Table of Contents

Introduction New Preface to the 2010 Edition Preface: Heading Home Chapter I Neither Utopia Nor Oblivion The Benefits of Barriers The Inevitability of Adaptation Muddling as Political Adaptation Chapter II An Ecological View of History Our Genetic Heritage: Hunters and Gatherers The Fall from the Garden: Agriculture Making Agriculture Fit: The Elaboration of Culture Renewed Disequilibrium: The Modern Era The Prospects Ahead Chapter III Advancing Technology, Declining Resources The "Easy" Times The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Abundance Outlook on Resources: Minerals, Agriculture, and Energy Failing Technologies Winning Technologies Chapter IV The Subsidence The Relative Price of Raw Materials and Labor The Urban Impact Why Personal Incomes Will Fall The Question of Employment Adam Smith or Thomas Jefferson?

About the Author

Warren Johnson is the former chairman of the Geography Department at San Diego State University. Now retired, he lives sustainably in rural northern California and now, more than thirty years after the initial publication of Muddling Toward Frugality, Professor Johnson is writing a new book called "The End of an Era, not the End of the World" that updates his thinking based on current planetary events.