On The Decadent Society

 This afternoon I finished reading The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success by Ross Douthat. Though a thin volume it contained a lot to recommend it. There was a lot that overlapped with my own thoughts and could fit easily into the book I am (occasionally) working on, particularly the sections on demographics, movies, and spaceflight. 

I did find it lacking in deeper explanations for why we are a decadent society, the book focuses more on symptoms than causes (I found it striking that for a book on the decline of civilization there was no mention of Spengler). However, I did appreciate the section on possible solutions, even if I found the tone too pessimistic (especially again the negativity to space colonization. 

Overall though a good book and one I'd recomend. 

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