I Eat the Stars by Sarah Wilson
If you are a part of the growing number reckoning with the destructive tendencies of our civilization, then I Eat the Stars may provide you with some welcome relief. Not to tell you everything will be ok. Not to encourage us to all be doomsday preppers. Not even to feed into the bottomless pit of our hopeless despair.
In her newest book, I Eat the Stars, Sarah Wilson aims to help us find a light through all of the darkness. She emphasizes that it won’t be easy, making peace with our inevitable collapse, but she proves that sometimes, a little tough love is all that we, as humans, may need to reach our full potential.
This Book May Not Be for Everyone
Wilson starts with a very gentle warning: this book may not be for you right now. She makes it clear that that is ok. She recommends reading at least the first few chapters before committing.
Admittedly, those first few chapters are tough. Wilson starts by laying it all out. She warns that our world is collapsing. She forces us to grapple with the worst of us. To come to terms with the many failures of our systems.
Yet, Wilson approaches collapse with sensitivity. Come the end of each chapter, Wilson finds some kind of silver lining. There’s something glorious about the world, which, despite all the toppling despair, makes the harsh realities worthwhile for a beautiful, even hopeful, end. If you do choose to stick it out, you will uncover a new way of living that will inspire you to forge forward into a deeply uncertain future.
Unraveling the Chaos of Collapse
I Eat the Stars seeks to unravel the chaos and simplify and seek out the beauty in each other and in ourselves. Wilson uses research, statistics and theories to help us understand all that’s at stake. She uses examples, metaphors and imagery to help us conceptualize what seems impossible to imagine.
If anyone out there feels exhausted by trying to puzzle out how to save the world. If all your energy is spent sifting through the lies and chaos as you try to uncover the truth, then this book will come as a relief. It explains those clickbait headlines we scroll through with the context our media networks often leave out.
Best of all, Wilson gives us simple, actionable steps we can take to do our part. She makes no claim that it will be easy, but it shouldn’t feel like the weight of the world is on our shoulders. She assures us that we have what it takes to live, and even to live happily, through the collapse of the world as we know it.
A Community That Can Withstand
Wilson structures the book into sections that feel digestible, while each carefully builds on the last. She balances research with an easy, conversational tone, bringing in personal anecdotes and humor that make us feel how we are in this together.
It feels like she is taking our hands and walking us through each realization. She’s allowing us to know them, to feel them deeply, to flounder in them at times, then to get up and get right with it all. In writing this book, Wilson aims to build a community that can withstand it.
While the statistics can be nauseating and the realizations distressing, this book is meant to prove that collapse can bring us closer together. Our society has led us far from who we are supposed to be. I Eat the Stars serves as a guide to help bring us back.
A Read for Right Now
I Eat the Stars is a book for right now. It is timely and urgent. The writing is incredibly present and conscious. It brings a sense of urgency to the lessons Wilson imparts, proving that the work we do to understand and the decisions we make to live beautifully anyway matter.
I Eat the Stars emphasizes humility, empathy and above all else, maturity. It proves the magnitude of what we can accomplish and create once the work towards living more fully has begun.
About Sarah Wilson:
Sarah Wilson is a multi-New York Times bestselling author, journalist, social philosopher, international keynote speaker and philanthropist. Sarah leads dynamic, global conversations about modern philosophy, creativity, existential risk and climate change via her keynote speaking, Wild podcast and her Substack and social communities. She lives nomadically, but is based between Paris and Sydney, and is a compulsive hiker and adventurer.
