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Civilized To Death

The Price of Progress

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About this listen

 The New York Times bestselling coauthor of Sex at Dawn explores the ways in which “progress” has perverted the way we live—how we eat, learn, feel, mate, parent, communicate, work, and die—in this “engaging, extensively documented, well-organized, and thought-provoking” (Booklist) book.

Most of us have instinctive evidence the world is ending—balmy December days, face-to-face conversation replaced with heads-to-screens zomboidism, a world at constant war, a political system in disarray. We hear some myths and lies so frequently that they feel like truths: Civilization is humankind’s greatest accomplishment. Progress is undeniable. Count your blessings. You’re lucky to be alive here and now. Well, maybe we are and maybe we aren’t. Civilized to Death counters the idea that progress is inherently good, arguing that the “progress” defining our age is analogous to an advancing disease.

Prehistoric life, of course, was not without serious dangers and disadvantages. Many babies died in infancy. A broken bone, infected wound, snakebite, or difficult pregnancy could be life-threatening. But ultimately, Christopher Ryan questions, were these pre-civilized dangers more murderous than modern scourges, such as car accidents, cancers, cardiovascular disease, and a technologically prolonged dying process? Civilized to Death “will make you see our so-called progress in a whole new light” (Book Riot) and adds to the timely conversation that “the way we have been living is no longer sustainable, at least as long as we want to the earth to outlive us” (Psychology Today). Ryan makes the claim that we should start looking backwards to find our way into a better future. Anthropology Biological Sciences Civilization Natural Resources Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Philosophy Science Society World Thought-Provoking Inspiring
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Most relevant
I wondered why at 23 I still felt trapped, inadequate, not good enough. But this is the message our modern world drills into us. Work more, consume more, chase money, chase power, more more more. So this is moment I decide to go back to what matters. To live on purpose. To not live to work. To be human

This book is life changing

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Christopher Ryan does not hold back in this book. He has a hard hitting message of huge importance and he wants us all to hear it. I couldn't put this audiobook down. It's one I would highly recommend.

Hard Hitting

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The positives:-

From start to finish it is full of great information, it's a subject I'm deeply interested in and didn't expect to learn so many things I didn't already know.
It is well structured and covers all the topics you would hope to learn about.

Narration is very clear and easy to listen to.

The negatives:

I wasn't overly impressed with the writing style, nor the narration. The narration lacked much emotion or fluidity, despite being the author himself reading it.

The 2nd quarter of this book felt very forced, I almost gave up, but the last half of the book was great. In the second quarter I felt some of the anecdotal evidence in this book about hunter gatherer populations was cherry-picked to put them in the best light possible. From reading intensely about this subject, I can tell you there are many disturbing aspects of hunter gatherer culture which were conveniently overlooked in the book. But this doesn't discredit the rest of the book, because ultimately there are so many more things we can learn from our ancestors way of life which would help us live longer, happier and more fulfilled lives, and this book did a great job of explaining these points.

Very interesting listen, could have been better.

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A fantastic root cause analysis of the insanity of our ages. Certainly changed my mind on many things! Excellently read, really engaging and fantastically researched. I’ve been telling all who listen about it, so now I’m telling you out there too.

Great listen for anyone wondering just what the F is wrong with the world

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First of all I’m a fan of Chris Ryan already. His podcast and how he breaks subjects down and communicates is wonderful. He also lives in a van for 6 months of the year, touring round America,doing podcasts, requiring as little money as possible etc and living a minimal, humble life - I respect this.

This book I guess acts as a summery of his entire ethos. An ethos that resonates with me very clearly, and so hence the title of this review. I hope this book doesn’t just preach to converted as there are many good, relevant and urgent points that get raised, explored and expanded upon here.
Especially relevant as civilisations thin veneer is starting to be exposed in 2020.

Thanks Chris for all that you do and especially this book! It’s got great content and it’s well read too. One of the best reading performances I’ve heard actually. Natural, relaxed and sarcastic (where appropriate).

Thanks again, il be eagerly awaiting (possibly forever) for its follow up :D

This book made me feel like I’m not the only one

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