Thursday 3 July 2008

Stop Press: new title

Following mixed responses to the previous title, the new question is: Would you buy a book called


The Survival Paradox

What makes the threat of Global Climate Change the greatest opportunity ever presented to the human race?



The Survival Paradox is a two-dimensional tension: the needs of the individual versus the needs of the group, and the best solution in the moment versus the best solution in the long-term. In short, The Survival Paradox is: 'me, now' versus 'all of us, in the future'.

I'm working with the book's originator today. He is over in the UK about to go on holiday, and we've just done a scary restructuring exercise. It feels absolutely positive but also reminds me of the process of moving a large, semi-complete lego construction from the dining table as a child. I sort of know that if I'm careful enough and steady enough then it will be fine but it feels hazardous all the same. 

What if I drop it?




11 comments:

SteveL said...

Woohoo first comment to me!

This post makes me think of the scene in Star Trek where Spock tells Kirk it was logocal for him to die "The Needs of the Many Must Outweigh the Needs of the Few or the One."

Maybe you could get Leonard Nimoy to give his thoughts on the book after you have read it..? ;)

Stray said...

Yo Steve - stop nicking my thoughts out of my head!

I have a diagram early on in the book about why we need to consider all this emotional felt-truth stuff. It contrasts the Dr Spock approach to problem solving, which we pretend we can master, with the Captain Kirk approach - which is how we really operate.

Roo says hi!

Miss Tickle said...

You will not drop it, just make sure your shoelaces aren't undone.

There's a metaphor in there somewhere, but I'm damned if I can find it...

Anonymous said...

Much love to new title - that would grab me as I wandered through Waterstones..

The blurby bit is also much more of an instant hook too..

Pants said...

Hi Stray

Fantastic title - confronts on the most basic level but also suggests that there is a debate going on inside the book. It seems to me it suits your purpose very well.

xxx

Pants

Jean said...

Your new title makes me think of Richard Sennett's projected 'Craftsman' (boo, sexist title) trilogy. Only one book out so far, looking at historical and present-day experiences and perceptions of craftsmanship (ouch, I start to see why he couldn't avoid the sexist language), next volume to look at the craft of ritual and how different rituals might be oriented to more peaceful societies, and the third and final volume to advocate the cultivation of craft/skills for surviving with less resource consumption. He's a sociologist not a scientist, but some thinking in similar directions perhaps?

Unknown said...

That feeling of "I might just drop this" is good - it means you won't drop it, because you're going to be so damned careful not to!
You're on the right track! Keep going and as Tickle says, just make sure your shoelaces are done up! ;-)

uphilldowndale said...

If you drop it all the pieces will remain, and you can build something bigger and better (OK, so better)

Beanz said...

I like your title. It makes me think I might understand it. The other one was too complex for my brain. I would have been too scared to tackle it (except with my teeth, if it had a nice spine to it)

Political Umpire said...

Well I like the Latin best. I'm an 'English sceptic' perhaps?

Still troubled by the whole global warming Big Scare, however. I am quite happy to accept that over-reliance on oil for our transport, food and general way of life has been a great mistake. But the mistake is not necessarily global warming; rather, such things as general air pollution, the inevitable point where demand so exceeds supply that conflict arises, and of course the need to involve ourselves in the Middle East which has led to so many problems.

This is where I become particularly troubled about our runaway obsession with global warming. It is all very well to be concerned about carbon emissions, but not at the expense of other environmental problems. And many proposed carbon-reduction methods carry very severe economic consequences, well beyond simply a mild lessening of Western middle-class luxuries.

So I'll wait for the book to come out which will tell me all the answers!

Chapeau, Stray-beau.

MP said...

Yes, that's a much better title! The subtitle is too verbose, though, and from a marketing standpoint, you don't want a question in that spot anyway.

Try something closer to: The Survival Paradox: Why Global Climate Change Is Our Greatest Opportunity Ever