by RichardGirling (Author)
Selfishness and greed have been our tools of survival from the very beginning, ever since our earliest forebears climbed down from the trees and set off across the savannah in search of God. Evolution has given us an instinct that is as crucial to our survival as fear or sex but, in the third millennium, greed has become a juggernaut that is steering out of control: The world's most expensive sandwich = GBP85, London. The world's most expensive dinner = GBP17,563, Bangkok. A sacked national football coach waiting out his contract = GBP13,000 a day. The world cannot go on fulfilling the demands we make of it but the juggernaut is showing no signs of slowing down. And yet we can still appreciate the genius of those whose ambitions have created works of art, gourmet food, brilliant technologies ...Spanning across a whole range of issues including obesity, American evangelism, the Iraq war and GM food, Greed is not just a lament for lost innocence or an assault on the fat cats - it's also a celebration of all that greed has prompted us to achieve. It began as a primitive instinct but greed has become a driving force so powerful it is capable of over-riding everything in its path. This is its story.
Format: Paperback
Pages: 368
Publisher: Doubleday
Published: 26 Mar 2009
ISBN 10: 0385613288
ISBN 13: 9780385613286
Book Overview: A biography of our primary instinct and how it took us out of our caves, and on to levels of extraordinary creativity but is now sending us careering towards our destruction.