In the meantime, I find it a questionable, if not pathetic, apologia for megalomaniacal outfits like Coca Cola. Coke is a leader among the pack of those who apparently share a neverending pseudo-quest to combine illusory humanitarianism ("Coca-Cola does a great service because it encourages people to take in more and more liquids") with an unquenchable thirst for global market dominance ("until, eventually, the number one beverage on Earth will be soft-drinks-our soft drinks").
Can we contemplate the notion that 'unlimited growth' and 'sustainability' just might be mutually exclusive? Look up Ecological Economics, my friends. I beg you.
The author proposes a theory and then cites real-world examples that conform to that theory, sometimes rather forcibly. One example: In a section on information, the author said that the Indian auto industry was protected by high tariffs and that it led to its stagnation and decline. The author claimed that it was because the industry "failed to encourage the use of information." Anyone with the slightest knowledge of free market knows that lack of competition was the real cause. Does the rainforest add anything?
At another point, the author pondered on how the eye was (or was not) the result of evolution, and after postulating that incremental evolution was not possible for certain very complex biological structures (such as the eye), he cites the new notions of "intelligent design" and "downward causation". High sounding names, but how do they come about now?? Well, intelligent design must be because evolution is not...As to downward causation, it is, as illustrated by the rainforest, a series of adaptation. Wow, I thought that was evolution.
There was also a lengthy tirade denouncing the Wintel platform's dominance "threatening the infospace." This was taken right out of the annals of the cyberspace sour grapes.
Finally, although the author tries to appear apolitical and centrist, his liberal bias was all too clear - from his dismissive comments about Dick Cheney to his proposal of (government?) setting rules on how software must be created to be modular, with open interface, etc., etc. Whew!
This book was recommended by a number of big name business people, whose businesses got a fair bit of free PR from this book. My recommendation: waste neither money nor time on this book. Do enjoy the rainforest, but learn your business skills by studying the free market instead.