The Bill McKibben Reader: Pieces from an Active Life

by Bill McKibben

Paperback, 2008

Status

Available

Genres

Collection

Vince Matulionis Collection

Publication

Henry Holt & Co., (2008)

Description

Powerful, impassioned essays on living and being in the world, from the bestselling author ofThe End of NatureandDeep Economy For a generation, Bill McKibben has been among America's most impassioned and beloved writers on our relationship to our world and our environment. His groundbreaking book on climate change,The End of Nature, is considered "as important as Rachel Carson's classicSilent Spring"* andDeep Economy,his "deeply thoughtful and mind-expanding"** exploration of globalization, helped awaken and fuel a movement to restore local economies. Now, for the first time, the best of McKibben's essays--fiery, magical, and infused with his uniquely soulful investigations of modern life--are collected in a single volume,The Bill McKibben Reader.Whether meditating on today's golden age in radio, the natural place of biting black flies in our lives, or the patriotism of a grandmother fighting to get corporate money out of politics, McKibben inspires us to become better caretakers of the Earth--and of one another. *The Plain Dealer(Cleveland ) **Michael Pollan… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member bas615

I have many conflicted feelings about this book. Most of these feelings revolve around this being too long. I quite like much of what McKibben has to say and I think that a lot of his essays are quite brilliant. However, whoever assembled this collection of essays does not deserve much credit and

they have not done McKibben much of a service by what they have done here. Much of the material in the book is the exclusive topic of several essays making the same point. Maybe they have slightly different tacts but overall I found there to be much to much repitition.

I think that this book would be great to be read a few pages here a few pages there. Preferably these pages would be from a seperate part of the book and thus on a seperate theme. He has so much worthwhile to say, I just wish he had been given a better vehicle.

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LibraryThing member BobVTReader

There are a few things that Bill and I don't agree about. Had dinner with him this fall and I did not bring up areas that we disagree on. For one thing he is a very engaging person. Second his writing is so damn intelligent and thought provoking. This book is a collection of his essays starting

early in his writing career up to the publication date of this book. He is either a polymath or someone with a photographic memory. I like the way he pulls his thoughts together to support his point of view. Warning, do not try to read the essays in big chunks of time or one well get overwhelmed with the amount of material. Instead enjoy with like a fine Scotch, slowly over a long period of time with small sips.

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