Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
New York : Ballantine Books, c1968.
Subjects
Original publication date
1968
Other editions
The population bomb by Paul R. Ehrlich (Paperback)
User reviews
LibraryThing member billsearth
To me this book ranks with Silent Spring and earth in the Balance. Both of those were early warnings of bad things ahead unless we changed the way we did things.
Population pressure was first addressed back in the late 1800s but the Industrial revolution staved off consequences for the time being.
So, in short, the book seems to present a real issue that we will be dealing with in this or the next generation. I think the book is an important book because it presents an issue that is affects us all directly and has been under the radar screen.
Population pressure was first addressed back in the late 1800s but the Industrial revolution staved off consequences for the time being.
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Erlich's warning of troubles ahead did not come to pass in the decade following publication since it coincided with major advances in agricultural productivity. But now, population is catching up. A colege course in economic geography illuminates our nonsustainable lifestyles. Conferences in Africa also conclude we are living unsustainable lifestyles for the rexources available. The world's fish populatios are predicted to plunge due to human pressures. Climate is predicted to deteriorate worldwide due to human alteration of air. It looks like population pressure is again becoming a driving factor for many of our world's problems.So, in short, the book seems to present a real issue that we will be dealing with in this or the next generation. I think the book is an important book because it presents an issue that is affects us all directly and has been under the radar screen.
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LibraryThing member bookgangsta
Outdated in that its predictions of world-wide famine have not come true (Yet). However since the world population will pass 7 billion in 2011 and may hit 9 billion by 2050, it's message is still important and relevant to our time.
LibraryThing member csoki637
Interesting discussion of overpopulation, environmental degradation, and possible policy solutions. The book is pretty dated, and it’s not without problematic aspects, but it’s interesting to see the 1960s perspective on the population debate, as well the arguments against pesticides,
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overconsumption, car culture, air pollution, and poisoning lakes and rivers, from 50 years ago. Show Less
LibraryThing member Madamxtra
I would like to thank Dr. Ehrlich
For digging deep asking the tough questions and purposing the hard choices. He did a fine job of explaining the sources of angst among humanity, the dire threats to human-kind and the impending suffering that looms for us all if no actions are taken to ensure a
Yet, with all the graphic descriptions of the poisons, pesticides, plagues and prophecies, this scholarly gentleman, who obviously believes in the Most-High, Lord, God, Jehovah, has failed to target the genuine, root cause of all the calamity – which is not over-population, but the greed of the 1% who desire world domination at the expense of Billions of lives.
When Jehovah mandated that we “Go forth and multiply,” He knew what He was doing. Hunger is not the result of too many mouths to feed, but of a system that deems most of humanity unworthy of wealth, prosperity, comfort and/or joy.
Consider the many technologies that have the power to suppress suffering, propel mankind into unlimited knowledge and harmony: Clean-renewable, FREE energy, vast organic nutrition, applications that desalinate sea water and systems to share information on massive scales.
Instead, our world is monopolized by a monstrous few who use propaganda, fear and pharmacology to keep the masses stressed, weak and oppressed. Their tools are the media, controls of currency and inferior educational standards. These are the true weapons of mass destruction.
Dr. Ehrlich knows the truth; he states it emphatically!
For digging deep asking the tough questions and purposing the hard choices. He did a fine job of explaining the sources of angst among humanity, the dire threats to human-kind and the impending suffering that looms for us all if no actions are taken to ensure a
Show More
brighter future for the coming generations.Yet, with all the graphic descriptions of the poisons, pesticides, plagues and prophecies, this scholarly gentleman, who obviously believes in the Most-High, Lord, God, Jehovah, has failed to target the genuine, root cause of all the calamity – which is not over-population, but the greed of the 1% who desire world domination at the expense of Billions of lives.
When Jehovah mandated that we “Go forth and multiply,” He knew what He was doing. Hunger is not the result of too many mouths to feed, but of a system that deems most of humanity unworthy of wealth, prosperity, comfort and/or joy.
Consider the many technologies that have the power to suppress suffering, propel mankind into unlimited knowledge and harmony: Clean-renewable, FREE energy, vast organic nutrition, applications that desalinate sea water and systems to share information on massive scales.
Instead, our world is monopolized by a monstrous few who use propaganda, fear and pharmacology to keep the masses stressed, weak and oppressed. Their tools are the media, controls of currency and inferior educational standards. These are the true weapons of mass destruction.
Dr. Ehrlich knows the truth; he states it emphatically!
Show Less
LibraryThing member JBGUSA
With the benefit of hindsight, most of this book fortunately has not come true. I'm reviewing it about 50 years after I read it.
LibraryThing member mykl-s
A much criticized book that showed us we have a problem with so many of us on the planet and so many of us who are not cared for well by the rest of us.
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Call number
E EHR c1