Overshoot

The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change

By: William R. Catton

Narrated by: MJ McGalliard

Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Our day-to-day experiences over the past decade have taught us that there must be limits to our tremendous appetite for energy, natural resources, and consumer goods. Even utility and oil companies now promote conservation in the face of demands for dwindling energy reserves. And for years some biologists have warned us of the direct correlation between scarcity and population growth. These scientists see an appalling future riding the tidal wave of a worldwide growth of population and technology.

A calm but unflinching realist, Catton suggests that we cannot stop this wave - for we have already overshot the Earth's capacity to support so huge a load. He contradicts those scientists, engineers, and technocrats who continue to write optimistically about energy alternatives. Catton asserts that the technological panaceas proposed by those who would harvest from the seas, harness the winds, and farm the deserts are ignoring the fundamental premise that "the principals of ecology apply to all living things". These principles tell us that, within a finite system, economic expansion is not irreversible and population growth cannot continue indefinitely. If we disregard these facts, our sagging American Dream will soon shatter completely.

The book is published by University of Illinois Press.

©1980 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (P)2016 Redwood Audiobooks

Our True History

This is mandatory reading for anyone who wants to be aware of how the world really works. I have listened to it twice and got as much out of it the second time as I did the first because it is written in such depth. It staggers me that it was written decades ago yet perfectly explains everything happening around us today. Certainly not for the faint hearted, but very compassionately written, it may be the one thing that could keep us out of standing in judgment of each other.

WE ARE HEADING FOR THE CLIFF AND THEY KNOW WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE. BUT FAILED US.

This is the year 2021. I am seeing floods and fires. Circling the entropic abyss. Good luck to your future self.

Powerful and compelling!

I only wish I had found this book decades ago. I wish it had been written a century ago.

One of the most important books you’ll ever read

This book was prophetic in its examination of how the combination overpopulation and overconsumption are destroying the planet. The performance was severely lacking however. There were odd pauses that made me unsure it was even being read by a human. Still, take in this book however you can and adjust your life accordingly.

The most important book of our era

But with god awful naration. It was so bad, my Mom when she heard it thought it was an actual computer reading it like siri lol.

A Five Star Book... In Print Form.

As CJ's review points out, the narrator is, shall we say, subpar. The voice is nasally, grating, and sounds almost as if the narrator was trying to portray Catton as a college nerd in an 80's flick. I stopped noticing it after a while, however. Partially I got used to it, but mostly I was taken away by the content.

The ideas presented in this book are intellectually bracing. I think, to most people, the word ecology calls up a vague sense of plant and animal food chains, maybe in the context of climate. Humanity is removed from ecology's proper focus, except maybe as a kind of walk-on villain, entering the picture and disrupting how nature "should" be. But this is wrong; humans are animals, in the end, and ecology’s laws control predator as much as prey. This book takes that thought and runs with it.

Essentially, Catton wants to apply the principles of ecology to everything human. He does this with a sort of detached relentlessness. The history of civilization is brought under the microscope, as well as the American Dream, Manifest Destiny, liberty, and progress. Genocide and ethnic cleansing are described as broadly foreseeable results with ecological causes. The physical limits approaching industrial civilization are discussed. The overpopulation of the world is discussed. This is a strikingly clear-eyed book, and one which rebuts human exceptionalism. One of the best passages is when he points out that given the opportunity, both yeast and reindeer will overpopulate then starve, and humans are much closer to reindeer than reindeer are to yeast. Throughout it all, Catton presents neither glib solutions nor vague optimism nor apocalyptic doomerism nor bitter hatred for past generations. That last one impresses me the most. By his argument, the harms our forefathers have passed on to us are really much worse than usually supposed, yet he doesn't hate them. He's fully capable of appreciating the importance of ideals and sincerity with which our predecessors held them.

Like most things, Overshoot is not perfect. As might be expected of the book described above, sometimes I felt Catton over-reached. I felt this especially when he expounded on World War 2 as being caused by "redundancy anxiety", as if the three decades prior to that war could be reduced to the rest of Europe saying to Germany, "You're redundant!" followed by Germany getting an army and screaming back "Noooo, YOU'RE redundant!! You're ALL redundant!" Another problem, this book thinks it's won. It doesn't so much suggest a new paradigm so much as it describes people acting the way they do because they aren't aware of the new paradigm. They still aren't, forty years after publishing and five after his death. I hope he wasn't too much invested in the day when everyone would have to admit he was right.

At times I wonder how much of his generosity came from a sense of victory. What would he have written had he known Carter would be out, Reagan in, and the problem simply ignored? In essence, “got mine, screw yours” across generations. The doomers have been far from helpful in this regard. Lacking Catton’s restraint, they’ve churned out a line of imminent, all-consuming damnations, unfailingly wrong, giving a clean conscience to who support business-as-usual forever. Yet the general premise stands: things that can’t go on forever will end, even if said thing is having more food than mouths. It feels, at least to me, that environmentalist stories are taking a steadily increasing share of the news cycle: forests burning, aquifers running down, fisheries running down, ocean levels rising up… the check has arrived, and even the masses, famously dull as they are, can’t ignore it forever. Sometimes I worry, what will happen when it finally clicks?

Possibly the Most Important Book Ever Written

Excellent content. The narration does sound automated, but it’s clear & easy to hear. The main concepts should be basic learning for everyone age 12 & up. Human survival may depend on spreading ecological sophistication more broadly.

I’ve listened to this twice.

The message is that important. He applies principles from biology to our human condition, totally rearranged my thinking on the subject of human progress and fossil fuels. Not light reading, but if you like precise and scientific language, very eye opening.

My first review….

The contents within this book are of the Utmost Importance…. Enlightening, but utterly depressing… but worst of all… the “Narration” is absolutely HORRIBLE!!! I’d SO much rather listen to the computer voice on my phone than this guy, MJ McGalliard… seriously, if this is what Audible and the Author considers acceptable/passable for their paying customers..well, I must be in the wrong business! In fact, I may just buy the print version, record myself reading it, and send it to William Catton for free! Perhaps they’ll replace it! And spare anyone else the aggravation of listening to McGalliard’s, ummm…
“performance”… 🙉

Worst narrator ever

What disappointed you about Overshoot?

Sounded like it was read by a robot.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I need to listen to some good dystopian fiction after this dry, rambling book.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The worst narrator I've heard, by far.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

Good points were made, many, many times over.