This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate by Klein, Naomi (March 6, 2015) Paperback

I certainly agree with Naomi Kline that we are faced with a global crisis, and that action is required by governments and individuals. The book is replete with relevant material but often pertaining to North America. It is a passionate work, but the passion often leads to some incoherence and repetition: more editing would have been welcome. She believes in the power of mass movements, but the election of a President who believes in unbridled capitalism and who mocks the evidence for climate change gives one little optimism.

I'm sympathetic to the message Naomi Klein is putting across in this book - that action is needed on climate change that goes beyond pinning our hopes on a technological fix being found. I was hoping to come away from reading it able to cite compelling approaches to tackling the issue. But the book largely rehashes the same old solutions that the Left has been putting forward for years. That is fine, but my issue is with the opaque style they are presented in. For a start, the book is extremely long-winded (467 pages excluding end notes), repetitive in places, and with unnecessary diversions all over the place making it hard to follow a clear train of thought and tedious to read. The gimmicky chapter headings don't help. A more concise telling of the impressive research that's clearly gone into the book would have been much more impactful and compelling.Sadly, I doubt this book is going to change any minds. The evidence backing up claims is patchy. Some segments are well referenced, but others are more rant-like and unbalanced.The best this book can hope to achieve is to reignite the fire in the belly of those who already agree with its premise. Though even that is a push. It's so tedious to read I'm resenting it for stealing an enormous amount of time to extract the gems inside it.The book is a classic victim of over-hype. I find it difficult to believe that all those giving it a five star review have read more than a couple of chapters. My advice would be to save yourself a disappoint and look for a video where Naomi sets out her key points instead.

Wherever Naomi Klein sets her sights, a wealth of information and progressive principles are revealed. Most notably, this is a book about the detrimental impacts of the extractivist ideology that comes as a package deal with the kind of deregulated free-market systems that Klein slams throughout the book.However, my main gripe with the book, and it's quite a big one, is that it completely skirts over the environmental impact of farming livestock. Considering that the farming of livestock leads to the consumption of an estimated 70% of all the worlds farmed land and, as such, a huge amount of water (15 k litres to every kg of beef), and considering the fact that an estimated 91% of all deforestation that has occurred thus far has occurred due to the need to clear land to house and feed livestock, I'd say that this was a monumental error on Klein's behalf. Had the rest of the text not been so thorough in its exposition, I would have rated this as 3 stars. I don't know if this was wilful or accidental ignorance, either way it's the major shortcoming of the book.

If you have concerns about Climate Change - better called "Climate Destabilisation" - then you must read this book.This is really excellent. It sets out, in detail, the problem our environment is facing with the ever-increasing risks of 'extreme extraction' and the level of carbon based reserves that are on the oil/gas/coal companies books for extraction - some 5 times more than we can burn if we want to keep temperature rise to under 2C.The really disturbing thing is that Naomi Klein also documents the massively funded, organised opposition to making the necessary changes - there are too many highly-placed business people who will lose their shirts if carbon based fuels can't be exploited - and they have a lot of very powerful friends in high places who are prepared to listen to them. For example: recent news is that The Koch brothers are putting $900 Million into the US elections, and much of that is likely to be used against those wanting the do something about climate change.

This is an amazing , well thought, very readable book which not only clearly lays out the facts but draws together all the reasons why attempts to derail the fossil fuel madness has thus far failed and what is needed to get around these reasons. It's scary how close to climate collapse we are and this unsubstantiated belief that various geoengineering techniques (e.g. carbon-sinking - burying carbon underground) are magically going to rescue us.

A powerful book, that does what it says on the cover

We have all heard about climate change but somehow manage to carry on as we are regardless. This might make you stop and do something.

An astonishing read!

I gave this a five star rating because I found it very insightful. The troubling facts about some of the green charities was a eye openee. A all round great read.

Everyone should read this book

A must-read.

Complex, challenging and great food for thought. Everyone should read it NOW.

one of the best books I've ever read

This book is slightly hard-going at times but overall the messages are presented well and in detail.

ok