Reviews
The End of the World is Just the Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalisation, by Peter Zeihan
aantakiraisa27's review against another edition
One of the most idiotic books I have ever read. Peter Zeihan sounds like a typical, myopic American patriot who loves putting the US on a pedestal and view things from its tainted lens. I mean, is he that biased that he cannot see his glaring lack of perceptions in his writing or is he just an idiot?
tasmanian_bibliophile's review against another edition
3.0
‘The past century or so has been a bit of a blitzkrieg of progress.’
According to Peter Zeihan, an American geopolitical analyst and author, we are heading towards deglobalization which will (apparently) result in chaos and disaster. He believes that the period between 1980 and 2015, an era of plenty, reliability, and relative stability, was an anomaly in human history. From 2022, Mr Zeihan writes that everything will become more difficult to obtain (and more expensive). He goes to great lengths in this book to explain why.
Part of the problem, he writes, is the fact that the world’s labour force will decrease because of most countries having rapidly ageing populations. Mr Zeihan also sees the USA stepping back from its leadership role, including the protection of the shipping lanes which are an essential part of the global economy. And then there’s climate change, which will undermine food production in many parts of the world. There’s more to it than that: Mr Zeihan also writes about energy security, industrial materials, and manufacturing.
American exceptionalism comes into play: according to Mr Zeihan the Americas are in the best position because of the USA’s adaptability, agricultural capacity, industrial base and natural resources. Those countries that rely on trade will suffer, as will China. Mr Zeihan predicts that China will collapse within a decade or so.
I have very mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I agree with him that green technology in its current form is not suitable to meet the energy needs of much of the world. I can also see workforce challenges ahead. On the other hand, I do not see China collapsing within a decade and I am not convinced that American exceptionalism will carry the day.
While I think that this book is worth reading, I don’t agree with all of Mr Zeihan’s conclusions.
Of course, Mr Zeihan might be right. I am unlikely to still be here in 2060 to find out.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
miguelf's review against another edition
3.0
While not agreeing with one of the major prognoses of this work regarding the dissolution of shipping and trade facility, the rest of the book offers a lot of food for thought about how the next few decades will play out in terms of demographics, climate change, power politics and resource availability. Zeihan perhaps shines best when talking about resource allocations and their potential geo-political implications. But again some of his predictions seem to be a bit off base and based on flimsier stuff. One couldn’t help but think that if this was written two decades ago the overarching theme would have been on peak oil and its implications for the 2010’s whereas of course all of that was and will be avoided; the crystal ball aint so crystal clear here, but it was definitely worth it for the what-ifs and the more factual side of the ledger.
sarahhartland's review against another edition
It’s taking me so long to get through this book and I hardly think I’m absorbing anything except we’re all screwed, except maybe the US?
I’m not sure I buy the premise that globalization is ending or that demographic collapse will end economies.
Looking at historical patterns is far from useless but it’s still pretty limited. We’re more connected than ever socially and I think that’s a wild card compared to previous historical periods. It could change how things shake out or it could even make it worse but let’s not pretend we know one way or the other.
All in all, interesting book which I listened to because my father would not stop nagging me to - just too depressing and not convincing enough to keep me going. Perhaps I’ll return and finish later.
I’m not sure I buy the premise that globalization is ending or that demographic collapse will end economies.
Looking at historical patterns is far from useless but it’s still pretty limited. We’re more connected than ever socially and I think that’s a wild card compared to previous historical periods. It could change how things shake out or it could even make it worse but let’s not pretend we know one way or the other.
All in all, interesting book which I listened to because my father would not stop nagging me to - just too depressing and not convincing enough to keep me going. Perhaps I’ll return and finish later.