Books: two for 2012

ON THE SUBJECT of plugging books, let me make it clear that there is nothing in it for me! The number of books now coming on-stream in the marketplace dealing with the “strange attractor” subject of 2012 is now huge. Anyway, if you wanted to research further, but were maybe put off by any “New Age” associations, or maybe because there is now such a sizeable literature on this complex, arcane subject that you might not know where to begin, I would recommend one particular “starter” book:

Apocalypse 2012
– An Optimist investigates the End of Civilisation
by Lawrence Joseph
This man is no new age guru in any sense whatsoever. He is a journalist and writes with a breezy panache and is also a science consultant. He is also the chairman of the board of a mainstream technological company (Aerospace Consulting Corporation in New Mexico) which has developed a portable high-temperature furnace designed to destroy toxic wastes. And he freely admits that when he first approached the subject, he was very sceptical of any end-of-world scenario. This man has excellent credentials, sceptism being the foremost. He writes about a wide range of extremely large (that is, global) potential disasters with a very light touch. This book is completely non-technical, very well written, and covers many different angles, not just the Mayan calendar. I rate it very highly indeed, it’s a pleasure to read, truly. What the author does is to discuss many aspects of the whole 2012 scenario, and he travels widely, all over the world to do this, and to speak himself with various scientists and others. He writes with an easy charm, no evangelizing, no terror, just what he sees and hears. There’s nothing, incidentally, about the present financial/economic crash in this book, but I daresay he would agree that it’s all part of the mix. In any case, that makes absolutely no difference to the overall content and thrust.

The author looks at some very interesting issues that are not covered in the mainstream media. He talks about sunspot cycles, and their correlation with storms on earth (like Katrina), he speaks to the Russian scientists who believe that the entire Solar System is heating up, not just the earth, and I most certainly go for that, as it’s confirmed in other sources; there’s the earth’s magnetic field that is behaving strangely, and is very overdue for a reversal, which will affect EVERY living thing on earth, and may well be tied into the 2012 scenario. He travels to Hermanus, in South Africa to interview a man who monitors the earth’s magnetic field.He talks about the incoming cosmic energies that influence events and whole cultures on earth, and he also talks about the Armageddon situation where fundamentalists on both sides each believe that they are the anointed ones, and everybody must die. There’s a whole lot here, written in a breezy, relaxed style.

Not related to this book, but which brings me to another point, quite relevant: It is BECAUSE we are all so busy with our lives, and the detail involved in making a living, looking after our families, balancing work and play, and from morning to night involved in the minutae of our lives that we are sleepwalking into the future, and missing the signs that say Danger Ahead. How dumbed down are we? This time we are in now is quite obviously a dangerous zone, and getting more so, and yet we ignore the signs at our peril. Even if we are not drawn to all the ancient myths and teachings about this time (and there are many, if you are American you could start checking your very own indigenous culture, the Hopi, who predicted that we are now in the end times) we could look at what some contemporary commentators are saying, regarding over-population, finite resources and potential global system chaos.

So here’s another recommendation:
The Chaos Point
by Ervin Laszlo
This is not so much a review as a brief attention-grabber: Ervin Laszlo really should be listened to very carefully and respectfully: The recipient of 4 honourary PhD’s, author of nearly 40 books and over 400 papers and articles, received the Japan Peace Prize in 2001, and nominated for Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, 2005, and 2006. Former professor of philosophy, systems theory, future studies, and founder of several think tanks. Basically, he says that we are moving along unsustainable trends that will lead to a tipping point beyond which there is no return. Again, I can’t rate this too highly. This book should be required reading for every politician and scientist on the planet, every student entering or leaving college should be made to read it too! Issues of over-population, ecology, environment, ethics, and the logistics of many aspects of our present survival, all are covered, and more. (In time I will post more detail.)