“It's an extraordinary book, exhilaratingly-written and masterfully-researched. I couldn't put it down. Required reading for anyone who wants to know where we go from here. Bravo!”
—James Burke, author and host of the BBC’s Connections
“It is a brilliant and powerful dissertation with an intriguing twist on evolutionary processes.”
—Edgar Mitchell, sixth man to walk on the Moon, pilot of
Apollo 14’s Lunar Module, and founder of The Institute of Noetic Sciences
“Pure poetry, divinely begotten. It's a struggle of visions wine and wafer to become the real world's flesh and blood. I am convinced that Howard Bloom is the reincarnation of Plato. This beast is absolutely captivating; a godsend.”
—Mark Lamonica, author of Rio L. A.: Tales from the Los Angeles River,
Whacking Buddha: The Mysterious world of Shakespeare and Buddhism,
and Junk yard dogs and William Shakespeare
"
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism is AMAZING!!!!"
—Steven Johnson Leyba, author of COYOTE SATAN AMERIKA
and The Last American Painter
Is global capitalism on its last legs? Is the era of American leadership over? Has the West begun a decline into a new Dark Age? Does American civilization deserve to survive? These are the unnerving questions raised by the Great Crash of 2009.
Visionary thinker Howard Bloom has a radically new answer. In
The Genius of the Beast, the author of the acclaimed books
The Lucifer Principle and
Global Brain, insists that global society has only begun to realize its full potential. Bloom argues that there’s a hidden mandate beneath the surface of capitalism: “It’s struggling to whisper and rumble its message to you and me. That hidden imperative can lift us from economic crisis, can make us a leader in the next-generation economy, and can dramatically upgrade our ability to empower our fellow human beings.” Bloom sees crisis as opportunity, opportunity for the whole human race.
In more than eighty short, fast chapters, insights appear suddenly, like the quick bursts of flashbulbs.
The Genius of the Beast takes the reader on a sweeping tour of human history, from the Stone Age to the present. Every chapter conveys a radically new way to see the astonishing mechanism we call "Western Civilization." Bloom marvels at how humans have turned toxic waste into food and fuel, trash into treasure, and garbage into gold. He shows how we've produced material miracles based on immaterial things—passion, persistence, and fantasy. Bloom shows that what many regard as the end is just the beginning. The beginning of something you've never before imagined.
Bloom explains why the secret to capitalism’s next great leap does not lie in new financial tricks, but in tapping things right under our noses in radically new ways—that is, tapping our imagination, our desire to feel useful, our desire to help others, and our desire to be recognized for contributing to the welfare of humanity. The key to next-generation capitalism, writes Bloom, lies in a big-picture view that's utterly unlike anything you've previously perceived. A big-picture view that will startle you. A big-picture view with which you can ignite the world, get a new handle on your life, and help transform society.
This brilliant, inspirational work of daring ideas and breath-taking research offers more than hope. It offers unseen levels of understanding. Understanding that can literally redefine what it means to be a human being.
To read a sample chapter of this book, click here.
528 pages
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-59102-754-6
Shipping Weight: 2lbs
Author Bio:
Howard Bloom (Brooklyn, NY) has been called "the Darwin, Newton, and Einstein of the 21st century" and "the next Stephen Hawking." He is the author of two acclaimed books, The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History and The Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century. Those books have won praise from The New Yorker, the Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Wired, Foreign Affairs and numerous other publications. A recent visiting scholar at New York University, Bloom is the founder of the International Paleopsychology Project, founder of the Space Development Steering Committee (a group that includes astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Edgar Mitchell), executive editor of the new Paradigm book series, and a founding board member of the Epic of Evolution Society. He has appeared on Good Morning America, The CBS Morning News, CBS Nightwatch, the BBC, and over a hundred other media outlets.
