Today I received my copy of the Worldchanging book, and have been browsing through it. (After reading the introductions, which is important in this case.)

Some thoughts:

  • This book is as important as people are claiming it to be.

  • It reminds me of the Whole Earth Catalog, but more beautiful and with a more overt agenda.

  • I want to purchase a copy for each of my siblings and my parents to read, but I feel this would go against the value system promoted in the book.

  • I ordered the book through Amazon, and it got to me via Fedex. Again, this seems like a betrayal of the book’s values. I’m now exploring the Worldchanging website, and thinking “did I really need to have the atom-based version of this thing shipped to me?”

  • The flipside of this thought: I may end up giving my copy of the book to someone who would never use the website.

  • The book is beautifully designed and laid out, but I have a couple of complaints. First, some of the fonts are difficult to read. Second, it stinks—literally: its pages emit a very strong chemical ink odor. Again, this seems to go against the book’s values.

  • After seeing An Inconvenient Truth last year, I’ve been wondering “what can I do to improve my (and my society’s) relationship with the earth?” I’m inspired by Worldchanging to take action… I don’t know what to do about it yet, but this question is something I plan to devote time and energy to over the next couple of years.