UPDATE 2nd April 2012: The book is now available. I will publish a longer review soon but I strongly recommend this book! Kindle version available here.
I’ve been sent a book to read and review and, ordinarily, I wouldn’t comment until I’ve finished it but to hell with that.
Robert Zubrin has sent me a galley copy of his book “Merchants of Despair” which comes out today in the US (not yet on Kindle but soon). I met Robert a few years back and was particularly impressed with his earlier book “Energy Victory” which has had a big impact on my thinking about energy policy.
I’ve just read the first four chapters and I think it is an amazing work so far. It’s taking a deeply scientific look at some of the roots of the current anti-humanism. He succinctly demolishes the entire edifice of Malthus in 8 pages and a few graphs.
So far he’s very successfully woven Malthus, Darwin and Eugenics together quickly and I suspect the rest of the book will be deeply disturbing when I understand quite what an horrific hold the disciples of these three intertwined philosophies have had on our recent history.
I can see exactly where he’s going with respect to global warming, anti-nuclear, crazy food policies, population controls and the underlying difference between freeing people up to be creative and enslaving them under tyrannical rule. I just wish I had the time to devour the whole book quickly.
