Product Description

Malthus's Essay looks at the perennial tendency of humans to outstrip their resources: reproduction always exceeds food production. Today Malthus remains a byword for concern about man's demographic and ecological prospects.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32189 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Customer Reviews

Not the easiest way to discover Malthus, but you can't beat an original!
Malthus never goes away! Although he made wider contributions to the field of economics, it is for his gloomy population theory that he is best remembered. Widely ignored during much of the 20th Century, when his fatalistic prediction seemed to have been proved flawed, his views are right back at the top of the agenda, with the question of food sustainability the subject of much discussion.

This is Malthus' original work, at least in its most familiar form (he updated the original 5 times). In truth, there are easier ways for the casual reader to discover what Malthus was saying. A good textbook will summarise what is best remembered as significant; that population increases geometrically while food production increases only arithmetically, ie the population doubles every generation and food cannot keep up. There is much more that Malthus said which may not seem relevant. For one thing, it is of course nearly 200 years out of date, and some of the references to the events are now insignificant, even bizarre with hindsight. For another, Malthus was a clergyman, and his writing is full of moral pronouncements and emphasis of virtuous behaviour as the solutions. Like many authors of the day, he rambles over quite a wide spectrum of thought, and some of the views may seem irrelevant or inconsequent to the modern eye.

Nevertheless, the serious scholar will still benefit from this. Despite its age, it is surprisingly readable, and one can overlook the occasional oddity in style, typical of its day. The main thrust which is relevant today comes in the early chapters, and the later chapters can probably be read more selectively. A bonus is that this edition of the work contains an introduction, notes on the text, an index and some useful explanatory notes. We also have the benefit of being able to look with hindsight at the counter arguments, which again can be found in books from authors a century later (a big criticism is that Malthus certainly overlooked the fact that every extra mouth to feed also implies an extra pair of hands).

The serious scholar or the determined casual reader will benefit from the original source. It remains an early recognition of a problem which may (or may not) face all generations to come. Not all will agree with the moralising, but the perennial question remains; while we have survived long after Malthus suggested we would, was his argument fundamentally wrong in the end?