This book takes an extensive (and extremely exhausting) look at issue that can cause the collapse of society. Some of those factors include climate change, environmental damage, population growth, and poor political choices. Societies all over the world, across centuries, have faced many of these issues. Some survived, some did not. Currently, there are several societies facing these issues, including the United States. This book was recommended to me by someone in one of my Cultural Anthropology classes, and I picked it up because I thought it would be useful. It did have some interesting points and good information, but it bored me to tears. The only reason I gave it two stars was because of the interesting points and good information. Otherwise, I hated it and would absolutely never read it again.