Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming

Extraordinary and encompassing insights

This is one of the most powerful and important books I've ever read. It's an unusually perceptive analysis and summary of man's historical relationship with nature and with one another: how we got to where we are and what the future may hold. Some is depressing 'honesty often is', but the author also offers balm for the soul. Hawken dwells in a systems world..... a world of interconnections, networks, fusions. He notes the merging of three wide-spread movements: Environment/ Indigenous Rights,/Social Justice. It's about the convergence of these encompassing movements, and perhaps most importantly, of this growth being spontaneous and from the bottom up. It's about survival mechanisms of species. It's about resilience in evolution.

A thought provoking and inspirational book revealing many truths not found elsewhere

After many years of reading, one book stands out, this is it, this is one of the best books that I have ever read, it reveals many truths not found in regular books, like where we are heading as human beings, and about how we are destroying the environment and upsetting the fragile ecological balance of mother earth etc. I've been book marking many pages and am amazed by the wisdom and inspiration of this book. It mentions how civilizations, species, indigenous people and cultures are being destroyed by greed and materialism, by most of us, it talks about Columbus and colonialism and how it has destroyed entire cultures and civilizations, quote 'Native people have remarked that, of the many promises made by white men, the only one that they kept was the vow to take their land' Most popular books available today are about 'How to succeed', 'How to make more money' 'How to open a franchise' ' 'How to market', 'How to get an MBA' etc, there are very few books on morality, wisdom, truth, divinity, modesty, humbleness, respect, protection of the environment, protection of animals etc. It reminds us that from our very first day at school, through high school and college, we are mostly taught about making money and materialism, getting and spending etc, we have thus become modern day slaves to banks and the wealthy in the form of mounting debt, we are debt ridden all our lives and it takes a lifetime to pay off this debt, part of the ultimate consumer society. Today, markets and currencies are manipulated by wealthy nations, and poorer nations are at the mercy of industrialized nations, sadly poorer countries are exploited by trading their minerals, diamonds, gold, raw materials, forests etc. by wealthier nations and are paid for in kind by weapons and armaments, which are then used for committing genocide on their own people while wealthy nations enjoy all the material comforts and luxurious life at the expense of the poor. Hawkens mentions that businesses talk about adding value and making higher profits to satisfy shareholders, but at what price, profit without consequence is what they are practicing, they do not think about the destruction to the environment and natural resources, the practice of a 'profits at any cost' will lead to a scorched earth, which threatens our very existence on planet earth. Globalization only benefits wealthy and highly industrialized nations, it results in exploitation of resources in poorer nations, destroying their cultures, natural resources and the environment so that more profits can be made by the wealthy, i.e. profits without shame, the best example is China, which has the worst human right's record and worker abuses bordering on slavery, only a handful of wealthy Chinese folks and the Communist Party are benefiting from it, what a pity. Globalization is the modern day equivalent of imperialism and colonization, sadly the rich get richer and the poor suffer. Paul Hawkens is a true visionary and a genius, this book has many spiritual insights. it should become a prescribed text book in high schools and colleges around the world. Bharat V. P. Ohio (Lenasia, SA)

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