The Doomsday Book

by Gordon Rattray Taylor

Thames and Hudson, 1970, [Second Impression], ISBN 0500010676, hardcover, dustjacket

Very Good Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, minor rubbing and bumping to edges and corners, previous owners’ inscription on front endpaper; dustjacket shows minor edge and shelf wear with a little rubbing, bumping and chipping, sticker residue on front (see photographs)

“The Doomsday Book is not concerned with pollution alone, nor with the population explosion, nor with the long-term changes which man is making to the climate and the atmosphere.  It brings together into a single picture trends which have hitherto been seen piecemeal and in isolation, and considerers how seriously we should take the warnings of the scientists, how far we should trust the optimism of the technocrats.  For it is technology that is guilty.  It is human inventiveness and skill that is rapidly making the planet uninhabitable.  And this faces us with the inescapable question: must we apply each new advance as soon as it is made, or can we stop to think? For, as the author of this challenging book points out, ‘the technological dream is becoming a nightmare and it is time to wake up, or we may die in our sleep.’