Synopses & Reviews
Chris Martenson has an MBA in Finance from Cornell, a Ph.D. from Duke, has been a research scientist in the field of nuerotoxicology, a former VP of Pfizer, and started his own investing website. He and his family lived in a 5 bedroom house on the water in Mystic, CT. Life was good.
In 2003, he gave it all up.
Chris had a foreshadowing of some of the economic events that ultimately caused the recession, became disillusioned with where our future was heading overall, quit his job, sold his big house, and moved his family into a small rental house in the woods. Chris took his money out of the hands of his investors and began making his own investments, with returns that exceed that of his former investor's. He grows a garden, brews his own beer, and raises chickens for food. Chris's passion is now education. Chris feels strongly that if people had enough of a working knowledge of the fundamentals of the economy before the recession, they could have easily seen the recession coming and could have made different choices, financially and otherwise, to prepare themselves. Maybe some people would have put more money in an emergency fund, or sold their house before they owed more on it than it was worth.
Chris is now dedicating his life to educating people, or giving them a Crash Course on the three E's: the Economy, Energy, and the Environment, so they can make better choices in the future. He wants people to understand: How completely dependent the 3e's are on each other The unsustainable current trajectory they are on The changes that could have on our future (not just another housing crisis or recession, but also things like food supply shortage due to contamination, like the one we recently experienced with eggs, but on a larger scale, or the likelihood of more big natural disasters or disease outbreaks because of environmental shifts caused by global warming, etc.) How to recognize those changes ahead of time and prepare yourself, BEFORE it happens
Chris first introduced this Crash Course as a video series which he offers on his website for free. The series has been viewed over 1.5 million times.The Crash Course is also available as a DVD. the DVD has sold over 27,000 copies even though it's available for free online. Chris speaks to a few thousand people a year on this topic. He's also been featured on the Huffington Post, in the Wall Street Journal, and was recently asked to speak at a state legislative energy commission meeting in Minnesota. This topic is now Chris's life passion.
Synopsis
The economic chaos and turbulence we are now experiencing are merely the opening salvos in what will prove to be a long, disruptive period of adjustment for our world, our way of life, and our dreams and desires. Our choices now are to either evolve a new economic model that is compatible with limited physical resources, or to risk a catastrophic failure of our money, energy, and environment, and with it the basis for civilization as we know it today. The Crash Course explains why the disparate fields of economics, energy and the environment will be dramatically different in the next 20 years—in life-changing ways—from the way we have understood them in the previous 20 years. The first half of the book will build a sense of urgency regarding our present situation by revealing that our current trajectory is unsustainable. The second half will inspire and frame out what readers can do to meet these challenges using the author's extensive experience as a source of guidance and hope.
People are waking up to the true condition of the economy and world in larger and larger numbers. However, as yet there remains a startling lack of positive, non fear-based materials that can speak to a wide audience and transform the intense emotions stirred by this content into meaningful action. This book will provide a lucid, factual forewarning of things to come, helping readers create positive plans of action in their lives in advance of the future's challenges. Given the rapidly shifting state of the economy, this perspective has a great deal of topical and timely relevance. Through a clear, concise and illuminating explanation of demographics, debt, and the concepts of peak oil and net energy, Dr. Martenson will paint a startling portrait of the defining predicaments of our age and attest to why it is better to be a year early than a day late in recognizing, accepting and addressing the challenges we face.
Synopsis
The next twenty years will be completely unlike the last twenty years. The decisions you make today are critical. The world is in economic crisis, and there are no easy fixes to our predicament. Unsustainable trends in the economy, energy, and the environment have finally caught up with us and are converging on a very narrow window of timethe "Twenty-Teens." With solid facts and grounded reasoning presented in a calm, nonpartisan manner,
The Crash Course explains our predicament and illuminates the path ahead so you can face the coming disruptions without fearing the future or retreating into denial.
Our money system places impossible demands upon a finite world. Exponentially rising levels of debt, based on assumptions of future economic growth to fund repayment, have shuddered to a halt and are reversing, with severe and lasting consequences.
Oil is essential for economic growth. The reality of dwindling oil supplies is now internationally recognized, yet virtually no developed nations have a Plan B. The economic risks to individuals, companies, and countries are varied and enormous. Best case: living standards will drop steadily worldwide. Worst case: systemic financial crises will toss the world into jarring chaos.
This book is written for those who are motivated to learn about the root causes of our predicaments in order to protect themselves and their families, mitigate risks as much as possible, and control what effects they can. With challenge comes opportunity. The Crash Course offers a positive vision for how our lives can become more balanced, resilient, and sustainable.
The world is changing. It's time to get busy. The Crash Course will show you how.
Synopsis
Praise for
The Crash Course"Chris Martenson gave up a successful and conventional career to study the two great problems that we face: running out of critical resourcesespecially carbon-based energyand a congenital failure to process unpleasant facts. Reading The Crash Course will help you recognize how dangerous our future is likely to be and will help you prepare for it. It is a job well done." Jeremy Grantham, cofounder and Chief Investment Strategist, Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo
"Among the handful of observers making sense of the economic scene, Chris Martenson is the most astute, coherent, and comprehensive. Reading Chris is like stepping out of a room full of smoke and mirrors into daylight." James Howard Kunstler, author of The Long Emergency
"Economists did not predict the Great Recession of 2008; Chris did. He looks deeper into the numbers than most and has found a painful future if we do not make a major turn. I deeply appreciate him for doing this work. He uses hard data to back up the self-evident common sense that if we do not consciously manage our natural resources and business relationships to give priority to the common good, we will face dire consequences. This is serious. Read this book." Terry Mollner, Board Member, Ben & Jerry's
"Chris addresses fundamental economic and energy issues in understandable terms and provides engaging perspectives. Readers will learn a great deal from his work." Dr. Robert L. Hirsch, lead author of The Impending World Energy Mess
Synopsis
The next twenty years will be completely unlike the last twenty years.
The world is in economic crisis, and there are no easy fixes to our predicament. Unsustainable trends in the economy, energy, and the environment have finally caught up with us and are converging on a very narrow window of time—the "Twenty-Teens." The Crash Course presents our predicament and illuminates the path ahead, so you can face the coming disruptions and thrive--without fearing the future or retreating into denial. In this book you will find solid facts and grounded reasoning presented in a calm, positive, non-partisan manner.
Our money system places impossible demands upon a finite world. Exponentially rising levels of debt, based on assumptions of future economic growth to fund repayment, will shudder to a halt and then reverse. Unfortunately, our financial system does not operate in reverse. The consequences of massive deleveraging will be severe.
Oil is essential for economic growth. The reality of dwindling oil supplies is now internationally recognized, yet virtually no developed nations have a Plan B. The economic risks to individuals, companies, and countries are varied and enormous. Best-case, living standards will drop steadily worldwide. Worst-case, systemic financial crises will toss the world into jarring chaos.
This book is written for those who are motivated to learn about the root causes of our predicaments, protect themselves and their families, mitigate risks as much as possible, and control what effects they can. With challenge comes opportunity, and The Crash Course offers a positive vision for how to reshape our lives to be more balanced, resilient, and sustainable.
Synopsis
It seems as if we face crisis after crisis. Financial meltdowns have triggered seemingly permanent stagnation. Wars are shaking the global order. Inequality grows staggeringly greater by the year. Unchecked global warming threatens our very existence. Our governments seem too hollow and tired to offer any solutions.
It’s all true—and System Crash explains why it’s happening. Step by step, the authors lead readers through these compounding crises to reveal their roots in the essentially pathological character of neoliberal capitalism, with its insatiable hunger for growth and refusal to account for consequences. The system, they argue, is unreformable—leaving humanity at a crossroads. Do we choose a descent into war, barbarism, and climate catastrophe? Or do we choose collective action, a movement to overthrow the lords of capital and build a new world based on democracy, equality, and solidarity?
Pugnacious, pointed, and unabashedly apocalyptic, System Crash lays bare the causes of the many problems we face and sounds a clarion call for real, lasting, fundamental change.
About the Author
CHRIS MARTENSON, PhD, MBA, is an economic researcher and futurist who speaks to audiences around the world on
The Crash Course. He runs PeakProsperity.com, a popular website on the global economy.
Chris began his career as a scientist, earning a PhD in pathology from Duke University and an MBA from Cornell. He became vice president of a large international company and believed he had achieved the American Dream, living with his family in a large waterfront home in Connecticut. He was jolted out of complacency by the bear market of 2001 and used his background in finance to investigate the workings of our monetary system. What he discovered changed his life.
Today Chris lives with his wife, Becca, and their three kids in rural Massachusetts, where they enjoy a more resilient and independent lifestyle, with fewer things, better relationships with their neighbors, and a higher quality of life.
Table of Contents
Foreword.
Acknowledgments.
Introduction.
Part I: How to Approach the Next Twenty Years.
Chapter 1 The Coming Storm.
Chapter 2 The Lens: How to See the Future.
Chapter 3 A World Worth Inheriting.
Chapter 4 Trust Yourself.
Part II: Foundation.
Chapter 5 Dangerous Exponentials.
Chapter 6 An Inconvenient Lie: The Truth about Growth.
Chapter 7 Our Money System.
Chapter 8 Problems and Predicaments.
Chapter 9 What Is Wealth? (Hint: It’s Not Money).
Part III: Economy.
Chapter 10 Debt.
Chapter 11 The Great Credit Bubble.
Chapter 12 Like a Moth to Flame: Our Destructive Tendency to Print.
Chapter 13 Fuzzy Numbers.
Chapter 14 Starting the Race with Our Shoes Tied Together.
Part IV: Energy.
Chapter 15 Energy and the Economy.
Chapter 16 Peak Oil.
Chapter 17 Necessary but Insufficient: Coal, Nuclear, and Alternatives.
Chapter 18 Why Technology Can’t Fix This.
Part V: Environment.
Chapter 19 Minerals: Gone with the Wind.
Chapter 20 Soil: Thin, Thinner, Gone.
Chapter 21 Parched: The Coming Water Wars.
Chapter 22 All Fished Out.
Part VI: Convergence.
Chapter 23 Convergence: Why the Twenty–Teens Will Be Difficult.
Chapter 24 Closing the Book on Growth.
Chapter 25 Future Scenarios.
Part VII: What Should I Do?
Chapter 26 The Good News: We Already Have Everything We Need.
Chapter 27 What Should I Do?
Chapter 28 The Opportunities.
Appendix.
Notes.
Index.