About a year ago, some folks in Bangkok reached out to me. Hans van Willenswaard and his wife Wallapa wanted to translate my book Think Like a Commoner into Thai and publish it. Hans is the founder of the Innovation Network International in Thailand, and his wife Wallapa is a social entrepreneur and founder of the Mindful Markets movement. Both have been quite involved in the commons for some time.
I was thrilled by their request, but upon re-reading the original version of my book, published in 2014, I was dismayed to realize that parts of it felt outdated. So much had happened in the Commonsverse over the past decade that was not in the book! Also, my own perspectives on the commons had evolved dramatically. So it felt important to update and revise the book so that it could speak more powerfully to the current moment.
With the van Willenswaards' keen interest and encouragement from New Society Publishers, my publisher, I set out to rewrite the book last March. In the end, about half of the new edition became entirely new text. The book's length grew by 50 pages, and all sorts of subtle issues of tone and point of view were adjusted to reflect contemporary politics, life, and culture.
I'm pleased to report that the second edition of Think Like a Commoner will be published on March 11, and in Europe and UK in mid-May. I see the book as an opportunity to open up some new conversations and expand many existing ones.
In my latest episode of Frontiers of Commoning, I explain why a new edition of the book is so needed.
I decided to give the episode – the fifth anniversary and 60th episode of my podcast! -– a special twist. I asked my friend and fellow commoner Jimmy Buff, radio host and executive director of Radio Kingston, NY (WKNY), to host the show and interview me. (Years ago he made a cameo contribution to the podcast by providing the voice-over introducing me at the start of each episode. Thanks, Jimmy!)
I was excited to prepare a new manuscript for Think Like a Commoner because interest in the commons continues to grow and the book is still selling reasonably well. For this popular introduction of the commons, I wanted to fold in a lot of new developments that have emerged since 2013, when I finished writing the first edition.
It was important to explain that commons are living, relational organisms, and not simply resources, as economists tend to believe. This was a key epiphany for me and my colleague Silke Helfrich in our 2019 book, Free, Fair and Alive. We realized that the commons required a major reconceptualization a language and worldview that escapes the standard economic framework.
I also realized that the book needed to develop certain themes that were germinal ten years ago, but not really so developed. I expanded short sections into full chapters -- on localism & bioregionalism, and on new digital infrastructures and innovations like DAOs [digital autonomous organizations], and distributed ledger systems. I devote a full chapter to “relationalized property and finance,” and to novel legal and power-sharing arrangements between states and commoners.
Now that liberal democracy is under siege and a restoration of previous systems is likely impossible, I hope the book may also help expand people's imaginations of what is possible. There's no question that arresting climate change, reducing social inequalities, and reviving democracy will require a different social and political logic than the former political economy could possibly deliver.
And yet, despite all the new things to be said, it was important to keep the new book fairly brisk and short. It's a popular introduction to the commons, after all. So I decided to sacrifice some space previously given to enclosures of commons so that I could showcase the exploding new varieties of commons. The Commonsverse is far more robust than it was a decade ago. Since today's political climate is quite different than that of 2014, I also needed to adjust the tone and point of view.
Do give it a look! And as I head out to talk about the book, I welcome your suggestions for outreach and marketing, and ways to connect with our future friends and allies. In the meantime, check out my podcast conversation with Jimmy Buff!
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