ABOUT THE BOOK
In Collapse, Jared Diamond explained why civilizations disappeared in the past; in Hot, Flat and Crowded, Thomas Friedman tried to chart a course through the economic and environmental afflictions that imperil our way of life; in Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan taught us to worry about our food supply, as did Paul Roberts in The End of Food. Others have focused on the threats of peak oil, global warming, and shrinking water supplies.
Now, in Brace for Impact: Surviving the Crash of the Industrial Age, Thomas A. Lewis does what only a veteran reporter, historian and environmental writer could do: explains and analyzes all the gathering threats to our society's life-support systems, and the inability of our political and economic institutions to save us. With chapters on food, water, oil, electricity, politics and finance, he makes a convincing case that we can't win the race against catastrophe, that we are in fact running the wrong way -- toward catastrophe. What sets Brace for Impact apart is that after it faces the conclusion from which others shrink -- that industrial society cannot survive -- it then shows how easily individual families and communities can weather the collapse through sustainable living.
Our only hope, Lewis writes, is to turn away from the hopeless task of trying to preserve the industrial world, and embrace the promise of sustainable living; there is no way to solve the problem for everyone, but we have the knowledge and the technology to solve the problem for anyone.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lewis is a veteran print and broadcast journalist and author of five previous books who for six years wrote the authoritative "Environmental Quality Index" for National Wildlife Magazine and World Almanac, and who was the executive editor of a 16-book Time-Life Books series on the earth sciences called Planet Earth. He is currently Artist in Residence at the Department of Mass Communication, Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[Click underlined text for an excerpt]
Chapter Two: The Fat of the Land
PART II. WATER
Chapter Three: A Drinking Problem
Chapter Four: Waste Water, Want Water
PART III. ENERGY
Chapter Six: Grid Lock
PART IV. INSTITUTIONS
Chapter Seven: The Failed State
Chapter Eight: Running with Banks
PART V. THE END GAME
Chapter Nine: Apocalypse When?
Chapter Ten: Sanctuary
Brace for Impact
BLOG
The principles of the book
applied to the news of the day.
ORDER
Your copy of Brace for Impact
Contact the author at:
tomlewis8657@gmail.com
ALSO BY
Thomas A. Lewis
Shenandoah in Flames: The Valley
Campaign of 1864.
Time-Life Books 1987.
Time-Life Books 1987.
"Rich in political
and military relevance for our times."
The New York Times 10/16/88.
"A
lively narrative history...a tightly focused work."Kirkus
Reviews, 7/1/88.
For King and
Country: The Maturing of George Washington 1748-1760.
HarperCollins 1993.
"...a terrific story
and Lewis
tells it with rare narrative skill...a fast-paced, engaging narrative.
Lewis writes the kind of history that reminds us that history has a
muse, that it is an essential human art."
The Los Angeles Times,
2/21/93."...extraordinary narrative skill...realistic and tough-minded...his pace is fast and energetic, his tone detached and ironic without being cynical."