I really like Ruby Wax and – to be honest – felt like I needed to read some good news in 2020, so this seemed like a good book for me right now.
This book is packed with ‘good news’ – ways in which humanity is making steps forward in various fields that are often unreported by the doom-and-gloom mass media.
It was really heartening to read of some really positive projects and people really making a difference, from a global project setting up ecovillages to those individuals helping refugees on the front line in camps in Greece. There are some really worrying and harrowing stories alongside the cheeriness – it is useful (but sad) to see the extent of the problem before Wax shows us the people and projects trying to fix the issues.
Wax also looks at technological advances and the ways in which businesses are embracing more sustainable models and developments in education so that schools become more than exam factories. In order to do all this, she travels widely and meets lots of interesting people. This all makes for engaging reading as Wax relates all this with her trademark humour and self-deprecation.
One of the slightly odder things about the book is that it was written pre-pandemic so it doesn’t grapple with that at all. However, Wax has added some footnotes and a little bit of an introduction to explain this so it is not a problem – just strange to read the optimism with the hindsight of what has actually happened!
All in all, this is an uplifting and hopeful book and one that I would recommend to anyone who feels that the world is headed in the wrong direction. I can’t quite embrace the mindfulness that Wax endorses so enthusiastically, but I’m totally on board with all the other messages in this engaging and positive book.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Header photo with thanks to Jon Tyson for sharing their work on Unsplash.