★★★★★ 5
I hate to be the kind of person preaching on Doom's ...
This is an impressive quick read. I hate to be the kind of person preaching on Doom's Day, but I do find the definition of progress to be a multi-faceted, direct correlation to humanity, or as this book challenges, inversely related. As Le Corbusier once stated in Towards a New Architecture, "[Progress is] the study of minute points pushed to its limits." I think that we forget that limits do exist. On a sustainability level, we seem to forget that growth is bound to a carrying capacity which is only a constant. We exceed limits in population, in wealth, in energy consumption, and we are doing so blindly because we believe we are progressing. This is the first that I heard the term "progress traps" (which I think Wright may have coined himself), and I believe we seem to fall under the impression that distilling or expanding our limitations is an ultimate form of progress, when in fact, its lack in sustainability will only push us back. If you have the time, it's a pretty quick and enlightening read. If you are still on the fence with the concepts discussed in the book, I recommend finding it at a local library before committing to buy. For me, I recommend it.
Also, if you are interested, there is a documentary based on this book called "Surviving Progress" (2011). I prefer the book so much more, but the documentary wasn't that bad.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2015
