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For The Common Good: Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future 2nd,Updated Edition

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Herman E. Daly (Author)
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Herman E. Daly (Author),
John B. Cobb Jr. (Author)
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John B. Cobb Jr. (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 16 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 004-6442047050
ISBN-10: 0807047058
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 534 pages
  • Publisher: Beacon Press; 2nd,Updated edition (April 1, 1994)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0807047058
  • ISBN-13: 978-0807047057
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.2 x 8.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #400,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsThought-Provoking in Every Way
By A Customer on August 6, 1999
Format: Paperback
To dismiss this book as leftist ranting or environmental hysteria is simply wrong -- and I would bet that the reviewers offering these opinions did not read the whole book. This book offers a stunning combination of ecological economics and philospohical critique. It is this dual focus that helps it avoid the dryness of most economics books and the abstractness of most environmental treatises. At bottom, Daly and Cobb are pushing for more human and manageable SCALE: meaningful work in more localized economies. Only by creating these smaller units, where entire processes can be grasped and influenced, can people change the way they think and live. The book crescendos with a discussion of the human prospect itself -- whether or not our species is on an inherently self-destructive trajectory, thanks to our very powers of ingenuity and adaptabilty. This is a book that should produce a profound change in the reader; but only if it is read slowly, carefully, and thoughtfully.
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5.0 out of 5 starsHumane and incisive
By Douglas Doepke on August 24, 2000
Format: Paperback
Because of the large number of issues and sometimes conflicting solutions proposed, this is a difficult book to classify. Key, however, is the authors' profound refusal to subordinate the common good of the community to the god of the free market. This does not mean the elimination of markets where they have proven effective and non-destructive. It does mean keeping their operation within strict limits, so that people can regain a sense of community and a sustainable environment. Much of the book is taken up with showing the limits of market theory and practice, and in that sense should be studied by all with an interest in America's secular religion. Proposed solutions are decidedly non-ideological and largely eclectic. Both the left and the right should find points of agreement. All in all, this is an invaluable guide to many of the planet's most pressing problems and should be required reading for college undergraduates.
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5.0 out of 5 starsEthical, Humanitarian, Communitarian, Sustainable
By Robert David STEELE Vivas HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER on January 1, 2004
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Edit of 21 Dec 07 to add links

Dr. Herman E. Daly may well be a future Nobel Prize winner ...he is especially well-regarded in Norway and Sweden, where he has received prizes one step short of the Nobel. He is the author, co-author, or primary contributing editor of many books that fully integrate the disciplines of economics and ecology. I bought the three most recent for the purpose of selecting one to give out at my annual Global Information Forum. I ended up choosing this book to give away to hundreds, in part because it is available in paperback and is not a more expensive "trade" publication; and in part because it is strong in laying out specific ecological policy areas in the context of a strong theological or ethical perspective.

Of the three books I reviewed, (the newest Ecological Economics: Principles And Applications, the oldest, updated, Valuing the Earth: Economics, Ecology, Ethics) the first, the text-book, is assuredly the most up-to-date and the most detailed. If you are buying only one book for yourself, that is the one that I recommend, because these are important issues and a detailed understanding is required with the level of detail that this book provided. It should, ideally, be read with "Valuing the Earth" first (see my separate review of that book, from the 1970's updated with 1990's material and new contributions), then this book ("For the Common Good"), and finally the text book as a capstone. But if you buy only one, buy the text book.Read more ›
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4.0 out of 5 starsGreat ideas, will they work?
By A Customer on May 29, 2001
Format: Paperback
The opening criticisms of how economics is taught in today's university structure along with the inappropriate credence given this largely theoretical topic's conclusions are well-presented and well-received. Similarly, the general theme of the recommendations is presented very nicely. Basically, we must focus on more local goods, more self-sufficiency in communities. The authors take the time and care to address such technicalities as what exactly they mean by communities. In general their care is a strength of the book, though perhaps more of the details could have been put in appendices or footnotes rather than disturbing the flow of the text. My main complaint is that no EXAMPLES are given--real-life attempts, either successful or failed, at some of their recommendations. Without examples, all their suggestions seem unsubstantiated. A lengthy but decent read, with a nice underlying philosophy.
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4.0 out of 5 starsLet's hear it for the common good!
By Paula L. Craig on July 4, 2005
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I have been a fan of Professor Daly's for some time. This book has some excellent analysis and some truly great commentary. The writing is a bit dry; if you're new to Professor Daly's work, you might want to try one of his other books first, like "Beyond Growth." "For the Common Good" does have some wonderfully thought-provoking lines. Just to give you a taste: "Economics cannot do without simplifying assumptions, but the trick is to use the right assumptions at the right time." Or, with regards to relying on technological fixes for environmental problems: "It is one thing to say that knowledge will grow (no one rejects that), but it is something else to presuppose that the content of new knowledge will abolish old limits faster than it discovers new ones." Another on the same subject: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it; if you must tinker, save all the pieces; and if you don't know where you're going, slow down." On population control: "Nature's way is not always best, but in this instance it seems more responsible than our current practice of allowing new human beings to be unintended by-products of the sexual fumblings of teenagers whose natural urges have been stimulated by drugs, alcohol, TV, and ill-constructed welfare incentives." Daly's Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare deserves to be far better known than it is. The analysis of misplaced concreteness, especially as it relates to the nature of debt, is very good.

The authors sometimes come across as a little naive in this book. For example, they propose making the government the employer of last resort. I think they do not realize just how hard it is to make such programs work; they inevitably decline into a morass of dependency and corruption.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsEthics of Society Delving Into Poverty, Capitalism, and What We Need...

A truly great and indepth book on the issue of Ethics and society and what we should do in regards to the under priviledged and destitue.

Published 1 month ago by Matt
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

This is an iconic book to understand the importance of social and environmental factors in the the economic processes

Published 8 months ago by Carlos R. Nagel
5.0 out of 5 starsReady it for the common good

Another Daly Classic.

Published 13 months ago by Eddie
5.0 out of 5 starsNot your ordinary mechanical view of the economy

Certainly an unusual book, not the mainstream babbling about the mechanism but goes deeper into UNDERSTANDING of the economy as an interaction between humans, and us with... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Steve Diput
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

yea

Published 14 months ago by Dan Moore
5.0 out of 5 starsWoven together

Classic Daly. Refuting the notion, misappropriated from Adams, that individuals acting for individual reasons benefit society as a whole --- Daly reveals the intricate and... Read more

Published on December 1, 2013 by paul
4.0 out of 5 starsgood

gave it as a gift he liked it blah blah blah blah blahb labh albha blah blah blah blah blah

Published on January 6, 2013 by brady
4.0 out of 5 starsAnother fine book by Herman E. Daly.

This is a seminal work in the field of Ecological Economics, a real primer.

Neatly organized in parallel chapters dealing, one point-of-view at a time, with some of the... Read more

Published on August 22, 2007 by Sizenando S. Alves

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