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The Good Ancestor: A Radical Prescription for Long-Term Thinking Audiobook
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A call to save ourselves and our planet by targeting the root of our inaction: extreme short-sightedness
“The most important question we must ask ourselves is: Are we being good ancestors?” So said Jonas Salk, who cured polio in 1953. Salk saved millions of lives, but he refused to patent his cure or make any money from it. His radical rethinking of what we owe future generations should be an inspiration to us all, but it has hardly taken hold: Businesses can barely see past the next quarter; politicians can’t see past the next election. Markets spike, then they crash in speculative bubbles. We rarely stop to consider whether we’re being good ancestors … but the future depends on it.
Here, leading public intellectual, philosopher, and bestselling author Roman Krznaric explains six practical ways we can retrain our brains to save our future—such as adopting Deep Time Humility (recognizing our lives as a cosmic eyeblink) and Cathedral Thinking (starting projects that will take more than one lifetime to complete). His aim is to inspire a “time rebellion”—to shift our allegiance from our generation only to all humanity, present and future.
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“The individualistic philosophies of the last century have put us on the road to social, political, and environmental collapse. The Good Ancestor suggests…a number of ways off that lethal road.”
— Brian Eno, musician and composer
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“Joe Jameson narrates this impressive work of humanistic philosophy with the seriousness, clarity, and style that it merits. His English accent and educated tone amplify the listening experience.”
— AudioFile -
“Full of revelations for everyone who cares about the legacy they leave.”
— The Edge, U2 -
“Deserves to be widely read—by policymakers, and indeed by all citizens who care.”
— Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and author of On the Future -
“One of those landmark books with the power to shift a mindset. One turns the pages feeling a growing compulsion for change.”
— Isabella Tree, author of Wilding -
“For anyone who is interested in how we can get today’s society to leave the world better than they found it—this is your guide.”
— Sophie Howe, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales -
“A superb intellectual history and razor-sharp analysis of contemporary politics.”
— Kevin Watkins, chief executive of Save the Children -
Provid[es] keys to create profound and lasting change.”
— Katie Paterson, deep-time artist and creator of Future Library -
“A great antidote to the short-term thinking that comes easily to us all.”
— Nigel Warburton, author of A Little History of Philosophy and founder of the Philosophy Bites podcast -
“Thinking long-term…may very well be vital to our survival as a species. Lose yourself in these pages…and reimagine your relationship to time, to the future, to activism.”
— Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition movement and author of From What Is to What If -
“A triumph.”
— Sir Tim Smit, cofounder of the Eden Project
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About Roman Krznaric
Roman Krznaric is a public philosopher who writes about the power of ideas to change society. His books include Empathy, The Wonderbox, and Carpe Diem Regained, and have been published in more than twenty languages. He studied at the universities of Oxford, London, and Essex, where he received his PhD. He is a founding faculty member of The School of Life and is based in the UK.
About Joe Jameson
Joe Jameson trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. He has narrated over a hundred audiobooks, including titles by Gillian Slovo, Bear Grylls, Malorie Blackman, and Susan Hill, as well as The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff. He also works extensively in theater and television.