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.

RAW this is good, 22 Feb 2008
Ive been a personal trainer for a while now and ive always questioned our so called correct nutrition, when i read this it made more sense then any textbook ive read and so now ive incorporated it into my diet, im not fully raw yet but i plan to be by end of year.
great read and insightful.
give this a read and it might just open your eyes or at least start the process.



The way to healthy living , 28 Oct 2007
I used to do a lot of juicing in the past but it is very time consuming and really messy. My problem is over since I got Green for Life. Making smoothies is a great alternative to juicing. It is much faster, less messy, and you also get some fiber in addition to juice. In addition to great recipes for making smoothies the book is also a good source of information about proper nutrition, the importance of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and much more. Get this book!! Another great volume that you may not miss is Can We Live 150 Years. These two books together make a perfect gift of showing the way to healthy living just for anyone.

Greens yes, but what about carbohydrates ???, 11 Feb 2007
If you do not get enough carbohydrates from eating fruits, at least 1800-2400 calories of fruits per day, you can never get enough energy from the greens. Greens are incredibly rich in minerals and amino acids, less in vitamins, and Fruits are incredibly rich in Vitamins and less so in minerals and amino acids so they are a great complement to eachother. However, without the fruits, the evening will be hell, feeling hungry like a lion ! [...]


Truly Inspirational!, 15 Mar 2006
I was attracted to read this book as over the last few months I have been reading about people eating a raw food diet. I am not yet on the diet, but have been thinking about trying it. I have read mainly good, but a small amount of negative stories of how people have found the diet. I think this book explains brilliantly what our diet should approximately be like. That of chimpanzees of course! It all makes sense. We have almost the same DNA as them, so why shouldn't we eat like them? Victoria conducted a lot of research into the chimps' diets and found that they eat a high percentage of greens - i.e. dark green vegetables. She found that her and her family's diet was lacking in greens despite them already being on a raw food diet, so they started to have green smoothies daily. The family noticed huge improvements in their health, and have continued to drink them everyday since. She decided to do a study of volunteers from a town who drank her green smoothies daily for 30 days - some of them on a standard cooked diet. It seems that most of them found huge health improvements including their general energy levels and quality of sleep. This is a truly inspirational book and has personally got me thinking that I will give eating raw foods a go, firstly by drinking a green smoothie a day. I would to like hear how other people's views too.

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.

RAW this is good, 22 Feb 2008
Ive been a personal trainer for a while now and ive always questioned our so called correct nutrition, when i read this it made more sense then any textbook ive read and so now ive incorporated it into my diet, im not fully raw yet but i plan to be by end of year.
great read and insightful.
give this a read and it might just open your eyes or at least start the process.



The way to healthy living , 28 Oct 2007
I used to do a lot of juicing in the past but it is very time consuming and really messy. My problem is over since I got Green for Life. Making smoothies is a great alternative to juicing. It is much faster, less messy, and you also get some fiber in addition to juice. In addition to great recipes for making smoothies the book is also a good source of information about proper nutrition, the importance of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and much more. Get this book!! Another great volume that you may not miss is Can We Live 150 Years. These two books together make a perfect gift of showing the way to healthy living just for anyone.

Greens yes, but what about carbohydrates ???, 11 Feb 2007
If you do not get enough carbohydrates from eating fruits, at least 1800-2400 calories of fruits per day, you can never get enough energy from the greens. Greens are incredibly rich in minerals and amino acids, less in vitamins, and Fruits are incredibly rich in Vitamins and less so in minerals and amino acids so they are a great complement to eachother. However, without the fruits, the evening will be hell, feeling hungry like a lion ! [...]


Truly Inspirational!, 15 Mar 2006
I was attracted to read this book as over the last few months I have been reading about people eating a raw food diet. I am not yet on the diet, but have been thinking about trying it. I have read mainly good, but a small amount of negative stories of how people have found the diet. I think this book explains brilliantly what our diet should approximately be like. That of chimpanzees of course! It all makes sense. We have almost the same DNA as them, so why shouldn't we eat like them? Victoria conducted a lot of research into the chimps' diets and found that they eat a high percentage of greens - i.e. dark green vegetables. She found that her and her family's diet was lacking in greens despite them already being on a raw food diet, so they started to have green smoothies daily. The family noticed huge improvements in their health, and have continued to drink them everyday since. She decided to do a study of volunteers from a town who drank her green smoothies daily for 30 days - some of them on a standard cooked diet. It seems that most of them found huge health improvements including their general energy levels and quality of sleep. This is a truly inspirational book and has personally got me thinking that I will give eating raw foods a go, firstly by drinking a green smoothie a day. I would to like hear how other people's views too.

Outstanding, 28 Oct 2008
This text was recommended to me by a family member and I must admit I was initially very sceptical as environmental issues have never really interested me. However, after reading the first few pages I was pleasantly surprised by Townsend's refreshing, contemporary style of conveying key messages on an existing but ever-exacerbating problem.

The clever use of humour and irony coupled with the obvious thorough and meticulous research which he had put into this masterpiece had me completely captivated from beginning to end. If you crave a read that is informative, thought-provoking, witty and inspiring then look no further.

This book will leave you hankering for more to the extent that, upon completion, your only disappointment will be that this gifted author did not discover 100 ways to f**k the planet! Without question my favourite book of 2008 so far.

F**K Amazing, 15 Oct 2008
Brilliant read - humorous - well researched - informative and makes one think regarding the enviroment - not to be missed.

A wake up call, 19 Sep 2008
A novel and important voice on perhaps the biggest threat of our times. Written with wit and intellect, Townsend manages to avoid the pomposity and pious tone of much environmental writing. Throughout, his acerbic but accessible tone unfailingly exposes the hypocrisy of companies, governments and well-known personalities in their attitude to the wellbeing of the planet. Revealing the difference between the official line and the reality is one of the attractions of the book and is helped by its decision in not being afraid to name an shame. Yet the real beauty of the book is that while imploring readers to destroy the planet it succeeds in doing the opposite. Ultimately it manages to galvanise the reader to take responsibility for their actions by, importantly, showing how the world is already doing a fine job in despoiling the natural environment. When I finished reading it, I actually felt inspired to do even more about it and, as everyone who knows me would acknowledge, I am already (at times, irritatingly) eco-aware. So with luck, it will get even more people onto the basic level of caring for our planet which, from the stark examples in this book, so skillfully brought to our attention by Mark Townsend, needs a lifeline even more critically than Gordon Brown!


50 ways, 13 Sep 2008
A tour de force. Written with an intensity and wit that makes for addictive reading. Hliarious, arch and disturbing it is an anti-manifesto narrated at a frantic pace. Like Lovelock on speed.

A great gift for all...., 11 Sep 2008
I loved this book - it is a refreshing take on today's most important issues, written with style and a great sense of humour. I'm always on the look out for unique gifts for friends and relatives - so I've stocked up on copies!

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.

RAW this is good, 22 Feb 2008
Ive been a personal trainer for a while now and ive always questioned our so called correct nutrition, when i read this it made more sense then any textbook ive read and so now ive incorporated it into my diet, im not fully raw yet but i plan to be by end of year.
great read and insightful.
give this a read and it might just open your eyes or at least start the process.



The way to healthy living , 28 Oct 2007
I used to do a lot of juicing in the past but it is very time consuming and really messy. My problem is over since I got Green for Life. Making smoothies is a great alternative to juicing. It is much faster, less messy, and you also get some fiber in addition to juice. In addition to great recipes for making smoothies the book is also a good source of information about proper nutrition, the importance of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and much more. Get this book!! Another great volume that you may not miss is Can We Live 150 Years. These two books together make a perfect gift of showing the way to healthy living just for anyone.

Greens yes, but what about carbohydrates ???, 11 Feb 2007
If you do not get enough carbohydrates from eating fruits, at least 1800-2400 calories of fruits per day, you can never get enough energy from the greens. Greens are incredibly rich in minerals and amino acids, less in vitamins, and Fruits are incredibly rich in Vitamins and less so in minerals and amino acids so they are a great complement to eachother. However, without the fruits, the evening will be hell, feeling hungry like a lion ! [...]


Truly Inspirational!, 15 Mar 2006
I was attracted to read this book as over the last few months I have been reading about people eating a raw food diet. I am not yet on the diet, but have been thinking about trying it. I have read mainly good, but a small amount of negative stories of how people have found the diet. I think this book explains brilliantly what our diet should approximately be like. That of chimpanzees of course! It all makes sense. We have almost the same DNA as them, so why shouldn't we eat like them? Victoria conducted a lot of research into the chimps' diets and found that they eat a high percentage of greens - i.e. dark green vegetables. She found that her and her family's diet was lacking in greens despite them already being on a raw food diet, so they started to have green smoothies daily. The family noticed huge improvements in their health, and have continued to drink them everyday since. She decided to do a study of volunteers from a town who drank her green smoothies daily for 30 days - some of them on a standard cooked diet. It seems that most of them found huge health improvements including their general energy levels and quality of sleep. This is a truly inspirational book and has personally got me thinking that I will give eating raw foods a go, firstly by drinking a green smoothie a day. I would to like hear how other people's views too.

Outstanding, 28 Oct 2008
This text was recommended to me by a family member and I must admit I was initially very sceptical as environmental issues have never really interested me. However, after reading the first few pages I was pleasantly surprised by Townsend's refreshing, contemporary style of conveying key messages on an existing but ever-exacerbating problem.

The clever use of humour and irony coupled with the obvious thorough and meticulous research which he had put into this masterpiece had me completely captivated from beginning to end. If you crave a read that is informative, thought-provoking, witty and inspiring then look no further.

This book will leave you hankering for more to the extent that, upon completion, your only disappointment will be that this gifted author did not discover 100 ways to f**k the planet! Without question my favourite book of 2008 so far.

F**K Amazing, 15 Oct 2008
Brilliant read - humorous - well researched - informative and makes one think regarding the enviroment - not to be missed.

A wake up call, 19 Sep 2008
A novel and important voice on perhaps the biggest threat of our times. Written with wit and intellect, Townsend manages to avoid the pomposity and pious tone of much environmental writing. Throughout, his acerbic but accessible tone unfailingly exposes the hypocrisy of companies, governments and well-known personalities in their attitude to the wellbeing of the planet. Revealing the difference between the official line and the reality is one of the attractions of the book and is helped by its decision in not being afraid to name an shame. Yet the real beauty of the book is that while imploring readers to destroy the planet it succeeds in doing the opposite. Ultimately it manages to galvanise the reader to take responsibility for their actions by, importantly, showing how the world is already doing a fine job in despoiling the natural environment. When I finished reading it, I actually felt inspired to do even more about it and, as everyone who knows me would acknowledge, I am already (at times, irritatingly) eco-aware. So with luck, it will get even more people onto the basic level of caring for our planet which, from the stark examples in this book, so skillfully brought to our attention by Mark Townsend, needs a lifeline even more critically than Gordon Brown!


50 ways, 13 Sep 2008
A tour de force. Written with an intensity and wit that makes for addictive reading. Hliarious, arch and disturbing it is an anti-manifesto narrated at a frantic pace. Like Lovelock on speed.

A great gift for all...., 11 Sep 2008
I loved this book - it is a refreshing take on today's most important issues, written with style and a great sense of humour. I'm always on the look out for unique gifts for friends and relatives - so I've stocked up on copies!

You can't get greener!, 17 Sep 2008
Already green at heart and in mind, I treated myself to this book. I know Anna's column at The Times, which I always find highly informative and entertaining (which is a good thing, as informative doesn't always equal entertaining). The books is along the same lines with lots of practical tips and amusing details about her own trials and errors. Being green isn't always easy! She really is in love with her worms and wormery - and after reading her account it was only living on the 4th floor without access to a garden that prevented me to rush out and get my own worms.

The book is a really good way of introducing dithering friends to the art of being green. They may not want to follow everything suggested in the book, but - to paraphrase that not-so-green supermarket 'every little step helps'.

My Bathroom has literature, 27 Aug 2008
I always think that the toilet is a place to learn. This book sits neatly in my bathroom next to my dictionary. It is a great book for dipping into and reading her take on environmental issues. Unlike many of the books in this area it's not preachy and you get the real feel of her enthusiasm for the subject.

brilliant! loved it., 17 Jul 2008
I loved this brilliant book and felt quite bereft when it was over.

It reads like a mix of the diary of a hilarious friend you wish you had, and an inspirational entirely achievable no mumbo-jumbo guide to living more in sync with the planet's, and your own, needs. It's warm, witty, irresistible and funny as well as offering tons of practical ideas and pointers.

On the environmental side it's very informative whilst remaining light and cheerful, and debunks some annoying myths and clarifies others. I found it great for letting me know what I could realistically and pleasurably be doing to contribute less to what's changing our weather and our lives for the worse.

On the human side it's an honest account of a year in the life of anna, a fun sounding spirited young woman who writes a column for a british national paper about green issues, and her boyfriend, her garden, their life in london, and her quest to be as green as her column, but green with style, aplomb and wit. Marvellous and life-altering stuff, and I've bought copies for all my girl friends and sisters for their birthdays.

Call me sad but I wanted to be one of her friends... They all sounded so idyllic and fun and like they were really living life to the full. In fact I have to admit that on finishing I turned straight to the beginning and started again! I would have liked an afterword to sum it all up as I was so reluctant that it should end, but I'm hoping its absence means that there is going to be a sequel.

Thoroughly recommended for hipsters who want some of the goodlife, and eco-sceptics who think climate change is just for hippies.



V. enjoyable, 15 Jul 2008
I've just finished this and have thoroughly enjoyed it. As I am feeling guilty about the number of flights I'm taking this year it was soothing to think of other ways to infuse my life with green-ness. Plus Anna Shepherd's anecdotes are very amusing! I'd definitely recommend this to others - green-leaning or not - who I guarantee will find this a v. entertaining and interesting read too.

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.

RAW this is good, 22 Feb 2008
Ive been a personal trainer for a while now and ive always questioned our so called correct nutrition, when i read this it made more sense then any textbook ive read and so now ive incorporated it into my diet, im not fully raw yet but i plan to be by end of year.
great read and insightful.
give this a read and it might just open your eyes or at least start the process.



The way to healthy living , 28 Oct 2007
I used to do a lot of juicing in the past but it is very time consuming and really messy. My problem is over since I got Green for Life. Making smoothies is a great alternative to juicing. It is much faster, less messy, and you also get some fiber in addition to juice. In addition to great recipes for making smoothies the book is also a good source of information about proper nutrition, the importance of hydrochloric acid in the stomach and much more. Get this book!! Another great volume that you may not miss is Can We Live 150 Years. These two books together make a perfect gift of showing the way to healthy living just for anyone.

Greens yes, but what about carbohydrates ???, 11 Feb 2007
If you do not get enough carbohydrates from eating fruits, at least 1800-2400 calories of fruits per day, you can never get enough energy from the greens. Greens are incredibly rich in minerals and amino acids, less in vitamins, and Fruits are incredibly rich in Vitamins and less so in minerals and amino acids so they are a great complement to eachother. However, without the fruits, the evening will be hell, feeling hungry like a lion ! [...]


Truly Inspirational!, 15 Mar 2006
I was attracted to read this book as over the last few months I have been reading about people eating a raw food diet. I am not yet on the diet, but have been thinking about trying it. I have read mainly good, but a small amount of negative stories of how people have found the diet. I think this book explains brilliantly what our diet should approximately be like. That of chimpanzees of course! It all makes sense. We have almost the same DNA as them, so why shouldn't we eat like them? Victoria conducted a lot of research into the chimps' diets and found that they eat a high percentage of greens - i.e. dark green vegetables. She found that her and her family's diet was lacking in greens despite them already being on a raw food diet, so they started to have green smoothies daily. The family noticed huge improvements in their health, and have continued to drink them everyday since. She decided to do a study of volunteers from a town who drank her green smoothies daily for 30 days - some of them on a standard cooked diet. It seems that most of them found huge health improvements including their general energy levels and quality of sleep. This is a truly inspirational book and has personally got me thinking that I will give eating raw foods a go, firstly by drinking a green smoothie a day. I would to like hear how other people's views too.

Outstanding, 28 Oct 2008
This text was recommended to me by a family member and I must admit I was initially very sceptical as environmental issues have never really interested me. However, after reading the first few pages I was pleasantly surprised by Townsend's refreshing, contemporary style of conveying key messages on an existing but ever-exacerbating problem.

The clever use of humour and irony coupled with the obvious thorough and meticulous research which he had put into this masterpiece had me completely captivated from beginning to end. If you crave a read that is informative, thought-provoking, witty and inspiring then look no further.

This book will leave you hankering for more to the extent that, upon completion, your only disappointment will be that this gifted author did not discover 100 ways to f**k the planet! Without question my favourite book of 2008 so far.

F**K Amazing, 15 Oct 2008
Brilliant read - humorous - well researched - informative and makes one think regarding the enviroment - not to be missed.

A wake up call, 19 Sep 2008
A novel and important voice on perhaps the biggest threat of our times. Written with wit and intellect, Townsend manages to avoid the pomposity and pious tone of much environmental writing. Throughout, his acerbic but accessible tone unfailingly exposes the hypocrisy of companies, governments and well-known personalities in their attitude to the wellbeing of the planet. Revealing the difference between the official line and the reality is one of the attractions of the book and is helped by its decision in not being afraid to name an shame. Yet the real beauty of the book is that while imploring readers to destroy the planet it succeeds in doing the opposite. Ultimately it manages to galvanise the reader to take responsibility for their actions by, importantly, showing how the world is already doing a fine job in despoiling the natural environment. When I finished reading it, I actually felt inspired to do even more about it and, as everyone who knows me would acknowledge, I am already (at times, irritatingly) eco-aware. So with luck, it will get even more people onto the basic level of caring for our planet which, from the stark examples in this book, so skillfully brought to our attention by Mark Townsend, needs a lifeline even more critically than Gordon Brown!


50 ways, 13 Sep 2008
A tour de force. Written with an intensity and wit that makes for addictive reading. Hliarious, arch and disturbing it is an anti-manifesto narrated at a frantic pace. Like Lovelock on speed.

A great gift for all...., 11 Sep 2008
I loved this book - it is a refreshing take on today's most important issues, written with style and a great sense of humour. I'm always on the look out for unique gifts for friends and relatives - so I've stocked up on copies!

You can't get greener!, 17 Sep 2008
Already green at heart and in mind, I treated myself to this book. I know Anna's column at The Times, which I always find highly informative and entertaining (which is a good thing, as informative doesn't always equal entertaining). The books is along the same lines with lots of practical tips and amusing details about her own trials and errors. Being green isn't always easy! She really is in love with her worms and wormery - and after reading her account it was only living on the 4th floor without access to a garden that prevented me to rush out and get my own worms.

The book is a really good way of introducing dithering friends to the art of being green. They may not want to follow everything suggested in the book, but - to paraphrase that not-so-green supermarket 'every little step helps'.

My Bathroom has literature, 27 Aug 2008
I always think that the toilet is a place to learn. This book sits neatly in my bathroom next to my dictionary. It is a great book for dipping into and reading her take on environmental issues. Unlike many of the books in this area it's not preachy and you get the real feel of her enthusiasm for the subject.

brilliant! loved it., 17 Jul 2008
I loved this brilliant book and felt quite bereft when it was over.

It reads like a mix of the diary of a hilarious friend you wish you had, and an inspirational entirely achievable no mumbo-jumbo guide to living more in sync with the planet's, and your own, needs. It's warm, witty, irresistible and funny as well as offering tons of practical ideas and pointers.

On the environmental side it's very informative whilst remaining light and cheerful, and debunks some annoying myths and clarifies others. I found it great for letting me know what I could realistically and pleasurably be doing to contribute less to what's changing our weather and our lives for the worse.

On the human side it's an honest account of a year in the life of anna, a fun sounding spirited young woman who writes a column for a british national paper about green issues, and her boyfriend, her garden, their life in london, and her quest to be as green as her column, but green with style, aplomb and wit. Marvellous and life-altering stuff, and I've bought copies for all my girl friends and sisters for their birthdays.

Call me sad but I wanted to be one of her friends... They all sounded so idyllic and fun and like they were really living life to the full. In fact I have to admit that on finishing I turned straight to the beginning and started again! I would have liked an afterword to sum it all up as I was so reluctant that it should end, but I'm hoping its absence means that there is going to be a sequel.

Thoroughly recommended for hipsters who want some of the goodlife, and eco-sceptics who think climate change is just for hippies.



V. enjoyable, 15 Jul 2008
I've just finished this and have thoroughly enjoyed it. As I am feeling guilty about the number of flights I'm taking this year it was soothing to think of other ways to infuse my life with green-ness. Plus Anna Shepherd's anecdotes are very amusing! I'd definitely recommend this to others - green-leaning or not - who I guarantee will find this a v. entertaining and interesting read too.

An unimaginative company brochure, 10 Jul 2008
Looks like a gorgeous coffee-table book, feels like one too. The image on the front cover is great and first impressions are very positive. However, after a couple of minutes of browsing through the 50 treehouses you realise two things. First, all the treehouses are built by the same company (no problem there), and secondly every one looks pretty much the same. They all seem (to me) like rather modernist sheds stuck up a tree; lacking the whimsy or romance of a true treehouse. There is little design variety and consequently the book fails to hold your interest for more than five minutes.

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