Customer Reviews

Infinity's Rainbow: The Politics of Energy, Climate and Globalization

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This book came to me with my ongoing research and study of Environmental Engineering. I believe this book has profound interpretation on the status of our planet and the people in charge of "ruling" over it. All of his facts are backed with relevant research that becomes his source of opinions that are easily understood. This is not a book that will explain every detail on the science of Climate Change; and I do not recommend this book to people unsure whether Global Warming is happening. Instead this book is more in tune to deal with the change of society towards the issue and its politics. I do agree that this might be a book with extreme leftist and it sometimes seems overbearing, with that it is still a very well written and incisive read. It definitely makes you want to question the governments in charge instead of questioning whether global warming is actually happening.

There is a lovely picture of a rainbow on the cover of Michael P. Byron's book, "Infinity's Rainbow," but pictures can be deceptive, because this powerful call to action tells us that there will be no pot of gold at the end of that rainbow unless we change our values, behaviors and actions, and make them more aligned with the global good.

As the human population explodes, the earth suffers more and more under the weight of global resource depletion, economic hardship, climate change caused by human greed, and political corruption and denial. This book is filled with detailed research and studies of the drastic changes this planet is undergoing, many at the hands of people who simply consume without thinking, and corporations and politicians who benefit when we do so. Byron, who holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Sociocybernetics, has published many important papers on the subject matter covered in this book. He even ran for Congress. But this may be his most critical work yet, as he documents the damages done to planet and people by pollution, overconsumption of fossil fuels, religious fundamentalism and extremism, corporate personhood, fascist governments and failed politics that refuse to face the coming global changes that could lead to mass starvation, water shortages and war and terrorism fought to simply survive the catastrophic results of ignorance.

This is not an easy book to read, or digest. There is a lot of very technical reportage as well as historical fact, which makes it a comprehensive analysis of how the unholy union between corporations and politics, with religion thrown in to boot, is making it harder and harder for the average citizen to cope with hardship. And it looks like there is plenty more hardship to come, for Byron pulls no punches in detailing the frightening results of both an ecological and economical meltdown headed our way. Byron also shows how the public is a part of the problem, allowing either voluntarily or involuntarily for the policies of destruction to be accepted, even welcomed as they were after 9/11 struck fear into the hearts of everyone, bringing we the people into a collective submission before a governing body eager to spread control through fraudulent elections and a corrupted media, and morph into the pseudo-fascist dictatorship we now call American Democracy.

If you care about the future, yours or that of your children, you must read this book. It is not all hopeless, for Byron gives us actions and ideas we can take to reclaim our planet before it is too late. The coming changes are big, maybe even massive, but taking those steps today can perhaps make then survivable, and even turn things around so that maybe there will indeed be a pot of gold at the end of "Infinity's Rainbow." Byron tells us at the end of his book, "This is our one and only chance. Let's not blow it!" Will we heed that call to action?

MARIE D. JONES - Vice President - Progressive Democrats of America, San Diego

You will be amazed at this intensively-researched and extensively-documented book. In his easily readable but stunningly comprehensive work, Mike Byron carefully explains the links between the seemingly disparate problems of corporate personhood, failed politics, peak oil, endless war, religious fundamentalism, creeping global fascism, global warming, and increasingly vicious hurricanes and tornadoes. You will literally feel the scales falling from your eyes.

Infinity's Rainbow is a wake-up call for the human race.

We stand at the brink of a precipice. A follow-up book will be coming to tell us what to do about all of this (it was too much to include in this book, said the publisher), how to save ourselves from the now-inevitable cataclysm, and how to piece civilization back together afterward. The first step is to understand how we got to this point.

This is the most important book that I have ever read. It scares the hell out of me, but it's better to know than not know. Ignorance is not "blissful" -- it is stupid, irresponsible, and possibly suicidal. "Blissful ignorance" is no longer an affordable option. Understanding is what we need now, and Infinity's Rainbow gives it to us.

Buy this book. Infinity's Rainbow and its sequels will be the cheapest and best investments that you have ever made in your own future, and the future of your children and family.

Ramona Byron