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Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventure | 
 enlarge | Author: Daniel Quinn
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy New: $6.97
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Rating:  143 reviews
Sales Rank: 13691
Media: Paperback
Pages: 208
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0609805363
Dewey Decimal Number: 301
EAN: 9780609805367
ASIN: 0609805363
Publication Date: November 7, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW
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Amazon.com Review
Futurist Daniel Quinn (Ishmael) dares to imagine a new approach to saving the world that involves deconstructing civilization. Quinn asks the radical yet fundamental questions about humanity such as, Why does civilization grow food, lock it up, and then make people earn money to buy it back? Why not progress "beyond civilization" and abandon the hierarchical lifestyles that cause many of our social problems? He challenges the "old mind" thinking that believes problems should be fixed with social programs. "Old minds think: How do we stop these bad things from happening?" Quinn writes. "New minds think: How do we make things the way we want them to be?" Whether he is discussing Amish farming, homelessness, "tribal business," or holy work, Quinn's manifesto is highly digestible. Instead of writing dense, weighty chapters filled with self-important prose, he's assembled a series of brief one-page essays. His language is down to earth, his metaphors easy to grasp. As a result, readers can read about and ponder Beyond Civilization at a blissfully civilized pace. --Gail Hudson
Product Description
In Beyond Civilization, Daniel Quinn thinks the unthinkable. We all know there's no one right way to build a bicycle, no one right way to design an automobile, no one right way to make a pair of shoes, but we're convinced that there must be only one right way to live -- and the one we have is it, no matter what.
Beyond Civilization makes practical sense of the vision of Daniel Quinn's best-selling novel Ishmael. Examining ancient civilizations such as the Maya and the Olmec, as well as modern-day microcosms of alternative living like circus societies, Quinn guides us on a quest for a new model for society, one that is forward-thinking and encourages diversity instead of suppressing it. Beyond Civilization is not about a "New World Order" but a "New Personal World Order" that would allow people to assert control over their own destiny and grant them the freedom to create their own way of life right now -- not in some distant utopian future.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 Pointer to Other Relevant Works April 13, 2008
Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I considered this book, and found the reviews so very informative, as well as negative on what the "next steps" should be, that I enter this contribution not as a review of the book, but as a pointer to other books that go beyond this book. Epoch B Swarm B Leadership, Transpartisanship, and bottom-up Citizen Wisdom Councils is what comes after civilization deconstructs and the nation-state model is finally devolved to tighter regional alliances and the end of predatory immoral capitalism (in favor of moral green capitalism).
Here are ten books I have read and reviewed that I believe readers and admirers of this author will find most beneficial:
The leadership of civilization building: Administrative and civilization theory, symbolic dialogue, and citizen skills for the 21st century
How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, Updated Edition
The Handbook of Large Group Methods: Creating Systemic Change in Organizations and Communities (Jossey-Bass Business & Management)
The Change Handbook: The Definitive Resource on Today's Best Methods for Engaging Whole Systems
Society's Breakthrough!: Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time
The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter
Collective Intelligence: Creating a Prosperous World at Peace
My thanks again to the reviewers. I buy and read a great many books, and the reviews help me make tough choices within my limit of five books a week. I hope the links above are considered helpful.
 Words of Advice December 31, 2007
D. Durkin (Providence, Rhode Island USA)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
At the close of his work, Quinn offers 140 words of advice to the notion that "You don't have all the answers." He should have left it at the five words that follow... "Certainly I don't have them." He clearly doesn't. This is a ramble of a book that is selfindulgence at its height. My best advice would be to not waste your time, the few times he begins to ask and discuss good questions (genetic predispositions of types of social behavior, social transmission of "memes" etc) he cops out and begins to pontificate and ramble on. I can see why it's out of print. I'm quite sure a few tribes would "vote him off the island" to quote another mindless mess. I guess this review makes me an evil "old mind."
A book worth having, reading, and re-reading. April 1, 2007
Joan Marques (USA)
2 out of 9 found this review helpful
The fact that "Beyond Civilization" begins with a fable that captures the entire essence of what's wrong with our civilization is an absolute winner in my eyes.
I read this book with pleasure. Like Ishmael, Quinn's other winner, I could not help but experience the ambivalence of getting angry about our human backwardness, yet encouraged to keep myself from falling into the traps of "Mother Culture" and the thoughts of "old minds."
As a "new mind" I wrote two books: "The Awakened Leader: One Simple Leadership Style That Works Every Time, Everywhere," and "Spirituality in the Workplace: What it is; Why it Matters; How to Make it Work for You" (the last one co-authored with Dr. Satinder Dhiman and Dr. Richard King)
Both of these books present ways to apply wakefulness in our lives, and with that, make a positive difference for ourselves and others.
Beyond civilization is a great and inspiring reader, and so are "The Awakened Leader," and "Spirituality in the Workplace."
 Perspective on 'takers' concept March 8, 2007
Edward S. Kernish
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Mr. Quinn has, as have most Jeremiahs in earlier societies, engendered quite a lot of animosity for his calling out of our American (nee western) society as a 'taker society'. Here in Beyond Civilization Quinn puts his proverbial 'money' where his former books' mouths were and outlines what the hell we can do about the state of things we 'takers' have brought about. A good read, but not for those who are lazily comfortable living in 21st century America.
Confusion Abounds July 27, 2006
-> (the land of common sense)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I thought I finally had Daniel Quinn all figured out after reading the Ishmael trilogy, but after reading this, I have way more questions than answers. For starters, he has talked through his books about our culture being one of totalitarian agricuture and this being the downfall of our culture, that we force everyone to live this way and now there is no diversity left and our "civilization" will self destruct soon without a change. His change is an escape from civilization (going beyond civilization) by taking up tribal living again, albeit tribal living in a new way (basically by starting businesses that work on a tribal level with everyone contributing and playing just as equal part so that everyone feels valuable). The big problem is that he never says how this is going beyond our culture. Sure, he started a tribal business in New Mexico with his wife and two other people, but they still had to live in this culture, be supported by this culture, and rely on this culture to survive. He cannot think of any examples as a way of living outside of this culture, for all the times he advocates us doing it. I see what he means by the circus example and his small newspaper, but these are still dependent upon the larger culture to exist, couldnt exist without the support of the one culture that they are trying to escape. How do we escape this culture? He wants us to jump over the prison walls and forage out on our own, but doesn't address what seemed to be the big issue of our totalitarian agriculturalist society. I thought this was the problem, so it is hard for me to see how the two can connect: how to live in a new tribal way that also exists outside the culture of totalitarian agriculture? Is there an answer that I am missing? Or does Daniel Quinn simply not know (which I think he tries to make a point of in this book, that he probably doesn't know and that's ok to not know). Mostly this book rehashes everything from the trilogy but throws in some new stuff about tribes, very little, however, and it is clear I guess that he really doesn't have any answers here.
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