THE COLLAPSE OF COMPLEX SOCIETIES FREE DOWNLOAD Joseph A. Tainter,Lord Colin Renfrew,Wendy Ashmore,Clive Gamble,John O'Shea | 262 pages | 04 May 2011 | CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS | 9780521386739 | English | Cambridge, United Kingdom Joseph Tainter We invent an improvement and then gobble up it's benefit instead of banking it away against lean times. He provides a thorough overview of the many explanations offered by historians to explain the many frequent occurrences of societal collapse throughout history. About Joseph A. Here's a link to some comparison between this book and Diamond's Collapse. It is often assumed that the collapse of the western Roman Empire was a catastrophe for everyone involved. Tainter begins by categorizing and examining the often inconsistent explanations that have been offered The Collapse of Complex Societies collapse in the literature. Introduction to collapse. Li Liu. Oct 04, J. Sort order. At worst, it seems to suggest that complex societies that collapse must be isolated, or else that all their neighbours being less complex counts as such. Joseph Tainter. Tainter examines several major cultures that show a rise in complexity and expansion in territory followed by a collapse and decline. Hope he's wrong. Civilization is more the exception than the rule. Yet, it lives up to the title: aiming and broadly succeeding to argue the causes for collapse. May 11, S rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Hard-nosed humanists; social-economical historians. Professor Pickney documents the same process in the present day economy. This is a historical analysis, with applicability to our age that's noted only lightly along the way: it's not a political position paper, though it could be. Apr 16, Peter rated it liked it Shelves: essays-reports-social-sci. It is in this way a sort of counterpart to Earle and Johnson's The Evolution of Human Societies: From Foraging The Collapse of Complex Societies to Agrarian Statewhich advanced explanations for increases in social compexity and integration. It deserves to be widely read. Show less Show more Advertising ON OFF We use cookies to serve you certain types of adsincluding ads relevant to your interests on Book Depository and to work with approved third parties in the process of delivering ad content, including ads relevant to your interests, to measure the effectiveness of their ads, and to perform services on behalf of Book Depository. This volume, published inaddresses trends explaining the collapse of civilizations in history, as well as the chances of our present global civilization collapsing. Rating details. Lisa C. I'd say to give the early First off, this is more like a long academic paper than a book. Jul 22, Muhamed Halilovic The Collapse of Complex Societies it really liked it. This was a quite interesting book. The marginal product of increasing complexity with technological innovation or acquisition of The Collapse of Complex Societies energy subsidy. To me. Linked as we are by globalization, if any one nation collapses, they'll just be bailed out and subsumed by another. It is a very reasonable start and encouraging— refreshing even, to be able to sit back and disregard so many ridiculous reasons that complex things fall apart. Paperbackpages. However, this incisiveness may come at the expense of nuanced, cautious, and case-specific history: Tainter is very much set on finding a 'global theory,' which can explain the recurring phenomenon of collapse found in any given place. Tainter, who first ch. The Chacoan regional system A D A dry read, yes. May 17, Pacific Lee rated it it was ok. Surely there will someday be one road The Collapse of Complex Societies many, if not already! So, I wouldn't say this is for the layman. View all 4 comments. He rejects outlooks that can't be backed by empirical The Collapse of Complex Societies. The clincher comes at the final chapter when Tainter outlines the implications of his theory on our current industrial and global civilization. When a society confronts a "problem," such as a shortage of energy, or difficulty in gaining access to it, it tends to create new layers of bureaucracy, infrastructure, or social class to address the challenge. The civilization plateau's and the structure established to help it The Collapse of Complex Societies becomes a part of society. That doesn't sound right. Causal The Collapse of Complex Societies that judge the underlying "character" or "vitality" of a civilization are dismissed out of hand as baseless moralizing. However, as the Empire The Collapse of Complex Societies, the cost of maintaining communications, garrisons, civil government, etc. We're featuring millions of their reader ratings on our book pages to help you find your new favourite book. James Whitley. Tainter does a good job with his argument, which I admit even I though I disagree with it in part. We have to keep investing in complexity even beyond declining returns just to maintain the status quo and not fall behind in economic or military stature, the alternative being demise and subjugation by others. If you think we might be on our way to becoming a case study of collapse, read this work now. If you think we might be on o Dazzlingly brilliant, readable, profoundly insightful, this is a must-read for anyone thinking about what societal collapse means and how it comes about. The impacts of inflation devaluation and the plague are self-evident, but Tainter has only mentioned regulations once in his analysis section. Intense, authoritarian efforts to maintain cohesion by Domitian and Constantine the Great only led to an ever greater strain on the population. Just in case society does collapse, I'll document the fall here, so at least at the end I can say "I told ya so! This is of course the situation we have today. .