Dirt

The Erosion of Civilizations

De: David R. Montgomery

Narrado por: Tim Lundeen

Dirt, soil, call it what you want, it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting audiobook finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are, and have long been, using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations.

A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.

Produced and published by Echo Point Books & Media, an independent bookseller in Brattleboro, Vermont.

©2012 David R. Montgomery (P)2024 Echo Point Books & Media, LLC

Will forever change the way I farm.

Here is not only a history of civilizations’ soils, but also a manual for how to feed the earth’s present and future. Just the right blend of science, history, humor, and practical down-to-earth (as it were) advice for how to garden on your farm/garden/urban flower pot in a way that respects the tiny sliver of usable dirt that supports all our lives and dreams.

The narration is measured, articulate, and well paced to absorbing concepts which might be new and sometimes confusing to non-scientists.

Revelatory

A couple of years ago, I started to understand what I think I first heard Derrick Jensen say in an interview a long time ago. Something about how to live sustainably, or in balance or reciprocity with the environment, we have to start with the land.

I think I first started to figure out what this meant after reading Dick Manning's Grassland: The History, Biology, Politics, And Promise Of The American Prairie, Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization and James Scott's book, Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States.

The most profound realization I got from these books is that human beings can't eat grass, but, unfortunately, grass is pretty much all that grows naturally in the arid plains of the Midwest and the rest of the bread baskets of the world. Industrial agriculture is only able to squeeze corn, wheat, and soybeans out of these lands because farmers pour huge amounts of fossil fuel based pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers on these cash crops. Also, irrigation. And, government subsidies. This makes ridiculous, at least in my mind, any claim that vegan, and even just all-plant based diets, are a viable long-term solution to food shortages around the planet given the current global population. There's nothing vegan about industrial monocrop dead-zone agriculture.

Anyway, this book is an amazing companion to the aforementioned Manning titles and really drives home the Jensen point about everything starts with the land, i.e. the soil.

I learned so much from this book, but perhaps the most remarkable piece came in Montgomery's analysis of the American Civil War in which he argues that erosion of southern plantation soils, and thus their drop in productivity, was a contributing factor that lead to the war. This was mind blowing to me.

A must read history of agriculture

This book should be in every history class around the world. This book is so much more than just a book about dirt. It is a book about how poorly regulated civilizations destroy themselves.

Required reading

Follow the money? No! Follow the soil! Required reading for all historians, regulators, investors, politicians. Another example of how short term thinking, profit making and theocracies lead to decline of civilizations and war. Hurray for the organic farmers, the soil scientists, the lovers of nature and everyone striving for a smaller footprint of man.

Crucial Information

This book delivers some of if not the most important information of our time. History is important. And If we can’t learn from our ecological mistakes as a society, then we face a long hard road ahead.

Good history book

I enjoyed the review of the Science mixed in with the history. I will be reading his other books now.

Disturbing

In depth review of past failures per top soil and those looming. The author provides a grim outlook but one that can be redeemed.

Possibly the best book I have ever read

This book is amazing I only read non fiction and only that which increases happiness and ecological awareness and health and consciousness. This foundation of soil and civilizations is amazing I hope now that the hundreds of other books in this category will make it to Audible....soil is our saviour.
Dr Montgomery is the quintessential research genius with detailed references and facts...zI holpe to get this into the hands of screenplay writers and organizations alike as well as grant writers to keep this ball rolling ,...the dissemination of data to prove the critical importance of developing soil science. Bravo Dr Montgomery. Elan Star
Kailua Hawaiin96734

Slow to start but...

As a fan of civilations and history the connection to soil was an enlightning link. The book was a bit repeatative in the beginning but I listened thru to get to the good stuff.

A must read to understand the life cycle of civilizations and how to preserve our society

Might be a bit long, and when the tenth civilization dies you sort of know the mechanisms already. Thank god he had found some good but very harsh examples of the opposite.

That said. Everything you learnt in school about the death of the Roman Empire, the Greeks and even today’s USA is not about what you have been taught.

It’s a must read if you think the current climate crisis is a problem. It’s actually much worse and history keeps repeating. With or without global warming.

Read it, I got a very new perspective on these things.