The main character, once in the publishing business in the Big City, reflects on his prior homosexuality (back when there was oil) and wonders if he was really gay at all or had he merely played out a role that the decadent, consumerist civilization had set for him...
That is as far as I got. LOL. I'm not gay and don't know anyone who is, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with peak oil, plastic Christmas trees or consumerism.
The feeling in the first few pages is of how serene the world becomes after most of the population dies off from the epidemics and the good people who are left pick up all the stuff left laying around. The first couple dozen pages I found trite and predictable and I hate to say it, but; "plastic".
It's Peaker Heaven, though. A total reset world where the lucky bottleneck survivors get to remake themselves in the low-tech image of their former company-time daydreams — using materials left behind by that same cursed world.
It is Little House except with the constant subtext that all the characters are descendants of the modern Noah. If you hate modern civ and think everyone deserves to go but leave their stuff intact; you'll like it.
PeakOil is You
Kunstler: "History of the Future"
Kunstler: "History of the Future"
by Pops » Sat 18 Apr 2015, 09:26:07
The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves -- in their separate, and individual capacities.
-- Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on Government (July 1, 1854)
-- Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on Government (July 1, 1854)
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Re: Kunstler: "History of the Future"
by ennui2 » Sat 18 Apr 2015, 10:13:59
Wow. Kunstler really is "get off my lawn" personified. I don't think attitudes like his help matters, nor Derrik Jensen's for that matter, if you want to go even more extreme.
"If the oil price crosses above the Etp maximum oil price curve within the next month, I will leave the forum." --SumYunGai (9/21/2016)
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Re: Kunstler: "History of the Future"
by Tanada » Sat 18 Apr 2015, 10:31:58
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'T')he main character, once in the publishing business in the Big City, reflects on his prior homosexuality (back when there was oil) and wonders if he was really gay at all or had he merely played out a role that the decadent, consumerist civilization had set for him...
That is as far as I got. LOL. I'm not gay and don't know anyone who is, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with peak oil, plastic Christmas trees or consumerism.
The feeling in the first few pages is of how serene the world becomes after most of the population dies off from the epidemics and the good people who are left pick up all the stuff left laying around. The first couple dozen pages I found trite and predictable and I hate to say it, but; "plastic".
It's Peaker Heaven, though. A total reset world where the lucky bottleneck survivors get to remake themselves in the low-tech image of their former company-time daydreams — using materials left behind by that same cursed world.
It is Little House except with the constant subtext that all the characters are descendants of the modern Noah. If you hate modern civ and think everyone deserves to go but leave their stuff intact; you'll like it.
That is as far as I got. LOL. I'm not gay and don't know anyone who is, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with peak oil, plastic Christmas trees or consumerism.
The feeling in the first few pages is of how serene the world becomes after most of the population dies off from the epidemics and the good people who are left pick up all the stuff left laying around. The first couple dozen pages I found trite and predictable and I hate to say it, but; "plastic".
It's Peaker Heaven, though. A total reset world where the lucky bottleneck survivors get to remake themselves in the low-tech image of their former company-time daydreams — using materials left behind by that same cursed world.
It is Little House except with the constant subtext that all the characters are descendants of the modern Noah. If you hate modern civ and think everyone deserves to go but leave their stuff intact; you'll like it.
I had several GLB friends when I was at University and I think every one of them would be at a minimum irritated by the 'homosexuality can be cured' trope that so often shows up in patriarchal/matriarchal thinking We all drifted apart in the years since we were at University but I still stay in touch with a couple of Uni friends via FB. Their life choices do not appeal to me, but that didn't stop us from being friends. Decadent societies do encourage people to explore personal relationships in ways that hand to mouth survival is paramount cultures do not.
In a complex diverse large population center you can find almost any interest you have expressed by someone else in that population center. When you are in a small village or even a small town your choices are necessarily much more narrow. When your community is struggling to survive and your life choices cause conflict you can find yourself threatened or even killed for disrupting the community and making survival of the community more difficult.
I enjoyed World Made By Hand and The Witch Of Hebron though the latter was kind of strange. I just checked my Amazon feed and to get this third novel for Kindle is $13.99, which is IMO excessive for an electronic edition of almost any book. The print length is listed as 352 pages, less than the latest Harry Turtledove novel I bought for $11.
Sorry Mr. Kunstker, that is too high for too little. If The Witch Of Hebron had been a real page turner leaving us begging for more then maybe, but it was just an average summer read.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Alfred Tennyson', 'W')e are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
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Re: Kunstler: "History of the Future"
by C8 » Sat 18 Apr 2015, 11:59:56
Man if I had a dollar for every Kunstler prediction that never came true. The man is a walking fear monger machine: Y2K, Bird Flu, PO crash, YEARLY predictions of TOTAL stock market meltdown, cars becoming obsolete in a few year (sorry, Jim: we are still "happy motoring"! 
), solar will never become competitive, wind neither, etc. etc.
WHO ON EARTH STILL READS THIS GUY?
), solar will never become competitive, wind neither, etc. etc.WHO ON EARTH STILL READS THIS GUY?
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Re: Kunstler: "History of the Future"
by Lore » Sun 19 Apr 2015, 09:23:45
A lot of people read Kunstler. He is a literary muse of change reflective of the uncertain times we live in. Like the court jester his wisdom comes from between the lines.
While his topics range from one weekly news cycle to the next. He stays pretty consistent with his message. The self destruction of an urbanized and resource extended global culture.
His future reality is that everyone will eventually come to their senses after the dust settles and life will go on 1800s style.
As far as his predictions, he only has to be right once. Like the guy holding the street sign, "the end is near". While it's a fact that we go on doing things till we can't anymore.
While his topics range from one weekly news cycle to the next. He stays pretty consistent with his message. The self destruction of an urbanized and resource extended global culture.
His future reality is that everyone will eventually come to their senses after the dust settles and life will go on 1800s style.
As far as his predictions, he only has to be right once. Like the guy holding the street sign, "the end is near". While it's a fact that we go on doing things till we can't anymore.
The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living, and the get-rich-quick theory of life.
... Theodore Roosevelt
... Theodore Roosevelt
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Re: Kunstler: "History of the Future"
by Loki » Sun 19 Apr 2015, 15:46:49
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', 'T')he main character, once in the publishing business in the Big City, reflects on his prior homosexuality (back when there was oil) and wonders if he was really gay at all or had he merely played out a role that the decadent, consumerist civilization had set for him...
That is as far as I got. LOL. I'm not gay and don't know anyone who is, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with peak oil, plastic Christmas trees or consumerism.
That is as far as I got. LOL. I'm not gay and don't know anyone who is, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with peak oil, plastic Christmas trees or consumerism.
That's not the main character, he ends up playing a very minor role in the rest of the novel. You would have found that out had you read the book
The reference to homosexuality was in response to the hate mail that Kunstler received from what he calls the "diversity cheerleaders." He didn't have any gay characters in his previous novels, or "people of color," and apparently the feminists didn't like his portrayal of women, either. His point in briefly discussing the character's homosexuality is that, under a total collapse scenario, we won't be able to indulge in divisive nonsense like the modern identity movements.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he feeling in the first few pages is of how serene the world becomes after most of the population dies off from the epidemics and the good people who are left pick up all the stuff left laying around. The first couple dozen pages I found trite and predictable and I hate to say it, but; "plastic".
It's Peaker Heaven, though. A total reset world where the lucky bottleneck survivors get to remake themselves in the low-tech image of their former company-time daydreams — using materials left behind by that same cursed world.
It is Little House except with the constant subtext that all the characters are descendants of the modern Noah. If you hate modern civ and think everyone deserves to go but leave their stuff intact; you'll like it.
Again, there's a lot more to the book, and the previous two novels upon which this book builds, than your rather unfair summation. Did you read the previous ones?
I found the History of the Future to be the weakest of the three, but still entertaining. The first book was the best. I could live without the supernaturalism that he introduces here and there for no apparent reason, and his presentation of the Firefox Republic is cartoonish (as are all his references to southerners), but Kunstler can spin a good yarn and offers some interesting insights. The changes in social relations he discusses are particularly intriguing, the return of a sort of feudalism, for example.
A garden will make your rations go further.
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