THE UPSIDE OF DOWN

'''The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization''' is a non-fiction book published in 2006 by Thomas Homer-Dixon, a professor at the University of Toronto who holds the George Ignatieff Chair of Peace and Conflict Studies at the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies. The book sets out a theory of the growth, crisis, and renewal of societies. The world's converging energy, environmental, and political stresses could cause a breakdown of national and global order. Yet there are things we can do now to keep such a breakdown from being catastrophic. And some kinds of breakdown could even open up extraordinary opportunities for creative, bold reform of our societies, if we are prepared to exploit these opportunities when they arise. The Argument
ISBN 0-676-97722-7
'CONTENTS'
'Prologue:' ''Firestorm''

★ San Francisco, Thursday, April 19, 1906

★ Rome, Tuesday, May 13, 2003

★ The White Wall
'One:' ''Tectonic Stresses''

★ Multipliers • Synchronous Failure • Beyond Management • From Crash to Creativity • Thresholds • The Prospective Mind
'Two:' ''A Keystone in Time''

★ The Thermodynamics of Empire • A Stone's Journey • Colosseum Calories • Energy Return on Investment • The Exigencies of Energy
'Three:' ''We Are like Running Water''

★ Demographic Momentum • No Land is an Island • Growth's Consequences • Megacities
'Four:' ''So Long, Cheap Slaves''

★ From Geopolitics to Geoscarcity • Oil's Peak • Where Are the Giants? • "The World Economy Has No Plan B"
'Five:' ''Earthquake''

★ Negative Synergy • Overload • Connectivity and Speed • A Clausewitz of Complexity • Boundary Jumping
'Six:' ''Flesh of the Land''

★ Stages of Denial • Beyond the Horizon • Squeezed in a Vise • The Anthropocene • Hollow Societies
'Seven:' ''Closing the Windows''

★ Kilimanjaro's Retreat • Consensus • Confidence Game • Back Casting • Momentum and Feedback • Walking Toward a Cliff • Frayed Networks
'Eight:' ''No Equilibrium''

★ Heading for the Exits • Income Gap • The Dirty Little Secret of Development Economics • Curious Fixation • Cultivating Discontent • The Growth Imperative • Clouded Hope
'Nine:' ''Cycles within Cycles''

★ Licensing Denial • Why Don't We Face Reality? • Diminishing Returns • Panarchy • Overextending the Growth Phase
'Ten:' ''Disintegration''

★ Checkerboard Landscape • Energy Subsidy • Ruthless Extraction • Holland Times Ten • Motivation, Opportunity, and Framing • Power Shift • A Shattered Sphere
'Eleven:' ''Catagenesis''

★ A Watch List • Moments of Contingency • Resilience • Open Source
'Twelve:' ''Baalbek: The Last Rock''

Contents

References

External links

References

External links

★ Official website for the book

★ Official website for Thomas Homer-Dixon

★ Audio interview with THECOMMENTARY.CA