Books › Learning to die in the Anthropocene
Learning to die in the Anthropocene
reflections on the end of a civilization
144 pages
A fierce, concise, and philosophical confrontation with the grim realities of climate change that ultimately searches for a reimagined humanism.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping into a stormy, urgent reality, guided by a voice that refuses to offer extraneous comfort. It blends memoir, philosophy, and science writing into a fierce and provocative exploration of environmental degradation and civilizational collapse. The prose is striking in its economy—concise, elegant, and erudite—cutting through the noise to deliver an honest assessment of the climate crisis. Despite the grim subject matter, the emotional journey arcs toward a powerful, reimagined humanism, leaving the reader with a sense of ultimate hope and clarity. It is a brisk, deeply contemplative read designed for those who want an unflinching, wise challenge regarding how we must adapt to survive our changing Earth.
- Mood
- grim
- urgent
- contemplative
- ultimately hopeful
- Tone
- fierce
- provocative
- honest
- lucid
- earnest
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- the climate crisis · civilizational collapse · reimagined humanism · survival and resilience · environmental degradation
- The writing
- Concise, elegant, and erudite, blending memoir, philosophy, and science writing with striking clarity.
- The arc
- Moves from confronting grim, existential realities to a powerful, ultimately hopeful call for a reimagined humanism.
- Who it's for
- Readers seeking an unflinching, philosophical, and concise examination of the climate crisis and human survival.
Content notes
- climate anxiety
- war experiences
- environmental degradation
- existential dread
About the book
"In Learning to Die in the Anthropocene, Roy Scranton draws on his experiences in Iraq to confront the grim realities of climate change. The result is a fierce and provocative book."--Elizabeth Kolbert, author of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History
"Roy Scranton's Learning to Die in the Anthropocene presents, without extraneous bullshit, what we must do to survive on Earth. It's a powerful, useful, and ultimately hopeful book that more than any other I've read has the ability to change people's minds and create change. For me, it crystallizes and expresses what I've been thinking about and trying to get a grasp on. The economical way it does so, with such clarity, sets the book apart from most others on the subject."--Jeff VanderMeer, author of the Southern Reach trilogy
"Roy Scranton lucidly articulates the depth of the climate crisis with an honesty that is all too rare, then calls for a reimagined humanism that will help us meet our stormy future with as much decency as we can muster. While I don't share his conclusions about the potential for social movements to drive ambitious mitigation, this is a wise and important challenge from an elegant writer and original thinker. A critical intervention."--Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate
"Concise, elegant, erudite, heartfelt & wise."--Amitav Ghosh, author of Flood of Fire
"War veteran and journalist Roy Scranton combines memoir, philosophy, and science writing to craft one of the definitive documents of the modern era."--The Believer Best Books of 2015
Coming home from the war in Iraq, US Army private Roy Scranton thought he'd left the world of strife behind. Then he watched as new calamities struck America, heralding a threat far more dangerous than ISIS or Al Qaeda: Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, megadrought--the shock and awe of global warming.
Our world is changing. Rising seas, spiking temperatures, and extreme weather imperil global infrastructure, crops, and water supplies. Conflict, famine, plagues, and riots menace from every quarter. From war-stricken Baghdad to the melting Arctic, human-caused climate change poses a danger not only to political and economic stability, but to civilization itself... and to what it means to be human. Our greatest enemy, it turns out, is ourselves. The warmer, wetter, more chaotic world we now live in--the Anthropocene--demands a radical new vision of human life.
Description from Open Library.
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