The Population Bomb [Hardcover]

Paul R. Ehrlich (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 201 pages
• Publisher: Buccaneer Books; First Edition edition (December 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568495870
• ISBN-13: 978-1568495873
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #579,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

128 of 189 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars It can't survive hindsight August 13, 2002

By William E. Fleischmann

Format:Hardcover

Paul Ehrlich begins the work that gave him instant notoriety (infamy) by saying: "I have understood the population explosion intellectually for a long time."

He spends the next 180 pages proving conclusively that such is not the case.

It isn't simply that his predictions turned out to be wrong in some of the particulars, but rather that they were so completely wrong that they will NEVER come to pass (though he unrepentantly continues to beat the same drum).

Ehrlich predicted that, by the end of the 20th century, human want would outstrip available resources; whole areas of human endeavor would screech to a halt due to resource scarcity; England would, in all likelihood, cease to exist; India would collapse due to its inability to feed itself; and "inevitable" mass starvation would sweep the globe (including the US). We were on the brink of disaster in 1968, and the future looked very, very dark. In fact, he asserts, "it is now too late to take action to save many of those people."

And yet none of these things have come to pass. Why? Because Ehrlich makes the same mistake that Malthus did: he confuses the concept of finite resources with the notion that they (and the demand for them) are fixed. This is the point that Ehrlich's detractors (most notably Julian Simon) have been making for decades.

Ehrlich did not foresee the technological innovations (the Green Revolution) that have been such a boon to mankind, or changes in both the supply and demand of various resources (such as those in his famous bet with Simon). But such changes were inevitable (far more than the catastrophe that he predicted). The entire history of human endeavor is adaptive. As resources become more scarce, their costs rise.... As those costs rise, incentives are created to find alternatives or increase supply or decrease demand. Thus, assuming that either resource availability and/or per capita demand is fixed is not merely an oversight - it is inexcusably poor science.

This is also why claims that "The Population Bomb" was some sort of self-correcting prophecy - that by drawing attention to the problem, disaster was averted - hold no water. This fallacy is based on the assumption that long-term concerns about population growth are somehow more pressing than current hunger problems. Norman Borlaug (one of many involved in the Green Revolution) would have a good laugh about that one. Unfortunately, the major cause of hunger in the world today (in countries like Ethiopia) is not resource scarcity, but political realities (despots) that prevent access to food.

One last point to Ehrlich's defenders: much has been made about cancer rates (and Simon's purported unwillingness to bet on them). But a rise in cancer incidence was to be expected, not because of pollutants or chemicals or environmental degradations, but because cancer is primarily a disease of the aged. The population "explosion" did not occur because more children were/are being born (the opposite is true), but that children were/are no longer "dropping like flies." The average age of the population has risen markedly and so, of course, has the incidence of age related diseases.

My favorite example of Ehrlich-speak: "Enough of fantasy.... Just remember that, at the current growth rate, in a few thousand years everything in the visible universe would be converted into people, and the ball of people would be expanding at the speed of light."

I'm SO glad he'd had "enough of fantasy." Read more ›

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Keep your enemies closer April 20, 2012

By Morphew

Format:Hardcover

This was a decent book, but not because I agree with any of the content. I believe in keeping your enemies closer, and any who seek population control through force, or still hold ties to the underground eugenics movement are my sworn enemy. This progressive thought process inspired Hitler's genocide and these people are still hiding in the shadows trying to enforce policies to control population. While I do believe overpopulation is a huge issue for the plant, that is for god to decide, not me. This has been a globalist plan for over a century and I firmly believe is behind this whole global warming nonsense. The only way to get the masses to accept their plans is the replace worship of God with worship of the Earth. If everyone treats the Earth as God, and believes they are killing said God, then they will go along with inhumane acts for the greater good.

You cannot fight an enemy you do not understand, and thus I recommend every person with a Heart and Soul read this book and recognize these thought processes for the threat they are.

23 of 34 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Julian Simon is the master of this Topic December 22, 1999

By Charles G. Harris

Format:Hardcover

As a fifth grader I was convinced and very scared by Ehrlich's predictions. I became very interested in the environmental issues that Ehrlich helped make popular. However, upon studying the subject in greater detail I realized that a free society is best prepared to deal with any environmental issues. The facts and research uncovered by Julian Simon convinced me that wealth created by human being helps the environment. Poverty (which is caused by government regulation and totalitarian states) is the biggest threat to the environment. All of Ehrlich's predictions have been shown to be shortsighted and wrong. Read "Population Bomb" but only if you follow it by reading Julian Simon's "The Ultimate Resource", otherwise you will be gullible to the scaremongering politicians warnings that you must give up your individual freedoms in order to save the planet.

18 of 27 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars This book is NOT based on logic. December 15, 1999

By grundle2600

Format:Hardcover

In 1968, Paul Ehrlich wrote his book "The Population Bomb." In this book, he said that the earth had too many people. He also said that as the human population got bigger and bigger, all sorts of horrible problems would occur. He predicted massive famine and starvation all over the world, even in the United States! Supposedly, according to Ehrlich, before the 20th century was over, there would be millions and millions of starvation deaths in the United States. He also said that we would run out of oil, and that there would be shortages of many other resources.

Ehrlich is a biologist. He studies animal populations. If an animal population grows unchecked, then it eventually outstrips its food supply, and the result is massive starvation. Ehrlich said that this would eventually happen with humans. Ehrlich said that it was only a matter of a decade or two until this mass human starvation would occur.

Well, it is now 1999. So far, all of his predictions of eminant doom have failed to occur. And, in fact, when one looks around, one sees that, in fact, the EXACT OPPOSITE has occured. Average food production, PER PERSON, is now higher than ever before! And people now own MORE MATERIAL POSSESSIONS than ever before!

And that's not all. Stores like Wal-Mart and K-Mart are packed with more things than ever before. Homes are now bigger than ever before. People have more cars now than ever before. The prices of resources like iron and copper are lower now than ever before, indicating that the supply of these resources has gone up.

Ehrlich assumed that humans would outsrip their resources, just like other animals do. But humans are not like other animals. Humans have the ability to create new resources through technological innovation.... Humans have already invented the technology to grow food indoors, so the amount of land available is no longer a limiting factor to food production. For example, you could build a 100 story building, and you could grow food on every floor. There is no limit to how much food we could grow, or to how many people we could feed.

OK. So what about third world places like Africa, India, and Bangladesh? What about the hunger and poverty in these places? Well, according to Ehrlich, these places are poor becasue they have too many people. But Ehrlich is wrong!

Third world countries are poor not becasue they have too many people, but instead, becasue they have government policies that do not permit the existance of free markets. If third world countries want to improve their standard of living, then they should adopt free market economices.

According to Ehrlich, Africa is poor because it has too many people. But 100 years ago, Africa had a much smaller population than it does today. And even then, it was still poor. Furthermore, if 90% of the people in Africa were to suddenly disappear, then the remaining 10% would NOT see any increase in their standard of living.

And to further show how wrong Ehrlich is, Africa is actually very rich in natural resources! I studied geology in college, and Africa is possibly, in terms of natural resources, the single richest continent in the world. So, for Ehrlich to say that Africa is poor because it lacks natural resources is simply absurd.

I also happen to know a lot about Hong Kong. Hong Kong is the most densely populated country in the world. But the people there are certainly not starving. How does Ehrlich account for this?

Simply put, there is no relationship between population density and hunger.

Everything in this book is wrong.

And you know what is really weird? Even though Ehrlich was completely wrong in his predictions, he is still writing other books today where he keeps saying that there are too many people in the world! I think that Ehrlich's TRUE motive is that deep inside, he has a very deep hatred for the human race, and deep inside, he WISHES that millions of people in the United States would starve to death. Read more ›