Amazon Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review to be helpful:
Macroshift:Navigating the Transformation to a Sustainable Wo, October 30, 2001
By
Macroshift is a book which I recommend to anyone who feels they can change the world and make a difference.And this book is for everyone. At times it is hard reading, but it is worth it.
What intriqued me most was the prediction that author Ervin Laszlo had that we would enter a period of chaos, followed by a clear choice of two different scenarios for the people of Planet Earth.
Dr. Laszlo predicted the chaos would come around 2005, but it came earlier on September 11, 2001, but he does not leave you without a solution. Step by step he takes you through the breakdown or the breakthrough scenario and the choice is clearly ours. We can only change the world to the degree that we are willing to change ourselves.
Dr. Laszlo not only offers his well-researched personal thoughts and opinion, but provides twelve additional 3-4 page commentaries by some of the best thinkers today. Riane Eisler, Thomas Berry, Robert Muller, Gary Zukav and eight more members of the Club of Budapest share their thoughts on our global emergency.I really liked reading what others had to say. Dr. Laszlo mentions that he founded the Club of Budapest to bring global consciousness to every human on Earth.
No short order by this dreamer for a better world..but Macroshift helped me see the necessity of a shift in my thinking.
3 of 3 people found the following review to be helpful:
Projects and details two possible futures, April 12, 2002
By Midwest Book Review
Macroshift: Navigating The Transformation To A Sustainable World by Ervin Laszlo (Science Director, International Peace University, Berlin, Germany) is a powerful and revealing look at the rapid pace of globalization and the profound shifts it has cause in the world economy and ecology. Laszlo projects and details two possible futures - the "Breakdown", where overly polarized wealth causes the supreme stratification of society and the world culture drifts toward anarchy, and the "Breakthrough", where humanity transforms itself into a new era of world prosperity. Macroshift is a ground breaking, fascinating, challenging examination of the past, present, and future of a rapidly modernizing world.
2 of 2 people found the following review to be helpful:
We need a "fundamental revolution of consciousness"., February 24, 2005
By Bill Godfrey
Ervin Laszlo has a formidable international reputation as a systems philosopher and the founder of general evolution theory. He has written around 70 books covering a wide variety of fields. His style is lucid, direct and very readable. This book is a brilliant addition to dialogue on an issue that desperately needs clear thinking and the ability to challenge ossified mindsets in a way that is constructive rather than merely strident. It is thoughtful, sober and constructive, in contrast to so many books in this genre that are slick and sensationalist.
Laszlo makes a carefully argued case that the world is in a rapid and fundamental transition, which will become critical during the years 2001 to 2010. Whether the outcome is 'breakthrough' or 'breakdown' depends primarily on building a 'fundamental revolution of consciousness' among a critical mass of people. The three parts of the book describe
the concept of a 'macroshift', historical examples of previous macroshifts and the choices before us
the 'new imperatives' and the logic underlying them; and
the way ahead.
1 of 1 people found the following review to be helpful:
You can change the world, January 14, 2002
By Bill Godfrey
"You can change the world. This book tells you how." These words on the back cover caught my interest. That's a pretty tall promise, I thought. If anything, recent events have left me feeling like the whole world is out of control and will not be set right in my lifetime.
Author Ervin Laszlo takes a look at major historic changes (like the Industrial Revolution) and comes to the conclusion that we are in middle of the next, brought on as industrial nation-states run smack into the challenges of globalization.
In an eerie foreshadowing of current events he warns that the world is more diverse than we think, and that much of it feels left behind as the western nations consume the earth's goods at breakneck speed. "Militant fundamentalism is an extreme expression of the resentment generated by these conditions," Laszlo says. And we have seen the results all to clearly.
With change inevitable, he predicts that keepers of tradition will become more resistant, bringing on the kind of Doomsday Scenarios favored by Science Fiction writers and survivalist cults: instability, uncertainty, discontent, conflict and violence. Meanwhile, the environment will continue to be ravaged by the haves and have-nots alike.
But Laszlo doesn't think the end of the world as we know it is inevitable. He really believes, and makes a good case for, the power of the individual. He uses reliable surveys to show that approximately 25% of the population in the United States and Western Europe espouse a holistic approach to life that really can turn the world around. The problem, he says, is they don't knew their own strength.
Laszlo speaks (and the book often presents itself as if it were a classroom lecture) in the moralistic tone of turn-of-the twentieth century reformers. It's refreshing to hear someone from the western world speak up against the excesses of a market-driven economy and recommend that we help our neighbors, take up a physical activity or hobby, or read a book. His motto is "think globally and act morally." Along the way he takes to task meat eaters, smokers, big business, fundamentalists, and organized labor while questioning patriotism, efficiency at any cost, and conspicuous consumption.
4 of 6 people found the following review to be helpful:
Doctrine to save the world, June 23, 2003
By j4u
Overall, I think the book carries great meaning and great lessons. We need to have a new mindset - "macroshift", in order to save the planet. I totally agree.
Then why do I only give 3 stars? Because I still didn't see anything new. It is similar to other books, like "Limits to Growth" by Donella Meadows (Club of Rome). The author provides all different kinds of warning signs to ask people "Live simple. Love our Earth and other species". I know it's difficult to have a new pitch to ask people stop wasting or stop smoking, etc. However, we do need a more insightful/creative perspective to really change people.
Overall, I only recommend this book to people who are already buy-in "save the planet" concept.
2 items in cart
