Thinking, fast and slow, Daniel Kahneman, Farrar, Straus & Giroux

toring feedback loops. Interestingly enough, the central diagram on page 530 is underscored by another more complex diagram that has been introduced before and is also printed in a folder attached to the back cover in which eight central figures are reproduced. Even with all these nested figures, the author remains in the traditional field of systems dynamics and does not add something new or spectacular to this field. All these figures show what we already know or what we have seen in similar formats. Being involved in designing frameworks myself, I am totally aware that frameworks are either too specific to be of general use or too comprehensive to be of any specific value. At this point, poststructuralists may be right that given the complexity of our knowledge today, we cannot produce encyclopaedic reviews without sacrificing either precision or breadth. In this sense, Scholz had hardly any other choice. Coming back to my question in the first paragraph: hubris or a stroke of genius, the answer is neither–nor. The book of Scholz is a remarkable collection of our present knowledge about the interactions between humans (individuals, groups and societies) and the natural environment. There is no other book that I know (including the many environmental encyclopedias on the market) that provide such a comprehensive, relevant and enlightening review of this complex relationship. It is an ideal companion for students of environmental sciences and for professionals in either one of the environmental sciences. However, if somebody was expecting a new, revolutionary approach to this subject something that would qualify as a paradigm shift in the Kuhnian sense, he or she will be disappointed. The knowledge is well structured and re-arranged but it is not synthesized in something qualitatively novel and scientifically advancing beyond common levels of present knowledge. Probably, the author was very well aware of this potential shortcoming. The title of the book: Environmental Literacy is the key to its main message: we know a lot about the interactions between humans and the environment but we need a comprehensive guide to bring us to the stage of literacy that enables us to understand the complex situation and to make prudent decisions. If we take this goal as a yardstick for evaluating the book, it deserves the highest praise.