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Population Fallacies
By Jack Parsons
Price £15.00
ISBN: 0-301-74131-3
The study of human population continues to increase in importance. In this book Jack Parsons, author of Population versus Liberty (1971), analyses, more comprehensively than any previous author, the basic fallacies concerning the increase in population numbers and its relation to social, economic, and other factors. His findings and conclusions are of vital concern to all who are trying to understand or to solve the pressing problems of human population and the earths resources and improve the lot of mankind.
Under the three basic headings on Commonsense, Scientific and Economic Fallacies, the discussion ranges over such topics as the use of statistics, foretelling the future, military power, migration, manpower, economic development, space travel and the myth of the large happy family and the limits to growth. Each fallacy is clearly stated, solidly documented with reference to findings and conclusions of laymen, journalists, politicians and specialists, thoroughly analysed with regard to its logical structure and factual foundations, and finally dismissed.
The author concludes that just as an end to population growth is inevitable by one means or another, as well as being desirable, so must mankind soon go through the "economic transition" into an economic steady state and thenceforth remain there as long as the species lasts. He regards this in no sense as a penalty or a cause for gloom but as a re-entry into man's normal condition, in which and for which he evolved, and as a great liberation from the twin tyrannies of the population explosion and conventional growth orientated economics.
Around the time of publication this book attracted 31 known reviews, 6 of them overseas.
With its sister volume, Population Versus Liberty, it was favourably re-reviewed in Canada for a US journal. (See the entry for the earlier book for details)
Some mainly favourable excerpts from reviews near the time of publication
Section (a) One/two-liners
1) Lucid [and] thoroughly documented. (Anon. 1977. Bookshelf. )
2) A comprehensive and in-depth analysis. ( DJK. Northern Echo. 1977, 17 March,)
3) Neatly explodes currently held beliefs concerning the population problem. (Anon. Family Planning Today. 1977. March)
4) Population Fallacies is a book with a purpose, as were The Population Bomb, and Malthus' seminal work ... An Essay on ... Population. ... Provides a brilliant flare-lit picture of an increasingly significant battleground. (Jack Cross. 1978. 'Demographer's delight'. Times Educational Supplement. 3 April. )
5) Few writers of recent years have explored so important a subject as Jack Parsons. ... A compelling, thought-provoking and inevitably controversial book. (Anon. 1977. House & Garden. June, p.120)
6) Having such a broad collection of population theories in one book is very useful for both general interest and for reference.... demythifies a lot of jargon. (Sally Mitchell. 1977. 'Population Argument'. Morning Star. 5 May)
7) Closely argued text with comprehensive reference list ... obviously designed for university course work ... [but with] a refreshing style ... ( W.J. Burroughs. 1977. Surrey Daily Advertiser. 5 April)
8) It does bring together in an interesting and readable fashion, a very comprehensive collection of the nonsense talked about population by a great many people ... novel, entertaining, and useful. (P.R Cox, F.I.A, F.S.S. 1977. Bulletin of the Eugenics Society. June, pp.64-5)
9) A lively - as well as scholarly - introduction to the subject, which rings the changes from the usual chapter-and-verse on the ... teeming millions. (Anon. 1977. New Internationalist. June)
10) This is a book well worth reading. (Dr George Morris, founder of Doctors and Overpopulation. 1977. British Journal of Family Planning. 3 (2) July)
11) Much fascinating argument and information ... clearly expounded and documented ... important ... worth the time of any GP to read it. (R.B. 1977. Pulse International. 23 April)
12) Each fallacy is clearly stated, analysed, and finally dismissed. (Anon. 1977. Books to Buy. July)
13) His strength is that he writes with fire in his belly. The sincerity and conviction is clear. He really believes that the human race must face up to present dangers and make a choice. (Bernard Benjamin, Professor of Actuarial Science, City University, London. 1977. People. 4 (3), pp.41-2)
14) An entertainingly written review of the arguments frequently used to bolster up the case for population growth. ( Brendan Walsh. 1977. 'Utopian Solution'. Hibernia. (Eire). 18 March)
15) This book is a publication of note, with lucid examples. (Tr. from P. van Leeuwen. 1978. Tijdschrift voor Sociale Geneeskunde, (10) )
Section (b) Fuller excerpts
1) Jack Parsons is a rare individual -- one who clearly understands his subject and writes about it with wit, vigour, and precision. ... In every case the author examines all the arguments known to have been advanced in defence of a fallacy and scotches them carefully, politely, and firmly. ... (Anon. 1977. IUCN Bulletin. 8 (3). March. p.2)
2) He has carved another niche for himself in the populationist literature ... a sensitive and thought-provoking work by a deeply compassionate man. It will inevitably find its way onto the bookshelves of ecologists, sociologists, economists, and indeed all of us who spend much of our lives grappling with the contemporary and future problems of the universe. (Professor John Loraine. 1977. Conservation News. No. 67, Dec)
3) Mascagni, Frank Muir and Dennis Norden, and Joseph Heller, were all fortunate enough to be enormously successful with their first work. Poor Mascagni ... never wrote anything remotely successful after 'Cavaleria Rusticana' and although Muir, Norden and Heller have not exactly been unsuccessful they have never quite repeated the success of 'Take It From Here' or 'Catch 22'. ...
Jack Parsons too is unfortunate, in that any work he produces now is going to be measured against the very high standards of his best selling first book 'Population versus Liberty'. ... a brilliant analysis of the consequences of uncontrolled population growth ... It is a tribute to the quality of 'Population Fallacies' that it does not come off too badly by comparison ...
The meat of the book ... is an outline of the various fallacies used by those who would deny that population increase poses a threat ... [and they] ... make fascinating reading. 'The crystal ball argument', 'the military argument', 'the mobility argument', 'the biological argument', 'the demographic argument'. ... As we would expect from Jack Parsons the book is carefully researched, well set out and interestingly written. ... The arguments against the continuation of material growth are impressively marshalled and the relationship to population increase is made apparent. ... This is a book well worth reading. (Dr George Morris, founder of the Doctors and Overpopulation Group. 1977. British Journal of Family Planning. 3 (2), July)
4) Jack Parsons assembles most of the theories ... grouped into three categories: "common sense", "scientific" and "economic" ... both well-known and more 'obscure' used to justify the need for growth in society, in particular population growth. He examines them carefully, taking into consideration evidence for and against, and finally rejects them as being fallacious, illogical or, worse, mere wishful thinking to support a political viewpoint. ... Not only does he expose each theory for what it is -- a fallacy -- but he also rightly criticises them for being concerned primarily with short-term solutions, and for reducing complex problems to simple cause-effect situations. ...
He proposes a transition to a higher level of affluence and a no-growth economy, which would respect the environmental restrictions of a finite Earth. He sees the need for a new ethic of an "ecological conscience" whereby rational controls over growth are carried out by consensus decisions, and also the need for a radical shift from the man-made scramble for profit, production and accumulation to a saner, more humanitarian way of life. ...
Having such a broad collection of population theories in one book is very useful both for general interest and for reference, even though the very number results in rather superficial treatment in some cases. It is also extremely helpful to find each separate argument formulated.
(Sally Mitchell, 1977. Morning Star. 5 May)
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