Right, schmight, left, schmeft

I had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of Richard Heinberg’s new book, Peak Everything recently, and I found it to be typical Heinberg – engaging, wise, scrupulously balanced. It comes out this month, I believe, and it is well worth a read.

My personal favorite thing about it, however, was not the writing or the subject matter, but the subtitle, which (on my copy), included the phrase “Transitioning gracefully from the Age of Excess to the Era of Modesty.”


I admit, I was struck by the sheer aptness of the phrase “era of modesty” to what we’re coming to.

Now I gather that in the process of revision, the subtitle was changed to something else, but I keep thinking about the term he coined, both because it is great piece of phrasing, but also because it manages in three words to invoke a great transition in political and social thinking.

It should be no surprise that Heinberg is ahead of the curve again, of course, but I am impressed by the way the very title invoked not just an era of more modest usage, but also social, sexual and cultural modesty, subjects that, if they are discussed at all, tend to be thought of as discussions to be had on the “right” rather than throughout the political spectrum. With that one word, “modesty” Heinberg manages to invoke a confluence of left and right. I admit, I’m impressed, and sorry the term doesn’t appear on the actual book (I wonder if Heinberg will let me steal it for mine ;-)).

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