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Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World Hardcover – December 1, 2020

by Jason Hickel (Author)

940 ratings

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The world has finally awoken to the reality of climate breakdown and ecological collapse. Now we must face up to its primary cause. Capitalism demands perpetual expansion, which is devastating the living world. There is only one solution that will lead to meaningful and immediate change: DEGROWTH. If we want to have a shot at halting the crisis, we need to restore the balance. We need to change how we see nature and our place in it, shifting from a philosophy of domination and extraction to one that's rooted in reciprocity and regeneration. We need to evolve beyond the dogmas of capitalism to a new system that is fit for the twenty-first century. But what does such a society look like? What about jobs? What about health? What about progress? This book tackles these questions and traces a clear pathway to a post-capitalist economy. An economy that's more just, more caring, and more fun. An economy that enables human flourishing while reversing ecological breakdown. An economy that will not only lift us out of our current crisis, but restore our sense of connection to a world that's brimming with life. By taking less, we can become more.

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About the Author

Jason Hickel is an economic anthropologist, Fulbright Scholar and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He is originally from Eswatini (Swaziland) and spent a number of years with migrant workers in South Africa, writing about exploitation and political resistance in the wake of apartheid. He writes regularly for the Guardian, Al Jazeera and Foreign Policy, serves as an advisor for the Green New Deal for Europe and sits on the Lancet Commission for Reparations and Redistributive Justice.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ William Heinemann
Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 1, 2020
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1785152491
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1785152498
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 1.2 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,103,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #44 in International Economics (Books)
- #54 in Climatology
- #74 in Environmental Science (Books)

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Customers find the book thought-provoking, with one noting it provides actionable ideas and gives hope for the future. Moreover, they consider it a must-read and praise its readability. The book effectively combines economics and ecology, with one review highlighting its comprehensive coverage of economic concepts. Additionally, customers appreciate its language, with one noting it's written in plain English, and they value its sustained approach to the subject matter.

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Thought provoking Readability Economics Language Resiliency

20 customers mention "Thought provoking"17 positive3 negative

Customers find the book thought-provoking, with several mentioning it has given them hope for the future. One customer describes it as an outstanding summary of key concepts, while another notes it provides actionable ideas.

"...But this book briefly and successfully explains how, in fact, capitalism is incompatible with democracy...." Read more

"...However, I definitely recommend reading this book, the author is very clearly asking questions that desperately need to be asked...." Read more

"...It’s a really great and eye opening read that could be a start to a new way of thinking about over-consumerism." Read more

"...This book provided actionable ideas that sparked hope in a future for humanity, the salmon, the old growth forests, and all of the natural world." Read more

16 customers mention "Readability"16 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as a must-read that is extremely important, with one customer noting it is extremely well written.

"...Amazing read." Read more

"...This book is a great companion book to the one I've mentioned before "The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible" by Charles Eisenstein...." Read more

"...However, I definitely recommend reading this book, the author is very clearly asking questions that desperately need to be asked...." Read more

"...In summary, the book is worth reading but I am still waiting for someone to write a book explaining the nuts and bolts of how a zero growth economy..." Read more

7 customers mention "Economics"7 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's economic content, with one customer highlighting its comprehensive coverage of economic concepts and another noting its focus on ecological economics and community values.

"...from its earliest ontological origins and outlines conceptually a way to save the planet and improve our lives...." Read more

"...current extractive perpetual growth story to a steady-state regenerative ecological economics story, which speaks in the language of LIVING systems..." Read more

"...A great summary of concepts across economics, ecology, and anthropology...." Read more

"...It blew my mind. In just over 200 page you’ll get a pretty good lesson on capitalism, its history, and the impact that it’s having on our society..." Read more

5 customers mention "Language"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's language, with one noting it is written in plain English, while others find it concise and accessible.

"...“demands” for any of us to totally change our ways, it simply offers simple, small individual solutions to the problems we all are now facing due to..." Read more

"Best book I have read in ages. Get it! The guy can write. I ordered four other books for my friends." Read more

"This was the most powerful book I've read so far this year — clear, thought-provoking, devastating, hopeful. A must read!" Read more

"...It’s a concise introduction that touches on the history and origins of capitalism and the future of our planet...." Read more

4 customers mention "Resiliency"4 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's resiliency, with some noting its sustained approach and one describing it as rigorous.

"...the components of an economy that will be truly democratic and sustainable." Read more

"...The pages unfold effortlessly. It is also rigorous and well documented with extensive foot notes...." Read more

"...limits, organization, thresholds, tipping points, renewal, and resilience. Ecological economics values community, compassion, and connection...." Read more

"...me the most is that the solutions here exposed sounds so logical and sustained but governments around the world are not willing to take them...." Read more

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Susan
If you want to see the hidden cost of capitalism this is the book
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2024
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This book tells the stories of real people who have been exploited, maimed and killed in the name of capitalism in central and south America with Big Fruit (i.e Chiquita, Dole, DelMonte). It explores how transnational companies rule the world instead of the governments we vote in. How they hide their money in safe tax havens. How treaties are formed in in big Capitalistic countries of the West pushed onto developing countries and then used to litigate against these nations and democracies when these countries try to put forth environmental protection rules against these companies due to pollution and expropriation (taking land forcibly from other humans). Yes, countries can be and are sued by transnational companies whose only aim is to extract from the planet at any cost. How the IMF and World Bank have problematic branches that fund some of these transnational companies and increase class divide instead of decreasing inequalities and ending poverty; enforcing a new world order of enforcing predatory capitalistic debt to be repaid therefore preventing developing countries from actually developing themselves. I can go on and on, but these two journalists were on planes exploring all the continents and exposing all the negatives most of us are unaware of created by the monster that is capitalism which is destroying the planet, worsening class divide, as the capitalists accumulate and accumulate excess unnecessary stuff and money and skirt the law. My eyes continue to be open with these books and I am buying more and more. Amazing read.

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Paul Kinzelman
One of the most important books to read in our time
Reviewed in the United States on May 23, 2021
Format: KindleVerified Purchase
A 'must read' book if you care about the future of the planet

For more than a decade, I've had an ominous feeling about our future and my feeling has gotten worse over the years. Our society has bought into the myth that the economy of human society must constantly grow to be successful. But forever growth on a finite planet at some point is societal suicide. A planet has finite boundaries and we are now staring in the face of many of them - pollution, resource exhaustion, etc. We are in a dark cave with no way out and most people are oblivious, content with distractions like meaningless TV programming and consumerism.

I recently read a book that if you care about the future you MUST READ. "Less is More" by Jason Hickel. I've never said that about a book before, but I don't think that's an overstatement in this case.

Jason explains in great detail the origin of my feeling and that the feeling is right on. He describes the history of capitalism and how it got us to where we are with many advances in technology but with a very dark side. And in the second half of the book, he covers what we can do about it, but it requires a radical shift to a new paradigm of how we view the world and our place in it.

He observes that the tragedy of covid might be enough of a shock to get us to reevaluate whether we have a healthy society or not. Is GDP really a good way to evaluate the state of an economy which fails to value so much of what's important?

Get this book an read it. I'm so confident that you will feel it was worth the read, that I will commit to buying the physical book from you if you decide it was not worth your time to read it.

I usually like to include a quote from sources I find interesting, but in this case, I found so many quotes that I thought were profound that I can't include them all.

This book is a great companion book to the one I've mentioned before "The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible" by Charles Eisenstein. That book is more of a philosophical book, whereas "Less Is More" is practical and down to earth.

A friend said this:

“Less Is More" first makes it crystal clear how and why capitalism is failing, and then succeeds in doing something that most books do not… something that is very hard to accomplish... getting the reader to THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX OF CAPITALISM and see it from the outside looking in. The reason this is so hard to accomplish is because for generations our entire population has been taught from childhood that capitalism is a requirement for democracy.

But this book briefly and successfully explains how, in fact, capitalism is incompatible with democracy. It also rebuts (point-by-point) all the wishful thinking about how technology and other “alterations” to our current capitalist economy can make it democratic and sustainable. Finally, Hickel goes on to describe the components of an economy that will be truly democratic and sustainable.

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Sotol Observer
Worth Reading
Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2023
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
The author addresses the very important question that I heard a very kind and respectful elderly woman utter at a Friends Meeting House in SE Arizona around 35 years ago: "How much is enough?" That's a question that needs to be asked by nations as well as individuals. Unfortunately, the answer is too often: "More, give me more and more!"

The books biggest weakness for me is that it reminds me of the "hippie dippyism" of the late '60's and early 70's. I knew some lovely people that fit in that category at the time, but their ability to effect any real social change was very small.

Mr Hickel makes the case that capitalism is a system that must eventually blow itself up while destroying the earth's natural world. Capitalism respects no natural limits and as the early environmental critic, Paul Ehrlich, said in his 1970 classic, "The Population Bomb": "Growth for growth's sake is the philosophy of a cancer cell." A sentiment that the author agrees with. However, it should be mentioned that mot only does capitalism have this value, but communist countries and hybrid governments also share it.

How to effect an end to mindless growth--especially when nations and individuals are greedy and grasping and not infrequently armed to the teeth? Relentless education and browbeating others offer some hope. Our collapsing climate and mounting environmental disasters will violently force change otherwise. Our overpopulation in conjunction with real limits on our natural resources and teeming numbers demanding "more and more" will lead us into a dystopian, failed world.

We need a political/economic ideology other than conventional capitalism or communism. Some sort of semi-utopian social democratic, socratic society deeply embedded in a rich, natural ecology where people work less and consume less materially. It's a wonderful vision from my point of view--but how in the world do we get there in a world of Putin and Xi and many wannabe little Putin's and Xi's? We would need a much better educated and morally informed world population. Also, an effective international peace officer--an idealized and actually effectual UN for example. Hope is a slender reed--but its better than nothing.

I disliked the author's attempt to label all things white, developed north, technology, etc. as "bad" as opposed to all things colored, undeveloped south, native beliefs, etc. as "good". I thought such generalizations as overly trite and simplistic--and more than a bit bigoted. Also, he does dive a bit deeply into the hippie dippy cliches of my youthful friends in days past.

However, I definitely recommend reading this book, the author is very clearly asking questions that desperately need to be asked. I just quibble a bit with his manner of asking.

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Dave Burrows
best book I’ve read in decades
Reviewed in Australia on September 26, 2024
Format: KindleVerified Purchase

Wow. Just finished the most impressive and most important book I’ve read in decades. Less is More is remarkable on several fronts but principally because it takes a whole raft of ideas in which I have long believed for social justice reasons - the need for a different system than current corporate capitalism, reduction of inequity and so on - and shows how these are utterly essential for preventing the death of the planet. The exponential graphs of energy use I had encountered before but the biomass graphs and the relationship of these insane growth patterns to the core imperatives of capitalism I had never before seen so clearly expressed. More importantly, Hickel places great emphasis on the need for a change in mindset, specifically in the way that humans view non-human beings and the very features of the earth itself. I’m currently writing a biography of the rainforest activist, John Seed, who started from a position of seeing all creatures and features of the Earth as equally important and who famously argues against the separation of humans from the non-human world. From there, he moved on to writing about the Religion of Economics that can see the whole natural world as simply resources for humans to exploit. Hickel starts from the economics and ends up in the same place as Seed, arguing for the same shifts in both consciousness and in practice. Our Narara Ecovillage, encompassing both John Seed’s Deep Ecology experience weekends and many of the degrowth practices Hickel describes, can be a crucible for trialling these new ways of looking beyond our current madness. Empowering and hopeful despite the descriptions of where our current trajectory is leading us, this is a manifesto for a new politics and a new way of living in abundance with our planet. More than 5 stars. (And thanks to another Villager, the ornithologist Guy Dutson, who recommended this book to me.)

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Luca giuberti
A good read, still...
Reviewed in Italy on March 4, 2021
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
It is a good read, tought-provoking and stimulating. However it is quite historically inaccurate in rather naive ways.
On page 43 you can read about a rebellion in the "Italian city of Ciompi". Such a city does not exist. The ciompi were lower class wool workers who did not belong to the town Guilds in the city of Florence and they actually led a rebellion aimed at overthrowing the ruling system.

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Amazon-Kunde
A revolutionary book
Reviewed in Germany on May 7, 2022
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Great book on how to conquer the biggest problem of our time, masterfully written by one of the greatest economists of today. Complete book, laying out the conflicts of capitalism with a successfull climate policy and also offering some great solutions.
Should be on everyones reading list, at least for those who care about the climate! 100% recommended & big thanks to jason hickel for this amazong book!

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Gilles Lamontagne
Livre sur notre consommation et les traces impacts environnementaux
Reviewed in Canada on November 5, 2024
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Excellente analyse des traces que l’humanité laisse dans l’environnement

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Andre
Geweldig boek
Reviewed in the Netherlands on March 20, 2023
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Jason for president: als regeringen dit nou eens een klein beetje gingen doen dan hadden we een veel betere wereld!

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Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World Hardcover – December 1, 2020

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Why growth is entirely the wrong goal

Top reviews from the United States

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5.0 out of 5 stars If you want to see the hidden cost of capitalism this is the book

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the most important books to read in our time

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth Reading

Top reviews from other countries

5.0 out of 5 stars best book I’ve read in decades

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read, still...

5.0 out of 5 stars A revolutionary book

5.0 out of 5 stars Livre sur notre consommation et les traces impacts environnementaux

5.0 out of 5 stars Geweldig boek

If you want to see the hidden cost of capitalism this is the book

One of the most important books to read in our time

Worth Reading

best book I’ve read in decades

A good read, still...

A revolutionary book

Livre sur notre consommation et les traces impacts environnementaux

Geweldig boek