Apocalypse Now

Today I finally finished my summer reading. Two weeks before class starts, I'd say that's pretty good. I know what you're thinking. It looks boring right? Admittedly the beginning of the book was a little hard to get into. I had my doubts about a book that talks about how to save the earth and what we should and should not do. I don't like being told what to do especially by a book. I love the earth as much as the next guy but I was not ready to give up bottled water and pre-packaged food. At the risk of sounding fake and cliche this book changed my view on modern culture. 

The book is just so real. When you read Colin Beavan's words on the page you become part of his world, his struggles, his thoughts; they're things you can relate to. The book is more about what we can do and not what we shouldn't do. It's about making our lives better making us happier and learning to live together in this world. It wasn't just about saving the rain forest or the animal life it was about making people aware of the changes we are making on this earth. This passage in particular really got to me:

 "Here's the big question I have about progress: If we can have better and better cell phones, but they are not accompanied by better and better understanding of ourselves and our place in the universe , can we say we have progressed? If we are born and then spend our lives moving from one toy to the next, without ever answering the big questions, have we progress or have we simply been distracted? Perhaps, if we really examined our lives, we'd come to the conclusion that our purpose is to make sure we can all ride around on Jet Skis during vacation and in SUVs the rest of the time.  So be it. It's our life. It's our planet. As long as we make the collective decision consciously instead of blindly, then all well and good."

I've never heard anyone say anything like that. He's basically saying that if we want to destroy our planet we can, but we had better be doing it on purpose. Inspiring. It's a wonderful book and I'm not usually into books of this nature.

However, if you're not into environmentalism here's some other very good books you can read to pass the time.

1. Eat, Pray, Love

2. Half the Sky

3. The Glass Castle

4. My Horizontal Life