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Big words to little thoughts, Books to avoid reading, Human extinction, Shallow books, The Watchman's Rattle
The title of the book, The Watchman’s Rattle: Thinking Our Way Out of Extinction, by Rebecca D. Costa really appeals to me. Then with a foreword by E. O. Wilson this book ought to be a sure fire winner. Unfortunately in this case the old saw, “You can’t tell a book by its cover,” won the day. What I will be writing here isn’t a legitimate book review, because I couldn’t read the book; it was just so full of intellectual errors and shallow thinking that I kept shouting at the book. I gave up reading further after fifteen minutes because I might get infected with faulty reasoning, but in an effort to be fair, I jumped to the last two chapters to see if there might be some hoped for return to good sense. But, that didn’t happen. Then going beyond common courtesy for reading a book, I checked the index to see if the author even approached from afar the real problems facing humanity; after all the title seems to delve deep into humanity’s essential problem of eventual extinction.
Extinction is ultimately encountered by every species, but humans are the first to be able to intellectually contemplate that eventuality and possibly delay its occurrence. We are also the first to devise weapons that could in fact bring about our own species extinction. The real human species-wide problems are population explosion to the point of total collapse of the one time use resources which maintain our civilizations, the 30,000 H-bombs which are already constructed and could be used with minimal notice, and the soon to be acquired, or perhaps already possessed ability to bioengineer a species-specific genocidal disease. These subjects would fit nicely within the title, but they are not even in the index. The tangential words to these subjects which I did chase down forced me to read a couple of pages scattered throughout the book, to give it a fair take, but these searches consistently brought me to annoyance. I wouldn’t even be writing this, but would simply have set the book aside, except that I want to warn everyone away from reading this book. The Watchman’s Rattle deals with really big problems in the shallowest possible way.
This book looks at the problems facing humanity with the perspective of the proverbial fly on the wagon wheel saying:
“Look at what a big dust I’m stirring up”.
I really like the fact that you’ve written a book review on something which irked you so much that you did not read it. I think more people should do this because even if another person does not agree with you, it would ensue a lively debate. I enjoyed that – thanks.
I am the author of The Watchman’s Rattle, Rebecca Costa. Thank you for your passion and conviction. I accept your judgement – regardless of how harsh. But I would also ask that you make an earnest attempt to understand the book, rather than judge a movie based on its trailer. The world needs passionate individuals like you at this moment in time – so it is my sincere hope that, among all the dribble, you find one nugget of insight worthy of your time. Again, thanks for staying engaged in the world – regardless of you opinion of the book, that is the important gift you give to society.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Costa
The Watchman’s Rattle
Thank you! Rebecca, for going to the effort of writing a book about this life and death subject for humanity. I wished everyone was interested in the subject, because I believe it is obvious that humanity can not keep doubling in size every 40 years without some catastrophe whacking us back to a much smaller population than we now enjoy.
Fifty-two years ago as a 24 year old US Air Force pilot I found myself sitting one day having lunch on a multi-megaton Hydrogen bomb. I ruined my life, because ever since I rejected that humanity-destroying occupation I have been plagued with how to help our species survive. The title of your book lured me to try and read it. But, having explored many possibilities for extending humanity’s tenure on this planet the only thing which seems doable is The Earth Project. That doesn’t save us from the coming World destroying war, but it does give a chance to recover some of the beauty of the world which will go extinct if we don’t act very soon. There may not be many humans around in a hundred years, but there is a possibility that the those people who are here could be seeing a wonderful new environment coming into being.
Charles Scamahorn
ps – Since we are in communication I am going to continue reading the book and point out to you the specific things which disturb me. I very much hope I will find a gem for human survival in the book and not just generalizations that we ought to be good and simplify our problems.
Thank you for keeping an open mind. It is all that we can do: Try to see each other’s point of view. You and I are on the same side though we may view our problems from a different vantage point. I don’t claim to have all the answers. Time is going to be the true judge of my book – in fact, when the publisher first asked me whether my book was fiction or non fiction I told them I did not know. I said that – given time – if what I have written turns out to be true, then it is nonfiction, and if I am wrong, then it will become fiction. That’s the way it is when you are trying to piece together repetitive patterns. .
I do hope there is something in my writing that you will find useful, despite the frustration it may have initially caused. ..
Rebecca Costa
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