[Read's] references are genuinely an interesting read – I repeatedly found myself underlining sentences and citations for later consideration and investigation. With Read [being] one of the most interesting thinkers currently engaging with the most pressing issue of our time, Why Climate Breakdown Matters is essential reading.

Morning Star

Climate and ecological breakdown is happening now. In this uncompromising, powerful and provocative book, Read challenges us to face up to that reality and to recognise that our collective survival depends on our responding not just with logic but, crucially, with love. Stark and searingly honest, it's vital reading for our time.

Caroline Lucas, MP, Green Party of England and Wales, UK

Why Climate Breakdown Matters is an essential read for all who know and care about the climate and ecological emergency and, even more so, for those who don't. Pulling no punches, Rupert Read warns us that, whatever action we now take to reduce emissions, things are going to be grim. Recognising this really is the first step in preparing to meet and adapt to a future that will be very different to the default one we unthinkingly expect, and in driving the transformative action that stops a bleak future becoming a cataclysmic one. As the darkness draws in, this book will continue to shine, shedding light that picks out the path we must follow if we are to prevent climate breakdown driving all-pervasive societal collapse.

Bill McGuire, writer, broadcaster, activist and Professor Emeritus of Geophysical & Climate Hazards, University College London, UK

This is what philosophy written down on Earth - rather than adrift in the stratosphere - looks like. This is philosophy that is eco-logical, grounded in reality rather than in dangerous fantasies. This book explains the origins of our troubled times, and offers a guide on how to transform a civilization that is on the brink of collapse. Please read it.

Giorgos Kallis, co-author of "The Case for Degrowth"

In this philosophically masterful book Read reminds us that anthropogenic climate change and ecological collapse pose a grave and imminent threat to human civilisation. Collapse is not a potential 'black swan' event he explains, but a white swan, an expected event. His analysis is tough to read. He aims to wake up his readers to reality, and demands we re-examine our lives. But he also provides radical, active hope; a route towards transformation that requires the jettisoning of shallow optimism and futile fantasies. A powerful read.

Ann Pettifor, author of “The Case for The Green New Deal”

A deeply moving account of where humanity stands in the age of climate breakdown. Read stares unflinchingly into the abyss of civilizational collapse, not to terrify us or to give us false hope but to help us reimagine what it means to be human in a time of transformational change.

Byron Williston, Professor of Philosophy, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada