This book takes a hard look at our civilizational progress and the myth of infinite improvement of everything. We are constantly told that the progress of humanity is one of more comfort and improved quality of life. We are also told that life was not that pleasant in the past. However, there are multiple sides to this story. What is the collateral damage due to our continuous chase after the good life? What is the price we pay for modern life? What significant lessons can our ancestors teach us in navigating our lives today? These are some of the questions Ryan tackles in this book. Perhaps this quote from Carl Jung, which Ryan refers to in the beginning, captures his essential message. “We rush impetuously into novelty, driven by a mounting sense of insufficiency, dissatisfaction, and restlessness. We no longer live on what we have but on promises, no longer in the light of the present day but in the darkness of the future, which we expect will, at last, bring a proper sunrise. We refuse to recognize that everything better is purchased at the price of something worse. “Ryan forces us to ask many questions to ourselves. Why are we becoming more and more of an unequal society? Record food production coexists with acute malnutrition and hunger in many parts of the world. With all technologies to ease our jobs, we are working more and more, and leisure is becoming a luxury. Ryan says, “We live in a world created by and for institutions that thrive on commerce, not human beings that thrive on community, laughter, and leisure. “ In such a situation, happiness ceases to be a normal condition of being alive and becomes a goal. There is no point in living in a perpetual nostalgic past as we have moved beyond that. We may not be able to relate to all the generalizations of, Ryan. However, he makes a compelling case for a relook at our current models of development and progress. Being an intelligent species, it’s a call we should take.
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