The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight by Thom Hartmann

This book written in 1998 about the state of the environment and our dominant culture is incredibly terrifying in it’s accurate predictions of where and on what time-table our Earth’s resources are running out and what the consequences will be. It’s accuracy makes the continuing predictions that much more terrifying and poignant reading the book today. I recommend this book to anyone who thinks that they can or should simply ignore our hopeless environmental destruction. There is a message of hope in the end, which is not as severe in it’s suggestions to change as you might think. The book is written for the lay person, so it is easily accessibly, but well-referenced for the person desiring more details on the studies and material cited. However, I caution that the book should be read critically and scientific facts should be checked.

This is a book which will make you think about the way that we do things on this planet. We've made a lot of mistakes, which Hartmann points out, but there are solutions, which he offers.

I love a book that's about solutions and not problems.

A good read.

I would consider this to be a classic of modern environmental writing.
Hartmann goes into detail on the current state of the world (in 1999, but still), how we got to this point, and how we can change things for the better in his view.
His main point; that changing the predominant culture in our world from one that values wealth accrual, domination, and assimilation, to one that values community, resiliency, and the connection that we share with everything on our planet.
I share his beliefs. Reading this book was frightening, but also gave me a lens through which to have some hope about our future. I'm glad that he touched on the tendency of "Young Culture" to think that someone/technology/god will save them from themselves. The writing style was easy to understand, but rather repetitive at points.

My main gripe with Hartmann is that he fails, in my view, to consider how many people are in such deep and crushing poverty that they simply don't have the time/energy to change their lives in the ways that he says they should. Perhaps I'm just pessimistic, I don't know. I appreciate his positivity.

A book that starts with the global misuse and depletion of oil, that moves into tribalism, greed and how ADHD may have been a blessing.

One of the few books I ever read that made me want to throw it away as far as possible because it angered the hell out of me. But since it was on my iPAD, I didn't. The guy has such an annoying way of combining facts that aren't even remotely linked just to prove his point. Like on location 1074:

"While we’re accumulating wealth and consuming resources at this incredible rate, thousands of people die from hunger worldwide every hour."

Yes those two facts are true but are they linked? Would people not die from hunger if we weren't consuming wealth? And there are a number of other examples like this.

At other times he doesn't even uses facts but rather makes suggestions using words like "speculate", "probably", "appears to be happening". Which is fine as his main purpose in the first part of the book is to shock people and he succeeds very well in doing so.

But worst of all, the biggest problem is that the guy has a huge problem with large corporations and unfortunately he does it in such an annoying way that he completely turned me off. Or would you say this is a gentle statement:

"Corporations, after all, must earn profits and pay dividends to their stockholders. They have fancy corporate headquarters and corporate cars and corporate jets to pay for. They lavish huge salaries, bonuses, and perks on their top executives. And they spend millions on lobbying, political campaign contributions, and advertising/PR/marketing."

I made a promise to continue reading because I was sincerely hoping that after such a one dimensional start, the guy would come up with some sort of solution but he didn't. What a fricking disappointing book.

Great book so far but giving me panic attacks that I will be stuck in NYC unprepared when the economy crashes, since I don't have a house where I can store up food, water & guns. Better stop reading for now. It isn't good for my emotional state. :)

The first part of The Last Hours is shocking, devastating, and tragic. Even for someone who's fairly literate in the global crisis, it triggers a deep sense of betrayal by and disillusionment from those in power:

>>How can we be so narrow-minded, insidious, and cruel?

>>And, why aren't we collectively aware of these problems and working assiduously to repair them?

Hartmann is one of the few who gets the big picture. Energy, politics, economy, ecology, resources, spirituality, culture--he shows how they're all interconnected, how we've strayed horribly off course, the dreadful consequences that society faces, and what we urgently must do to restore hope for future generations of humanity.

This is a great introduction to the real world for someone who's just starting to think about these issues, and a great resource and recapitulation for those who are well-versed in the global mess.

Essential reading for everyone.

I've read a lot of books about the inevitable catastrophe of human culture based on the direction we are heading, but this is the best one because of its deeply spiritual perspective, without being overly simplistic or "new-agey." But it's been a while since he wrote it, and a lot of things could change. Maybe a new edition, or another book on the same subject? I've listened to some of Hartman's radio shows. He doesn't have the charisma of Stephen Colbert or Jon Stewart. His medium is books, richly detailed yet easy to understand.

Thorough book addressing climate change and over utilization of the planets natural resources.

While starting out extremely depressing, this book has inspired me to think outside of the current culture to see if I can make the changes that I would like to see in the world. :) very gandhi-esque.

The industrial revolution destroyed everything good.

Excellent depiction of the problem we face as humans and what Hartmann calls "Young Culture" rapidly devour the last hours of ancient sunlight (stored biological energy) without regard to the future. The first part of the book - which focuses on the problem - is riveting: wonderfully done. The second and third parts are well done, but not as convincing, I'm afraid.