Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change (Paperback)

~ William R. Catton (Author) "On the banks of the Volga in 1921 a refugee community was visited by an American newspaper correspondent who had come to write about the..." (more)
Key Phrases: phantom carrying capacity, carrying capacity surplus, temporary carrying capacity, New York, New World, United States (more...)

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (June 1, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252009886
• ISBN-13: 978-0252009884
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #45,956 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterpiece, offers solution for THE problem of our time, April 8, 2005

By	J. Mann (southwestern NH) - See all my reviews

I am astonished at the quality of this book, which is about the eighth book in a personal reading program that included Paul Roberts' The End of Oil, Kenneth Deffeyes' Beyond Oil, Jared Diamon's Collapse, Cottrell's Energy and Society, Michael Klare's Blood and Oil, and others, all extremely good and relevant books. The task this author undertakes is to help readers find a new perspective from which to constructively and usefully interpret inevitable and major changes the world around us. By taking this approach, the author is providing the very essential tool we need to cope with these changes.
The issue is our ecological footprint.
Catton uses the term "Age of Exuberance" to represent the time since 1492 when first a newly discovered hemisphere and then the invention of fossil-fuel-driven machines allowed Old-World humans to escape the constraints imposed by a population roughly at earth's carrying capacity, and instead to grow (and philosophize and emote) expansively. He then reminds us that we are soon to be squeezed by the twin jaws of excessive population and exhausted resources, as our current population is utterly dependent on the mining and burning of fossil energy and its use to exploit earth's resources in general. In spring 2005, the buzz about "the end of cheap energy" is reaching quite a pitch, and when and if the "peak oil" scenario (or other environmental limit-event) is reached, the impact on our social / political world will be enormous. Already the US is brandishing and using its superior weaponry to sieze control of oil assets; this same kind of desperate struggle may well erupt at all levels of society if we don't find a way to identify the problem, anticipate its consequences, and find solutions. Catton offers a perspective based on biology / ecology -- not bad, since we are indeed animals in an ecology and we are indeed subject to the iron laws of nature and physics. With this perspective we can avoid ending up screaming nonsense at each other when changes begin to get scary. My urgent recommendation is, read this G.D. book and do it now.

46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this book!, July 23, 2004

By	Jonathan Love (Lafayette, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you have found your way to this book, then I assume that you are aware that the "resources" of our world cannot possibly sustain anything close to our current way of life. William Catton's book, written in 1980, remains as visionary and relevant today as the day it was written. "Overshoot" provides a solid background of research and a realistic view of what the likely consequences of humanity's failure to notice that we have entered into "overshoot" of the earth's carrying capacity. As a companion to Charles Tainter's "The Collapse of Complex Societies" and Rees & Wackernagel's "Ecological Footprint," this book rounds out a complete education in the fix we humans have created for ourselves - a real challenge, well documented by Catton.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Work to be Read Widely, May 16, 2006

By	Geomon (Honolulu, Hawaii, USA) - See all my reviews

This is a highly significant book. It is probably safe to say that most intelligent readers today (2006) are nevertheless unaware of the important, basic ecological themes addresed by Catton, but none can afford to remain uninformed of them. There are many more detailed works on the subject of resources depletion and societal collapse, but none strike to the core of the problem--us, "Homo colossus", or Homo sapiens on fossil fuel steriods--speeding down a highway with a definite "road ends" sign and barricade, our collective "carrying capacity" limit. Catton's arguments are hard to believe at first, then become harder to dismiss, as he makes the case for our innocent or perhaps not so innocent past deeds and current ways. At the end of this extremely well-written and researched work, you will likely find yourself looking for the exit--alas, there is only one Earth, one life. Published in 1980, the material is just as relevant if not more so today, 26 years later and even farther out on the limb. Will our technology save us again, or even prolong our growing masses and consuming way of life much longer? Perhaps, but Catton is no optimist here, with what appears to be a socially sound and ecologically wise judgement of our species.