Less is More

This book is roughly divided into two parts: why growth (and capitalism) is driving ecosystem and climate changes, and why degrowth (or moving away from capitalism) is the solution.

The first part is so brilliantly put together that it's hard to grapple with at times. Hickel isn't saying anything that hasn't been said a hundred times, but he pulls together a huge variety of sources to put forth a sweeping narrative covering centuries of growth and exploitation harming the environment. In a relatively short time he puts forth one of the most scathing and well-justified critiques of capitalism and the modern approach to combating climate change that I've ever seen.

The second part, explaining degrowth, is still good, but doesn't have the same vision and clarity behind it. The presentation jumps around between a variety of concerns and some of the more salient bits lack a bit of detail. A lot of the reasoning is self-evident based on the first half, but is covered more thoroughly, yet the path to get there is left half-formed. Enough to see it's possible, not enough to harass my MP about.

Overall it's an incredibly good read with a lot of interesting details to pick out. I learned a lot despite this being an area that I feel reasonably well versed in.