---
product_id: 1365039
title: "The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet Hardcover – April 9, 2013"
brand: "ramez naam"
price: "A$54"
currency: AUD
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/1365039-the-infinite-resource-the-power-of-ideas-on-a-finite
store_origin: AU
region: Australia
---

# The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet Hardcover – April 9, 2013

**Brand:** ramez naam
**Price:** A$54
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet Hardcover – April 9, 2013 by ramez naam
- **How much does it cost?** A$54 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.com.au](https://www.desertcart.com.au/products/1365039-the-infinite-resource-the-power-of-ideas-on-a-finite)

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Innovation to the rescue!
  

*by B***G on Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2013*

I think of myself as a "rational optimist." A couple of years ago, I read and reviewed a book of that title by Matt Ridley. Ridley's central theme is the crucial role of trade in the growth of civilization and human well-being - starting with the trade of goods and services that allowed people to become specialized, resulting in more of everything for everyone. But when people learned to trade in ideas, that led to innovation, stimulating the growth of science, technology, and social institutions - things like universities, democracy, and the market economy are all inventions of the human mind (usually many human minds).I just read another book on this same general idea, the critical role of innovation and the exchange of ideas. I really like "The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet" by Ramez Naam. Ideas and innovations truly are an infinite resource, and Naam believes (as do I) that in most situations, market forces are the most effective way to implement ideas and solve problems. He also believes that the major area where the market has failed is in "tragedy of the commons," situations such as pollution of air and water, over-fishing, and greenhouse gas emissions. When there is no direct cost for the use or abuse of such shared resources, these "externalities" cannot be affected by market forces. When such factors do have associated costs, these can drive innovation to find better solutions faster than (say) direct government regulation. Reduction of acid rain and the recovery of the Antarctic "ozone hole" are examples of the success of this approach. It could work for greenhouse gases, too, even if ideas like a carbon tax or carbon trade credits sound scary to some people. Even if some energy prices were to go up temporarily, it would provide the incentive for innovative people and companies to find ways to lower costs and gain a competitive advantage. Innovation needs something to work on, and when it has it, it can work fast.Naam believes that we have plenty of resources on this planet to support 10 billion or more people in American-level affluence if we can learn to use resources more efficiently, especially the huge influx of solar energy that hits the Earth every day. Certainly "old solar" (fossil fuel) resources like oil, gas, and coal are finite. As he says, "Every solar panel built makes solar energy cheaper. Every barrel of oil extracted makes oil more expensive." He also advocates some innovations that are controversial, such as genetically modified organisms (GMO's) in the food supply and increased nuclear power as part of our energy solution. I agree with him on these points. The alternatives are worse - we need GMO's to improve yields and nutritional value, and to reduce pesticide use (and forest clearing) if we are to support billions more humans in the next 30+ years. And although we are everywhere bathed in more than enough solar energy to run the planet with safe, local, non-carbon-emitting power for billions of years, until innovation leads to more advanced storage systems for dark and windless times, solar and wind power can only be part of the energy solution. Burning more coal is bad for a number of reasons, including carbon emissions and radiation (coal plants release more radiation into the atmosphere than nuclear power plants).I think this book is well worth reading for fresh perspectives on innovation, environmental issues, and much more. I will finish with a couple of quotes that I like:Our problem in the near term is not that resources are in short supply. It's that we use those resources incredibly inefficiently, with side effects we have yet to eliminate.For all practical effects and purposes, our growth is unbounded. If we choose wisely, and tap into the right resources, while acting together to put limits on the negative side effects and externalities of our actions, then we can grow for at least centuries to come, and perhaps longer.Our only limit, for the foreseeable future, is our collective intelligence in innovating, and in putting in place the systems to guide our collective behavior.Easier said than done, I know, and if you live in the US, such optimism may be especially hard to fathom at the moment, as the Republican controlled House of Representatives holds us all hostage in an ideologically driven federal government shutdown and threatened debt default. But I still believe that enough humans on this planet are sane and clever that we will probably make it through the next few hundred years, with more humans every year living better off than ever before. Just maybe not in the US.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    An idea came out of reading a wonderful book by Ramez Naam
  

*by D***C on Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2015*

A modified form of this began as a letter sent to Jeff Bezos, CEO, at Amazon. The bureaucrats of the Amazon mail room sent it back unopened.  Since one of the two ideas in the letter referenced my evaluation of The infinite resource by Ramez Naam I am posting it here:An idea came out of reading a wonderful book by Ramez Naam, titled The infinite resource:  the power of ideas on a finite planet. After reading it I had an impulse to send gift copies to all the U.S. Senators and Representatives, which unfortunately is beyond my means. That generated this idea. Have you ever considered setting up an annual Amazon Prize for a recent book that best presents constructive ideas for the betterment of society? The selection process should be open to wide public involvement and media coverage, so that the process itself would be conducive to spreading constructive ideas from the candidate books. Perhaps you could make use of C-Span’s BookTV for this. By the time the Prize was announced many of those books could be on the desks of the people who could implement the ideas presented in them. In addition to a monetary award to the winning author, Amazon would send gift copies of the winning book to key public officials.The other idea:  One feature of a great library missing from the experience of on-line book shopping is browsing. I think that a very close simulacrum could be provided. This involves making use of the Dewey Decimal, the Library of Congress, or some other book classification system to order a query. Some filters should be available, such as language, print status (in print or not), and publication date range. While a vertical display of author and title might be more efficient in terms of space considerations, a horizontal presentation with author, title, and perhaps a small icon of the book cover would be closer to the browsing experience. The horizontal list could wrap several times to make better use of screen space. There should be clickable arrow icons at each end of the list to move forward and back—perhaps two icons at either end:  one for single stepping and one for page stepping. The items in the list should be clickable to take the user to the Amazon page for the chosen book. If the user initiates the query from a particular book, that book would appear in the center of the initial presentation. For example, if the screen presentation was made in five rows, the book from which the browse request was initiated would appear in the center of the third row. If the user did not have an appropriate book to start his subject search he should be able to click to initially generate the top level classifications of the Dewey, Library of Congress, or whatever subject classification system is used. By successively clicking on sub-classifications and generating new screens he could drill down to the exact subject he was interested in. He should also be able to step back in the classification lists to accommodate a flexible subject search. From the final point of his search he could initiate the query.To the reader of this review who finds merit in these ideas and knows how to forward them to Mr. Bezos for his consideration:  your assistance would be warmly appreciated.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Will Tech Be Our Saving Grace?
  

*by C***N on Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2013*

A good overview of the likely set of global challenges our generation and our children's generation face, and of the most likely way out of the problem. I like the way the author uses the metaphor of the global brain, and the notion that ideas undergo a turbocharged form of evolution via a form of natural selection.As Ray Kurzweil does in his writings, the author spends quite a bit of time reminding us how technology, ideas, and their impact on society grows exponentially. While we tend to overestimate the effect of exponential growth in the short term, we underestimate it in the long term. Although year to year we don't necessarily feel the impact of better ideas and technology on our lives, the author effectively illustrates the huge jumps we have made in productivity, resource efficiency, and overall well-being compared to the corresponding levels just a few generations ago. And the size of the global brain (the number of people able to contribute to the set of ideas available to first world citizens), which has grown by hundreds of millions over the past century, is set to grow by billions this century. It is this resource, argues the author, that is humanity's greatest resource, and could be its saving grace, considering the problems our environment faces.One hopes that the power of ideas and technology will be enough to overcome the monumental challenges which face us in the coming 30-60 years. The author does a reasonable job of persuading the reader of a hopeful outlook, but history has taught us that the future usually turns out different from how even the smartest people envision it. The best ideas of humanity generally prevailed in the last century. Let's hope they do so in this one as well.

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*Last updated: 2026-02-27*