At the end of each chapter in my book I list books, articles, and podcasts for those interested in exploring further. Here they are.
Chapter 1: You Are Walking Into a Trap
Kalmus, Peter. (2017). Being the Change: Live Well and Spark a Climate Revolution. New Society Publishers.
Rowson, Jonathan. (2021, February 9). Tasting the Pickle: Ten flavours of meta-crisis and the appetite for a new civilization. Perspectiva. https://systems-souls-society.com/tasting-the-pickle-ten-flavours-of-meta-crisis-and-the-appetite-for-a-new-civilisation/
Hagens, Nate. (Host). (2022, October 26). Daniel Schmachtenberger: “Bend not break #4: Modeling the Drivers of the Metacrisis” [Audio podcast episode]. In The Great Simplification. https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/42-daniel-schmachtenberger
Greer, John Michael. (2006). Problems and Predicaments. The Archdruid Report. https://archdruidmirror.blogspot.com/2017/06/problems-and-predicaments.html
Giampietro, Mario, and Mayumi, Kozo, (2018). Unraveling the Complexity of the Jevons Paradox: The Link Between Innovation, Efficiency, and Sustainability. Frontiers in Energy Research, 6. doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2018.00026
Chapter 2: The Man Who Connected The Dots
My alternate-past self can’t read Jacob’s book, but you can:
Fisker, Jacob Lund, (2010). Early Retirement Extreme: A Philosophical and Practical Guide to Financial Independence. Jacob Lund Fisker.
“What is ERE?”, accessed August 28, 2023, https://wiki.earlyretirementextreme.com/
“Early Retirement Extreme Forums”, accessed August 28, 2023, https://forum.earlyretirementextreme.com/
Robin, Vicki and Dominguez, Joe, (1992). Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationships with Money and Achieving Financial Independence. Penguin Books.
Chapter 3: To Cope With Unfolding Environment
Osinga, Frans P.B. (2006). Science, Strategy, and War: The Strategic Theory of John Boyd, Routledge.
N.J. Hagens, Economics for the Future: Beyond the Superorganism. Ecological Economics Volume 169 (2020), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2019.106520
Murphy, Tom. (2022, December 19) “The Simple Story of Civilization,” Do the Math. https://dothemath.ucsd.edu/2022/12/the-simple-story/
Hagens, Nate. The Great Simplification, https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/
Hagens, Nate. (Host). (2022, October 26). Daniel Schmachtenberger: “Bend not break #4: Modeling the Drivers of the Metacrisis” [Audio podcast episode]. In The Great Simplification. https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/42-daniel-schmachtenberger
Chapter 4: Stoke Is A Strategic Imperative
Di Domenico SI, Ryan RM. (2017, March 24). The Emerging Neuroscience of Intrinsic Motivation: A New Frontier in Self-Determination Research. Front Hum Neurosci. 2017;11:145.
Pink, Daniel H. (2009). Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Riverhead Books.
Wheal, Jamie (2021). Recapture the Rapture: Rethinking God, Sex, and Death in a World That’s Lost Its Mind. Harper.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. (2008). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper Perennial Modern Classics.
Kotler, Steven. (2014). The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance. New Harvest.
Kotler, Steven. (2021). The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer. Harper.
“Self Determination Theory,” accessed August 28, 2023, https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/theory/
Chapter 5: Frugality Is For Losers
Peter Limberg, interview with Jacob Lund Fisker, “A Systems Approach to Resilient Lifestyle Design w/Jacob Lund Fisker,” YouTube video, The Stoa, February 9, 2021, https://youtu.be/SPvftqB-WXk?si=8JxNGOLUQVqxtb_k
Peter Limberg, interview with Jacob Lund Fisker, “Resolving the Meta-Crisis with Emergent Movement and Post-Consumerist Praxis w/ Jacob Lund Fisker,” YouTube video, The Stoa,, September 2, 2021, https://youtu.be/0MGQgQZHx1Q?si=eCgTgJrGQw3-4LaZ
Zehner, Ozzie. (2012). Green Illusions: The Dirt Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism. University of Nebraska Press.
Alexander, Samuel. (2017). Art Against Empire: Towards an Aesthetics of Degrowth.
Chapter 6: The Crowbar Of Freedom
For a first-principles mathematical model of how saving 85% of your income will result in financial independence in 5 years, see Chapter 7 of Early Retirement Extreme.
Adeney, Peter (2012, January 13). The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement. https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/
Big ERN, (2016, December 7). The Ultimate Guide to Safe Withdrawal Rates – Part 1: Introduction. https://earlyretirementnow.com/safe-withdrawal-rate-series/
Merkel, Jim. (2003). Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Planet. New Society Publishers.
Sundeen, Mark. (2012). The Man Who Quit Money. Riverhead Books.
Boyle, Mark. (2010). The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living, Oneworld Publications.
https://www.robingreenfield.org/
Chapter 7: Throw Competence At It, Not Money
Another model for thinking about skill acquisition is to be a jack of all trades, master of some. Jacob proposed a rough target of one 10,000hr ‘specialty’, 3-5 3,000hr areas of expertise, and many 300hr interests. The hour representing amount of time invested in skill acquisition.
Nate Hagens, interview with Vicki Robin, The Great Simplification: Vicki Robin “Money and Life’s Energy,” podcast audio, June 1, 2022, https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/21-vicki-robin
One thing that trips people up is they think the good life is a “happy” one. But happiness is just one value, one possible dimension of a good life, and different people have different values. For some people it is important to have a happy life. For others it is important to have a meaningful or purposeful life. Yet others are more interested in having a psychologically rich life. The list goes on (satisfaction, contentedness, and pleasure are others that come to mind). Some of these life experience values act counter to each other – psychological richness often demands activities that will reduce your pleasure or happiness.
Digging into the literature on what constitutes the good life is useful primarily because it makes it clear that the good life is a choose your own adventure.
Easterlin, R.A., O’Connor, K.J. (2022). The Easterlin Paradox. In: Zimmermann, K.F. (eds) Handbook of Labor, Human Resources and Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57365-6_184-2
Oishi, Shigehiro, Westgate, Erin C. (2022) A Psychologically Rich Life: Beyond Happiness and Meaning. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000317
It’s important not to get the concept of Standard of Living confused with the concept of Quality of Life. “WHO defines Quality of Life as an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns.”
WHOQOL: Measuring Quality of Life. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/toolkits/whoqol . Retrieved September 9, 2024.
Standard of Living has to do with qualitative measures like income, inflation, access to employment opportunities, and the like. Modern culture has perversely massively increased the average first world Standard of Living while making Quality of Life more difficult by constantly barraging people with messages that their position in life is actually lacking, causing them to work more and stress more sprinting on the hedonic treadmill.
Hayes, Shannon. (2010) Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture. Left to Write Press.
Tremayne, Wendy Jehanara. (2013). The Good Life Lab: Radical Experiments in Hands-On Living. Storey Publishing, LLC.
I didn’t talk about how to acquire new skills because that is such an enormous topic that no treatment I could give it would be close to even scratching the surface. These books are a good place to start:
Ahrens, Sonke. (2022). How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking. Sonke Ahrens.
Sterner, Thomas M. (2012). The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life. New World Library.
Waitzkin, Josh. (2008). The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance. Free Press.
Young, Scott. (2019). Ultralearning: Accelerate Your Career, Master Hard Skills and Outsmart the Competition. Harper Collins UK.
Lobenstine, Margaret. (2013). Renaissance Soul: How to Make Your Passions Your Life. The Experiment Publishing.
Epstein, David. (2021). Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. Riverhead Books.
Chapter 8: How To Think About Everything At Once
The very best thing to read next is Chapter Five of Jacob’s book Early Retirement Extreme, “Strategy, tactics, and guiding principles.”
Peter Limberg, interview with Jacob Lund Fisker, “Resolving the Meta-Crisis with Emergent Movement and Post-Consumerist Praxis w/ Jacob Lund Fisker,” YouTube video, The Stoa,, September 2, 2021, https://youtu.be/0MGQgQZHx1Q?si=eCgTgJrGQw3-4LaZ
Wilson, E. O. (1998). Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. Knopf.
Weinberg, Gerald M. (1975). An Introduction to General Systems Thinking. Dorset House.
Meadows, Donnella. (1999). Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System. The Sustainability Institute. https://donellameadows.org/archives/leverage-points-places-to-intervene-in-a-system/
Chapter 9: A Predicament To Respond To
Fleming, David. (2016). Lean Logic: A Dictionary for the Future and How to Survive It. Chelsea Green Publishing.
Meadows, Donnella H. (1999) Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System. The Sustainability Institute.
Tainter, Joseph. (1990). The Collapse of Complex Societies. Cambridge University Press.
Diamond, Jared. (2011). Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed: Revised Edition. Penguin Books.
Meadows, Donella, et al. (2004). Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update. Chelsea Green Publishing.
Ryan, Christopher. (2019). Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress. Simon and Schuster.
Greer, John Michael. (2015). Collapse Now and Avoid the Rush: The Best of The Archdruid Report. Founders House Publishing LLC.
Catton, William R. (1980). Overshoot: The Ecological Basis of Revolutionary Change. University of Illinois Press.
Murphy, Thomas W Jr. (2012) Energy and Human Ambitions on a Finite Planet, https://doi.org/10.21221/S2978-0-578-86717-5
Quinn, Daniel. (1992). Ishmael: A Novel. Random House Publishing Group.
Greer, John Michael. (2009). The Ecotechnic Future: Envisioning a Post-Peak World. New Society Publishers.
Callenbach, Ernest. (1975). Ecotopia. Banyan Tree Books.
Alexander, Samuel and Rutherford, Jonathon. (2020). The Simpler Way: Collected Writings of Ted Trainer. Simplicity Institute.
Bookchin, Murray. (2005). The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy. Cheshire Books.
Alexander, Samuel. (2017). Art Against Empire: Toward an Aesthetics of Degrowth. Simplicity Institute Publishing.
Greer, John Michael. (2016). Retrotopia. Founders House Publishing.
Chapter 10: Don’t Be A Stooge
Schmidt, Jeff. (2000). Disciplined Minds: A Critical Look at Salaried Professionals and the Soul-Battering System that Shapes Their Lives. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Chapter 11: The Children Of An Ancient Catastrophe
Braitman, Laurel. (2014). Animal Madness: How Anxious Dogs, Compulsive Parrots, and Elephants in Recovery Help Us Understand Ourselves. Simon and Schuster.
Plotkin, Bill. (2007). Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World. New World Library.
Plotkin, Bill. (2013). Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche, New World Library.
Mate, Gabor and Mate, Daniel. (2022). The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture. Penguin Random House Higher Education.
Beattie, Melody. (2022). Codependent No More: How to Stop Controlling Others and Start Caring for Yourself (Revised Edition). Spiegel & Grau.