The Dragonfly Will Be the Messiah
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-09-12 09:51:52
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Masanobu Fukuoka
- ISBN：0241514444
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Summary
In twenty short books， Penguin brings you the classics of the environmental movement。
In The Dragonfly Will Be the Messiah， the celebrated pioneer of the 'do-nothing' farming method reflects on global ecological trauma and argues that we must radically transform our understanding of both nature and ourselves in order to have any chance of healing。
Over the past 75 years， a new canon has emerged。 As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans， visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet， and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration。 Their words have endured through the decades， becoming the classics of a movement。 Together， these books show the richness of environmental thought， and point the way to a fairer， saner， greener world。
In The Dragonfly Will Be the Messiah， the celebrated pioneer of the 'do-nothing' farming method reflects on global ecological trauma and argues that we must radically transform our understanding of both nature and ourselves in order to have any chance of healing。
Over the past 75 years， a new canon has emerged。 As life on Earth has become irrevocably altered by humans， visionary thinkers around the world have raised their voices to defend the planet， and affirm our place at the heart of its restoration。 Their words have endured through the decades， becoming the classics of a movement。 Together， these books show the richness of environmental thought， and point the way to a fairer， saner， greener world。
Reviews
Miki
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Masanobu Fukuoka’s short text， The Dragonfly Will Be the Messiah （Green Ideas） is part of a larger body of work titled， Sowing Seeds in the Desert。 The premise of this short snippet sounded wonderful （hence why I requested it）。 However， I struggled to finish reading it。As someone who can’t keep anything alive， I appreciated Fukuoka’s hands-off approach to farming。 I think that some of his research findings are interesting。 However， without using a scientific method， readers can’t believe his fin Masanobu Fukuoka’s short text， The Dragonfly Will Be the Messiah （Green Ideas） is part of a larger body of work titled， Sowing Seeds in the Desert。 The premise of this short snippet sounded wonderful （hence why I requested it）。 However， I struggled to finish reading it。As someone who can’t keep anything alive， I appreciated Fukuoka’s hands-off approach to farming。 I think that some of his research findings are interesting。 However， without using a scientific method， readers can’t believe his findings and even Fukuoka notes that the results may not be accurate。 His beliefs are phrased as truths without any scientific data or research to back up his ideas。 At one point， Fukuoka notes， “Although the climate and other conditions are different， I believe that this basic method will also work in revegetating the deserts。”I was also curious about the translation as there is some awkward phrasing， such as， “All the confusion， all the agony that had obsessed me disappeared with the morning mist。” Furthermore， there are vague sentences such as this one: “One Sunday， five or six soldiers from the nearby air force unit came to visit on their day off。 […] The following morning they disappeared into the southern sky。 It still breaks my heart to recall the boyish faces of those young men。” I’m not sure why it broke the author’s heart “to recall the boyish faces of those young men” as it’s not clear from the text。Although nature lovers may enjoy this text， I worry that Fukuoka romanticizes and oversimplifies nature and the past。 If my Japanese was better， I’d read the original in order to determine if the concerns I have are also present in the original text or if it’s the translation。I may not be the target reader， but there is definitely a reader out there who would love this！ I would recommend this short work to readers interested in nature， geography and/or philosophy。My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Classics for allowing me to read an ARC of this short classic in return for an honest review。 I greatly appreciate it！ 。。。more
GONZA
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Masanobu Fukuoka is a famous botanist who for 75 years has been pursuing the theory of non-doing agriculture （The Natural Way of Farming）， which in turn is inspired by the Buddhist concept of Mu （without）。This is a kind of history of his thought， from the first revelations before the Second World War to a whole series of practical ideas to put， or rather not put， agriculture in motion， leaving it to nature itself。Unfortunately， my knowledge of botany is very poor so I can not base on factual dat Masanobu Fukuoka is a famous botanist who for 75 years has been pursuing the theory of non-doing agriculture （The Natural Way of Farming）， which in turn is inspired by the Buddhist concept of Mu （without）。This is a kind of history of his thought， from the first revelations before the Second World War to a whole series of practical ideas to put， or rather not put， agriculture in motion， leaving it to nature itself。Unfortunately， my knowledge of botany is very poor so I can not base on factual data my reaction a little bit of bewilderment and a little bit of disbelief that caused me this little ebook， but let's just say that I would love that what the author wrote was not only very feasible， but absolutely functional。 Masanobu Fukuoka é un botanico molto famoso che da 75 anni porta avanti la teoria dell'agricoltura del non fare， che si ispira a sua volta al concetto buddista del Mu （senza）。Questa é una specie di storia del suo pensiero， dalle prime rivelazioni prima della seconda guerra mondiali a tutta una serie di idee pratica per mettere， anzi non mettere， in moto l'agricoltura lasciando praticamente fare alla natura stessa。Purtroppo le mie nozioni di botanica sono scarsissime quindi non posso fondare su dati di fatto la mia reazione un po' di sconcerto e un po' di incredulitá che mi ha causato questo piccolo ebook， ma diciamo pure che mi piacerebbe tanto che quanto scritto dall'autore fosse non solo molto praticabile， ma assolutamente funzionante。 I received from the Publisher a complimentary digital advanced review copy of the book in exchange for a honest review。 。。。more
Sarah
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1。5 rounded upHaving recently read and enjoyed another book from the Green Ideas series I was looking forward to picking this up， but I'm sad to report this was a big disappointment。This reads like a heavily abbreviated version of a full length book by Masanobu Fukuoka （I can't quite find which one！） and in some ways it's difficult to review an excerpt of a longer piece when you're unsure if better context might make a text hang together better， but suffice it to say that this made for a frustra 1。5 rounded upHaving recently read and enjoyed another book from the Green Ideas series I was looking forward to picking this up， but I'm sad to report this was a big disappointment。This reads like a heavily abbreviated version of a full length book by Masanobu Fukuoka （I can't quite find which one！） and in some ways it's difficult to review an excerpt of a longer piece when you're unsure if better context might make a text hang together better， but suffice it to say that this made for a frustrating read for this reader。 Fukuoka is known for his 'do nothing' method of farming but I found this essay-length book left me more confused than before I read it as to what he actually stood for -- his ideas and written manifesto for an alternative method of farming felt problematic， unrealistic and outdated; some ideas seemed like they'd cause more harm than good。 All the research was anecdotal and not based in actual legitimate scientific studies。 On a positive note， the text is presented in an accessible manner and made for a quick read but I'm afraid to say the ideas are not ones that will stick with me。 I'm optimistic the third book in the series that I have an ARC of - Man's War Against Nature - will be more my cup of tea。Thank you Netgalley and Penguin UK for the advance copy， which was provided in exchange for an honest review。 。。。more
Thomas Vos
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Lijkt een samenraapsel van losse teksten en dus weinig samenhang。 Nodigt wel uit om eens een echt boek te lezen。
Stephanie Jane
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See more of my book reviews on my blog， Literary FlitsPenguin's 'Green Ideas' series is a new publication of twenty short books each written by an eminent environmental thinker and focusing on different aspects of our planet's environmental crisis。 I am grateful to Penguin for sending me review copies of five of these works and， on the strength of what I have read so far， I look forward to completing the set myself。I didn't find The Dragonfly Will Be the Messiah as easy to get into as the previo See more of my book reviews on my blog， Literary FlitsPenguin's 'Green Ideas' series is a new publication of twenty short books each written by an eminent environmental thinker and focusing on different aspects of our planet's environmental crisis。 I am grateful to Penguin for sending me review copies of five of these works and， on the strength of what I have read so far， I look forward to completing the set myself。I didn't find The Dragonfly Will Be the Messiah as easy to get into as the previous two Green Ideas books I read， The Democracy Of Species by Robin Wall Kimmerer and This Can't Be Happening by George Monbiot。 Fukuoka seemed to jump between ideas too frequently so this book felt bitty。 That said though， it still packs in lots of intriguing food for thought。 Through it I have newly discovered Fukuoka's 'do nothing farming' system， elements of which reminded my of the Native American 'Three Sisters' agricultural method。 The aim is to work with nature rather than to attempt to impose upon it - an idea which seems blindingly obvious when Fukuoka explains how his farm works， yet is completely at odds with most Western farming practices。The Dragonfly Will Be the Messiah is an excerpt from the longer work， Sowing Seeds In The Desert， which I am now curious to read and am also keen to find a copy of Fukuoka's even earlier work， The One Straw Revolution， which gets a couple of mentions。 I think despite its 1970s publication， will be quite the eye-opening read。 I love how Penguin's Green Ideas series is bringing to my attention amazing thinkers who might otherwise have passed me by。 。。。more
Alex Sarll
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I had such high hopes for this one。 Penguin's various Ideas series are lovely little books， even if reading this as a Netgalley ARC meant I wouldn't get the physical satisfaction of the pocketable paperback。 The title， obviously; I do love a dragonfly， and I was just recently saying how since they'd made it through the last three great extinctions， they would quite likely dart through our current one too。 The author is known for preaching 'Do-Nothing Farming'， and as someone who always grumps fo I had such high hopes for this one。 Penguin's various Ideas series are lovely little books， even if reading this as a Netgalley ARC meant I wouldn't get the physical satisfaction of the pocketable paperback。 The title， obviously; I do love a dragonfly， and I was just recently saying how since they'd made it through the last three great extinctions， they would quite likely dart through our current one too。 The author is known for preaching 'Do-Nothing Farming'， and as someone who always grumps for a couple of days when the communal garden gets mown， weeded or whatever， discomfiting the bees， that sounds like a movement I can get behind。 And he opens with a joyous description of the green epiphany which， back before the Second World War， set him on this path:"I saw nature directly。 It was pure and radiant， what I imagined heaven to be。 I saw the mountains and rivers， the grasses and trees， the flowers， the small birds and the butterflies as if for the first time。 I felt the throbbing of life， delighted in hearing the songbirds and the sound of rustling leaves。 I became as light as the wings of a dragonfly， and felt as if I were flying as high as the mountain peaks。"Alas， it's downhill from there。 One potentially promising section starts with Fukuoka's observations of how rice， left to its own devices， will naturally hybridise， even outside its own species – but anything we might have gleaned from that is lost by his conclusion that this shows we simply shouldn't classify plants at all: "We would be better off simply appreciating all the diverse forms nature has provided and not interfering。" History is full of apparently love-filled revelation which led to nasty places， and here's another one for the list。 Mysticism， founded as it must be on experiences which can only be imperfectly captured by a language not evolved to handle them， can very easily shade into anti-intellectualism， but this is a particularly unabashed example: "Actually， I think people would be better off without words altogether。" Talking to another writer about their works， Fukuoka says "I've written mine with the idea that books are not useful at all。" When he talks about how each fresh discovery science makes just leaves people with more questions， wanting to know yet more， he seems genuinely to think that's a bad thing。 One of several points where I once more lamented that I was reading this as an ebook， but this time because if I'd had a physical copy， I could have thrown it across the room without worrying about knackering my 'phone。So it continues。 At best， the book's middle section offers statements of the bleeding obvious: "Even if we speak of the freedom of capitalism， one cannot wilfully act with unlimited freedom， and not everything can be distributed equally， as communism suggests。" Yes， middlemen often screw over both farmers and customers when it comes to the price of food – but now， to the inherent evils of that， we can add the second-order consequence that it might encourage people to seek answers in a philosophy as noxious as this。 Because when we're not getting time-worn cliches presented as stunning new information in the manner you'd expect to find on a local newspaper's letters page （"I call it 'the mad course of genetic engineering。'"）， we're often being ushered into the territory where hippy twaddle goes from vaguely annoying to outright worrying。 Fukuoka pushes back against Darwin with a classic misunderstanding of his theories: "One question I have about this theory is: What basis was used to determine which species are higher or lower， and which are strong or weak？" Yet he manages the remarkable double of apparently being fine with social Darwinism; he's fine with letting pests "thin out the weakest individuals" on his farm， and his scepticism of medicine suggests the same holds for the wider world too。 "To speak of creatures as beneficial insects， harmful insects， pathogenic bacteria， or troublesome birds is like saying the right hand is good and the left hand is bad。" "The only thing for people to decide is how they can best achieve a death that complies with nature's will。" I've no interest in prolonging life when its quality has fled， but this seems to go a long way past that。 Even when it comes to re-vegetating deserts， one of the other things with which he's most associated， he seems to go maddeningly back and forth。 So far as I can make out， his conclusion is that natural deserts are fine but man-made ones should be re-greened。 From which it presumably follows that if some cosmic catastrophe threatened Earth， we should let nature take its course there too， and have all these precious ecosystems wiped out？ Or is only Earthbound nature which he counts as nature？This is， of course， only an excerpt from a longer 1996 work， The Ultimatum Of GOD NATURE （though isn't that a classic green ink title？）。 Possibly it has been excerpted in such a way as to make the original writer look bad， or perhaps Larry Korn's translation is to blame， though certainly that has never been my experience of the Ideas range in the past。 Certainly it sounds as if Fukuoka's practical impact on the world， especially in terms of encouraging sustainable farming， was far more beneficial than you'd expect from reading this。 Towards the end one even starts to glimpse how， with sections on pine blight， soil exhaustion and desertification that deplore short-term solutions （chemical spraying， building monumental dams and so forth） in favour of taking a holistic approach and addressing the wider causes。 Here we get detailed， plausible， practical information on fixes。 But that is precisely to apply the human quest for knowledge， and science， and book-larnin'， and all those things the early sections of the book have been deploring， and use them to wise ends – rather than the retreat into quietist mulch which Fukuoka has been advocating。 。。。more
B。S。 Casey
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