Preface : "a book for all and none" -- Introduction : "nothing comes from nothing" -- "What chemistry!" -- "There are gods here too" -- "Cosmos out of chaos" -- "There is no wealth but life" -- Epilogue : taking stock

"What value can the study of ancient literature, history, and philosophy contribute to the modern world's ecological and economic challenges? Are older ways of thinking and living worth our time to consider, or to reconsider? Are they viable modes of engagement with the world today? Ancient peoples, despite all their pillaging and plundering, had an advantage over us: they were pre-industrialized, pre-digital, pre-capitalist, pre-reductionist, pre-postmodern, pre-posthuman. Innocent of our technology-enhanced disconnectedness from Nature, the Greeks and Romans retained an "earthiness" and proximity to the sources of their survival that many people living in developed countries no longer possess today. Classicist, farmer, and sustainability thinker and advocate M.D. Usher argues that we have much to re-learn from the ancients, and not only from their mistakes. All schools of ancient philosophy based their arguments on the premise that human behavior should align with states of affairs found in Nature, a principle epitomized by Latin authors in the phrase secundum naturam--following Nature's lead. In choosing how to live, work, and interact on an imperiled planet, it is imperative we do the same. Since our scientific understanding of Nature is much better now than it was in antiquity, our ethical responses, Usher argues, should be adjusted accordingly. Ancient ways of being in the world just might provide the counterbalance we need to find a productive alternative to unlimited technological, economic, and scientific growth"--

"In the spirit of E.F. Schumacher's Small Is Beautiful, a dazzling and revelatory exploration of what ancient ideas and ways of living can teach us about creating a more sustainable world. How should we think and live in a world facing environmental catastrophe? In this urgent, original, and wide-ranging book, classicist and farmer M.D. Usher brings together ancient, indigenous, and modern ideas about how to live in this world and describes how we might begin to reconnect with Nature and heal our damagedplanet and lives. The ancients hewed close to Nature, the source of their survival, in ways that most of us can scarcely conceive of today, and ancient philosophy often argues that humans should follow Nature's lead. Usher makes the case that Nature's resilience can serve as a model for our own responses to climate trauma and all the other harms caused by modern lifestyles. Drawing on philosophy, science, economics, art, literature, history, and religion, Following Nature's Lead is both an indictment of human overreach and a celebration of human ingenuity and the adaptability of Nature. Here, Plato meets German biologist Jakob von Uexküll, Lucretius illuminates King Lear, and Diogenes the Cynic crosses swords with Henry Thoreau. Filled with vital and inspiring insights, Following Nature's Lead shows how the ancients can help teach us to live in accordance with Nature--and why it's essential for human survival that we learn to do so without delay"--