That's a great question, Dougald. How I find myself talking about 'At work in the ruins' begins with the admission that the author is a friend of mine! From my own experience of him over time (even if all but a few hours of it has been through the screen) I can confidently say that the words in the book align themselves perfectly with the man. Intelligent, nuanced, humble, well informed and generous (there is at least a potential paragraph underneath each of those descriptors, by the way - they are not randomly generated!) I can also say that it is one of only 2 books I have ever begun again from the beginning immediately after the first reading. The other one was The God of Small Things by Arundati Roy. Go figure!
Happy bookaversary, Dougald. I don’t usually bother trying to summarize, other than to say I’ve studied with the author and this book is a miraculously concise and engaging summary of ideas we most need now. Rather than summarize, I thrust copies of it into people’s hands with “Read this; you’ll be glad you did.” Thank you for writing it. Time for a re-read.
I was invigorated and reassured by your book. I also thought the part about Covid and our responses was especially good. Since I pretty much already agreed with you it wasn't so much that your argument changed me but that you made the case so gently and get to the deepest, most elemental concerns. I was intrigued by the small reference you made to the rift in permaculture circles and read more on that.... really unsettling. As part of a local permaculture inspired group that manages several public plantings I had already brushed up against these deep divides without realizing it. For example, one young, enthusiastic member wanted to turn our entirely volunteer project under the power lines into a funded position. He proposed that we put up cameras and sensors that would document how much wildlife was visiting the site and then ask the power company to fund a part time "site coordinator" in exchange for the "green points" associated with documented ecosystem health improvements under the power lines. Another member who works in a school where we have a planting wanted to increase student interaction with the plants and insects. He proposed putting a big screen in the cafeteria where live video of the garden space would be played for them to see while they eat lunch.
I had such an instinctive reaction to these digital ideas, and tried to explain my objections but I think it just seemed I was cranky or an extremist. So I felt your book helped me to find better ways to share why I don't want to move in that direction. It also offers companionship, which is probably what I liked most about it... being in the company of someone so calmly standing firm for the truth he sees and quietly encouraging others along the small, branching side paths. I want to give the book to many people but I don't think they'll read it. Instead, I have picked up phrases and illustrations you used and I sprinkle them about when I have a chance. I have also really enjoyed learning more about Ivan Illich after the talks and references you exposed me to. Thank You.
With regards to the question. AWITR has been a gateway drug and introduction to a whole new field of research an literature, which opened my eyes to the predicament and my heart to the loss and reestablished connection to what is around us.
I've personally pickup the book multiple times to read parts and chapters that provide structured sentences to company my own rather chaotic thoughts.
I shared it with a number of colleagues, all 'sustainability' consultants and we now started a process within our team that we call 'our work in the ruins'. In which we try to move beyond the optimism, sit with our sh*t and envision the kind of work we need to do with our clients. It is all still in the trying-phase, we're having conversations that matter, wording a possible world.
Hi Dougal. You ask how we are ‘spreading the word’ about your amazing book. I’m a retired academic and management consultant in my eighties, and to keep myself active for the last eighteen months I have been leading a course for the local u3a called “science, philosophy, and spirituality”, seeking to understand just how Western thinking has developed to have such a damaging influence on our relationship with our home planet and the other creatures that we share it with. It has 38 members, mainly, but not all retired. When we reached a point talking about the Anthropocene, I highlighted your book as the most appropriate, thoughtful and balanced guide that I had read - seeking to avoid both alarmism and complacency, and drawing on all the ‘paths’ to truth (as Iain McGilchrist calls them). I also take every opportunity to refer to the book when I hear my friends discussing the topics of climate change or ‘the environment’.
I've not read your book, but I'm glad it's finding an audience. Been enjoying your substack.
Off topic, but do you find that the article voice overs are helpful for your readers? I wonder if it would be a useful thing to add to my own stuff, although my reading voice is...questionable.
should it be 'happy bookday' or 'happy bookiversary'? hmmm.
either way, i'm glad your book is finding the audience it deserves, and that interest in the subject is growing. we all need it, and i've been happy to share it around my own small group of friends.
When I recommend the book (as I have often) I tend to link to the post on the Dark Mountain website from early February 2023 ('The Paths That Are Still Open') as I find that's a nice entry point. I try and talk about what it meant to me to think about the deep time nature of the book, that actually there may be comfort to be found among the ruins, that we need not necessarily fear the ending of something that is so objectively lacking, especially if we commit to retaining that which can contribute to our new 'cosmology'. Your book inevitably led to Federico Campagna's, which I also loved and your paraphrasing of the central thesis - the narrative is no longer fit for purpose, we know that, some of us perhaps see it more clearly, but all of us will know, if pressed, that by no measure can 'this' (*gestures at the world) be said to be working. So why do we persist? Especially when we know we have been here before. And likely will be again. I try, and likely fail, to make the point that this isn't, at least not to me, another book for what my partner calls my 'doom shelf'. It's a field guide to how to reconcile ourselves to the present, withouth being a prisoner of the present.
Dougald Hine's book is intriguing in that it doesn't take a political position on climate change, but instead wonders what the politicians will make of the changes that are surely coming. It's a thoughtful and compassionate approach to a predicament that confronts us all. I especially like the storytelling style of the book, making the reader feel as if the experts he is quoting are interesting people he has met, as opposed to academic sources.
I’ve read your book twice and have shared with my sister. I’d describe it as a book trying to outline the small path(s) we might take into the future, even in these uncertain times.
I’ve loved it since first opening it. I keep it beside my computer and often show it to others on Zoom calls, with a cry of ‘you must read this!’ I think it’s due a reread.
That's a great question, Dougald. How I find myself talking about 'At work in the ruins' begins with the admission that the author is a friend of mine! From my own experience of him over time (even if all but a few hours of it has been through the screen) I can confidently say that the words in the book align themselves perfectly with the man. Intelligent, nuanced, humble, well informed and generous (there is at least a potential paragraph underneath each of those descriptors, by the way - they are not randomly generated!) I can also say that it is one of only 2 books I have ever begun again from the beginning immediately after the first reading. The other one was The God of Small Things by Arundati Roy. Go figure!
Happy bookaversary, Dougald. I don’t usually bother trying to summarize, other than to say I’ve studied with the author and this book is a miraculously concise and engaging summary of ideas we most need now. Rather than summarize, I thrust copies of it into people’s hands with “Read this; you’ll be glad you did.” Thank you for writing it. Time for a re-read.
I was invigorated and reassured by your book. I also thought the part about Covid and our responses was especially good. Since I pretty much already agreed with you it wasn't so much that your argument changed me but that you made the case so gently and get to the deepest, most elemental concerns. I was intrigued by the small reference you made to the rift in permaculture circles and read more on that.... really unsettling. As part of a local permaculture inspired group that manages several public plantings I had already brushed up against these deep divides without realizing it. For example, one young, enthusiastic member wanted to turn our entirely volunteer project under the power lines into a funded position. He proposed that we put up cameras and sensors that would document how much wildlife was visiting the site and then ask the power company to fund a part time "site coordinator" in exchange for the "green points" associated with documented ecosystem health improvements under the power lines. Another member who works in a school where we have a planting wanted to increase student interaction with the plants and insects. He proposed putting a big screen in the cafeteria where live video of the garden space would be played for them to see while they eat lunch.
I had such an instinctive reaction to these digital ideas, and tried to explain my objections but I think it just seemed I was cranky or an extremist. So I felt your book helped me to find better ways to share why I don't want to move in that direction. It also offers companionship, which is probably what I liked most about it... being in the company of someone so calmly standing firm for the truth he sees and quietly encouraging others along the small, branching side paths. I want to give the book to many people but I don't think they'll read it. Instead, I have picked up phrases and illustrations you used and I sprinkle them about when I have a chance. I have also really enjoyed learning more about Ivan Illich after the talks and references you exposed me to. Thank You.
Clara
Happy libroversary!
With regards to the question. AWITR has been a gateway drug and introduction to a whole new field of research an literature, which opened my eyes to the predicament and my heart to the loss and reestablished connection to what is around us.
I've personally pickup the book multiple times to read parts and chapters that provide structured sentences to company my own rather chaotic thoughts.
I shared it with a number of colleagues, all 'sustainability' consultants and we now started a process within our team that we call 'our work in the ruins'. In which we try to move beyond the optimism, sit with our sh*t and envision the kind of work we need to do with our clients. It is all still in the trying-phase, we're having conversations that matter, wording a possible world.
Hi Dougal. You ask how we are ‘spreading the word’ about your amazing book. I’m a retired academic and management consultant in my eighties, and to keep myself active for the last eighteen months I have been leading a course for the local u3a called “science, philosophy, and spirituality”, seeking to understand just how Western thinking has developed to have such a damaging influence on our relationship with our home planet and the other creatures that we share it with. It has 38 members, mainly, but not all retired. When we reached a point talking about the Anthropocene, I highlighted your book as the most appropriate, thoughtful and balanced guide that I had read - seeking to avoid both alarmism and complacency, and drawing on all the ‘paths’ to truth (as Iain McGilchrist calls them). I also take every opportunity to refer to the book when I hear my friends discussing the topics of climate change or ‘the environment’.
I've not read your book, but I'm glad it's finding an audience. Been enjoying your substack.
Off topic, but do you find that the article voice overs are helpful for your readers? I wonder if it would be a useful thing to add to my own stuff, although my reading voice is...questionable.
should it be 'happy bookday' or 'happy bookiversary'? hmmm.
either way, i'm glad your book is finding the audience it deserves, and that interest in the subject is growing. we all need it, and i've been happy to share it around my own small group of friends.
When I recommend the book (as I have often) I tend to link to the post on the Dark Mountain website from early February 2023 ('The Paths That Are Still Open') as I find that's a nice entry point. I try and talk about what it meant to me to think about the deep time nature of the book, that actually there may be comfort to be found among the ruins, that we need not necessarily fear the ending of something that is so objectively lacking, especially if we commit to retaining that which can contribute to our new 'cosmology'. Your book inevitably led to Federico Campagna's, which I also loved and your paraphrasing of the central thesis - the narrative is no longer fit for purpose, we know that, some of us perhaps see it more clearly, but all of us will know, if pressed, that by no measure can 'this' (*gestures at the world) be said to be working. So why do we persist? Especially when we know we have been here before. And likely will be again. I try, and likely fail, to make the point that this isn't, at least not to me, another book for what my partner calls my 'doom shelf'. It's a field guide to how to reconcile ourselves to the present, withouth being a prisoner of the present.
Happy Anniversary Dougald.
Dougald Hine's book is intriguing in that it doesn't take a political position on climate change, but instead wonders what the politicians will make of the changes that are surely coming. It's a thoughtful and compassionate approach to a predicament that confronts us all. I especially like the storytelling style of the book, making the reader feel as if the experts he is quoting are interesting people he has met, as opposed to academic sources.
I’ve read your book twice and have shared with my sister. I’d describe it as a book trying to outline the small path(s) we might take into the future, even in these uncertain times.
Communication is sacred, by Nora Bateson:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-141428322
I’ve loved it since first opening it. I keep it beside my computer and often show it to others on Zoom calls, with a cry of ‘you must read this!’ I think it’s due a reread.
Congrats Dougald! I've read through the Ruins twice now, and I'll be picking it up again before long. Thank you for writing the book.
Excellent post, as always, Dougald. Long may you remain unclassifiable!
And OK it sounds like I really must read it.