Product Description

Years after his death, the ideas of E.F. Schumacher still resonate through the environmental movement. With deep spiritual vision and rejection of Western materialism and economic exploitation, Schumacher saw the need to give societies, communities and individuals practical tools for change. He is best known for his book "Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered", which became an international best-seller. Both activist and philosopher, his concerns included economics, energy, farming, industry and the inner life of human beings. He was for many years Chief Economist to the Coal Board, and latterly Chairman of the Soil Association; he also originated the concept of intermediate technology. His enduring influence has been recognised by the setting up in 1992 of Schumacher College, an international college for ecological and spiritual values, and the Schumacher Society, which was established in 1977. Over a period of eight years, Fritz Schumacher used the pages of "Resurgence" magazine to develop the ideas that were to become the basis of "Small is Beautiful". This book brings together all his articles for "Resurgence", including "Insane Work Cannot Produce a Sane Society", "Science with Soul", "Western Europe's Energy Crisis", "How to Abolish Land Speculation" and "The Critical Question of Size". The book aims to introduce to a new audience the freshness, clarity and profundity of Schumacher's thinking, which has inspired a generation.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #264261 in Books
• Published on: 1997-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 223 pages

- Jonathon Porritt, BBC Wildlife magazine
"There is no one like Schumacher around today. We have very few sages and even fewer saints to help us. It is true that we have moved on a lot from the often simplistic thinking of the early 1970s. In other ways, however, we seem to have made little progress. But Schumacher's wisdom and spiritual insights live on in the work of the Schumacher Society, through the pages of Resurgence and in this fascinating collection of essays."

- Sir Richard Body, World Review
"Deserves to outshine Small is Beautiful. Despite the lapse of time, not a single word is dated."

Customer Reviews

this is a fantastic set of essays
The essays cover a broad range of subjects, from economics, all the way to spirituality/religion (and much more.. it's a veritable fortnight's fun in one.. like you might get at thorpe park). Schumacher conveys interesting and novel ideas in a way that is very easy to understand. And each essay can be read on it's own, so you can dip in and out of this book quite easily.

Whether you agree with Schumacher's points of view or not, you will find his work thought provoking.

Adds little to "Small Is Beautiful"
A lot of love has gone in to producing this book by the editors. The book is beautifully printed on (appropriately) recycled paper of exceptional quality. The essays are well argued, and to the point, as one expects from Schumacher. His vision of an economics, expressed in "Small Is Beautiful", that includes compassion, spirituality and respect for the environment is as pertinent today as it was thirty or so years ago: essential, five-star reading.

My problem with this volume is that it adds little, or nothing, to that masterpiece. Most of the articles here here are either earlier versions of, or (e.g. the famous one on Buddhist Economics)the same as ones in the more famous work. There are a couple of new articles that are interest like the one that this volume takes its title from. But they are few.

Readers who already have read "Small Is Beautiful" would be better served revisiting that volume. Those who have not, will find the same ideas here. But I'd still point them there. Sadly, this volume for me is a write off.