Comments on: Book Review: Plan C

By: Barbara Adrienne Rosen

Barbara Adrienne Rosen — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:51:38 +0000

I live in Woodstock, New York and belong to the Woodstock Land Conservancy. We are inviting our community to another Stone Soup gathering in about four weeks and I intend to present ideas from Plan C to our gathering. We have been given a very short reprieve from the battle against hydrofracking.

Barbara Aadrienne Rosen

By: Andy Wilson

Andy Wilson — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:16:11 +0000

Having read Plan C myself, I think it goes one step further than most ‘peak oil’ books by documenting the way in which corporate controlled media and advertising have cynically shaped lifestyle expectations and personal realities in order to boost profits. Thus the fairy story of eternal economic growth on a planet of finite resources is accepted without question, even though any five year old knows that once the jar of sweeties is empty, that’s it.

By: Graham

Graham — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 23:40:00 +0000

Yes I do understand the "once you've read 15 Peak oil books you've read them all" syndrome... so having read my review you can spare yourself the reading of the book! But as I said, I think that the authoritative tone backed by numbers does put it high on the list for me; the smart jitney analysis I found fresh and very useful; and other ways that the figures back counter-intuitive or Greenwash responses (the recycling example); and perhaps in particular the section on the media which is not covered in such a way or so prominently. And just in general I liked the way Pat writes and how the book is put together.

So while it needn't make the top of your pile I would highly recommend it to those new to Peak Oil books as one of the best overviews and certainly hugely useful in support of transition work in its coverage of community responses, despite its mainly US focus.

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:40:20 +0000

Hi Graham… good to have you back! Good to read your review of this book… funny, I have a copy, and have had it by my bed for a while now in the life-threateningly precipitously high book pile, but there is something about that has meant it never made it into my hand for actual reading. I guess it feels to me like it is too large for a quick read, and in terms of dedicating the time to it that it deserves, I’m not convinced from a good scan of the book that it has a great deal to say that I haven’t read elsewhere. In my time-constrained existence, I tend to seek out books that either add a new perspective, argument, angle, tool or discipline, books that present ideas and information that we are already familiar with but in a different format tend to be a bit frustrating…. but that’s just me…. were there things in it that came as a bolt from the blue, any eureka moments? Be interested to know, you never know, might move it further up the pile!