There were some parts of this book that were ok.Unfortunately, this was constantly undercut by the many parts of this book that are ableist, sexist garbage, verging on eco-fascism.To wit:High infant and child mortality in prehistoric cultures isn't as bad as it sounds because they were just killing disabled children, and those kids don't count: (p. 118) "While a significantly greater percentage of infants died in prehistory than today, even that point isn't as unambiguous as it seems. First, man...

Are you interested in hearing arguments based on how an author “feels” about the world, with nothing but personal biases and anecdotes supporting them? If so, this might be the book for you. But, if you’re like me, and prefer books that support a thesis with statistics and research, you probably won’t enjoy it. The closest thing to factual support Christopher Ryan offers for any of his arguments is one or two counter-examples for a generalized belief. For instance, when arguing against the opini...

I’m a long time listener of Dr Ryan’s podcast Tangentially Speaking so the arguments presented to me in this short and sweet treatise on why progression isn’t inherently positive, aren’t new. I’d however recommend this book to anyone that has contemplated the necessity to participate in the “rat race”, why we aren’t necessarily better off now than our ancestors and how to re-imagine a better life for yourself. I listened to this on Audible and it was read by the author which I’d highly recommend...

I rather enjoyed this read, and find the ideas rather compelling.Except one. The "sharing" economy is bad, a scam, throwing all the risk of the employer onto individuals while some tech startup rakes almost everything, and doesn't even make a profit doing it because it's dumping so much into expansion and stock buybacks to drive finance capital to just keep the damn ponzi scheme rolling. Uber, Air BNB, "Uber for dogwalkers", Task Rabbit and all the rest are vile - and Ryan bought the advertising...

I've always felt that our way of life doesn't feel natural and that it is simply because it isn't, but it has always been hard to put my finger on exactly what was at fault. This scathing critique of everything our society holds to be important yet what we know fails to meet our fundamental needs is both fascinating and entertaining. Chris takes us on a journey through how we got to this point of mutually assured destruction we call development, prosperity and 'progress'. The more 'developed' we...

I read about 10% of the book. I agree with Ryan that if we started as a “wolf pack” then we are mostly poodles and pigs, and we need to look at and provide for our psychological needs in light of our origins as foragers. But I won’t get my desire for confirmation fulfilled by this book. He seems to not understand natural selection, and he lacks precision and science when considering human evolution and the human condition. There are many better popular science books out there. Start with De Waal...

Authors don’t make good readers (of audio books). There’s probably exceptions, but this isn’t one of them. The author takes the habit of ”acting out” the opposing views, often in a voice that exaggerates and ridicules the other party. Feels petty and childish.As much as I’d like to give it 4 stars, I cannot due to the deficiencies. The book is full of interesting facts about ”primitive” life, and really takes a fresh view in looking at the individual and psychology, rather than at the bigger nar...

Just finished my advance readers copy. Waited a long time for this one to finally be released. The wait was worth it. I also recommend The New Human Rights Movement by Peter Joseph and The Spell of The Sensuous by David Abram if you enjoyed this book. I love books that turn my conventional ways of thinking upside down in ways that make sense

“An era can be considered over when its basic illusions have been exhausted.”— Arthur MillerModern civilization is seen as necessary for “progress.” With every breakthrough in technology, science, medicine, and so on, with every new comfort and convenience, advancement and novelty, what is the cost?People often assume that progress is steadily increasing, and at a linear pace, believing that the livelihoods of the hunter-gatherers were primitive, dangerous, and simple, despite their survival for...

For well over 95% of our history, we humans existed in “small bands of 150 or fewer people” in a system of egalitarianism, mobility, and gratitude. Sebastian Junger explained why hoarding and selfishness were not tolerated: “Subsistence-level hunters aren’t necessarily more moral than other people; they just can’t get away with selfish behavior because they live in small groups where almost everything is open to scrutiny.” Jared Diamond called the transition to agriculture (civilization) the “wo...

I am merely going to summarize, in a nutshell, the author’s claims, ideas, conclusion etc. Our civilization is a lie. The good life it supposedly gives us is a lie. Our civilization tells us nature is our enemy and we need to be part of civilization to gain its protection. Civilization made this massive reproduction rate possible. We can now eat ourselves to death . It makes no one happy. Everybody lives in anxiety . The media tries to sell us that we have such a good life. We are happy. What yo...

Author Christopher Ryan has provided a clear and compelling argument against what he calls the Narrative of Perpetual Progress, or NPP.In 2016, I dropped away from traditional life, leaving Seattle, WA to wander Mexico and Central America. It was due to many of the ailments listed in this book that I found life in Seattle so intolerable; but I wasn't ready to face the idea that Modern Life wasn't great. It took awhile for that realization to set in.I was raised in a fundamentalist religion. I re...

An intellectually dubious argument for taking life like a buffet: Ryan would take some of the 21st century, and some from the 20th century plate and mostly from a fairy tale that exists only in his mind.

Most of my reviews are short and sweet, but this book made me want to take notes as I went. The author is clearly passionate about the subject which I respect, but the arguments made throughout the book felt so poorly made that they rubbed me completely the wrong way. The funny thing is, there is plenty that the author said that I agree with, but often even these things were annoying. Some of these complaints will flow poorly as they were taken from various chapters and moments in the book, whil...

"Know thyself" was once said to be inscribed on the ancient temple of Apollo at Delphi, and human beings have been trying to live down this maxim ever since. We don't know ourselves, and the results have, and will continue to be, devastating, according to Christopher Ryan's brilliant book, "Civilized to Death". I not only accept this author's premise, but fully embrace it. This book articulated something I have been feeling for a long time, and has been touched on in other books I've read, actua...

This book is basically a rant. It would have been better as a short New Yorker article. Maybe.I fundamentally believe in the central premise- our advancing progress and industrialization has not produced healthier or happier people. But this book rants about the symptoms without really getting into a “why are we like this”....these systems were created by humans as a reaction to something. That something is not explored and seems to be because we are just selfish dicks, i guess. Industrializatio...

I was a big fan of Sex at Dawn, but that was more specialized. This one is wide-ranging and deeply disappointed with the absolute state of the place. The take home, as is usually the take home in my beloved unga bunga bullshit books, is that the more civilized we became, the further we got from ourselves, which is why the modern world is such a seething morass of anxiety and rage. Ryan draws from the left-field guesses about our origins that constitute anthropology along with modern studies of h...

This is one of those books easily read annually to remind one of what is important in life. I jotted down at least 10 of Christopher Ryan’s most salient points. Here are three:“Our desperate peregrinations are in search of a place much like the home we left when we left The Garden and started to farm”.“We live in a world created by and for institutions that thrive on commerce, not human beings that thrive on community, laughter and leisure”.“We are trapped in an economy that is killing us. Human...

There are a couple of things that separate me from your average loony, left-wing atheist. One is my distaste for both Pinker and Dawkins who are more generally held to be the heroes and even linchpins of modern-day rationalism. The reason why they both bother me so much is that I can’t help feeling that their genetic determinism smells a little too much like eugenics. This book criticises them on much the same terms I do. That said, if I was to offer one piece of advice about how to read books,

I’m conflicted about this one. It was a fun read and the “Narrative of Perpetual Progress” definitely deserves the type of debunking the author is attempting. The lives of our hunter/gatherer forbears were not as nasty, brutish, or short as the proponents of the myth of progress would have us all believe. However, their lifestyles were not as idyllic, peaceful, and sustainable as the author would have us believe either. He rightly takes scientists like Steven Pinker to task for cherrypicking dat...