by Paul Williams
Recommended by Steve Jobs
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A compact, strange little manifesto that reframes value around 'human energy' rather than land or capital, written in a hybrid of aphorism, lyricism, and polemic. Its useful part is imaginative reframing: useful as a provocation or source of rhetorical sparks. Its main limitation is vagueness and repetition—claims are often poetic rather than operational, and the commune-era assumptions feel dated to some readers. Lacks hands-on exercises or concrete policy detail; better as stimulus than as instruction.
This summary and audience guidance are AI-generated from the book's description and its recommendation history, last updated June 2026. Recommendations, quotes and sources elsewhere on this page come from published material and are not generated.
In this "strange little book" that grew out of the author's experiences living in an experimental commune during the early '70s, "capital" has replaced "land" as the key to human economy. Now is the time for human energy to replace both capital and land as the essential human possession, with which all other things can be achieved....
Difficulty:hard
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Recommended by 2 sources and appears in Most Recommended Books, Philosophy, and Social Sciences.
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Consider The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. Recommended by 8 sources.
“Soft-spoken, heavily illustrated fable built from short dialogues and watercolor sketches. Each spread pairs a spare line of text with a loose drawing, so the pleasure is visual and aphoristic rather than narrative; readers collect felt-true sentences more than plot. Most useful when you want quick consolations, a prompt for conversation with a child, or a pause during a rough day. Limiting if you want sustained argument, concrete advice, or tightly plotted storytelling: the repetition of gentleness can feel sentimental or thin after a while.”
Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.
