How Shall I Live My Life?: On Liberating the Earth from Civilization (Flashpoint Press)

If you are new to Derrick Jensen's writing, this may well be the book for you. However, if you've already read a couple of his books, I suggest you stay away from this one. It reads and feels as though his publisher wanted a new book out right away, so he turned to the time-worn solution of gathering a bunch of old material into a collection and publishing it in a "new" book.The essays are ten years old and simply cannot follow Endgame,for example. This is not cutting-edge Jensen. More like "mild mannered" Jensen. It certainly won't stop my reading Jensen, nor abate my enthusiasm for him or his work. But, this book is definitely a detour from his usual excellence, and this review is my warning signpost to other Jensen followers to use their time and dollars more wisely than I did.

The book provies a range of interesting and provocative discussion on issues that are particularly vital to the earth community and civilization itself.

the David Braham magician guy is too New Age. Feeling a soul in robots and machines? What?

Derrick Jensen selected an amazing range of diverse people, in a way that seems to tie them all together, like different colors of threads in a blanket.Many of different people's answers finally answered some of my 30 years lingering questions collecting dust. Many of my personal observation of the world were finally aligned with other's similar observations and it's now in print. For example; Jan Lundberg commented how it's too bad that economics and the real world so rarely intersect. After meeting so many people trying to convince me that more business, more money, more junk is the way to go, it's truly validating to have all of DJ's interviewees to confirm what I've suspected all along.Another great example, regarding to problematic relationships in the modern world; David Abram: Another human cannot possibly provide all of the outrageously diverse and vital nourishment with dragonflies and swallowtails and stones and lichen and wolves. It's just not possible. We used to carry on personal relationships with the sun and the moon and the stars!Derrick's interview was refreshing in that he bravely counterattacked some people reminding them alternative views that even that they did not think of, thus challenging them to stretch their own minds a bit.At last, interviewing a Native American Indian lawyer, named Vine Deloria blew me away with stories of multiple tribes; once again, confirming a lot of what I knew deep down but had no direct proof but my own intuition. I find this reader friendly and great for holiday or birthday gifts for those who care about our world.Thanks, Derrick, for a splendid job!

This was my first Derrick Jensen book. He interviews a diverse range of activists, researchers, theologians, writers, and artists. The discussion that ensues challenges my ideas of being good to the earth. It makes me re-examine my ideas of power, class, laws, and civilization. After trying to read a few Chomsky books and never getting through one, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to think more deeply about their actions as an individual, as a country, as a society, as a being on this planet. Thorough in depth of subject matter but accessible to any literate person.

Recycled old interviews. Nicely done, as such. I am giving only one star because the book does not deliver what the title implies. The book is long on discussion of the problems with the dominant culture, and very short on "liberating the Earth from civilization."

I was not surprised to see that Derrick Jensen would be a great interviewer, He also picked a great bunch of people to interview. Thier personal beliefs and the way the express them with word and actions really made me look at myself and wonder what else I can do.

This is an excellent book that paints a very different view of the world than most of us are used to. I highly recommend this book because it will help you to become SANE again and shed all the brainwashing of our capitalist greed-based society of insanity.

Dieses Buch basiert auf Interviews mit zehn Menschen, die über den gegenwärtigen Tellerrand der dominanten und zerstörerischen westlichen Kultur blicken und zu den Visionären und Vordenkern einer neuen Gesellschaftsordung gehören.Zu diesen gehören Carolyn Raffensperger und ihrem radikalen Ansatz zurGesundheitspolitik, oder Thomas Berry mit seinen Ausführungen zu den philosophischen Grundlagen der westlichen Zivilisation und dem Widererkennen des Wahren und Schönen. Ferner Kathleen Dean, die uns daran erinnert, das wir Teil des Ganzen sind und in Verbindung mit der Natur, den Bergen, Flüssen und der Erde stehen.Hier eine Liste der Personen, die zu diesem Buch beitragen:Derrick Jensen, George Draffan (Interviewed), Jesse Wolf Hardin (Interviewed), Vine Deloria (Interviewed), David Abram (Interviewed), Steven Wise (Interviewed), Jan Lundberg (Interviewed), Kathleen Dean Moore (Interviewed), Carolyn Raffensperger (Interviewed), Thomas Berry (Interviewed), and David Edwards (Interviewed).