Book Trailer: World Made By Hand, by J.H.Kunstler

Buy at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0033AGSRI?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwkunstlerco-20&...

In his first book since "The Long Emergency," James Howard Kunstler follows the people of a small New York town through an eventful summer, as they struggle with life after a series of global catastrophes.

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[gareball]

You are certainly one of the most myopic people to frequent this page. "If oil goes to 50"...probably the most absurd statement ever to grace a YouTube page. Oil will hit 200 before the summer's end, count on it. It's chances of seeing 50 again are as small as your intellect. You can't see past the hood of your Hummer H1 that you absolutely NEED to navigate the treacherous streets of Manhattan. Yes, we have a limitless supply of oil and there is absolutely nothing to worry about. What a fool.

[ramaldo61]

Don't know about what price oil will reach but one thing is for sure - much of American suburbia is just plain ugly. The landscape is so ugly and paved with asphalt that even if you want to walk or bike, the sheer ugliness of the barren landscape will stop you in your tracks. Architecture took a vacation for the 40 years following WWII. Hopefully, we can infill the parking lots and convert lanes on roads to flower beds and recover some sense of community back into our lives.

[Halo4Lyf]

@gareball Why does the 21st century belong to China? Give me specific reasons why the PRC is supposedly poised to become the preeminent military, economic, and cultural force for the next 100 years.

[Halo4Lyf]

@gareball Did oil make it to $200 a barrel? Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't things peak around $150 and now been hovering between $80-$110 for the last while?

[bertapelleja]

one of the best books I have read! it took me away on an adventure I would not have been on.

[DonCarina]

For the record, after gareball's post, crude oil hit $34 a barrel.

Ron Russell

Author of "Don Carina"

[gareball]

I stand by my comments 100%. It's called Econ-101 for a reason. Those are the most rudimentary laws capitalism follows. All else revolves around that basic concept. Emerging economies in China, India etc. are taking supplies off the market. The dollar continues to slide and the price of oil contiues to rise. What about this do you not understand? The 'Great American Century' is over. The 21st century belongs to China, India etc. As I said before, ignore these warnings at your own peril.

[blaked495]

As much as I like Kunstler's New Urbanist ideas and deplore automobile sprawl, this vision of the future is about as off the mark as Ghandi imploring Indians in the 1930's to return to their spinning wheels. If you go to places like Ukraine, you can see how people manage to live despite things like 20% interest rates. People still have electricity and have gained things like mobile phones and internet access.

[InfiniteMushroom]

@gareball After two years, what do you think of your derisive comments now? You were predicting the price of crude from a purely academic supply and demand paradigm. An utterly useless concept outside of Econ-101 classes.

Had you considered the Machiavellian machinations of the NYMEX, and the agenda of the ruling plutocracy, you would have seen their plan to starve out rebellious oil exporting nations, like Venezuela and Iran with low prices.

BTW, I drive a '76 Beetle and '82 Mercedes 240D.

[OzClawhammer]

You can't uninvent the wheel. Coal fired steam and electricity will remain when oil becomes too expensive. The traintracks will roll electric and steam powered trains and electric tramcars will run in the cities. The powerlines and telephone cables will still carry messages to/from phones and computers... oil has only been around for a century or so.

[Glomerol]

@gareball :

Based on what I've been reading, such as at 'The Oil Drum', the price of oil seems to hit a "ceiling" of $150, after which-- bang!-- we're into "recession" again. Ouch. :)

Regarding the below dystopia comments, I'd laugh if it weren't for the fact that our entire culture is already dystopic, with soil and biodiversity loss, pollution, possible population overshoot, global warming, etc..

So any novel that's somehow dystopian relative to our current status, seems to make it utopian.