Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future | 
 enlarge | Author: Bill Mckibben
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  47 reviews
Sales Rank: 2601
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8
ISBN: 0805087222
Dewey Decimal Number: 301
EAN: 9780805087222
ASIN: 0805087222
Publication Date: March 4, 2008
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Product Description
“Masterfully crafted, deeply thoughtful and mind-expanding.”—Los Angeles Times In this powerful and provocative manifesto, Bill McKibben offers the biggest challenge in a generation to the prevailing view of our economy. Deep Economy makes the compelling case for moving beyond “growth” as the paramount economic ideal and pursuing prosperity in a more local direction, with regions producing more of their own food, generating more of their own energy, and even creating more of their own culture and entertainment. Our purchases need not be at odds with the things we truly value, McKibben argues, and the more we nurture the essential humanity of our economy, the more we will recapture our own.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 42 more reviews...
 Hope for New Economic Perspectives August 21, 2008
With Deep Economy, Bill McKibben delivers a book that challenges conventional economic and political wisdom. Simply put, we can no longer pursue unlimited growth while producing more and more stuff. This point is heavily underscored as we approach the upper bounds of Earth's natural resources and come to terms with the damage caused by operating under the current prevailing wisdom for over a century.
McKibben points out that, while economic growth is beneficial up to a certain point, it fails to produce corresponding benefits when it passes that threshold. The increased wealth tends to accumulate in the pockets of those who are already wealthy, while the majority of people see little to no increase in income. The endless cycle of consumption tends to produce more inequality and insecurity, rather than prosperity and happiness.
Luckily, McKibben proposes a solution to the dilemma: we should shift our focus from growing economies to growing communities. The pursuit of this goal will yield different rewards, but those rewards will be experienced on a fundamental human level.
Many will view the examples cited in the book as too small to be meaningful, undertaken with an overly optimistic outlook that will be impossible to achieve. But change has to start somewhere, and in the present situation a little inspiration is welcome. Deep Economy provides that inspiration.
 A bit repetitive, but incredibly powerful. August 19, 2008
This book was required summer reading for me, but I would've read it even if it wasn't. It's a book with ideas people can believe in. It's not hard to understand and I enjoyed it very much. I've learned a lot and know that it will have an effect on what I think about, talk about and do with my every day life.
An interesting study on what is and what should be valuable August 2, 2008
McKibbon's "Deep Economy" is a very readable history of industrialized economics coupled with a blueprint (albeit one that is unlikely to be followed) of how we might change our economic direction into one that is more sustainable and beneficial on an individual and communal level.
The idea that most clearly sticks out to me in this work is that of the "quality of life index," which could also aptly be called the "happiness index." That happiness within a society can and should be quantifiable, and that as a quantity, it should be factored into the overall values of this or that economic program is an interesting one, and also one that seems worth exploring in economics classes as well as sociology ones.
The focus on local business and production also serves as a rallying point for people on both ends of the political spectrum. While buying locally and organically appeals at surface immediately to the crunchiest of hippies, the boost of small business and the opportunities that McKibbin's plan offers swings the door open for the staunchest of the right-wing business class.
This book, if not an obvious plan for going forward, serves at least to give all of us an opportunity to explore a world where our fundamental economic groundwork is altered. It is hard to put down, and once you do, it's hard not to let it challenge your traditional understanding of what the economy is and should be.
Changed the way I see the world July 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I must admit, I wasn't particularly enthused about "Deep Economy" when I picked it up... it was one of several shorter texts required for my senior seminar class as a business major. I'm so glad I stuck with it... because it's had a lasting impression upon me.
I won't give all the details about the book... several reviewers have already done a great job with that.
All I will say is that the issues that McKibben covers in "Deep Economy" are so very relevant, and I find that he has a way of cutting down to the very core of so many of the problems facing our society. I was mostly disaffected when I picked this up, and now I can say I've been transformed into an environmentally and economically responsible localvore. This should be required reading for everyone.
Divorcing "More" from "Better" May 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Many books have come along in the last several years that try to explain why MORE is not making us HAPPIER. Cliff notes: research indicates that health is most important to our happiness, followed by making at least $10-13,000 per year. Close relationships count, too. Marriage is a plus. Kids....not so much.
As McKibben points out in the opening pages, "More" and "Better" began to be linked in the post-war economy. But not anymore.
McKibben writes, "On the list of important mistakes we've made as a species, this one seems pretty high up. A single-minded focus on increasing wealth has driven the planet's ecoligical systems to the brink of failure, without making us happier. How did we screw up?"
McKibben continues by both charting our screw-ups, and pointing out useful ways that we can live happier and healthier lives. The main tenet of the book is that we must divorce the ideas of "More" from "Better." At a point, "More" means finding a place to store it all.
If you've read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Deep Economy's Chapter 2, "The Year of Eating Locally," will feel like a review. On the plus side, McKibben manages to make a conclusion that took Pollan an entire book to suggest: eating locally (1) is better for the environment (doesn't require as much fossil fuel from farm to table); (2) is better for the local economy (keeping the profits close-by); 3) tastes better (tomotoes allowed to ripen on the vine for their whole lives develop all the sugars and nutrients that make tomatoes taste like tomatoes); and (4) feels better to support farmers you can meet and with whom you shake hands.
In subsequent chapters, McKibben bounces among topics ranging from local radio, a shortened workweek, commute times, and consumer culture. To emphasize his points, he calls on others' research and hooks them to his own global insights from experiences in China, Guatemala and other countries.
My favorite thing about McKibben's book is that it is accessible, and therefore a very solid start to helping us re-imagine what we as individuals can stand for...and against in building better lives for ourselves and future generations. McKibben has solidified the hunches that many of us feel - that living more simply and more locally is a key to personal happiness, and good for our communities, too.
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