Transition Handbook, 08 Oct 2008
This book is way overdue. I have been eagerly searching for books addressing the preparation for post peak oil for many many years. Books like this should have been written years ago so I was delighted to see that at last practical guides are starting to appear on the book shelves.

I really enjoyed the first couple of chapters dealing with peak oil and its implications for society. Subsequent chapters I did not enjoy as much particularly when the Kinsale Energy Decent Action Plan is promoted as a role model for sustainable community development.

There is a huge wealth of expertise in the development community, particularly which which was developed from overseas aid agencies. They have developed approaches, standards, principles and a multitude of methodologies for developing communities, with limited or almost non existent resources, and where success or failure costs lives. This expertise has been ignored and attempts made to reinvent the wheel.

I think the focus of the book should have built on the expertise of organisations such as Oxfam, VSO, Save the Children, and Overseas Development Administration and focused on the structures, processes and outcomes, which would help develop community resilience and sustainability, with limited resources.

I have a worry that communities who attempt to use this handbook as the basis for their transition will make fantastic progress initially through the generation of enthusiasm but due to improper planning, a lack of monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness and imprecise goals and objectives, people will become disillusioned and drop out. There is also the danger that communities who adapt this approach will not be able to communicate effectively with traditional disciplines, local authorities, health services, energy engineers or others. Who should change first? The current decision makers and service providers or the community development
organisations?

This process of conflict between service providers and community organisations has happened time and time again, without learning the lessons of what actually is sustainable in the long term. It usually results in the community organisation being unable to access state funding resulting in decline and or death. How can a community organisation sustain itself unless it becomes a business, with formal structures, job descriptions, terms of reference, fundamental guiding principles, training, development, salaries, income generation, sales etc. How can that fit with the "loose" concepts proposed?

Lets hope this is just the first of a huge range of increasingly sophisticated publications yet to come that will address these issues using the best expertise available in the fields of business, development management, community organisation, sustainability, public health, and many more, combined into a consensus best practice manual for transition. I hope these comments help to stimulate a critical approach to sustainable community development.


A smart, accessible guide to a resilient, low-carbon future, 11 Sep 2008
There is a powerful current in our contemporary, post-industrial culture that is arguing for a simpler, more sustainable alternative to our wasteful, environmentally damaging way of life. Proselytisers rely on a varying mix of three sets of arguments: the environmental challenge posed by climate change, the energy supply challenge posed by peak oil and, finally, the spiritual challenge emerging from the newest science on personal wellbeing (in a nutshell: beyond a certain point more money and stuff doesn't make us happier.)

Rob Hopkins' Transition Movement is pragmatic attempt to come to terms with the disruptions that are heralded by climate change and peak oil. Thoughtlessly addicted as we are to fossil fuels, our societies are ill equipped to deal with the adverse implications of energy scarcity and a hotter, less predictable climate. According to Hopkins, what we need to develop is resilience: the ability to deal creatively and locally with energy supply and environmental shocks.

The Transition Handbook is a hands-on guide to help communities make that transition towards a resilient, low-carbon future. It is useful to distinguish three layers in the book.

The first layer encapsulates the three main parts of Hopkins' argument, focused on the head (the facts about climate change and peak oil you need to know), the heart (the need for positive vision and commitment) and the hands (practical guidelines for enabling resilient communities).

The second layer consists of a range of design principles that can be relied on to shape resilient communities. For example, in preparing for an energy-scarce future we need to know that resilience relies on a small scale, modular and decentralised infrastructure. We also need to invest in high-quality productive relationships, integrate rather than segregate and use the creative edges of systems to make the most of their potential. There are many more of these principles that have been lifted from an eclectic mix of disciplines, including systems science, ecology and the psychology of change. Hopkins himself was deeply influenced by the permaculture movement, a radical design approach to constructing "sustainable human settlements".

The third layer features a range of practical solutions that comply with these design principles. These solutions are meant to be the cornerstones of any resilient community and include a template for working towards a more energy-thrifty ("energy descent planning"), decentralised energy generation, local food sourcing, re-skilling of consumers into creative citizens and local currencies.

Transition thinking is not only a theory but it is also a social movement and the book features a number of UK examples of communities that have started going down the path towards resilience. Hopkins is acutely aware that the governance of the Transition movement needs to mirror the design principles underlying resilience. It would hardly be credible and effective to embody a Transition movement by a tightly-managed, centralised bureaucracy. So, Hopkins is only willing to give pointers to help people in facilitating bottom-up, small-scale, self-steering initiatives. Lots is left to emergence and action learning ("... where it all goes remains to be seen ..." is an often used phrase in the book).

The Transition Handbook is an accessible, smart guide to helping us deal with the challenges we may face as a result of climate change and peak oil. In itself the book doesn't offer anything new, but it rearranges familiar pieces of a puzzle into a compelling and coherent approach towards learning again to help ourselves and to do more with less.

Enabling, 01 Jul 2008
Hooray. Despite some people's misgivings about the psychology section, which seem largely dependent on a definition of 'success', this is an outstanding book. It's primary achievement is to show the reader how societal change can take place in the absence of the usual too little too late response of governments, whose priorities lie with business, rather than people or environmental sustainability. The future security of Britain, and elsewhere, lies in groups of people with the will and power to make communities sustainable. It might seem unbelievable, but we have the power to transform our society, and are not at the whim of government. They will follow. If you admire Kohr, Schumacher, Papworth and Sale, you will respond positively to this book.

Brilliant in parts, dangerously foolish in others, 28 Jun 2008
I've the greatest sympathy with this book's concept in many respects. Rob correctly identifies the overriding need to reduce energy dependence, and that we must not wait for "them" to do anything about it, or even help us. Correctly he sees that we need a "how-to" manual for how to make communities (rather than just the reader) self-sufficient in food and so on. But the devil is in the practical details, or more precisely the practical unknowns which are all too easily glossed over.

The book gets hideously, dangerously misguided in its important section on psychology, with its notion of the importance of a "positive vision". History is bursting full of "positive visions" which ended in huge disasters. Instead, what is needed is a judiciously realistic vision. It is vitally important to recognise that criticism and doubt are just as important as hope and "constructive" "enthusiastic" thinking. Otherwise huge energy and effort is almost certain to be lost in enthusing down disastrous dead-ends.

In a traumatised society, many people become lost to despair, depression, negativity. But there is the equal problem that too many people desperately pin their hopes on "positive" but false solutions which ultimately fail them.

Someone said that the transition concept has been "phenomenally successful". That is seriously unhinged fantasy. There hasn't yet been a transition to test out how or even whether the ideas work out in practice.
You need to be very careful to avoid assuming that action is the same as achievement of solutions, or that international fame and crowds of enthusiastic followers is the same as success in solving the problem.

I would strongly urge the author to revise the psychology section of his book to take account of these comments. The importance of a realistic vision.

essential reading, 30 Apr 2008
I'm two thirds way through this book and overall find it an inspiring read. The first section in particular summarises some of the issues in a very easy to understand style. I liked the section on psychology particularly - I think both grieving, shock and addiction models are useful to understanding the apparently irrational responses of people to climate change and peak oil.

The rest of the book is harder to read - a lot of detail about how one should go about starting a transition initiative. Some of this stuff makes very important points about embedding the initiative into the community and I appreciate that it is derived from experience. At the same time I found it somewhat prescriptive, especially the directions for conducting meetings/workshops etc. This is a bit of a turn off - there are of course lots of ways of doing these things and I feel it would have been better just to refer to some resources or put these in appendices.

We have to act on climate change and peak oil and I buy the resilient local economy model. There is lots of useful stuff in this book, maybe some of it just more detailed than necessary.

Transition Handbook, 08 Oct 2008
This book is way overdue. I have been eagerly searching for books addressing the preparation for post peak oil for many many years. Books like this should have been written years ago so I was delighted to see that at last practical guides are starting to appear on the book shelves.

I really enjoyed the first couple of chapters dealing with peak oil and its implications for society. Subsequent chapters I did not enjoy as much particularly when the Kinsale Energy Decent Action Plan is promoted as a role model for sustainable community development.

There is a huge wealth of expertise in the development community, particularly which which was developed from overseas aid agencies. They have developed approaches, standards, principles and a multitude of methodologies for developing communities, with limited or almost non existent resources, and where success or failure costs lives. This expertise has been ignored and attempts made to reinvent the wheel.

I think the focus of the book should have built on the expertise of organisations such as Oxfam, VSO, Save the Children, and Overseas Development Administration and focused on the structures, processes and outcomes, which would help develop community resilience and sustainability, with limited resources.

I have a worry that communities who attempt to use this handbook as the basis for their transition will make fantastic progress initially through the generation of enthusiasm but due to improper planning, a lack of monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness and imprecise goals and objectives, people will become disillusioned and drop out. There is also the danger that communities who adapt this approach will not be able to communicate effectively with traditional disciplines, local authorities, health services, energy engineers or others. Who should change first? The current decision makers and service providers or the community development
organisations?

This process of conflict between service providers and community organisations has happened time and time again, without learning the lessons of what actually is sustainable in the long term. It usually results in the community organisation being unable to access state funding resulting in decline and or death. How can a community organisation sustain itself unless it becomes a business, with formal structures, job descriptions, terms of reference, fundamental guiding principles, training, development, salaries, income generation, sales etc. How can that fit with the "loose" concepts proposed?

Lets hope this is just the first of a huge range of increasingly sophisticated publications yet to come that will address these issues using the best expertise available in the fields of business, development management, community organisation, sustainability, public health, and many more, combined into a consensus best practice manual for transition. I hope these comments help to stimulate a critical approach to sustainable community development.


A smart, accessible guide to a resilient, low-carbon future, 11 Sep 2008
There is a powerful current in our contemporary, post-industrial culture that is arguing for a simpler, more sustainable alternative to our wasteful, environmentally damaging way of life. Proselytisers rely on a varying mix of three sets of arguments: the environmental challenge posed by climate change, the energy supply challenge posed by peak oil and, finally, the spiritual challenge emerging from the newest science on personal wellbeing (in a nutshell: beyond a certain point more money and stuff doesn't make us happier.)

Rob Hopkins' Transition Movement is pragmatic attempt to come to terms with the disruptions that are heralded by climate change and peak oil. Thoughtlessly addicted as we are to fossil fuels, our societies are ill equipped to deal with the adverse implications of energy scarcity and a hotter, less predictable climate. According to Hopkins, what we need to develop is resilience: the ability to deal creatively and locally with energy supply and environmental shocks.

The Transition Handbook is a hands-on guide to help communities make that transition towards a resilient, low-carbon future. It is useful to distinguish three layers in the book.

The first layer encapsulates the three main parts of Hopkins' argument, focused on the head (the facts about climate change and peak oil you need to know), the heart (the need for positive vision and commitment) and the hands (practical guidelines for enabling resilient communities).

The second layer consists of a range of design principles that can be relied on to shape resilient communities. For example, in preparing for an energy-scarce future we need to know that resilience relies on a small scale, modular and decentralised infrastructure. We also need to invest in high-quality productive relationships, integrate rather than segregate and use the creative edges of systems to make the most of their potential. There are many more of these principles that have been lifted from an eclectic mix of disciplines, including systems science, ecology and the psychology of change. Hopkins himself was deeply influenced by the permaculture movement, a radical design approach to constructing "sustainable human settlements".

The third layer features a range of practical solutions that comply with these design principles. These solutions are meant to be the cornerstones of any resilient community and include a template for working towards a more energy-thrifty ("energy descent planning"), decentralised energy generation, local food sourcing, re-skilling of consumers into creative citizens and local currencies.

Transition thinking is not only a theory but it is also a social movement and the book features a number of UK examples of communities that have started going down the path towards resilience. Hopkins is acutely aware that the governance of the Transition movement needs to mirror the design principles underlying resilience. It would hardly be credible and effective to embody a Transition movement by a tightly-managed, centralised bureaucracy. So, Hopkins is only willing to give pointers to help people in facilitating bottom-up, small-scale, self-steering initiatives. Lots is left to emergence and action learning ("... where it all goes remains to be seen ..." is an often used phrase in the book).

The Transition Handbook is an accessible, smart guide to helping us deal with the challenges we may face as a result of climate change and peak oil. In itself the book doesn't offer anything new, but it rearranges familiar pieces of a puzzle into a compelling and coherent approach towards learning again to help ourselves and to do more with less.

Enabling, 01 Jul 2008
Hooray. Despite some people's misgivings about the psychology section, which seem largely dependent on a definition of 'success', this is an outstanding book. It's primary achievement is to show the reader how societal change can take place in the absence of the usual too little too late response of governments, whose priorities lie with business, rather than people or environmental sustainability. The future security of Britain, and elsewhere, lies in groups of people with the will and power to make communities sustainable. It might seem unbelievable, but we have the power to transform our society, and are not at the whim of government. They will follow. If you admire Kohr, Schumacher, Papworth and Sale, you will respond positively to this book.

Brilliant in parts, dangerously foolish in others, 28 Jun 2008
I've the greatest sympathy with this book's concept in many respects. Rob correctly identifies the overriding need to reduce energy dependence, and that we must not wait for "them" to do anything about it, or even help us. Correctly he sees that we need a "how-to" manual for how to make communities (rather than just the reader) self-sufficient in food and so on. But the devil is in the practical details, or more precisely the practical unknowns which are all too easily glossed over.

The book gets hideously, dangerously misguided in its important section on psychology, with its notion of the importance of a "positive vision". History is bursting full of "positive visions" which ended in huge disasters. Instead, what is needed is a judiciously realistic vision. It is vitally important to recognise that criticism and doubt are just as important as hope and "constructive" "enthusiastic" thinking. Otherwise huge energy and effort is almost certain to be lost in enthusing down disastrous dead-ends.

In a traumatised society, many people become lost to despair, depression, negativity. But there is the equal problem that too many people desperately pin their hopes on "positive" but false solutions which ultimately fail them.

Someone said that the transition concept has been "phenomenally successful". That is seriously unhinged fantasy. There hasn't yet been a transition to test out how or even whether the ideas work out in practice.
You need to be very careful to avoid assuming that action is the same as achievement of solutions, or that international fame and crowds of enthusiastic followers is the same as success in solving the problem.

I would strongly urge the author to revise the psychology section of his book to take account of these comments. The importance of a realistic vision.

essential reading, 30 Apr 2008
I'm two thirds way through this book and overall find it an inspiring read. The first section in particular summarises some of the issues in a very easy to understand style. I liked the section on psychology particularly - I think both grieving, shock and addiction models are useful to understanding the apparently irrational responses of people to climate change and peak oil.

The rest of the book is harder to read - a lot of detail about how one should go about starting a transition initiative. Some of this stuff makes very important points about embedding the initiative into the community and I appreciate that it is derived from experience. At the same time I found it somewhat prescriptive, especially the directions for conducting meetings/workshops etc. This is a bit of a turn off - there are of course lots of ways of doing these things and I feel it would have been better just to refer to some resources or put these in appendices.

We have to act on climate change and peak oil and I buy the resilient local economy model. There is lots of useful stuff in this book, maybe some of it just more detailed than necessary.

Inspirational, 11 Jul 2007
My partner and I were inspired to build our own house by the previous version of this book and now we are in this one so I think it's reasonable to call it inspiring.

This is a book with substance and great coffee table pictures as well. A good mix of technical advice and the stories of self builders written by a self builder and very experienced green Architect.

Transition Handbook, 08 Oct 2008
This book is way overdue. I have been eagerly searching for books addressing the preparation for post peak oil for many many years. Books like this should have been written years ago so I was delighted to see that at last practical guides are starting to appear on the book shelves.

I really enjoyed the first couple of chapters dealing with peak oil and its implications for society. Subsequent chapters I did not enjoy as much particularly when the Kinsale Energy Decent Action Plan is promoted as a role model for sustainable community development.

There is a huge wealth of expertise in the development community, particularly which which was developed from overseas aid agencies. They have developed approaches, standards, principles and a multitude of methodologies for developing communities, with limited or almost non existent resources, and where success or failure costs lives. This expertise has been ignored and attempts made to reinvent the wheel.

I think the focus of the book should have built on the expertise of organisations such as Oxfam, VSO, Save the Children, and Overseas Development Administration and focused on the structures, processes and outcomes, which would help develop community resilience and sustainability, with limited resources.

I have a worry that communities who attempt to use this handbook as the basis for their transition will make fantastic progress initially through the generation of enthusiasm but due to improper planning, a lack of monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness and imprecise goals and objectives, people will become disillusioned and drop out. There is also the danger that communities who adapt this approach will not be able to communicate effectively with traditional disciplines, local authorities, health services, energy engineers or others. Who should change first? The current decision makers and service providers or the community development
organisations?

This process of conflict between service providers and community organisations has happened time and time again, without learning the lessons of what actually is sustainable in the long term. It usually results in the community organisation being unable to access state funding resulting in decline and or death. How can a community organisation sustain itself unless it becomes a business, with formal structures, job descriptions, terms of reference, fundamental guiding principles, training, development, salaries, income generation, sales etc. How can that fit with the "loose" concepts proposed?

Lets hope this is just the first of a huge range of increasingly sophisticated publications yet to come that will address these issues using the best expertise available in the fields of business, development management, community organisation, sustainability, public health, and many more, combined into a consensus best practice manual for transition. I hope these comments help to stimulate a critical approach to sustainable community development.


A smart, accessible guide to a resilient, low-carbon future, 11 Sep 2008
There is a powerful current in our contemporary, post-industrial culture that is arguing for a simpler, more sustainable alternative to our wasteful, environmentally damaging way of life. Proselytisers rely on a varying mix of three sets of arguments: the environmental challenge posed by climate change, the energy supply challenge posed by peak oil and, finally, the spiritual challenge emerging from the newest science on personal wellbeing (in a nutshell: beyond a certain point more money and stuff doesn't make us happier.)

Rob Hopkins' Transition Movement is pragmatic attempt to come to terms with the disruptions that are heralded by climate change and peak oil. Thoughtlessly addicted as we are to fossil fuels, our societies are ill equipped to deal with the adverse implications of energy scarcity and a hotter, less predictable climate. According to Hopkins, what we need to develop is resilience: the ability to deal creatively and locally with energy supply and environmental shocks.

The Transition Handbook is a hands-on guide to help communities make that transition towards a resilient, low-carbon future. It is useful to distinguish three layers in the book.

The first layer encapsulates the three main parts of Hopkins' argument, focused on the head (the facts about climate change and peak oil you need to know), the heart (the need for positive vision and commitment) and the hands (practical guidelines for enabling resilient communities).

The second layer consists of a range of design principles that can be relied on to shape resilient communities. For example, in preparing for an energy-scarce future we need to know that resilience relies on a small scale, modular and decentralised infrastructure. We also need to invest in high-quality productive relationships, integrate rather than segregate and use the creative edges of systems to make the most of their potential. There are many more of these principles that have been lifted from an eclectic mix of disciplines, including systems science, ecology and the psychology of change. Hopkins himself was deeply influenced by the permaculture movement, a radical design approach to constructing "sustainable human settlements".

The third layer features a range of practical solutions that comply with these design principles. These solutions are meant to be the cornerstones of any resilient community and include a template for working towards a more energy-thrifty ("energy descent planning"), decentralised energy generation, local food sourcing, re-skilling of consumers into creative citizens and local currencies.

Transition thinking is not only a theory but it is also a social movement and the book features a number of UK examples of communities that have started going down the path towards resilience. Hopkins is acutely aware that the governance of the Transition movement needs to mirror the design principles underlying resilience. It would hardly be credible and effective to embody a Transition movement by a tightly-managed, centralised bureaucracy. So, Hopkins is only willing to give pointers to help people in facilitating bottom-up, small-scale, self-steering initiatives. Lots is left to emergence and action learning ("... where it all goes remains to be seen ..." is an often used phrase in the book).

The Transition Handbook is an accessible, smart guide to helping us deal with the challenges we may face as a result of climate change and peak oil. In itself the book doesn't offer anything new, but it rearranges familiar pieces of a puzzle into a compelling and coherent approach towards learning again to help ourselves and to do more with less.

Enabling, 01 Jul 2008
Hooray. Despite some people's misgivings about the psychology section, which seem largely dependent on a definition of 'success', this is an outstanding book. It's primary achievement is to show the reader how societal change can take place in the absence of the usual too little too late response of governments, whose priorities lie with business, rather than people or environmental sustainability. The future security of Britain, and elsewhere, lies in groups of people with the will and power to make communities sustainable. It might seem unbelievable, but we have the power to transform our society, and are not at the whim of government. They will follow. If you admire Kohr, Schumacher, Papworth and Sale, you will respond positively to this book.

Brilliant in parts, dangerously foolish in others, 28 Jun 2008
I've the greatest sympathy with this book's concept in many respects. Rob correctly identifies the overriding need to reduce energy dependence, and that we must not wait for "them" to do anything about it, or even help us. Correctly he sees that we need a "how-to" manual for how to make communities (rather than just the reader) self-sufficient in food and so on. But the devil is in the practical details, or more precisely the practical unknowns which are all too easily glossed over.

The book gets hideously, dangerously misguided in its important section on psychology, with its notion of the importance of a "positive vision". History is bursting full of "positive visions" which ended in huge disasters. Instead, what is needed is a judiciously realistic vision. It is vitally important to recognise that criticism and doubt are just as important as hope and "constructive" "enthusiastic" thinking. Otherwise huge energy and effort is almost certain to be lost in enthusing down disastrous dead-ends.

In a traumatised society, many people become lost to despair, depression, negativity. But there is the equal problem that too many people desperately pin their hopes on "positive" but false solutions which ultimately fail them.

Someone said that the transition concept has been "phenomenally successful". That is seriously unhinged fantasy. There hasn't yet been a transition to test out how or even whether the ideas work out in practice.
You need to be very careful to avoid assuming that action is the same as achievement of solutions, or that international fame and crowds of enthusiastic followers is the same as success in solving the problem.

I would strongly urge the author to revise the psychology section of his book to take account of these comments. The importance of a realistic vision.

essential reading, 30 Apr 2008
I'm two thirds way through this book and overall find it an inspiring read. The first section in particular summarises some of the issues in a very easy to understand style. I liked the section on psychology particularly - I think both grieving, shock and addiction models are useful to understanding the apparently irrational responses of people to climate change and peak oil.

The rest of the book is harder to read - a lot of detail about how one should go about starting a transition initiative. Some of this stuff makes very important points about embedding the initiative into the community and I appreciate that it is derived from experience. At the same time I found it somewhat prescriptive, especially the directions for conducting meetings/workshops etc. This is a bit of a turn off - there are of course lots of ways of doing these things and I feel it would have been better just to refer to some resources or put these in appendices.

We have to act on climate change and peak oil and I buy the resilient local economy model. There is lots of useful stuff in this book, maybe some of it just more detailed than necessary.

Inspirational, 11 Jul 2007
My partner and I were inspired to build our own house by the previous version of this book and now we are in this one so I think it's reasonable to call it inspiring.

This is a book with substance and great coffee table pictures as well. A good mix of technical advice and the stories of self builders written by a self builder and very experienced green Architect.

Well written and entertaining., 20 Feb 2008
Whilst I don't get caught short too often, I now feel equiped to go about it in a environmentally sound way. The author is based in America so some of the information about eqiupment and local plants is not useful. Other than that its a good read witty and informative.

Lacking, 02 Aug 2006
I found this book a frustrating read -- it lacks a good flow of useful information but is intsead punctuated with anecdotes and detours throughout.

For such a no-nonsense title I would have expected no-nonsense content, but instead it only left my questions unanswered. Indeed, I doubt if the question posed by the title is adequately answered anywhere in the book.

If you're looking for useful information on camping practices I suggest you go elsewhere.

A good read, 06 Sep 2003
On first reading this book comes across as dreadfully worthy and politically correct, however there is a sense of humour and a great deal of good, practical information. Definitely worth a read.

a serious book in a funny tone, 25 Feb 2001
A rather strange book telling you stories of how people had a numer 2 in the wild. The stories will have you gripped and peaing your pants in no time. The most funny of allstories is th person who had one in his hood and forgot until he put it on! I would recomend you buy this book unless you are easily offended it is also a presents vivide pictures for the mind.

Tears of laughter and sensible advice in one book!, 13 Feb 2001
Myself and another scout leader were told by the scouts to 'Shut Up! We're trying to sleep!' as we howled with laughter reading excerpts from this worthy tome.

More seriously we have some very good reasons to encourage hand washing among the lads when on camp.

Transition Handbook, 08 Oct 2008
This book is way overdue. I have been eagerly searching for books addressing the preparation for post peak oil for many many years. Books like this should have been written years ago so I was delighted to see that at last practical guides are starting to appear on the book shelves.

I really enjoyed the first couple of chapters dealing with peak oil and its implications for society. Subsequent chapters I did not enjoy as much particularly when the Kinsale Energy Decent Action Plan is promoted as a role model for sustainable community development.

There is a huge wealth of expertise in the development community, particularly which which was developed from overseas aid agencies. They have developed approaches, standards, principles and a multitude of methodologies for developing communities, with limited or almost non existent resources, and where success or failure costs lives. This expertise has been ignored and attempts made to reinvent the wheel.

I think the focus of the book should have built on the expertise of organisations such as Oxfam, VSO, Save the Children, and Overseas Development Administration and focused on the structures, processes and outcomes, which would help develop community resilience and sustainability, with limited resources.

I have a worry that communities who attempt to use this handbook as the basis for their transition will make fantastic progress initially through the generation of enthusiasm but due to improper planning, a lack of monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness and imprecise goals and objectives, people will become disillusioned and drop out. There is also the danger that communities who adapt this approach will not be able to communicate effectively with traditional disciplines, local authorities, health services, energy engineers or others. Who should change first? The current decision makers and service providers or the community development
organisations?

This process of conflict between service providers and community organisations has happened time and time again, without learning the lessons of what actually is sustainable in the long term. It usually results in the community organisation being unable to access state funding resulting in decline and or death. How can a community organisation sustain itself unless it becomes a business, with formal structures, job descriptions, terms of reference, fundamental guiding principles, training, development, salaries, income generation, sales etc. How can that fit with the "loose" concepts proposed?

Lets hope this is just the first of a huge range of increasingly sophisticated publications yet to come that will address these issues using the best expertise available in the fields of business, development management, community organisation, sustainability, public health, and many more, combined into a consensus best practice manual for transition. I hope these comments help to stimulate a critical approach to sustainable community development.


A smart, accessible guide to a resilient, low-carbon future, 11 Sep 2008
There is a powerful current in our contemporary, post-industrial culture that is arguing for a simpler, more sustainable alternative to our wasteful, environmentally damaging way of life. Proselytisers rely on a varying mix of three sets of arguments: the environmental challenge posed by climate change, the energy supply challenge posed by peak oil and, finally, the spiritual challenge emerging from the newest science on personal wellbeing (in a nutshell: beyond a certain point more money and stuff doesn't make us happier.)

Rob Hopkins' Transition Movement is pragmatic attempt to come to terms with the disruptions that are heralded by climate change and peak oil. Thoughtlessly addicted as we are to fossil fuels, our societies are ill equipped to deal with the adverse implications of energy scarcity and a hotter, less predictable climate. According to Hopkins, what we need to develop is resilience: the ability to deal creatively and locally with energy supply and environmental shocks.

The Transition Handbook is a hands-on guide to help communities make that transition towards a resilient, low-carbon future. It is useful to distinguish three layers in the book.

The first layer encapsulates the three main parts of Hopkins' argument, focused on the head (the facts about climate change and peak oil you need to know), the heart (the need for positive vision and commitment) and the hands (practical guidelines for enabling resilient communities).

The second layer consists of a range of design principles that can be relied on to shape resilient communities. For example, in preparing for an energy-scarce future we need to know that resilience relies on a small scale, modular and decentralised infrastructure. We also need to invest in high-quality productive relationships, integrate rather than segregate and use the creative edges of systems to make the most of their potential. There are many more of these principles that have been lifted from an eclectic mix of disciplines, including systems science, ecology and the psychology of change. Hopkins himself was deeply influenced by the permaculture movement, a radical design approach to constructing "sustainable human settlements".

The third layer features a range of practical solutions that comply with these design principles. These solutions are meant to be the cornerstones of any resilient community and include a template for working towards a more energy-thrifty ("energy descent planning"), decentralised energy generation, local food sourcing, re-skilling of consumers into creative citizens and local currencies.

Transition thinking is not only a theory but it is also a social movement and the book features a number of UK examples of communities that have started going down the path towards resilience. Hopkins is acutely aware that the governance of the Transition movement needs to mirror the design principles underlying resilience. It would hardly be credible and effective to embody a Transition movement by a tightly-managed, centralised bureaucracy. So, Hopkins is only willing to give pointers to help people in facilitating bottom-up, small-scale, self-steering initiatives. Lots is left to emergence and action learning ("... where it all goes remains to be seen ..." is an often used phrase in the book).

The Transition Handbook is an accessible, smart guide to helping us deal with the challenges we may face as a result of climate change and peak oil. In itself the book doesn't offer anything new, but it rearranges familiar pieces of a puzzle into a compelling and coherent approach towards learning again to help ourselves and to do more with less.

Enabling, 01 Jul 2008
Hooray. Despite some people's misgivings about the psychology section, which seem largely dependent on a definition of 'success', this is an outstanding book. It's primary achievement is to show the reader how societal change can take place in the absence of the usual too little too late response of governments, whose priorities lie with business, rather than people or environmental sustainability. The future security of Britain, and elsewhere, lies in groups of people with the will and power to make communities sustainable. It might seem unbelievable, but we have the power to transform our society, and are not at the whim of government. They will follow. If you admire Kohr, Schumacher, Papworth and Sale, you will respond positively to this book.

Brilliant in parts, dangerously foolish in others, 28 Jun 2008
I've the greatest sympathy with this book's concept in many respects. Rob correctly identifies the overriding need to reduce energy dependence, and that we must not wait for "them" to do anything about it, or even help us. Correctly he sees that we need a "how-to" manual for how to make communities (rather than just the reader) self-sufficient in food and so on. But the devil is in the practical details, or more precisely the practical unknowns which are all too easily glossed over.

The book gets hideously, dangerously misguided in its important section on psychology, with its notion of the importance of a "positive vision". History is bursting full of "positive visions" which ended in huge disasters. Instead, what is needed is a judiciously realistic vision. It is vitally important to recognise that criticism and doubt are just as important as hope and "constructive" "enthusiastic" thinking. Otherwise huge energy and effort is almost certain to be lost in enthusing down disastrous dead-ends.

In a traumatised society, many people become lost to despair, depression, negativity. But there is the equal problem that too many people desperately pin their hopes on "positive" but false solutions which ultimately fail them.

Someone said that the transition concept has been "phenomenally successful". That is seriously unhinged fantasy. There hasn't yet been a transition to test out how or even whether the ideas work out in practice.
You need to be very careful to avoid assuming that action is the same as achievement of solutions, or that international fame and crowds of enthusiastic followers is the same as success in solving the problem.

I would strongly urge the author to revise the psychology section of his book to take account of these comments. The importance of a realistic vision.

essential reading, 30 Apr 2008
I'm two thirds way through this book and overall find it an inspiring read. The first section in particular summarises some of the issues in a very easy to understand style. I liked the section on psychology particularly - I think both grieving, shock and addiction models are useful to understanding the apparently irrational responses of people to climate change and peak oil.

The rest of the book is harder to read - a lot of detail about how one should go about starting a transition initiative. Some of this stuff makes very important points about embedding the initiative into the community and I appreciate that it is derived from experience. At the same time I found it somewhat prescriptive, especially the directions for conducting meetings/workshops etc. This is a bit of a turn off - there are of course lots of ways of doing these things and I feel it would have been better just to refer to some resources or put these in appendices.

We have to act on climate change and peak oil and I buy the resilient local economy model. There is lots of useful stuff in this book, maybe some of it just more detailed than necessary.

Inspirational, 11 Jul 2007
My partner and I were inspired to build our own house by the previous version of this book and now we are in this one so I think it's reasonable to call it inspiring.

This is a book with substance and great coffee table pictures as well. A good mix of technical advice and the stories of self builders written by a self builder and very experienced green Architect.

Well written and entertaining., 20 Feb 2008
Whilst I don't get caught short too often, I now feel equiped to go about it in a environmentally sound way. The author is based in America so some of the information about eqiupment and local plants is not useful. Other than that its a good read witty and informative.

Lacking, 02 Aug 2006
I found this book a frustrating read -- it lacks a good flow of useful information but is intsead punctuated with anecdotes and detours throughout.

For such a no-nonsense title I would have expected no-nonsense content, but instead it only left my questions unanswered. Indeed, I doubt if the question posed by the title is adequately answered anywhere in the book.

If you're looking for useful information on camping practices I suggest you go elsewhere.

A good read, 06 Sep 2003
On first reading this book comes across as dreadfully worthy and politically correct, however there is a sense of humour and a great deal of good, practical information. Definitely worth a read.

a serious book in a funny tone, 25 Feb 2001
A rather strange book telling you stories of how people had a numer 2 in the wild. The stories will have you gripped and peaing your pants in no time. The most funny of allstories is th person who had one in his hood and forgot until he put it on! I would recomend you buy this book unless you are easily offended it is also a presents vivide pictures for the mind.

Tears of laughter and sensible advice in one book!, 13 Feb 2001
Myself and another scout leader were told by the scouts to 'Shut Up! We're trying to sleep!' as we howled with laughter reading excerpts from this worthy tome.

More seriously we have some very good reasons to encourage hand washing among the lads when on camp.

the only book i am recommending at the moment!, 13 Nov 2008
i am so grateful for these books.. when i read this book, i feel a renewed hope for humanity and our mother earth. i wish i had the right combination of words to encourage everyone to read this book. there are communities springing up all over the world because of this book. people are quitting their jobs and wanting to live more closer to nature. this is what the earth needs!! thank you anastasia, thank you vladimir!

Uplifting and heart warming for people who wants to reconnect with nature, 09 Aug 2008
For me this book has been tremendously benefitial and has had an uplifting effect on my everyday life.

It has given insights on how one can bring up children, how one can prepare for crops, how to build bee-hives and most importantly - it has starten to reveal our connection to nature - and this in a far more deeply understanding than I earlier was able to grasp. It also affirms the destrucitve way of our present way of living - called technocratic world - which is perhaps not a revelation to most of us. But did you know that the technical noise from man made items actually disconnects us from nature? While natural sounds like waving leaves in the wind, rippling and swashing water, humming insects, singing birds, the warm touch of sunrays etc is soothing to the human soul. Ok, this we might now through experience - but is there a deeper connection between Man and nature which aren't obvious to our dulled senses? Is there a mere coincidence that Buddha had his revelation while meditating under a tree? Why don't you try it out for yourself and read this book leaning your back against the bark of a tree of your liking... this is, I think, the optimum way of receiving the message of this book.

PS.
This book is not about sex - on the contrary it states that one actually should restrain oneself from sexual intercourse just for the sake of sense gratification, and instead have it when there are a mutual feeling of co-creating. A child created in that way - in love and strongly wished for - says to have great positive impact on the child. And who doesn't want to be created and brought forward in this world through love and positive aspirations... well, this attitude might be a little mind boggling in these days.



Sorry - Not Convinced, 08 May 2008
Imagine having to come up with a book that will sell like hotcakes to all the 'New Agers' out there with money to spend and a longing for answers.
So you come up with some characters: The 'worldly' entrepreneur who fornicates, smokes, drinks and needs to make the next big deal to survive. The magical 'ageless' people who seems to get their boundless energy from bits of Cedar hanging around their necks. And the main character - a beautiful nymph who lives on cedar nuts and spends her time cavorting about the woods, talking to the animals and bouncing off the trees (yes, she's also a gymnast/dancer). She is full of insights, advice and lust for our skeptical sailor and manages to turn his head with a few dances, some hidden knowledge and a romp under the stars.
As with most of these money-spinners, the 'insights' are drip fed to the reader, with much more promised in future books. Maybe is is true, but to me, there are too many textbook marketing techniques barely hidden under a thin veneer of 'new age sprituality' themes. I can predict that very expensive bits of cedar will be available for hanging round gullible necks very soon.

Pure Fantasy , 19 Apr 2008
I was very disappointed after reading this book; it is basically pure sexual fantasy. It's about a Russian Man whom meets a fairy-nymph like beautiful blonde woman deep in the forest in the Russian Taiga.
He fornicates with her after which she tells him she will bare him a son, he finds her living alone in the forest with a variety of animals Bears, Wolves etc.
She lives apparently off of nuts (yes the whole book is nuts!) which are fed to her by, wait for it, squirrels! The only thing amazing about this book is that it's had so much hype, and has sold so well, and that's all it is, hype! There are no revelations to be read here only obvious truths about society today which any idiot with half a brain could conclude for himself if you thought about it long enough.
The rest of the book basically deals with the modern "technocratic" (as the book puts it) society, environmental issues, child birth, money etc are all explored.
The only thing though is I was concerned this book had been read by children which I find inappropriate because it does contain a lot of course sexual references!! An interesting read but basically a load of old rubbish, this book has been said to make all others a complete waist of paper! Well I disagree, go and buy one of the Dan Brown books, you'll get a much better read, I suspect Vladimir Merge may have been a hippy in the 70's!!! A load of old twaddle!


Amazing book, 06 Oct 2007
Summary: Inspiring, heart warming. philosophical and poetic. Full of revolutionary new ideas.
Reviewer: A reader from South Devon, England

I fell in love with this book. It's extraordinary, uplifting, heart warming, mind provoking, emotionally stirring. It's simply amazing! The philosophical ideas of the book are so deeply profound, spiritual but also firmly grounded. It's beautiful and fantastical but full of down to earth practical advise. It made me jump up and down with joy and enthusiasm, it made me cry a bit, it made me think hard. In fact I'm still thinking about it now. What I crave most is the opportunity to talk to somebody about the book, but so few people have heard about it. I've got questions. There are bits I don't fully understand. There is some controversy, a mystery. Certain things are not fully explained. Is Anastasia a living person or just a symbolic figure? A beautiful image? Who is the real author of the book? Is this all true or is it just a fantasy? A lie? Brain washing? Manipulation for a good reason? O, please dear fellow reader, grab the book, don't hesitate to buy it! Read it, share your opinion of it. Will it touch you the way it touched me? Will you be similarly inspired? Will you be put off by the book's rather primitive and over-sentimental style? Will you rush to your garden the way I did and find a space to plant couple of more fruit trees and bushes? I keep lending my copy to my friends and they return it with eyes shining. "I want to go to Russia and see it for myself", Michelle said. "What if Anastasia doesn't exist?", I asked. "It doesn't matter. The ideas in the book are so exciting! And all the knowledge in the world has been channeled to us from the higher reality anyway. All the writers, scientists, philosophers are just the messengers." Michelle is very spiritually advanced . "Perhaps Anastasia does exist ", Christopher speculates, "but she is an old and wrinkled Russian Babushka (a wise woman, Baba-Yaga?), so the author made her young, beautiful and sexy for the book's wider appeal?" Funny... But even if it is just a fiction, somebody really wants to change the world for the better.
My intuition tells me that deepest sacred truth has been revealed, hidden secret knowledge has been shared with everyone. Luckily I can read in Russian too and of course I didn't stop at volume one. I went through all eight books. Absolutely fascinating! Jaw-dropping. This book has changed my life.
Thank you.

According to The Skeptical Environmentalist the hole in the Ozone Layer is healing. The Amazon has shrunk by only 14 per cent since the arrival of Man. Only 0.7 per cent of species will be driven to extinction over the next 50 years. Even the poorest humans are getting richer by the year. Things are not good enough; but they are far, far better than we have been taught to believe. Lomborg, a professor of statistics and a former Greenpeace member, reveals the complexity, confusion, and (rarely) misuse of data behind the current Litany of approaching environmental Armageddon. But this is not a comforting or reassuring read. Nor is it a bible for lackeys and do-nothings. Lomborg uses the same figures everyone else uses, from national governments to the Kyoto summit to Greenpeace. Rarely have the raw data been discussed in such detail: their history, how they are calculated, their strengths, and their weaknesses. Lomborg argues persuasively that our sense of approaching human and environmental disaster is an artefact of the valid work of modern scientific, environmental and media institutions. There is, he asserts, no one to blame for our growing sense of despair, but everything to learn. We must learn what real risks are, and what we can do about them. (Kyoto? A very bad idea...) We must prioritise. (30p on the organic basil? Or 30p to buy a child clean water in Sierra Leone?) There is, after all, room for manoeuvre; panic achieves nothing. This is our generation's Silent Spring: a book to rewrite the environmental agenda, and a must-buy for any parent who wonders what kind of world we are leaving for our children.--Simon Ings

Transition Handbook, 08 Oct 2008
This book is way overdue. I have been eagerly searching for books addressing the preparation for post peak oil for many many years. Books like this should have been written years ago so I was delighted to see that at last practical guides are starting to appear on the book shelves.

I really enjoyed the first couple of chapters dealing with peak oil and its implications for society. Subsequent chapters I did not enjoy as much particularly when the Kinsale Energy Decent Action Plan is promoted as a role model for sustainable community development.

There is a huge wealth of expertise in the development community, particularly which which was developed from overseas aid agencies. They have developed approaches, standards, principles and a multitude of methodologies for developing communities, with limited or almost non existent resources, and where success or failure costs lives. This expertise has been ignored and attempts made to reinvent the wheel.

I think the focus of the book should have built on the expertise of organisations such as Oxfam, VSO, Save the Children, and Overseas Development Administration and focused on the structures, processes and outcomes, which would help develop community resilience and sustainability, with limited resources.

I have a worry that communities who attempt to use this handbook as the basis for their transition will make fantastic progress initially through the generation of enthusiasm but due to improper planning, a lack of monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness and imprecise goals and objectives, people will become disillusioned and drop out. There is also the danger that communities who adapt this approach will not be able to communicate effectively with traditional disciplines, local authorities, health services, energy engineers or others. Who should change first? The current decision makers and service providers or the community development
organisations?

This process of conflict between service providers and community organisations has happened time and time again, without learning the lessons of what actually is sustainable in the long term. It usually results in the community organisation being unable to access state funding resulting in decline and or death. How can a community organisation sustain itself unless it becomes a business, with formal structures, job descriptions, terms of reference, fundamental guiding principles, training, development, salaries, income generation, sales etc. How can that fit with the "loose" concepts proposed?

Lets hope this is just the first of a huge range of increasingly sophisticated publications yet to come that will address these issues using the best expertise available in the fields of business, development management, community organisation, sustainability, public health, and many more, combined into a consensus best practice manual for transition. I hope these comments help to stimulate a critical approach to sustainable community development.


A smart, accessible guide to a resilient, low-carbon future, 11 Sep 2008
There is a powerful current in our contemporary, post-industrial culture that is arguing for a simpler, more sustainable alternative to our wasteful, environmentally damaging way of life. Proselytisers rely on a varying mix of three sets of arguments: the environmental challenge posed by climate change, the energy supply challenge posed by peak oil and, finally, the spiritual challenge emerging from the newest science on personal wellbeing (in a nutshell: beyond a certain point more money and stuff doesn't make us happier.)

Rob Hopkins' Transition Movement is pragmatic attempt to come to terms with the disruptions that are heralded by climate change and peak oil. Thoughtlessly addicted as we are to fossil fuels, our societies are ill equipped to deal with the adverse implications of energy scarcity and a hotter, less predictable climate. According to Hopkins, what we need to develop is resilience: the ability to deal creatively and locally with energy supply and environmental shocks.

The Transition Handbook is a hands-on guide to help communities make that transition towards a resilient, low-carbon future. It is useful to distinguish three layers in the book.

The first layer encapsulates the three main parts of Hopkins' argument, focused on the head (the facts about climate change and peak oil you need to know), the heart (the need for positive vision and commitment) and the hands (practical guidelines for enabling resilient communities).

The second layer consists of a range of design principles that can be relied on to shape resilient communities. For example, in preparing for an energy-scarce future we need to know that resilience relies on a small scale, modular and decentralised infrastructure. We also need to invest in high-quality productive relationships, integrate rather than segregate and use the creative edges of systems to make the most of their potential. There are many more of these principles that have been lifted from an eclectic mix of disciplines, including systems science, ecology and the psychology of change. Hopkins himself was deeply influenced by the permaculture movement, a radical design approach to constructing "sustainable human settlements".

The third layer features a range of practical solutions that comply with these design principles. These solutions are meant to be the cornerstones of any resilient community and include a template for working towards a more energy-thrifty ("energy descent planning"), decentralised energy generation, local food sourcing, re-skilling of consumers into creative citizens and local currencies.

Transition thinking is not only a theory but it is also a social movement and the book features a number of UK examples of communities that have started going down the path towards resilience. Hopkins is acutely aware that the governance of the Transition movement needs to mirror the design principles underlying resilience. It would hardly be credible and effective to embody a Transition movement by a tightly-managed, centralised bureaucracy. So, Hopkins is only willing to give pointers to help people in facilitating bottom-up, small-scale, self-steering initiatives. Lots is left to emergence and action learning ("... where it all goes remains to be seen ..." is an often used phrase in the book).

The Transition Handbook is an accessible, smart guide to helping us deal with the challenges we may face as a result of climate change and peak oil. In itself the book doesn't offer anything new, but it rearranges familiar pieces of a puzzle into a compelling and coherent approach towards learning again to help ourselves and to do more with less.

Enabling, 01 Jul 2008
Hooray. Despite some people's misgivings about the psychology section, which seem largely dependent on a definition of 'success', this is an outstanding book. It's primary achievement is to show the reader how societal change can take place in the absence of the usual too little too late response of governments, whose priorities lie with business, rather than people or environmental sustainability. The future security of Britain, and elsewhere, lies in groups of people with the will and power to make communities sustainable. It might seem unbelievable, but we have the power to transform our society, and are not at the whim of government. They will follow. If you admire Kohr, Schumacher, Papworth and Sale, you will respond positively to this book.

Brilliant in parts, dangerously foolish in others, 28 Jun 2008
I've the greatest sympathy with this book's concept in many respects. Rob correctly identifies the overriding need to reduce energy dependence, and that we must not wait for "them" to do anything about it, or even help us. Correctly he sees that we need a "how-to" manual for how to make communities (rather than just the reader) self-sufficient in food and so on. But the devil is in the practical details, or more precisely the practical unknowns which are all too easily glossed over.

The book gets hideously, dangerously misguided in its important section on psychology, with its notion of the importance of a "positive vision". History is bursting full of "positive visions" which ended in huge disasters. Instead, what is needed is a judiciously realistic vision. It is vitally important to recognise that criticism and doubt are just as important as hope and "constructive" "enthusiastic" thinking. Otherwise huge energy and effort is almost certain to be lost in enthusing down disastrous dead-ends.

In a traumatised society, many people become lost to despair, depression, negativity. But there is the equal problem that too many people desperately pin their hopes on "positive" but false solutions which ultimately fail them.

Someone said that the transition concept has been "phenomenally successful". That is seriously unhinged fantasy. There hasn't yet been a transition to test out how or even whether the ideas work out in practice.
You need to be very careful to avoid assuming that action is the same as achievement of solutions, or that international fame and crowds of enthusiastic followers is the same as success in solving the problem.

I would strongly urge the author to revise the psychology section of his book to take account of these comments. The importance of a realistic vision.

essential reading, 30 Apr 2008
I'm two thirds way through this book and overall find it an inspiring read. The first section in particular summarises some of the issues in a very easy to understand style. I liked the section on psychology particularly - I think both grieving, shock and addiction models are useful to understanding the apparently irrational responses of people to climate change and peak oil.

The rest of the book is harder to read - a lot of detail about how one should go about starting a transition initiative. Some of this stuff makes very important points about embedding the initiative into the community and I appreciate that it is derived from experience. At the same time I found it somewhat prescriptive, especially the directions for conducting meetings/workshops etc. This is a bit of a turn off - there are of course lots of ways of doing these things and I feel it would have been better just to refer to some resources or put these in appendices.

We have to act on climate change and peak oil and I buy the resilient local economy model. There is lots of useful stuff in this book, maybe some of it just more detailed than necessary.

Inspirational, 11 Jul 2007
My partner and I were inspired to build our own house by the previous version of this book and now we are in this one so I think it's reasonable to call it inspiring.

This is a book with substance and great coffee table pictures as well. A good mix of technical advice and the stories of self builders written by a self builder and very experienced green Architect.

Well written and entertaining., 20 Feb 2008
Whilst I don't get caught short too often, I now feel equiped to go about it in a environmentally sound way. The author is based in America so some of the information about eqiupment and local plants is not useful. Other than that its a good read witty and informative.

Lacking, 02 Aug 2006
I found this book a frustrating read -- it lacks a good flow of useful information but is intsead punctuated with anecdotes and detours throughout.

For such a no-nonsense title I would have expected no-nonsense content, but instead it only left my questions unanswered. Indeed, I doubt if the question posed by the title is adequately answered anywhere in the book.

If you're looking for useful information on camping practices I suggest you go elsewhere.

A good read, 06 Sep 2003
On first reading this book comes across as dreadfully worthy and politically correct, however there is a sense of humour and a great deal of good, practical information. Definitely worth a read.

a serious book in a funny tone, 25 Feb 2001
A rather strange book telling you stories of how people had a numer 2 in the wild. The stories will have you gripped and peaing your pants in no time. The most funny of allstories is th person who had one in his hood and forgot until he put it on! I would recomend you buy this book unless you are easily offended it is also a presents vivide pictures for the mind.

Tears of laughter and sensible advice in one book!, 13 Feb 2001
Myself and another scout leader were told by the scouts to 'Shut Up! We're trying to sleep!' as we howled with laughter reading excerpts from this worthy tome.

More seriously we have some very good reasons to encourage hand washing among the lads when on camp.

the only book i am recommending at the moment!, 13 Nov 2008
i am so grateful for these books.. when i read this book, i feel a renewed hope for humanity and our mother earth. i wish i had the right combination of words to encourage everyone to read this book. there are communities springing up all over the world because of this book. people are quitting their jobs and wanting to live more closer to nature. this is what the earth needs!! thank you anastasia, thank you vladimir!

Uplifting and heart warming for people who wants to reconnect with nature, 09 Aug 2008
For me this book has been tremendously benefitial and has had an uplifting effect on my everyday life.

It has given insights on how one can bring up children, how one can prepare for crops, how to build bee-hives and most importantly - it has starten to reveal our connection to nature - and this in a far more deeply understanding than I earlier was able to grasp. It also affirms the destrucitve way of our present way of living - called technocratic world - which is perhaps not a revelation to most of us. But did you know that the technical noise from man made items actually disconnects us from nature? While natural sounds like waving leaves in the wind, rippling and swashing water, humming insects, singing birds, the warm touch of sunrays etc is soothing to the human soul. Ok, this we might now through experience - but is there a deeper connection between Man and nature which aren't obvious to our dulled senses? Is there a mere coincidence that Buddha had his revelation while meditating under a tree? Why don't you try it out for yourself and read this book leaning your back against the bark of a tree of your liking... this is, I think, the optimum way of receiving the message of this book.

PS.
This book is not about sex - on the contrary it states that one actually should restrain oneself from sexual intercourse just for the sake of sense gratification, and instead have it when there are a mutual feeling of co-creating. A child created in that way - in love and strongly wished for - says to have great positive impact on the child. And who doesn't want to be created and brought forward in this world through love and positive aspirations... well, this attitude might be a little mind boggling in these days.



Sorry - Not Convinced, 08 May 2008
Imagine having to come up with a book that will sell like hotcakes to all the 'New Agers' out there with money to spend and a longing for answers.
So you come up with some characters: The 'worldly' entrepreneur who fornicates, smokes, drinks and needs to make the next big deal to survive. The magical 'ageless' people who seems to get their boundless energy from bits of Cedar hanging around their necks. And the main character - a beautiful nymph who lives on cedar nuts and spends her time cavorting about the woods, talking to the animals and bouncing off the trees (yes, she's also a gymnast/dancer). She is full of insights, advice and lust for our skeptical sailor and manages to turn his head with a few dances, some hidden knowledge and a romp under the stars.
As with most of these money-spinners, the 'insights' are drip fed to the reader, with much more promised in future books. Maybe is is true, but to me, there are too many textbook marketing techniques barely hidden under a thin veneer of 'new age sprituality' themes. I can predict that very expensive bits of cedar will be available for hanging round gullible necks very soon.

Pure Fantasy , 19 Apr 2008
I was very disappointed after reading this book; it is basically pure sexual fantasy. It's about a Russian Man whom meets a fairy-nymph like beautiful blonde woman deep in the forest in the Russian Taiga.
He fornicates with her after which she tells him she will bare him a son, he finds her living alone in the forest with a variety of animals Bears, Wolves etc.
She lives apparently off of nuts (yes the whole book is nuts!) which are fed to her by, wait for it, squirrels! The only thing amazing about this book is that it's had so much hype, and has sold so well, and that's all it is, hype! There are no revelations to be read here only obvious truths about society today which any idiot with half a brain could conclude for himself if you thought about it long enough.
The rest of the book basically deals with the modern "technocratic" (as the book puts it) society, environmental issues, child birth, money etc are all explored.
The only thing though is I was concerned this book had been read by children which I find inappropriate because it does contain a lot of course sexual references!! An interesting read but basically a load of old rubbish, this book has been said to make all others a complete waist of paper! Well I disagree, go and buy one of the Dan Brown books, you'll get a much better read, I suspect Vladimir Merge may have been a hippy in the 70's!!! A load of old twaddle!


Amazing book, 06 Oct 2007
Summary: Inspiring, heart warming. philosophical and poetic. Full of revolutionary new ideas.
Reviewer: A reader from South Devon, England

I fell in love with this book. It's extraordinary, uplifting, heart warming, mind provoking, emotionally stirring. It's simply amazing! The philosophical ideas of the book are so deeply profound, spiritual but also firmly grounded. It's beautiful and fantastical but full of down to earth practical advise. It made me jump up and down with joy and enthusiasm, it made me cry a bit, it made me think hard. In fact I'm still thinking about it now. What I crave most is the opportunity to talk to somebody about the book, but so few people have heard about it. I've got questions. There are bits I don't fully understand. There is some controversy, a mystery. Certain things are not fully explained. Is Anastasia a living person or just a symbolic figure? A beautiful image? Who is the real author of the book? Is this all true or is it just a fantasy? A lie? Brain washing? Manipulation for a good reason? O, please dear fellow reader, grab the book, don't hesitate to buy it! Read it, share your opinion of it. Will it touch you the way it touched me? Will you be similarly inspired? Will you be put off by the book's rather primitive and over-sentimental style? Will you rush to your garden the way I did and find a space to plant couple of more fruit trees and bushes? I keep lending my copy to my friends and they return it with eyes shining. "I want to go to Russia and see it for myself", Michelle said. "What if Anastasia doesn't exist?", I asked. "It doesn't matter. The ideas in the book are so exciting! And all the knowledge in the world has been channeled to us from the higher reality anyway. All the writers, scientists, philosophers are just the messengers." Michelle is very spiritually advanced . "Perhaps Anastasia does exist ", Christopher speculates, "but she is an old and wrinkled Russian Babushka (a wise woman, Baba-Yaga?), so the author made her young, beautiful and sexy for the book's wider appeal?" Funny... But even if it is just a fiction, somebody really wants to change the world for the better.
My intuition tells me that deepest sacred truth has been revealed, hidden secret knowledge has been shared with everyone. Luckily I can read in Russian too and of course I didn't stop at volume one. I went through all eight books. Absolutely fascinating! Jaw-dropping. This book has changed my life.
Thank you.

A truly excellent book, 26 Jul 2008
This is one of those books which change the course of things.

It is hugely impressive not only because of the absolutely massive amount of research involved, but because the entire work comes from someone who had, initially, entirely opposite convictions to those reflected in the book and had the intellectual honesty to understand that he was wrong, accept it and spread the word.

More notable is the book also for the unbelievable smearing campaign and the attempt at character assassination of which the author has been made object from his former companions, a truly sobering experience about the ways of "idealists","world savers" and apostles of "tolerance".

And mind, this is not someone just pretending to have been converted to sell a bit more; the author was very active in his academic milieu and certainly not the conservative type (openly and vocally leftist, openly and vocally homosexual). This gives the claims in the books, apart from the huge and ruthlessly accurate research - though the occasional mistake may have slipped here and there - the more credibility.

The environmental hype is now slowly ebbing down; common sense starts to prevail; the mayor of London with his ecoterrorist agenda (actually populism and class warfare with another name, as it is often the case) lost his job and all other british politicians listened to the message; in general, politicians have become more and more timid in trying to "look good" by imposing new taxes "to save the planet". This book shares a part of the merit.

Buy it and will you never regret it.








Human Life at Any Price?, 23 May 2008
The whole thesis of this book is predicated on the moral superiority of the preservation and extension of human life for the maximum number of people. As such it essentially adopts a moral standpoint that values human life, well-being and happiness above all other forms of life and environment on the planet. Human life at any price, it seems.

Will make you think twice next time you hear a stat on the environment, 28 Feb 2008
Having always been in the technocentric camp and always been skeptical of environmental issues such as climate change and pollution, I read this book after my environmental issues lecturer put me in touch with it. I have to say that I was amazed with some of the 'propaganda' that environmental groups such as the WWF and green peace were putting out. An excellent read for those who are sick of the doom and gloom merchants we are now regularly seeing on the television on the subject of climate change. Although this is book is quite advanced particularly in the statistics department, (MR. Lomborg is an economist by trade), It is essential reading for those wishing to throw come back stats into the faces of the doom mongerers



Scare tactics exposed!, 05 Dec 2007
I bought this book several years ago after reading a review in a reputable newspaper. What really interested me was a report on the facts behind soil erosion, namely that the information was based on data from a very small scale experiment on sloping farm land in Belgium and simply extrapolated to cover all soils around the world! I couldn't believe that supposedly reputable people and organisations, would go to such obscene lengths to scare people into contributing to their research projects and funding. How wrong I was!
I enjoyed the book immensely and shook my head in disbelief on discovering how selective the environmentalist scaremongers were regarding data selection and how specifically it was presented so as to allow the reader to draw the obvious conclusion, ie- The one the scaremonger wanted them to draw.
The devil is in the detail and when he examined the facts and data behind the scary low sperm count headlines, the flawed nature of the data analysis and presentation soon became clear.
Bjorn Lomborg succeeded in exposing the scare stories for what they really were, just that. Unfortunately, he seems to be a lone voice and like a radio in a boiler factory, is in danger of being drowned out by the noise.
The

numbers and facts, 28 Oct 2007
Great read and a well researched book. Destined to be the bible on global issues.

There is so much presented. From population, wealth and health to climate and the environment. Not sure I could take anyone seriously unless they have read this book cover to references and notes!

Transition Handbook, 08 Oct 2008
This book is way overdue. I have been eagerly searching for books addressing the preparation for post peak oil for many many years. Books like this should have been written years ago so I was delighted to see that at last practical guides are starting to appear on the book shelves.

I really enjoyed the first couple of chapters dealing with peak oil and its implications for society. Subsequent chapters I did not enjoy as much particularly when the Kinsale Energy Decent Action Plan is promoted as a role model for sustainable community development.

There is a huge wealth of expertise in the development community, particularly which which was developed from overseas aid agencies. They have developed approaches, standards, principles and a multitude of methodologies for developing communities, with limited or almost non existent resources, and where success or failure costs lives. This expertise has been ignored and attempts made to reinvent the wheel.

I think the focus of the book should have built on the expertise of organisations such as Oxfam, VSO, Save the Children, and Overseas Development Administration and focused on the structures, processes and outcomes, which would help develop community resilience and sustainability, with limited resources.

I have a worry that communities who attempt to use this handbook as the basis for their transition will make fantastic progress initially through the generation of enthusiasm but due to improper planning, a lack of monitoring and evaluation of effectiveness and imprecise goals and objectives, people will become disillusioned and drop out. There is also the danger that communities who adapt this approach will not be able to communicate effectively with traditional disciplines, local authorities, health services, energy engineers or others. Who should change first? The current decision makers and service providers or the community development
organisations?

This process of conflict between service providers and community organisations has happened time and time again, without learning the lessons of what actually is sustainable in the long term. It usually results in the community organisation being unable to access state funding resulting in decline and or death. How can a community organisation sustain itself unless it becomes a business, with formal structures, job descriptions, terms of reference, fundamental guiding principles, training, development, salaries, income generation, sales etc. How can that fit with the "loose" concepts proposed?

Lets hope this is just the first of a huge range of increasingly sophisticated publications yet to come that will address these issues using the best expertise available in the fields of business, development management, community organisation, sustainability, public health, and many more, combined into a consensus best practice manual for transition. I hope these comments help to stimulate a critical approach to sustainable community development.


A smart, accessible guide to a resilient, low-carbon future, 11 Sep 2008
There is a powerful current in our contemporary, post-industrial culture that is arguing for a simpler, more sustainable alternative to our wasteful, environmentally damaging way of life. Proselytisers rely on a varying mix of three sets of arguments: the environmental challenge posed by climate change, the energy supply challenge posed by peak oil and, finally, the spiritual challenge emerging from the newest science on personal wellbeing (in a nutshell: beyond a certain point more money and stuff doesn't make us happier.)

Rob Hopkins' Transition Movement is pragmatic attempt to come to terms with the disruptions that are heralded by climate change and peak oil. Thoughtlessly addicted as we are to fossil fuels, our societies are ill equipped to deal with the adverse implications of energy scarcity and a hotter, less predictable climate. According to Hopkins, what we need to develop is resilience: the ability to deal creatively and locally with energy supply and environmental shocks.

The Transition Handbook is a hands-on guide to help communities make that transition towards a resilient, low-carbon future. It is useful to distinguish three layers in the book.

The first layer encapsulates the three main parts of Hopkins' argument, focused on the head (the facts about climate change and peak oil you need to know), the heart (the need for positive vision and commitment) and the hands (practical guidelines for enabling resilient communities).

The second layer consists of a range of design principles that can be relied on to shape resilient communities. For example, in preparing for an energy-scarce future we need to know that resilience relies on a small scale, modular and decentralised infrastructure. We also need to invest in high-quality productive relationships, integrate rather than segregate and use the creative edges of systems to make the most of their potential. There are many more of these principles that have been lifted from an eclectic mix of disciplines, including systems science, ecology and the psychology of change. Hopkins himself was deeply influenced by the permaculture movement, a radical design approach to constructing "sustainable human settlements".

The third layer features a range of practical solutions that comply with these design principles. These solutions are meant to be the cornerstones of any resilient community and include a template for working towards a more energy-thrifty ("energy descent planning"), decentralised energy generation, local food sourcing, re-skilling of consumers into creative citizens and local currencies.

Transition thinking is not only a theory but it is also a social movement and the book features a number of UK examples of communities that have started going down the path towards resilience. Hopkins is acutely aware that the governance of the Transition movement needs to mirror the design principles underlying resilience. It would hardly be credible and effective to embody a Transition movement by a tightly-managed, centralised bureaucracy. So, Hopkins is only willing to give pointers to help people in facilitating bottom-up, small-scale, self-steering initiatives. Lots is left to emergence and action learning ("... where it all goes remains to be seen ..." is an often used phrase in the book).

The Transition Handbook is an accessible, smart guide to helping us deal with the challenges we may face as a result of climate change and peak oil. In itself the book doesn't offer anything new, but it rearranges familiar pieces of a puzzle into a compelling and coherent approach towards learning again to help ourselves and to do more with less.

Enabling, 01 Jul 2008
Hooray. Despite some people's misgivings about the psychology section, which seem largely dependent on a definition of 'success', this is an outstanding book. It's primary achievement is to show the reader how societal change can take place in the absence of the usual too little too late response of governments, whose priorities lie with business, rather than people or environmental sustainability. The future security of Britain, and elsewhere, lies in groups of people with the will and power to make communities sustainable. It might seem unbelievable, but we have the power to transform our society, and are not at the whim of government. They will follow. If you admire Kohr, Schumacher, Papworth and Sale, you will respond positively to this book.

Brilliant in parts, dangerously foolish in others, 28 Jun 2008
I've the greatest sympathy with this book's concept in many respects. Rob correctly identifies the overriding need to reduce energy dependence, and that we must not wait for "them" to do anything about it, or even help us. Correctly he sees that we need a "how-to" manual for how to make communities (rather than just the reader) self-sufficient in food and so on. But the devil is in the practical details, or more precisely the practical unknowns which are all too easily glossed over.

The book gets hideously, dangerously misguided in its important section on psychology, with its notion of the importance of a "positive vision". History is bursting full of "positive visions" which ended in huge disasters. Instead, what is needed is a judiciously realistic vision. It is vitally important to recognise that criticism and doubt are just as important as hope and "constructive" "enthusiastic" thinking. Otherwise huge energy and effort is almost certain to be lost in enthusing down disastrous dead-ends.

In a traumatised society, many people become lost to despair, depression, negativity. But there is the equal problem that too many people desperately pin their hopes on "positive" but false solutions which ultimately fail them.

Someone said that the transition concept has been "phenomenally successful". That is seriously unhinged fantasy. There hasn't yet been a transition to test out how or even whether the ideas work out in practice.
You need to be very careful to avoid assuming that action is the same as achievement of solutions, or that international fame and crowds of enthusiastic followers is the same as success in solving the problem.

I would strongly urge the author to revise the psychology section of his book to take account of these comments. The importance of a realistic vision.

essential reading, 30 Apr 2008
I'm two thirds way through this book and overall find it an inspiring read. The first section in particular summarises some of the issues in a very easy to understand style. I liked the section on psychology particularly - I think both grieving, shock and addiction models are useful to understanding the apparently irrational responses of people to climate change and peak oil.

The rest of the book is harder to read - a lot of detail about how one should go about starting a transition initiative. Some of this stuff makes very important points about embedding the initiative into the community and I appreciate that it is derived from experience. At the same time I found it somewhat prescriptive, especially the directions for conducting meetings/workshops etc. This is a bit of a turn off - there are of course lots of ways of doing these things and I feel it would have been better just to refer to some resources or put these in appendices.

We have to act on climate change and peak oil and I buy the resilient local economy model. There is lots of useful stuff in this book, maybe some of it just more detailed than necessary.

Inspirational, 11 Jul 2007
My partner and I were inspired to build our own house by the previous version of this book and now we are in this one so I think it's reasonable to call it inspiring.

This is a book with substance and great coffee table pictures as well. A good mix of technical advice and the stories of self builders written by a self builder and very experienced green Architect.

Well written and entertaining., 20 Feb 2008
Whilst I don't get caught short too often, I now feel equiped to go about it in a environmentally sound way. The author is based in America so some of the information about eqiupment and local plants is not useful. Other than that its a good read witty and informative.

Lacking, 02 Aug 2006
I found this book a frustrating read -- it lacks a good flow of useful information but is intsead punctuated with anecdotes and detours throughout.

For such a no-nonsense title I would have expected no-nonsense content, but instead it only left my questions unanswered. Indeed, I doubt if the question posed by the title is adequately answered anywhere in the book.

If you're looking for useful information on camping practices I suggest you go elsewhere.

A good read, 06 Sep 2003
On first reading this book comes across as dreadfully worthy and politically correct, however there is a sense of humour and a great deal of good, practical information. Definitely worth a read.

a serious book in a funny tone, 25 Feb 2001
A rather strange book telling you stories of how people had a numer 2 in the wild. The stories will have you gripped and peaing your pants in no time. The most funny of allstories is th person who had one in his hood and forgot until he put it on! I would recomend you buy this book unless you are easily offended it is also a presents vivide pictures for the mind.

Tears of laughter and sensible advice in one book!, 13 Feb 2001
Myself and another scout leader were told by the scouts to 'Shut Up! We're trying to sleep!' as we howled with laughter reading excerpts from this worthy tome.

More seriously we have some very good reasons to encourage hand washing among the lads when on camp.

the only book i am recommending at the moment!, 13 Nov 2008
i am so grateful for these books.. when i read this book, i feel a renewed hope for humanity and our mother earth. i wish i had the right combination of words to encourage everyone to read this book. there are communities springing up all over the world because of this book. people are quitting their jobs and wanting to live more closer to nature. this is what the earth needs!! thank you anastasia, thank you vladimir!

Uplifting and heart warming for people who wants to reconnect with nature, 09 Aug 2008
For me this book has been tremendously benefitial and has had an uplifting effect on my everyday life.

It has given insights on how one can bring up children, how one can prepare for crops, how to build bee-hives and most importantly - it has starten to reveal our connection to nature - and this in a far more deeply understanding than I earlier was able to grasp. It also affirms the destrucitve way of our present way of living - called technocratic world - which is perhaps not a revelation to most of us. But did you know that the technical noise from man made items actually disconnects us from nature? While natural sounds like waving leaves in the wind, rippling and swashing water, humming insects, singing birds, the warm touch of sunrays etc is soothing to the human soul. Ok, this we might now through experience - but is there a deeper connection between Man and nature which aren't obvious to our dulled senses? Is there a mere coincidence that Buddha had his revelation while meditating under a tree? Why don't you try it out for yourself and read this book leaning your back against the bark of a tree of your liking... this is, I think, the optimum way of receiving the message of this book.

PS.
This book is not about sex - on the contrary it states that one actually should restrain oneself from sexual intercourse just for the sake of sense gratification, and instead have it when there are a mutual feeling of co-creating. A child created in that way - in love and strongly wished for - says to have great positive impact on the child. And who doesn't want to be created and brought forward in this world through love and positive aspirations... well, this attitude might be a little mind boggling in these days.



Sorry - Not Convinced, 08 May 2008
Imagine having to come up with a book that will sell like hotcakes to all the 'New Agers' out there with money to spend and a longing for answers.
So you come up with some characters: The 'worldly' entrepreneur who fornicates, smokes, drinks and needs to make the next big deal to survive. The magical 'ageless' people who seems to get their boundless energy from bits of Cedar hanging around their necks. And the main character - a beautiful nymph who lives on cedar nuts and spends her time cavorting about the woods, talking to the animals and bouncing off the trees (yes, she's also a gymnast/dancer). She is full of insights, advice and lust for our skeptical sailor and manages to turn his head with a few dances, some hidden knowledge and a romp under the stars.
As with most of these money-spinners, the 'insights' are drip fed to the reader, with much more promised in future books. Maybe is is true, but to me, there are too many textbook marketing techniques barely hidden under a thin veneer of 'new age sprituality' themes. I can predict that very expensive bits of cedar will be available for hanging round gullible necks very soon.

Pure Fantasy , 19 Apr 2008
I was very disappointed after reading this book; it is basically pure sexual fantasy. It's about a Russian Man whom meets a fairy-nymph like beautiful blonde woman deep in the forest in the Russian Taiga.
He fornicates with her after which she tells him she will bare him a son, he finds her living alone in the forest with a variety of animals Bears, Wolves etc.
She lives apparently off of nuts (yes the whole book is nuts!) which are fed to her by, wait for it, squirrels! The only thing amazing about this book is that it's had so much hype, and has sold so well, and that's all it is, hype! There are no revelations to be read here only obvious truths about society today which any idiot with half a brain could conclude for himself if you thought about it long enough.
The rest of the book basically deals with the modern "technocratic" (as the book puts it) society, environmental issues, child birth, money etc are all explored.
The only thing though is I was concerned this book had been read by children which I find inappropriate because it does contain a lot of course sexual references!! An interesting read but basically a load of old rubbish, this book has been said to make all others a complete waist of paper! Well I disagree, go and buy one o