The Crash Course, Revised Edition

The Crash Course, Revised Edition

by Chris Martenson
Released March 2023
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781394168866

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Book description

Discover how and why the world’s crises are interconnected and what you can do to prepare for the next one

The world is experiencing a series of crises. In The Crash Course: An Honest Approach to Facing the Future of Our Economy, Energy, and Environment, Revised Edition, veteran executive and strategist Chris Martenson delivers an incisive and eye-opening exploration that explains why the reader needs to understand that it is the interconnectedness of the various crises that matters most. From energy shortages to climate instability, financial crises, supply chain disruptions, pandemics, war, and crop failures, you’ll discover the common factor that is driving them all and how to adapt to volatile new realities and safeguard your own personal wealth, health, and community.

In the book, you’ll find effective solutions for living with unpredictability and change, as well as:

  • A workable framework for understanding the “how” and “why” of dramatic societal, environmental, and economic transformation
  • A rich set of solutions, complete with examples, you can use to draw inspiration and motivation to act in your own life
  • An expansive amount of new material, fully updated since the last edition

A transformative and thought-provoking strategic playbook for managing increasingly unexpected events, crises, and revolutions, The Crash Course, Revised Edition is an essential resource for anyone concerned about their retirement savings, the world’s environment, as well as anyone hoping to become more independent and self-reliant.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Acknowledgments
  5. Introduction
  6. PART I: How to Approach the Next Twenty Years
    1. CHAPTER 1: The Coming Storm
    2. CHAPTER 2: The Lens
    3. CHAPTER 3: A World Worth Inheriting
    4. CHAPTER 4: Trust Yourself
      1. Conflicts of Interest
      2. You Are the Ultimate Truth‐Teller
      3. Instincts Can Save You
      4. Head and Heart
  7. PART II: Foundation
    1. CHAPTER 5: Dangerous Exponentials
      1. More on the Concept of Exponential Growth
      2. Speeding Up
      3. Making It Real
      4. Surrounded by Exponentials
      5. The Rule of 70
      6. Your Exponential World
      7. Notes
    2. CHAPTER 6: Problems versus Predicaments
      1. Note
    3. CHAPTER 7: An Inconvenient Lie
      1. Notes
    4. CHAPTER 8: Complex Systems
      1. Systems—Open versus Closed
      2. Economists—Closed Minds
      3. Our Complex World
      4. Notes
    5. CHAPTER 9: Our Money System
      1. Full Faith and Credit
      2. How Hyperinflation Happens
      3. Money Creation
      4. The Fed
      5. Two Kinds of Money—One Exponential System
      6. Notes
    6. CHAPTER 10: What Is Wealth?
      1. The Hierarchy of Wealth
      2. Money and Wealth
      3. The Nature of Wealth
      4. Notes
  8. PART III: Economy
    1. CHAPTER 11: Debt
      1. What Is Debt?
      2. The Crisis Explained in One Table
      3. Notes
    2. CHAPTER 12: The Great Credit Bubble
      1. What Is a Bubble?
      2. Withering Heights
      3. Note
    3. CHAPTER 13: Like a Moth to Flame
      1. The Moths
      2. The Flame
      3. Quantitative Easing
      4. The Central Bank's Reign of Error
      5. Notes
    4. CHAPTER 14: Fuzzy Numbers
      1. Administrative Bias
      2. Inflation
      3. Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
      4. And All the Rest
      5. Notes
    5. CHAPTER 15: Crumbling Before Our Eyes
      1. The Story of … Concrete?
      2. Summing It Up
      3. Notes
  9. PART IV: Energy
    1. CHAPTER 16: Energy and the Economy
      1. The Master Resource
      2. Energy Budgeting
      3. Net Energy
      4. The Economy and Energy
      5. We Live Like Gods
      6. Notes
    2. CHAPTER 17: Peak Oil
      1. Petro‐Realities
      2. Bombshell! Saudi Arabia Fesses Up to Peak Oil
      3. It's Not “Running Out”
      4. Find First, Then Pump
      5. A Global Peak?
      6. Oil and GDP
      7. The Oil Production Output Gap
      8. Peak Exports
      9. The Ugly Power of Reverse Compounding
      10. Notes
    3. CHAPTER 18: Shale Oil
      1. Shale Oil—Amazing Technology, but Expensive Oil
      2. Shale Oil—Game Changer or Retirement Party?
      3. Fledged on a Cliff
      4. International Shale
      5. Notes
    4. CHAPTER 19: Necessary but Insufficient
      1. Simple Math
      2. The European Energy Disaster of 2022
      3. The Reality—Time, Scale, Cost, Limits
      4. The Nuclear Option
      5. The Coal Story
      6. The Alternatives—Solar and Wind
      7. Biofuels
      8. Natural Gas
      9. Hydrogen
      10. Conclusion
      11. Notes
    5. CHAPTER 20: Why Technology Can't Fix This
      1. Fact 1: Technology Does Not Create Energy
      2. Fact 2: Transforming Energy Is Expensive
      3. Fact 3: Energy Transitions Take Time
      4. Why Technology Can't Fix This
      5. Note
  10. PART V: Environment
    1. CHAPTER 21: Minerals
      1. Quantity and Quality (Again)
      2. Economic Growth and Minerals
      3. The End of an Era
      4. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
      5. Gone with the Wind
      6. Notes
    2. CHAPTER 22: Soil
      1. Do We Heat or Do We Eat?
      2. The Important Difference Between Soil and Dirt
      3. Exporting Nutrients
      4. The High (Energy) Cost of Low‐Cost Fertilizers
      5. Soil Erosion and Desertification
      6. Conclusion
      7. Notes
    3. CHAPTER 23: Parched
      1. Running Dry
      2. What Lies Beneath
      3. Exporting Water—The Food Story
      4. The Food Bubble
      5. Energy and Water
      6. The Future of Water
      7. Notes
    4. CHAPTER 24: All Fished Out
      1. The Oxygen You Breathe
      2. The Great Thiamine (B1) Mystery
      3. The Bottom Line
      4. Notes
    5. CHAPTER 25: What Do You Mean We're Running Out of Sand?
  11. PART VI: Convergence
    1. CHAPTER 26: Where Have All the Insects Gone?
    2. CHAPTER 27: The Bumpy Path to 2030
      1. The Foundation
      2. “Unsustainable”
      3. Convergence: The Timeline
      4. This Time Is Different
      5. Notes
  12. PART VII: What Should I Do?
    1. CHAPTER 28: The Good News
      1. Technology
      2. Food
      3. Energy
      4. Economy and Money
      5. Population
      6. A New Narrative
      7. The Good News …
      8. Notes
    2. CHAPTER 29: Closing the Book on Growth
      1. Note
    3. CHAPTER 30: What Should I Do?
      1. Simpler, Harder, and More Expensive
      2. Becoming Resilient
      3. The Bare Minimum
      4. Where to Live
      5. Insufficient, but Necessary
      6. Set Targets
      7. Being in Service
      8. Step 0
      9. The Importance of Community
      10. What's the First Thing I Should Do?
    4. CHAPTER 31: Build Up Your Capital!
      1. Home
      2. Health
      3. The Spiritual Side
      4. Wealth
      5. The Great Wealth Transfer
      6. Community Capital
      7. Conclusion
  13. Appendix
  14. Index
  15. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: The Crash Course, Revised Edition
  • Author(s): Chris Martenson
  • Release date: March 2023
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781394168866