Less is More

How Degrowth Will Save the World

Listen to a sample

Items couldn't be added

Sorry, we can't add the item as your basket has reached its capacity.

The title couldn't be added to your basket.

Please try again later.

Couldn't add title to Wish List

Please try again later.

‘Remove from Wish List’ failed

Please try again later.

Adding to library failed

Please try again

‘Follow podcast’ failed

‘Unfollow podcast’ failed

Get 30 days of Standard free

€6.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.

Try for €0.00

More purchase options

Less is More

By: Jason Hickel

Narrated by: Ben Crystal, Clifford Samuel

Try for €0.00

€6.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for €18.94

Season's Savings | 0.99 €/mo for 3 months

6.99 €/month thereafter - terms apply. Cancel monthly.

Brought to you by Penguin.

The world has finally awoken to the reality of climate breakdown and ecological collapse. Now we must face up to its primary cause. Capitalism demands perpetual expansion, which is devastating the living world. There is only one solution that will lead to meaningful and immediate change: DEGROWTH.

If we want to have a shot at halting the crisis, we need to restore the balance. We need to change how we see nature and our place in it, shifting from a philosophy of domination and extraction to one that's rooted in reciprocity and regeneration. We need to evolve beyond the dogmas of capitalism to a new system that is fit for the twenty-first century. But what does such a society look like? What about jobs? What about health? What about progress?

This book tackles these questions and traces a clear pathway to a post-capitalist economy. An economy that's more just, more caring, and more fun. An economy that enables human flourishing while reversing ecological breakdown. An economy that will not only lift us out of our current crisis, but restore our sense of connection to a world that's brimming with life. By taking less, we can become more.

© Jason Hickel 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020

Jason HickelBen CrystalClifford SamuelCornerstone Digital

Economics

Science

World

Economics Science World

Critics' reviews

A powerfully disruptive book for disrupted times. Jason Hickel takes all we've been been told about growth and development and turns it inside out, offering instead a radically possible vision of a post-growth future. If you're looking for transformative ideas, this book is for you. (Kate Raworth, economist and author of Doughnut Economics)

A masterpiece pulling together the ecological disaster wake-up call from The Uninhabitable Earth, the economic enlightenment from Piketty's Capital, and the colonial history from Jason's own The Divide. Just ace. (David Heinemeier Hansson)

Eye-opening and passionate, Jason Hickel shows how the insatiable drive to increase GDP has caused the ecological crisis, reveals the historical and colonial roots of capitalism and argues that an ecologically sensitive economic based on 'degrowth' is essential for us to flourish.

A masterpiece... Less is More covers centuries and continents, spans academic disciplines, and connects contemporary and ancient events in a way which cannot be put down until it's finished. So much needs to change; although beginning that change might require nothing more than asking the right question. (Danny Dorling, Professor of Geography, University of Oxford)

This is a book we have all been waiting for. Jason Hickel dispels ecomodernist fantasies of 'green growth'. Only degrowth can avoid climate breakdown. The facts are indisputable and they are in this book. (Giorgos Kallis, Professor of Ecological Economics and author of Degrowth)

Jason Hickel shows that recovering the commons and decolonizing nature, cultures, and humanity are necessary conditions for hope of a common future in our common home. By extracting less we leave more for other species, other people and future generations, thus creating well-being for all. In an ecologically interconnected world, less is more. (Vandana Shiva, philosopher of physics and author of Making Peace with the Earth)

Jason Hickel takes us on a profound journey through the last 500 years of capitalism and into the current crisis of ecological collapse. He lays out how we can transition to a post-capitalist economy, but also reminds us that there are other ways of knowing and being that hold the secret to a better world. Less is More is required reading for anyone interested in what it means to live in the Anthropocene, and what we can do about it. (Alnoor Ladha, co-founder of The Rules)

This riveting offering explores a world that has finally woken up to the reality of climate change and ecological collapse. Arguing that a change of thinking is desperately needed, he charts a path to a post-capitalist world and an economy that is more just, caring and fun.

Most relevant

Absolutely recommendable book for everyone! Hickel describes the urgent need for change in the global economic and social system, our treatment of nature and resources and social injustice. He strongly criticizes the capitalist economic system and makes concrete suggestions on how to move away from our exploitative and destructive capitalism to a social, just and sustainable system by reversing economic growth.

"We have everything to lose and a world to gain" - Hickel