This book’s full title is Fall of Civilizations: Stories of Greatness and Decline. It was an interesting book, but Paul Cooper ruined my enjoyment by the Epilogue where he is extremely negative about our future. Paul Cooper has his own site.
Yes, the world is changing, and it will be hard for some people, but I am not negative about the future. I think that somehow, we will change and the future will be bright. I do not believe that we will destroy the world. Yes, the climate will change. It has changed a lot in the past and it will change in the future. I do believe we have a future. Paul Cooper does not seem to believe we have a future. I will probably not live to see it as I am already 80. But perhaps I will see some of it.
I guess being negative about our future is why the author wrote a book and seems fascinated by civilizations that have failed in the past. I have read a lot of history and it is not just about civilizations falling apart. It is also about people surviving incredible changes in empires, their lives, and the weather.
Look at Egypt. It is still alive and well and has survived a lot and reinvented itself many times. One story was when the Sea People attacked. Some believe that that the big movement of people at that time was because of climate change. The climate getting colder and drier. Another is the Persians/Iranians who had a bigger empire than the Romans and is talked about in the Old Testament. They are still around today and also have reinvested themselves many times. Same is true of India, China, Europe.
However, there are civilizations that did seem to just disappear. This appeared to happened to the Mayans in South America, the Khmer Empire in Asia, the Assyrian Empire in the Middle East. He talks about our current civilization falling because of global warming. Very in theme.
It is interesting that Paul Cooper grew up in Wales where there are ruins of castles that fascinated him. The British Islands and Europe is very different from Canada. There are old ruins there dating back sometimes back into BC. An example is Stonehenge. They are also lots of old castle ruins.
I grow up in Canada in Toronto. There is not much in historical ruins anywhere. I do know there are some ruins in the US. I know of few in Ontario but they are not that old. I have been to Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. And, when they were digging a hole for the reconstruction of the old St. Lawrence market, they came across ruins, but they were not that old and were from the 1800. I do know that there are totem poles carved by Indians in British Columbia, but here again they are not that old, around 200 years. I am also aware of some Indian burial mounds in Ontario, like Taber Hill dating from around the 14th century.
Paul Weimer on Skiffy and Fanty writes a very interesting review of this book. There is an interesting review on Kirkus Reviews. Oscar Rickett at Middle East Eye talks about Paul Cooper’s hit podcast being put into a book format.
A lot of the reviews for Paul Cooper and the Fall of Civilizations are about the Podcasts, not the book. Probably because the book is based on and came after his Podcasts. Paul Cooper has podcasts about the different civilizations in this book on YouTube. They are quite interesting, but also quite long. They seemed to be received well as they are a lot of positive comments. Paul Cooper on YouTube gives a short introduction to his book. Paul Cooper is interviewed on YouTube Primary Source Media by Lynn Robbins and Isaac Luftus. Paul Cooper speaks at York Festival of Ideas in 2024. His speech ends at the 35 minute mark. He certainly thinks we will be destroyed and then we will be replaced by future others.
He thinks we are approaching the end of our current civilization. All the questions had to do with the fall of our society. Yes, we have problems, but I do not really believe that we our society will collapse due to climate change. Our society will change. Just think how different we are from the 1950’s. People from that time would be shocked by how we are changed.
An index of the books I have reviewed are on my website at Books. I have three blogs. The first talks only about specific stocks and is called Investment Talk . The second one contains information on mostly investing and is called Investing Economics Mostly. My last blog is for my book reviews and it is called Non-Fiction Mostly. Follow me on Twitter.
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