Maybe One: A Case for Smaller Families

Rating:
Summary: The most important book in contemporary America
Review: Maybe One by Bill McKibben

The importance of this book to the near future of the United States is hard to exaggerate. It is a must for every young American, and everyone who cares about the quality of human life and of the environment.

McKibben's premise is this: if large numbers of people choose to limit their families to one child, the maximum population of the United States will be lower by a critical amount.

Most environmental thinkers recognize the central role of population growth in environment issues, including in this country. The United States is the third most populous country in the world, and the fastest growing industrialized nation. Bill McKibben has the courage to tell the truth: the only way to limit population growth is to choose small families. Deciding how many children to have, like it or not, is more than a private decision. It is very much a decision that will effect the quality of life of all Americans over the next 100 years.

McKibben gently demolishes long-held beliefs in the poor adjustment of only children. He also argues against legislated population control, though one might make the case that such measures may become necessary if voluntary family limits fail.

McKibben's relaxed, peppy style makes this book accessible to everyone, and his topic is the most important one for contemporary America.

Rating:
Summary: Necessary and about time
Review: Maybe One is an important book that is sure to ruffle a lot of feathers. Bill McKibben's background might for some evoke a walking contradiction and, indeed, his argument for single-child families could perpetuate that image. However, I prefer to view McKibben and his "argument" as complex, not easily lumped into a neat category, and willing to be unpopular--compelling qualities in both books and people. I have recommended (highly) this book to friends who, like my husband and me, have determined to raise an only child and whose decision has been met with disbelief or disdain. I have also praised it to people in my life who have been unsupportive of our decision to have one child. So if McKibben had simply taken on the role of only-child cheerleader, I must admit that I would be first in line to buy Maybe One if only for a validation of my own life choice. But McKibben is not in the easy business of validation. His scientific, historically grounded appro! ach is first and foremost about irrefutable consequence, whether the reader has ten children, one, or none at all.

Rating:
Summary: Argument Based on Fallacy
Review: Why did I have to even give it one star? The problem that someone should point out is that McKibben's book has as its core basis a fallacious argument. The United States, like every other developed nation is not growing because of the rate of reproduction of its population but because of immigration. If he had chosen to focus on a way to slow population growth and improve economies in the developing nations and thereby probably reduce the rate of immigration his argument would be stronger but since he didn't it doesn't matter what he says because once the core reason for his book is proven wrong, why should we believe any other argument he wishes to make?