The book is about how we made choices, as a species, which have led us into a very bad situation; what we can do as individuals to cope with the mess coming down the line, and how to create a society that wouldn’t make such huge mistakes.
In my 2017 fundraiser (there was no 2018 fundraiser), I promised a collection of 16 essays with commentary on each article, and two new essays.
It wasn’t possible to get the full scope of the argument with sixteen articles. I wound up with 31 essays, two long new essays and two shorter introductory and concluding pieces.
The first new essay is on how to create a good, stable government and the second on how to evaluate one’s personal risk during the catastrophes to come. These two essays are not available anywhere but in this collection.
There are two versions.
The PDF version of “It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way” is the definitive version.
An EPUB version of “It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way: The Collected Essays of Ian Welsh” is also available. The formatting is not as clean, so I offer it as an alternative. You will also need an EPUB reader, in a web browser it looks awful.
In the future, there will be a cleaner EPUB version and a Kindle version as well. I’ll let you know when those are available.
Both versions of “It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way” can also be downloaded on the book page. Both are free for now (and will always be free to those who gave during the 2017 fundraiser, or had a subscription then).
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy “It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way.” Even if you’re a long time reader, putting articles in an order that makes sense and reading them as a group with commentary should make the ideas much clearer. Blogs, as wonderful as they can be, tend to atomize ideas and leave out context.
So, please read, enjoy, and let me and others know what you think.
The results of the work I do, like this article, are free, but food isn’t, so if you value my work, please DONATE or SUBSCRIBE.
Joan
I am very excited to read this. I was a donor in the fundraiser, and will be again, so I hope you keep releasing books. I agree that book/pdf format is much easier to digest than blogs in long form.
scruff
To clarify – because the way you’re describing this book is different than the way you used to describe the book you were planning on writing – is this the book that was about “the construction of reality”?
In any case, I’m glad to see it. Thanks for doing this.
Ian Welsh
No, “Construction of Reality” is an entirely different book, with almost all original content, etc… It’s mostly done, but not ready to come out yet.
This a collection of essays, with commentary. Some of the same themes are certainly similar, but it’s quite different overall.
marku52
thanks. I am a small donor, but always appreciate your efforts. I’d be happy to buy a copy when I get home onto a safe network.
Also appreciate Tony’s updates. A good addition to the site without adding much to your workload.
anon y'mouse
thank you for providing this for free to those of us who are poor.
thanks for writing it.
scruff
I guess this is the upside of getting older and becoming senile… fun surprises like two Ian Welsh books rather than one!
Dan Lynch
I am enjoying your book, Ian.
I will say that your focus, your worldview, is on saving humanity, the good society, i.e. the extreme example being your suggestion that humans should colonize another planet. That is not my worldview. Humanity is interesting, yes, but if I could choose between saving humanity vs. saving nature & wild animals, I would choose nature in a heartbeat.
Sadly, climate change may eventually take out most of the mammals, but if, for the sake of argument, humanity perishes but somehow a few mammals survive, I think the surviving mammals will be better off without us.
Much of your book expresses sadness and frustration that humanity is not terribly interested in saving itself. I\’m not sure that the lack of interest in saving humanity is anything new. When someone is struggling just to survive, they\’re probably not spending a lot of time worrying about humanity. If the ancient Greeks were able to contemplate the good society, it may have been because they had slaves to do the work for them.
For me, a turning point was getting burnt out on the rat race and relocating to a remote area on top of a mountain. There\’s something about being on top of a mountain and looking down at the valley where people live, and thinking \”you know, civilization is crazy.\’
Ian Welsh
I understand and respect the “humanity has killed, is killing and will kill too many other species for there to be an ethical case for its survival” argument.
Some Guy
I don’t agree with your title, but expect I will agree with much of the contents. Looking forward to going through this in sequence.
someofparts
Thanks for all of your exceptional work.
mago
An invaluable service much appreciated.
someofparts
Even though your book is built around ideas you have already posted about here, the book format focuses and prioritizes them in a way that makes the arc of your thinking even clearer.
atcooper
You are an inspiration, sir. Thank you for putting this out.
dimmsdale
Thanks for the book, Ian. I appreciate your generosity in making it available this way. Can’t wait to read it!
different clue
I don’t have a computer and don’t expect to have one for some time. In the meantime, I get by on workplace breakroom computers during breaks and public library computers at odd intervals.
If this book ever comes out as a real book ( ink on paper pages between covers), I will buy a copy.
Olivier
“You will also need an EPUB reader, in a web browser it looks awful.” I disagree; the Edge browser is a pretty good EPUB reader.
MojaveWolf
Congrats on finishing!
I don’t know when I will have the time/energy to assay a book of essays, but hopefully soon; I very much look forward to reading this.
Guest
I guess I’m a bit fatalistic on this one, since I doubt I have what it takes to survive (gay, alone, angry liberal, can’t even cook). When the going gets tough, I’ll be a goner.
Here’s my delemma: when to retire? Next year I could go with 40% of income (enough to live on now, but if there is much inflation, I’m screwed), or wait 5 more years and get 60% of current income, which should be plenty comfortable for my modest lifestyle. It would take 15 years for the increased income to make up for the 5 years of retirement income foregone.
In normal times, I would be inclined to wait, since there is a strong likelihood I would live at least another 20 years and need the increased income. But I could imagine it all going pear shaped within a few years, just based on how bad politics and economy could be going (leaving aside environmental collapse) And I can’t even imagine what the world will be like in 20 years, except that it looks bleak.
What’s your over-under for the year the turds will have hit the turbines.
Cricket or ant? Cash out next year and enjoy life (to the extent that is possible in late fifties) while I still can or hunker down to be prepared for worst.
Books
Will it be available in print? I really like to buy and read paperbooks.