Endgame: A Review

I've been slowly reading through Derrick Jensen's two-volume work, Endgame, for the past couple of months.

I usually don't peruse books this thoroughly; most of the time I scan books in a matter of minutes in the local bookstore and return them to the shelf. If something about the book catches my eye enough to warrant a second or third reading, I'll buy it and then revisit the same scanning process at home.

Endgame isn't like this. This book makes me slow down.

I don't slow down because the book is tiresome, uninteresting, or difficult to comprehend. I slow down because in between Jensen's anecdotes about coffee conversations with friends about the state of our world, he drives home polemic spears which sink deeply into my naive perceptions about the damage that humans are doing to the world. I slow down because I need to reevaluate my thoughts and actions more critically after reading what Jensen has to say.

There has never been a greater need for environmental self-defense in our history. I confess that I'm merely a newbie when it comes to thinking green, but after reading this book, I'm willing to learn. I'm not certain that I'm ready for the kind of revolutionary action which is suggested by some of the book's anecdotes, but I'm feeling the stirrings of global thought.