The End Of The World Is Just The Beginning
Read this book by Peter Zeihan - it will change how you prepare for "just the beginning"
You will not often see a book review on my Substack but this book is useful. If you are an OG[i] then it is an interesting book but if you are younger than OG then it is an important book.
I owe a big shoutout to my friend Jeff Olson for recommending the book to me.
The End Of The World Is Just The Beginning explains what is coming in the next world. You have heard about that world already, of course. It is the world where America does not enforce a global security order; the world where global trade withers; the world where fossil fuels are mostly available to countries with their own supply; the world where agricultural products are reserved for domestic consumers only; the world where raw materials are in short supply; the world where technical expertise is reserved for a few capable countries.
The premise of the book is that every end is a beginning. The world ended for the Romans with the fall of Constantinople but that was a beginning for everyone that survived it. History is full of such examples.
When we read about these events in history books, they happen in a few paragraphs or a few pages. That compression makes them seem quicker and more recognizable than they are. In real life, these events unfold over decades or even centuries. Constantinople fell in a battle but the the battle was the culmination of a series of events.
The series of events causing the end of our world described in the book are occurring now. They appear disconnected and they appear to move slowly. The historians will be able to connect the dots and put together a coherent picture but coherence is rare when you are inside the event loop.
Zeihan achieves coherence inside the event loop. He maps out what the world will look like on the other side of the ending that is currently in progress.
The book is organized into big picture sections: Transport, Finance, Energy, Industrial Materials, Manufacturing, and Agriculture. Each section starts with how we got here. Then Zeihan explains what is going to happen and who will be affected. Each prediction comes with a clear explanation of how and why it will occur along with supporting data.
In Zeihan’s future, America becomes more isolationist and the results of that isolationism are catastrophic for much of the world. The American imposition of a global security order has enabled transportation networks to flourish as never before in history. The same is true for finance and manufacturing. Transportation networks and finance have contributed to agriculture that feeds the world. Without the current transportation networks and financial support global agriculture will wither away. The result will be that a large portion of the world’s population will starve to death.
If you are an OG, it is an interesting book. If you are younger than OG, then this book is important to you and to your children as you prepare your family to live through the inevitable and painful transitions of “just the beginning.”
[i] You likely thought that “OG” means Original Gangster but it actually means “Old Geezer.”
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