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whichthreewords's review against another edition
3.0
Uneven and a bit disjointed but a very interesting reread ten years later.
jmkemp's review against another edition
5.0
This is a really thought provoking book. Dark Age Ahead is a mix of philosophy, economics and critical thinking about what makes some groups of people experience dark ages while others prosper. It's a basic set of ideas set out with examples and then some notes in further reading at the back. Not quite academic in its approach, but readable, even if it does make your brain go off on tangents as you consider the bit you've just read!
oregon_small_fry's review against another edition
4.0
I only read 40 pages. While I really liked it & think Jane Jacobs is a terrific writer, in conjunction with everything happening today, it is just too depressing
asolorio02's review against another edition
5.0
Jane Jacobs is a visionary. This book was written in 2005 and in it she describes the housing bubble that would eventually cripple the nation's economy in 2008.
So with that in mind, this book is an eerie read in that the failures of the current system are all the more relevant than when the book was released. Things haven't gotten any better, they have only gotten worse.
According to Jane Jacobs, a dark age is a period of cultural amnesia that occurs when people collectively forget or discard a formerly vital culture to the point that it is lost. This occurs for a variety of reasons but one of the major ways this begins to occur is when the living examples of culture are no longer valid. This happens when cultural institutions become dysfunctional. A healthy society could survive one institution becoming dysfunctional, but when the dysfunction spreads, that's when the culture is truly in danger.
Jane Jacobs takes a systematic and detailed approach in arguing her case. Each chapter is titled for one of the pillars of our current society that she has identified as being dysfunctional. Her approach is multi-faceted, drawing from history, economics, sociology, psychology and anthropology to illustrate her points.
Ch. 1 - The Hazard (An introduction to the arguments she will be making)
Ch. 2 - Families Rigged to Fail
Ch. 3 - Credentialing Versus Educating (Problems with education)
Ch. 4 - Science Abandonded
Ch. 5 - Dumbed Down Taxes
Ch. 6 - Self-Policing Subverted
Ch. 7 - Unwinding Vicious Spirals
Ch. 8 - Dark Age Patterns
I read this book during the George Floyd protest. It had been sitting on my bookshelf for a long while and it seemed relevant to the whole of 2020. I wasn't wrong. Some of these chapters hit really close to the mark almost in a prophetic way.
For instance, in Chapter 7, she says, "Interlocked problems intractably spiraling downward and joining with other problems into amalgamated declines, are daunting but not supernatural." Meaning that everything is interconnected, and a failure in one area of society will lead to failure in another. One could look at the protest as a one off flash in the pan event that came after decades of institutionalized racism and injustice, and they wouldn't be wrong, but one can take it even farther by pulling back and widening ones scope. The US at the time of the protest was facing an unemployment which hadn't been seen since the Great Depression, a global pandemic had killed over 100,000 Americans, and the government's response throughout all of this had been callous, out of touch, and heartless, to say the least. In short, the dissatisfaction of the American people is as wide as it is deep, and the murder of that poor man was the spark to the pile of tinder that had been stacking for a number of years, if not decades.
Some hope is given at the end of the book. And we may as yet still have time to right the ship. The protest should be taken as a sign of hope. A multi-racial panorama of people coming together to demand justice and change from the government is a sign that our culture is still alive and beats strongly within the American people. As Jacobs points out music is one of the strongest expressions of culture a people can have, and "American (music & song) culture is saturated with heart and emotion. Gospel, blues, labor unions, cowboys, chain gangs, musicals, films, country, jazz, ballads, rock, punk, rap, patriotic, war, anti-war, love songs, seasonal songs and lullabies."
She goes on to illustrate how the Irish, despite generations of oppression and attempts by the English to wipe them from their island, managed to retain a strong cultural identity. In the main this was done through the power of song. In effect, much of their music is an oral history of what they suffered and survived as a people.
Jacobs maintains that the keys to maintaining culture are excellent education, because in a post agrarian society, there is less value on land to be farmed and more value on human capitol. Japan, and S. Korea clearly prove this. Investing in an educated populace is worth the cost, however our current education system is one of the institutions that is failing, so lots of work to be done on this front.
Jacobs also argues that activities that strengthen communities are also important. I came to her initially through her book, "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," a fascinating read on cities and community. She touches on some of the same ideas in her arguments for how cities and the way they are laid out and planned can either help the growth of community or keep it from taking root.
Ultimately, she argues that culture survives and thrives under Responsive and Responsible government, which in turn encourages civic engagement. As Abe Lincoln said: "that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the Earth."
So with that in mind, this book is an eerie read in that the failures of the current system are all the more relevant than when the book was released. Things haven't gotten any better, they have only gotten worse.
According to Jane Jacobs, a dark age is a period of cultural amnesia that occurs when people collectively forget or discard a formerly vital culture to the point that it is lost. This occurs for a variety of reasons but one of the major ways this begins to occur is when the living examples of culture are no longer valid. This happens when cultural institutions become dysfunctional. A healthy society could survive one institution becoming dysfunctional, but when the dysfunction spreads, that's when the culture is truly in danger.
Jane Jacobs takes a systematic and detailed approach in arguing her case. Each chapter is titled for one of the pillars of our current society that she has identified as being dysfunctional. Her approach is multi-faceted, drawing from history, economics, sociology, psychology and anthropology to illustrate her points.
Ch. 1 - The Hazard (An introduction to the arguments she will be making)
Ch. 2 - Families Rigged to Fail
Ch. 3 - Credentialing Versus Educating (Problems with education)
Ch. 4 - Science Abandonded
Ch. 5 - Dumbed Down Taxes
Ch. 6 - Self-Policing Subverted
Ch. 7 - Unwinding Vicious Spirals
Ch. 8 - Dark Age Patterns
I read this book during the George Floyd protest. It had been sitting on my bookshelf for a long while and it seemed relevant to the whole of 2020. I wasn't wrong. Some of these chapters hit really close to the mark almost in a prophetic way.
For instance, in Chapter 7, she says, "Interlocked problems intractably spiraling downward and joining with other problems into amalgamated declines, are daunting but not supernatural." Meaning that everything is interconnected, and a failure in one area of society will lead to failure in another. One could look at the protest as a one off flash in the pan event that came after decades of institutionalized racism and injustice, and they wouldn't be wrong, but one can take it even farther by pulling back and widening ones scope. The US at the time of the protest was facing an unemployment which hadn't been seen since the Great Depression, a global pandemic had killed over 100,000 Americans, and the government's response throughout all of this had been callous, out of touch, and heartless, to say the least. In short, the dissatisfaction of the American people is as wide as it is deep, and the murder of that poor man was the spark to the pile of tinder that had been stacking for a number of years, if not decades.
Some hope is given at the end of the book. And we may as yet still have time to right the ship. The protest should be taken as a sign of hope. A multi-racial panorama of people coming together to demand justice and change from the government is a sign that our culture is still alive and beats strongly within the American people. As Jacobs points out music is one of the strongest expressions of culture a people can have, and "American (music & song) culture is saturated with heart and emotion. Gospel, blues, labor unions, cowboys, chain gangs, musicals, films, country, jazz, ballads, rock, punk, rap, patriotic, war, anti-war, love songs, seasonal songs and lullabies."
She goes on to illustrate how the Irish, despite generations of oppression and attempts by the English to wipe them from their island, managed to retain a strong cultural identity. In the main this was done through the power of song. In effect, much of their music is an oral history of what they suffered and survived as a people.
Jacobs maintains that the keys to maintaining culture are excellent education, because in a post agrarian society, there is less value on land to be farmed and more value on human capitol. Japan, and S. Korea clearly prove this. Investing in an educated populace is worth the cost, however our current education system is one of the institutions that is failing, so lots of work to be done on this front.
Jacobs also argues that activities that strengthen communities are also important. I came to her initially through her book, "The Death and Life of Great American Cities," a fascinating read on cities and community. She touches on some of the same ideas in her arguments for how cities and the way they are laid out and planned can either help the growth of community or keep it from taking root.
Ultimately, she argues that culture survives and thrives under Responsive and Responsible government, which in turn encourages civic engagement. As Abe Lincoln said: "that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the Earth."
wren_z's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
The age of the book definitely affects the topic, and in many ways you can see how our current society reflects Jacob's predictions. However, I found the writing style confusing at times and much of what she wrote seemed to be her own speculation. The chapters were not as concise as I would have liked and the points were sometimes difficult to discern. But i finished it because there were some interesting and insightful points.
angelsinthesnow's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
- Outdated
- Written by an old lady
- Doesn’t matter anymore because of the new ways our world has evolved
- Perhaps the speed at which we are evolving will be our downfall
- Introduced a concept, but didn’t quite expand on it the way I would’ve liked
- Basic arguments
- Told me things I already know
- Got me thinking
- If it was written less than 20 years ago and it’s already outdated… ,,,
talkingmoose's review against another edition
3.0
Although Dark Age Ahead was published more than 15 years ago, it amazingly predicted some of the conditions we're seeing today that can lead to a new dark age. The table of contents alone is as relevant today as it was then.
1. The Hazard
2. Families Rigged to Fail
3. Credentialing Versus Educating
4. Science Abandoned
5. Dumbed-Down Taxes
6. Self-Policing Subverted
7. Unwinding Vicious Spirals
8. Dark Age Patterns
And I found the first chapter detailing the millennia long Dark Ages following the fall of the Roman Empire absolutely fascinating! I started taking a pencil to the pages and marking notable sentences or paragraphs. It made me very excited to read the rest of the book.
However, the remaining chapters were no where near as engaging as Chapter 1. Much of Jacobs' writing pursued rabbit holes that I'm sure were relevant to the topics she wanted to discuss, but they quite frequently referenced her hometown of Toronto to illustrate certain points. Had she diversified her examples among several cities, I wouldn't have received the impression she was lamenting the decline of her city.
The book also includes an additional 50 pages of "Notes and Comments" at the end. I started to read them but didn't find a coherence to them. They really were just notes and comments but the main body of the book referenced them infrequently. Trying to relate them back to her discussion (again, greatly about Toronto) just didn't interest me. I feel that I abandoned a large chunk of the text that may have had some interesting tidbits. Wish these had been incorporated better or not at all.
I'm taking chances reading a forward-thinking books written 15-20-25 years ago and hoping they'll be relatable to me today. I'll continue taking chances, but this one just didn't relate to me the way I'd hoped.
1. The Hazard
2. Families Rigged to Fail
3. Credentialing Versus Educating
4. Science Abandoned
5. Dumbed-Down Taxes
6. Self-Policing Subverted
7. Unwinding Vicious Spirals
8. Dark Age Patterns
And I found the first chapter detailing the millennia long Dark Ages following the fall of the Roman Empire absolutely fascinating! I started taking a pencil to the pages and marking notable sentences or paragraphs. It made me very excited to read the rest of the book.
However, the remaining chapters were no where near as engaging as Chapter 1. Much of Jacobs' writing pursued rabbit holes that I'm sure were relevant to the topics she wanted to discuss, but they quite frequently referenced her hometown of Toronto to illustrate certain points. Had she diversified her examples among several cities, I wouldn't have received the impression she was lamenting the decline of her city.
The book also includes an additional 50 pages of "Notes and Comments" at the end. I started to read them but didn't find a coherence to them. They really were just notes and comments but the main body of the book referenced them infrequently. Trying to relate them back to her discussion (again, greatly about Toronto) just didn't interest me. I feel that I abandoned a large chunk of the text that may have had some interesting tidbits. Wish these had been incorporated better or not at all.
I'm taking chances reading a forward-thinking books written 15-20-25 years ago and hoping they'll be relatable to me today. I'll continue taking chances, but this one just didn't relate to me the way I'd hoped.