baer and Singer open a dialog with contending perspectives in the anthropology of climate change, including the perspectives of elite polluters and the all-too-often regrettable contributions of anthropologists and other scholars. They aim to lay the foundation for a brave new sustainable world that is socially just, highly democratic, and climatically safe for humans and other species.
