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Sad Planets
"Everything is sad," wrote the Ancient poets. But is this sadness merely a human experience, projected onto the world, or is there a gloom attributable to the world itself? Could the universe be forever weeping the "tears of things"?
In this series of meditations, Dominic Pettman and Eugene Thacker explore some of the key "negative affects"—both eternal and emergent—associated with climate change, environmental destruction, and cosmic solitude. In so doing they unearth something so obvious that it has gone largely the question of how we should feel about climate change. Between the information gathered by planetary sensors and the simple act of breathing the air, new unsettling moods are produced for which we currently lack an adequate language. Should we feel grief over the loss of our planet? Or is the strange feeling of witnessing mass extinction an indicator that the planet was never "ours" to begin with?
Spanning a wide range of topics—from the history of cosmology to the "existential threat" of climate change—this book is a reckoning with the limits of human existence and comprehension. As Pettman and Thacker observe, never before have we known so much about the planet and the cosmos, and yet never before have we felt so estranged from that same planet, to say nothing of the stars beyond.
In this series of meditations, Dominic Pettman and Eugene Thacker explore some of the key "negative affects"—both eternal and emergent—associated with climate change, environmental destruction, and cosmic solitude. In so doing they unearth something so obvious that it has gone largely the question of how we should feel about climate change. Between the information gathered by planetary sensors and the simple act of breathing the air, new unsettling moods are produced for which we currently lack an adequate language. Should we feel grief over the loss of our planet? Or is the strange feeling of witnessing mass extinction an indicator that the planet was never "ours" to begin with?
Spanning a wide range of topics—from the history of cosmology to the "existential threat" of climate change—this book is a reckoning with the limits of human existence and comprehension. As Pettman and Thacker observe, never before have we known so much about the planet and the cosmos, and yet never before have we felt so estranged from that same planet, to say nothing of the stars beyond.
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
Audible Audio
Published February 25, 2025
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About the author
Dominic Pettman
21 books40 followersDominic Pettman currently lives, works, learns and teaches in New York City. He is particularly interested in the ways in which "technology" influences our self-perceptions and cultural conversations.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 3, 2024
Dominic Pettman and Eugene Thacker are both old friends of mine. I suppose this might have affected my response to their new book. But believe me, SAD PLANETS is both brilliant and original. It works through massive swathes of contemporary culture, and finds in it all massive reasons for us to be melancholy or depressed. In books, movies, and other recent cultural phenomena, SAD PLANETS finds evidence that our anthropocentric fantasies are deluded. Human beings aren't eternal, aren't brilliantly inventive, and aren't at the center of everything. Arguably, the world is telling us this all the time; but Pettman and Thacker show us that our own culture does it too, even in spite of ourselves. Our own efforts at reaching towards transcendence teach us the lesson that we cannot actually ever succeed at this. Our own forms of consolation and self-reassurance in fact end up letting us down and revealing the bleak hopelessness that we would do nearly anything to avoid recognizing. The book is fairly long, but it is intensely readable -- both in its welcoming and open style (unusual in books of High Theory, but very effectively managed here), and in its choice of innumerable examples, covering everything from Immanuel Kant to David Bowie, from European Renaissance humanism to postmodern fiction, and from bizarre apocalyptic cults to sober scientific studies. There is a certain sort of exhilaration that results from reading this book at length -- a sense that we cannot ever get enough, that there is always more for us to devour and to transform -- and yet this exhilaration is entirely in the service of the message that there is no hope, no exit, no transcendence, no departure from our terminally finite and miserable condition. It is almost as if we are being infinitely reminded that we can never attain infinity. The book exceeds all limits in its proclamation that there is no escaping our very narrow limits. This is an aesthetic accomplishment of the highest order, even as it conveys the message that aesthetic accomplishments count for little. The book goes along with a lot of other recent scholarship and creative activity that seeks to decenter human beings, to suggest that the world is not to our measure, and that there are whole ecologies for which we count for very little -- whether we are thinking of planets like K2-141b (where the oceans are made of lava on the light side, and vaporized rocks and magma shower down from the atmosphere on the dark side), or simply of the ways that trees and insects have their own sensibilities which need not have any regard for ours. But Sad Planets is also a book about affect, or feeling: its most powerful (and to me, surprising) aspect is how it suggests that our unavoidable and continuing reflection on the way that the world and the universe are not to our measure and do not care for us leads us predominantly to feelings of deep sadness (rather than, say, Nietzschean resolution to surpass it all, or -- my own inclination -- sheer gibbering terror). Sadness, or melancholy, is more than a momentary tonality; it is a whole kind of atmosphere of feeling within which we are bathed, and within which the distinctions between self and other, human and inhuman, and so on, tend to break down (but without ever vanishing entirely). There may not be any end of the world, in the sense that the ending of the world is a continual process that itself never entirely culminates; but the termination of things, in its very interminability, bathes us in tears and in grief. Here I am using perhaps an overly philosophical (or deconstructive) terminology in order to summarize something that Pettman and Thacker would never express in such a way -- because the intellectualized description of the situation is a way of failing to fully deal with it. And perhaps the real lesson of the book is that there is no way to ever fully deal with our overall reality. But by translating this dilemma from an intellectual one into an emotional one -- sadness as the best response we are capable of -- Sad Planets not only contributes powerfully to the project anthrodecentering, perhaps the most urgent intellectual task of the early 21st century, but also establishes itself alongside the greatest texts about melancholia in the English language: Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy and Andrew Solomon's The Noonday Demon.
February 10, 2025
Wonderfully strange and eclectic, sometimes self indulgent: think A Thousand Plateaus crossed with an updated Annie Dillard, but about the ultimate sadness and loneliness of being alone and mortal in an apparently empty and lifeless universe.
Wandered a bit too far afield at times, but ultimately an affecting and timely book that tries to capture how it feels to live on a planet that we seem to be rendering ever more uninhabitable, and to contemplate our collective end.
Wandered a bit too far afield at times, but ultimately an affecting and timely book that tries to capture how it feels to live on a planet that we seem to be rendering ever more uninhabitable, and to contemplate our collective end.
August 20, 2025
Café para cafeteros e por cafeteros refírome a esa intersección de nerd que combina interese pola astrofísica, as novas ontoloxías do século XXI, a ecoloxía e todas as formas posibles de maxia e esoterismo, así como ter pasado por un episodio depresivo mínimo unha vez ao ano —é dicir, o mismísimo Víctor Soho—.
Resulta raro dicir que este libro de máis de 500 páxinas non se sente tanto un proxecto filosófico como unhas anotacións de colegas, formalizados como microensaios, sobre temas diversos, pero, mesmo con algún momento de absoluto cringe —como a cita a ese sketch bastante patético de Annie Hall— sinto que aquí hai un traballo estimulante e moi ben interrelacionado sobre as cuestións das que falaba previamente. Penso que é algo que lle acontece a Thacker en xeral, mesmo nos seus proxectos moi ambiciosos, que moitas veces resulta mellor arquivista e bibliógrafo —no sentido de que é capaz de presentar fontes moi diversas e puntos comúns moi únicos— do que é un analista preciso.
Sen dúbida, as súas lóxicas de pesimismo cósmico resultan anticuadas, moi da década pasada, así como a súa postura nihilista é demasiado naif e adolescente —aínda que penso que, no fondo, iso podes dicilo de calquera forma nihilismo—, pero en vez de usar iso na súa contra atopa nalgo tan esgotado e fácilmente simplifcable nunha colección absurda de lecturas e pensamentos creativos. Pode que o tema mereza un libro máis brillante, pero xa lle gustaría a meirande parte de temas ter autores tan propositivos e enciclopédicos como Thacker para pensalos.
Resulta raro dicir que este libro de máis de 500 páxinas non se sente tanto un proxecto filosófico como unhas anotacións de colegas, formalizados como microensaios, sobre temas diversos, pero, mesmo con algún momento de absoluto cringe —como a cita a ese sketch bastante patético de Annie Hall— sinto que aquí hai un traballo estimulante e moi ben interrelacionado sobre as cuestións das que falaba previamente. Penso que é algo que lle acontece a Thacker en xeral, mesmo nos seus proxectos moi ambiciosos, que moitas veces resulta mellor arquivista e bibliógrafo —no sentido de que é capaz de presentar fontes moi diversas e puntos comúns moi únicos— do que é un analista preciso.
Sen dúbida, as súas lóxicas de pesimismo cósmico resultan anticuadas, moi da década pasada, así como a súa postura nihilista é demasiado naif e adolescente —aínda que penso que, no fondo, iso podes dicilo de calquera forma nihilismo—, pero en vez de usar iso na súa contra atopa nalgo tan esgotado e fácilmente simplifcable nunha colección absurda de lecturas e pensamentos creativos. Pode que o tema mereza un libro máis brillante, pero xa lle gustaría a meirande parte de temas ter autores tan propositivos e enciclopédicos como Thacker para pensalos.
August 31, 2025
Vocabulary Words from Sad Planets
Sequence 1: In Space No One Can Hear You Weep
Pathetic Fallacy: The attribution of human feelings and characteristics to inanimate objects or animals. (Example: The storm clouds look angry.)
Entropic Fate: The inevitable decline into disorder and inactivity. The book uses this to describe the ultimate end of things in the universe.
Stoic: A person who can endure pain or hardship without showing their feelings or complaining.
Enabling Trauma: A traumatic event that, paradoxically, leads to new awareness or growth.
Cosmic Insignificance: The feeling that human life and its concerns are tiny and unimportant when compared to the vastness of the universe.
Anthropocene: A proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems.
Secular Epoch: A period of history defined by non-religious or worldly events and philosophies.
Existential Dread/Angst: A profound anxiety about the meaninglessness of existence or the unknown.
Solastalgia: A form of emotional or existential distress caused by environmental change. It's the feeling of homesickness while still at home.
Geo-engineering: The large-scale intervention in Earth's climate system to counteract global warming.
Sequence 2: Dark Star
Syncretic: The combining of different beliefs, cultures, or schools of thought. (Example: Blending astrology, medicine, and philosophy.)
Melancholy/Melancholia: A deep, pensive sadness typically without a cause, often associated with a contemplative, brooding disposition.
Humoral Framework: An ancient medical theory that the body is composed of four "humors" (black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood) which determined health and temperament.
Vitalism: The belief that living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living things because they contain a non-physical element or are governed by different principles than inanimate objects.
Planetary Ennui: A sense of cosmic weariness or boredom, the feeling that existence itself is insufficient.
Dereliction: The state of being abandoned or cast adrift, both literally and figuratively.
Teleology: The explanation of a phenomenon by the purpose it serves rather than by its cause. (Example: The belief that evolution has a specific purpose or goal.)
Sequence 3: Planetary Sorrow
Xeno-technics: Technology or a technological system that is of extraterrestrial origin or is designed for interaction with alien life.
Misanthropic: Having a dislike of humankind.
Fermi Paradox: The apparent contradiction between the high probability of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence for their existence.
Panspermia: The theory that life on Earth originated from microorganisms or chemical precursors present in outer space, able to initiate life on reaching a suitable environment.
The Dark Forest Theory: A proposed solution to the Fermi Paradox suggesting that any civilization that broadcasts its existence is swiftly eliminated by other, more advanced, predatory civilizations.
The Pathetic Fallacy: (Revisited) In this context, it's the impulse to project human feelings onto the natural world.
Sequence 4: Comets, Importing Change
Catastrophism: The theory that changes in the Earth's crust during geological history have resulted chiefly from sudden violent, short-lived events.
Anthropocentric: Regarding humankind as the central or most important element of existence.
Uniformitarianism: The theory that changes in the Earth's crust have resulted from the action of continuous and uniform processes. This contrasts with catastrophism.
Eschatology: The part of theology or philosophy concerned with the final events of history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity and the universe.
Sturm und Drang: A German literary and philosophical movement characterized by passionate emotion and a sense of cosmic upheaval.
Aporia: An irresolvable internal contradiction or logical puzzle. The text uses this to describe the difficulty of a human fully understanding an alien consciousness.
Sequence 5: Last Life
Microcosm/Macrocosm: The idea that a small-scale system (microcosm) mirrors a larger system (macrocosm). (Example: The space ark is a microcosm of a sad planet.)
Robinsonade: A literary genre inspired by Robinson Crusoe, often involving a person stranded in an isolated location.
Biocidal: Destructive to living organisms.
Entropology: A proposed field of study focused on the process of cosmic, biological, and social disintegration.
Neoliberal Optimism: The belief in progress and positive change through free-market capitalism, often critiqued for ignoring its negative social and environmental impacts.
Unheimlich (The Uncanny): The psychological experience of something familiar being strangely unfamiliar or unsettling.
Endosymbiosis: The theory that the various organelles of eukaryotic cells evolved from smaller prokaryotic cells that had been engulfed by a larger prokaryotic cell.
Sequence 6: Unearthly
Chthonic: Relating to or inhabiting the underworld; mystical and primordial.
Dasein: A German philosophical term used by Martin Heidegger to refer to the being of a human, emphasizing the way existence is tied to specific worldly contexts.
Necropastoral: A term used to describe a poetic mode that engages with a landscape that is both pastoral and decaying or dead.
Panpsychism: The belief that all matter has a form of consciousness.
The Pathetic Fallacy: (Revisited) In this context, it's the inability to separate human feelings from the natural world, leading to a profound connection.
Crystalline: The precise, geometric, and often cold nature of crystals, used as a metaphor for an impersonal or non-organic form of life.
Sequence 7: Entropology
Insurrectionary: An act of rising in revolt or rebellion.
Entropology: The study of decline and disorder, specifically in relation to the collapse of human civilization and the cosmos.
Transindividuation: A philosophical concept describing how individuals are formed through their relationships with others and their environment, rather than being self-contained.
Hypersea: A hypothesis that terrestrial organisms are an extension of the marine environment, with their bodies acting as "mini-oceans" that carry water inland.
Cosmic Sublime: A feeling of awe or reverence when confronted with the vastness and mystery of the universe.
Sequence 8: Omen of the World
Sturm und Drang: (Revisited) A German literary movement focusing on themes of intense emotion, freedom, and individuality. It is used to describe the emotional intensity of the end-of-the-world genre.
Apocalypsis: Greek for "unveiling" or "revelation," it refers to the revealing of something hidden. The book applies this to the non-human reality of the planet.
Hierophany: The manifestation of the sacred, revealing the spiritual in a physical form.
Desacralization: The process of stripping something of its religious or spiritual meaning.
Medea Hypothesis: The theory that life on Earth is inherently self-destructive and will eventually lead to its own extinction.
Gaia Hypothesis: The theory that the Earth is a self-regulating superorganism. The book contrasts this with the Medea Hypothesis.
Sequence 9: Shapes of Sorrow
Weltschmerz: A German term for "world-weariness" or a deep, melancholy dissatisfaction with the world.
Poetics of Space: A philosophical concept that explores the emotional and symbolic meanings of spaces and places.
Impersonal Sublime: The experience of awe and terror when confronted with an impersonal or indifferent universe, a feeling that exposes the limits of human understanding.
The Pathetic Fallacy: (Revisited) The book uses this concept to discuss how our emotions color our perception of nature, but also suggests a deeper, more "impersonal" connection may exist.
Atmospheric: In this context, it refers to a mood or feeling that is pervasive and affects an entire environment, like weather.
Sequence 10: Liquid Sky
Planetary Ennui: (Revisited) A feeling of being disconnected or estranged from the planet.
Cosmic Sublime: (Revisited) The experience of being humbled and awed by the vastness of the universe.
The Pathetic Facticity: A newly coined term in the book that describes the reality that pathos is not just a human emotion but can be produced and shared in encounters between different sentient beings.
Affective Entropy: The idea that emotions and feelings, like physical energy, tend to dissipate over time.
Transcendental: Relating to a spiritual or non-physical realm beyond normal human experience.
Sequence 11: Dark Crystals
The Pathetic Fallacy: (Revisited) The book discusses the pathetic fallacy in the context of the environment becoming so alienating that it reflects back our own sadness.
Chthonic: (Revisited) Pertaining to the underworld; primordial and deeply tied to the Earth.
The Uncanny: (Revisited) The experience of something familiar becoming strange and unsettling.
Entropic Fate: (Revisited) The inevitable decline into disorder and inactivity. The book uses this to describe the ultimate end of things in the universe.
Sequence 12: Prayers for Rain
Spleen: A term for melancholy or bad temper, often associated with a brooding or introverted state.
Humoral Framework: (Revisited) The ancient medical theory that the body is governed by four humors, with an imbalance leading to illness or a specific temperament.
Geotrauma: A neologism for a profound distress that is not just personal but is deeply connected to the Earth's suffering and historical violence.
Sequence 13: Quiet Despair
Robinsonade: (Revisited) The book uses this genre to explore themes of isolation and humanity's attempt to recreate civilization in the face of disaster.
Despair: A feeling of complete hopelessness. The book explores this not just as a personal emotion but as a cosmic and planetary condition.
Sarcophagus: A stone coffin. The book uses this to describe a spaceship's ultimate fate as a museum of a lost civilization.
Medea Hypothesis: (Revisited) The theory that life on Earth is inherently self-destructive and will eventually lead to its own extinction.
Gaia Hypothesis: (Revisited) The theory that the Earth is a self-regulating superorganism. The book contrasts this with the Medea Hypothesis.
Sequence 14: The Last Philosopher
Anthropocentric/Anthropocentrism: (Revisited) The book critiques the belief that humans are the center of the universe.
The Pathetic Facticity: (Revisited) The reality that pathos can be produced and shared in encounters between different sentient beings.
Cosmic Scale: The immense size and scope of the universe, which can make human concerns seem insignificant.
Cosmograph: A map or diagram of the cosmos. The book uses this to discuss how such maps often reflect the time and culture in which they were created.
Sequence 15: Solastalgia
Solastalgia: (Revisited) The feeling of homesickness when you are still at home.
The Pathetic Fallacy: (Revisited) The book uses this concept to discuss how our emotions color our perception of nature, but also suggests a deeper, more "impersonal" connection may exist.
Toxic Positivity: The excessive and ineffective overgeneralization of a happy, optimistic state across all situations.
The Waning of Affect: A cultural critique suggesting that people's emotional responses have become flattened or inauthentic.
Misanthrope: A person who dislikes humankind and avoids human society.
Sequence 16: The Clever Beasts
The Machine Stops: The title of a short story by E.M. Forster, used to describe the potential collapse of a technological society that has become over-reliant on its own creations.
The Pathetic Facticity: (Revisited) The book uses this concept to discuss how our emotions color our perception of nature, but also suggests a deeper, more "impersonal" connection may exist.
Anthropocene: (Revisited) A proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems.
Collapsology: A new para-science that studies the possible collapse of industrial civilization.
Cosmograph: (Revisited) A map or diagram of the cosmos. The book uses this to discuss how such maps often reflect the time and culture in which they were created.
❖ ❖ ❖
Whatever interesting and arresting insights the authors of Sad Planets produce, their unfocused political tail-chasing amounts to celebrating the status quo and extolling its recent figurehead, the notorious Jew-hater Greta Thunberg.
As a Marxist, I can only say I champion:
[….] More and more the future for humanity depends on working people taking power into our own hands, and establishing a workers and farmers government that will rule as stewards of nature and human life. Only the working class today is capable of taking advantage of scientific improvements and unleashing the capacities of human labor for the benefit of all. Workers need to strengthen our struggles today for jobs, better wages and conditions, for workers control of production and to safeguard the earth’s natural resources from the impact of burning fossil fuels.
There is no way to expand energy production, and to reduce the poisoning of the atmosphere from carbon emissions, without increasing the use of nuclear power. Worldwide, 450 nuclear reactors generate 10% of the total electricity consumed today, a drop of 15% from 2005. Beijing aims to surpass Washington as the largest generator of nuclear power in five years.
Operating reactors to prevent nuclear meltdowns, constructing secure containment vessels and disposing of radioactive waste can and must be done safely — but only if workers and our unions fight to take control of production from the bosses on the road to taking political power.
https://themilitant.com/2022/02/12/ca...
Sequence 1: In Space No One Can Hear You Weep
Pathetic Fallacy: The attribution of human feelings and characteristics to inanimate objects or animals. (Example: The storm clouds look angry.)
Entropic Fate: The inevitable decline into disorder and inactivity. The book uses this to describe the ultimate end of things in the universe.
Stoic: A person who can endure pain or hardship without showing their feelings or complaining.
Enabling Trauma: A traumatic event that, paradoxically, leads to new awareness or growth.
Cosmic Insignificance: The feeling that human life and its concerns are tiny and unimportant when compared to the vastness of the universe.
Anthropocene: A proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems.
Secular Epoch: A period of history defined by non-religious or worldly events and philosophies.
Existential Dread/Angst: A profound anxiety about the meaninglessness of existence or the unknown.
Solastalgia: A form of emotional or existential distress caused by environmental change. It's the feeling of homesickness while still at home.
Geo-engineering: The large-scale intervention in Earth's climate system to counteract global warming.
Sequence 2: Dark Star
Syncretic: The combining of different beliefs, cultures, or schools of thought. (Example: Blending astrology, medicine, and philosophy.)
Melancholy/Melancholia: A deep, pensive sadness typically without a cause, often associated with a contemplative, brooding disposition.
Humoral Framework: An ancient medical theory that the body is composed of four "humors" (black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood) which determined health and temperament.
Vitalism: The belief that living organisms are fundamentally different from non-living things because they contain a non-physical element or are governed by different principles than inanimate objects.
Planetary Ennui: A sense of cosmic weariness or boredom, the feeling that existence itself is insufficient.
Dereliction: The state of being abandoned or cast adrift, both literally and figuratively.
Teleology: The explanation of a phenomenon by the purpose it serves rather than by its cause. (Example: The belief that evolution has a specific purpose or goal.)
Sequence 3: Planetary Sorrow
Xeno-technics: Technology or a technological system that is of extraterrestrial origin or is designed for interaction with alien life.
Misanthropic: Having a dislike of humankind.
Fermi Paradox: The apparent contradiction between the high probability of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence for their existence.
Panspermia: The theory that life on Earth originated from microorganisms or chemical precursors present in outer space, able to initiate life on reaching a suitable environment.
The Dark Forest Theory: A proposed solution to the Fermi Paradox suggesting that any civilization that broadcasts its existence is swiftly eliminated by other, more advanced, predatory civilizations.
The Pathetic Fallacy: (Revisited) In this context, it's the impulse to project human feelings onto the natural world.
Sequence 4: Comets, Importing Change
Catastrophism: The theory that changes in the Earth's crust during geological history have resulted chiefly from sudden violent, short-lived events.
Anthropocentric: Regarding humankind as the central or most important element of existence.
Uniformitarianism: The theory that changes in the Earth's crust have resulted from the action of continuous and uniform processes. This contrasts with catastrophism.
Eschatology: The part of theology or philosophy concerned with the final events of history, or the ultimate destiny of humanity and the universe.
Sturm und Drang: A German literary and philosophical movement characterized by passionate emotion and a sense of cosmic upheaval.
Aporia: An irresolvable internal contradiction or logical puzzle. The text uses this to describe the difficulty of a human fully understanding an alien consciousness.
Sequence 5: Last Life
Microcosm/Macrocosm: The idea that a small-scale system (microcosm) mirrors a larger system (macrocosm). (Example: The space ark is a microcosm of a sad planet.)
Robinsonade: A literary genre inspired by Robinson Crusoe, often involving a person stranded in an isolated location.
Biocidal: Destructive to living organisms.
Entropology: A proposed field of study focused on the process of cosmic, biological, and social disintegration.
Neoliberal Optimism: The belief in progress and positive change through free-market capitalism, often critiqued for ignoring its negative social and environmental impacts.
Unheimlich (The Uncanny): The psychological experience of something familiar being strangely unfamiliar or unsettling.
Endosymbiosis: The theory that the various organelles of eukaryotic cells evolved from smaller prokaryotic cells that had been engulfed by a larger prokaryotic cell.
Sequence 6: Unearthly
Chthonic: Relating to or inhabiting the underworld; mystical and primordial.
Dasein: A German philosophical term used by Martin Heidegger to refer to the being of a human, emphasizing the way existence is tied to specific worldly contexts.
Necropastoral: A term used to describe a poetic mode that engages with a landscape that is both pastoral and decaying or dead.
Panpsychism: The belief that all matter has a form of consciousness.
The Pathetic Fallacy: (Revisited) In this context, it's the inability to separate human feelings from the natural world, leading to a profound connection.
Crystalline: The precise, geometric, and often cold nature of crystals, used as a metaphor for an impersonal or non-organic form of life.
Sequence 7: Entropology
Insurrectionary: An act of rising in revolt or rebellion.
Entropology: The study of decline and disorder, specifically in relation to the collapse of human civilization and the cosmos.
Transindividuation: A philosophical concept describing how individuals are formed through their relationships with others and their environment, rather than being self-contained.
Hypersea: A hypothesis that terrestrial organisms are an extension of the marine environment, with their bodies acting as "mini-oceans" that carry water inland.
Cosmic Sublime: A feeling of awe or reverence when confronted with the vastness and mystery of the universe.
Sequence 8: Omen of the World
Sturm und Drang: (Revisited) A German literary movement focusing on themes of intense emotion, freedom, and individuality. It is used to describe the emotional intensity of the end-of-the-world genre.
Apocalypsis: Greek for "unveiling" or "revelation," it refers to the revealing of something hidden. The book applies this to the non-human reality of the planet.
Hierophany: The manifestation of the sacred, revealing the spiritual in a physical form.
Desacralization: The process of stripping something of its religious or spiritual meaning.
Medea Hypothesis: The theory that life on Earth is inherently self-destructive and will eventually lead to its own extinction.
Gaia Hypothesis: The theory that the Earth is a self-regulating superorganism. The book contrasts this with the Medea Hypothesis.
Sequence 9: Shapes of Sorrow
Weltschmerz: A German term for "world-weariness" or a deep, melancholy dissatisfaction with the world.
Poetics of Space: A philosophical concept that explores the emotional and symbolic meanings of spaces and places.
Impersonal Sublime: The experience of awe and terror when confronted with an impersonal or indifferent universe, a feeling that exposes the limits of human understanding.
The Pathetic Fallacy: (Revisited) The book uses this concept to discuss how our emotions color our perception of nature, but also suggests a deeper, more "impersonal" connection may exist.
Atmospheric: In this context, it refers to a mood or feeling that is pervasive and affects an entire environment, like weather.
Sequence 10: Liquid Sky
Planetary Ennui: (Revisited) A feeling of being disconnected or estranged from the planet.
Cosmic Sublime: (Revisited) The experience of being humbled and awed by the vastness of the universe.
The Pathetic Facticity: A newly coined term in the book that describes the reality that pathos is not just a human emotion but can be produced and shared in encounters between different sentient beings.
Affective Entropy: The idea that emotions and feelings, like physical energy, tend to dissipate over time.
Transcendental: Relating to a spiritual or non-physical realm beyond normal human experience.
Sequence 11: Dark Crystals
The Pathetic Fallacy: (Revisited) The book discusses the pathetic fallacy in the context of the environment becoming so alienating that it reflects back our own sadness.
Chthonic: (Revisited) Pertaining to the underworld; primordial and deeply tied to the Earth.
The Uncanny: (Revisited) The experience of something familiar becoming strange and unsettling.
Entropic Fate: (Revisited) The inevitable decline into disorder and inactivity. The book uses this to describe the ultimate end of things in the universe.
Sequence 12: Prayers for Rain
Spleen: A term for melancholy or bad temper, often associated with a brooding or introverted state.
Humoral Framework: (Revisited) The ancient medical theory that the body is governed by four humors, with an imbalance leading to illness or a specific temperament.
Geotrauma: A neologism for a profound distress that is not just personal but is deeply connected to the Earth's suffering and historical violence.
Sequence 13: Quiet Despair
Robinsonade: (Revisited) The book uses this genre to explore themes of isolation and humanity's attempt to recreate civilization in the face of disaster.
Despair: A feeling of complete hopelessness. The book explores this not just as a personal emotion but as a cosmic and planetary condition.
Sarcophagus: A stone coffin. The book uses this to describe a spaceship's ultimate fate as a museum of a lost civilization.
Medea Hypothesis: (Revisited) The theory that life on Earth is inherently self-destructive and will eventually lead to its own extinction.
Gaia Hypothesis: (Revisited) The theory that the Earth is a self-regulating superorganism. The book contrasts this with the Medea Hypothesis.
Sequence 14: The Last Philosopher
Anthropocentric/Anthropocentrism: (Revisited) The book critiques the belief that humans are the center of the universe.
The Pathetic Facticity: (Revisited) The reality that pathos can be produced and shared in encounters between different sentient beings.
Cosmic Scale: The immense size and scope of the universe, which can make human concerns seem insignificant.
Cosmograph: A map or diagram of the cosmos. The book uses this to discuss how such maps often reflect the time and culture in which they were created.
Sequence 15: Solastalgia
Solastalgia: (Revisited) The feeling of homesickness when you are still at home.
The Pathetic Fallacy: (Revisited) The book uses this concept to discuss how our emotions color our perception of nature, but also suggests a deeper, more "impersonal" connection may exist.
Toxic Positivity: The excessive and ineffective overgeneralization of a happy, optimistic state across all situations.
The Waning of Affect: A cultural critique suggesting that people's emotional responses have become flattened or inauthentic.
Misanthrope: A person who dislikes humankind and avoids human society.
Sequence 16: The Clever Beasts
The Machine Stops: The title of a short story by E.M. Forster, used to describe the potential collapse of a technological society that has become over-reliant on its own creations.
The Pathetic Facticity: (Revisited) The book uses this concept to discuss how our emotions color our perception of nature, but also suggests a deeper, more "impersonal" connection may exist.
Anthropocene: (Revisited) A proposed geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems.
Collapsology: A new para-science that studies the possible collapse of industrial civilization.
Cosmograph: (Revisited) A map or diagram of the cosmos. The book uses this to discuss how such maps often reflect the time and culture in which they were created.
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Whatever interesting and arresting insights the authors of Sad Planets produce, their unfocused political tail-chasing amounts to celebrating the status quo and extolling its recent figurehead, the notorious Jew-hater Greta Thunberg.
As a Marxist, I can only say I champion:
[….] More and more the future for humanity depends on working people taking power into our own hands, and establishing a workers and farmers government that will rule as stewards of nature and human life. Only the working class today is capable of taking advantage of scientific improvements and unleashing the capacities of human labor for the benefit of all. Workers need to strengthen our struggles today for jobs, better wages and conditions, for workers control of production and to safeguard the earth’s natural resources from the impact of burning fossil fuels.
There is no way to expand energy production, and to reduce the poisoning of the atmosphere from carbon emissions, without increasing the use of nuclear power. Worldwide, 450 nuclear reactors generate 10% of the total electricity consumed today, a drop of 15% from 2005. Beijing aims to surpass Washington as the largest generator of nuclear power in five years.
Operating reactors to prevent nuclear meltdowns, constructing secure containment vessels and disposing of radioactive waste can and must be done safely — but only if workers and our unions fight to take control of production from the bosses on the road to taking political power.
https://themilitant.com/2022/02/12/ca...
December 28, 2024
A compelling, almost lyrical literature review of all things apocalyptic, post-capitalist, astrological, melancholic. Feels in conversation with recent releases on the philosophy of extinction and anti-natalism (i.e. Todd May, Ben Ware). Accessible, comprehensive, and consistently moving.
October 21, 2025
A series of essays. The sadness of humanity, the sadness of the universe. The inexplicable melancholy of 'countless celestial bodies...forever out of each, winking at one another across quantum ballrooms of unfathomable distances.'
To be the first dog cast out into space. The first monkey. The first rover. To be a defunct satellite, listlessly cast adrift in the infinite chasm of deep space. Deeply indifferent deep space. To be human.
The limits of human understanding. The feeling of: I'm learning more, and I'm understanding more, and in the end, I don't feel so different; in the end, it all feels the same - every direction leads to the same place, a gaping abyss of darkness, forever.
How does one mourn their own species' extinction? Without completely estranging yourself from the very species you belong to - how should one interpret this feeling? - that what they are witnessing is already dead, long gone, that the person they said hi to on their morning walk is now only a floating remnant, an empty face attached to a soon-extinct species? That the very trees, and their pleasurable shade, are merely artifacts of a lost planet? That one day everything will die - the humans, the trees, the bacteria floating in the oceans, the oceans - everything will go?
'Of course every human who ever lived finds themselves in the same boat, as it were, or on the same spaceship: embarking on a journey that cannot end well, in the sense that it will terminate in oblivion.'
I remember the disturbed feeling that came to me when a grade school science teacher explained to the class that yes, one day, not only will our planet die out, but so too will the sun, and eventually the galaxy, and eventually the universe. In fact, he said, the very stars you see in the night sky tonight may already be long dead. What you see may indeed be only the faint afterglow of a thing that once was.
To be the first dog cast out into space. The first monkey. The first rover. To be a defunct satellite, listlessly cast adrift in the infinite chasm of deep space. Deeply indifferent deep space. To be human.
The limits of human understanding. The feeling of: I'm learning more, and I'm understanding more, and in the end, I don't feel so different; in the end, it all feels the same - every direction leads to the same place, a gaping abyss of darkness, forever.
How does one mourn their own species' extinction? Without completely estranging yourself from the very species you belong to - how should one interpret this feeling? - that what they are witnessing is already dead, long gone, that the person they said hi to on their morning walk is now only a floating remnant, an empty face attached to a soon-extinct species? That the very trees, and their pleasurable shade, are merely artifacts of a lost planet? That one day everything will die - the humans, the trees, the bacteria floating in the oceans, the oceans - everything will go?
'Of course every human who ever lived finds themselves in the same boat, as it were, or on the same spaceship: embarking on a journey that cannot end well, in the sense that it will terminate in oblivion.'
I remember the disturbed feeling that came to me when a grade school science teacher explained to the class that yes, one day, not only will our planet die out, but so too will the sun, and eventually the galaxy, and eventually the universe. In fact, he said, the very stars you see in the night sky tonight may already be long dead. What you see may indeed be only the faint afterglow of a thing that once was.
March 19, 2025
I only got to about page 200 before putting it down indefinitely so I may not be the most reliable opinion on this one, but I will say I did enjoy what I did read. Part of the reason why I put it down was because I started getting fatigued by the very repetitive themes. It goes over the same 5 or so topics about the impact of the actions of our species and our place within the reality that we find ourselves in.
This is the first book I’ve picked up since high school and has been my introduction into philosophy in general and it did a good job of not seeming too esoteric in its presentation, and being very easily accessible with its concise essay format allowing more brief reading time.
I did want to move on to other books however, but what I did read was very insightful and granted me a better affective understanding of this world that I find myself in.
This is the first book I’ve picked up since high school and has been my introduction into philosophy in general and it did a good job of not seeming too esoteric in its presentation, and being very easily accessible with its concise essay format allowing more brief reading time.
I did want to move on to other books however, but what I did read was very insightful and granted me a better affective understanding of this world that I find myself in.
November 30, 2025
How can I explain my adoration for this book without also sounding entirely depressed? It perfectly encapsulates the current and pervasive mood that is being felt by humanity. The uncomfortable tickle in the back of our collective unconscious telling us that something isnt right. Its reassuring to have these feelings written out so well and with so many reference texts, movies, and art to discover. I think this one will stay one of those books I will forever recommend and that I will revisit year over year.
Wonderfully written Mr Pettman and Mr Thacker. Thank you for this.
Wonderfully written Mr Pettman and Mr Thacker. Thank you for this.
July 22, 2025
Using the star system as follows: 0 = trash, I read it but I wish I hadn't, 1 = tolerable as a distraction but little more, 2 = an OK read, preferable to not reading but I'm not likely to recommend it, 3 = a good and enjoyable read, I'd recommend it to most, 4 = important, enhancing, and/ or a great read, I'd strongly recommend it and may read it again, 5 = transcendent, incomparable, and/ or life changing.
January 24, 2025
Pretty good, the book struggled to keep my attention.
June 29, 2025
Incredible. Life isn’t human specific but this extent of melancholy surely is. Conscious in the void. What a fuckin trip.
September 22, 2024
Be here now, be sad.
But even when we know that nothing leads anywhere, that the universe is only a by-product of
our gloom, why should we sacrifice this pleasure of tottering and of splitting our skulls against
heaven and earth? EMC
But even when we know that nothing leads anywhere, that the universe is only a by-product of
our gloom, why should we sacrifice this pleasure of tottering and of splitting our skulls against
heaven and earth? EMC
December 6, 2025
Sad planets posits itself as a series of meditations, chiefly intuiting the emotionality of the universe and exploring cosmic sadness. I found most of these ideas interesting but they soon and often become redundant, unnecessary, contrived and myopic. I was also saddened about the way the authors conceive of the climate crisis. So much of it was so needlessly doomful and hopeless. They seem weirdly insistent on framing humanity as a virus, the earth as its impersonal and disaffected host trying to get rid of us. This is often done as a way to try to illustrate the Modern Man™️ and his alienation from the natural world, which is valid, but it often steers into seeing all humans as inherently and irrevocably flawed, incompatible with the Earth, etc. I think they could’ve taken one step back and seen how faulty, single minded, obtuse, colonial, uncurious, damaging, arrogant and untrue a lot of their takes are in this area.
What I found most compelling were the moments when the authors tap into a deeper and more abstract mode of wondering. A lot of the mini essays have something to do with human emotion; They’ll look into some piece of writing, a movie, an author, a historical event, the future, political happenings, from this vantage point of affect and how it flows between the interior and the exterior of the human world. The book soon becomes a kaleidoscope of the human reckoning with his own existence, his consciousness, his doom, his love, his planet. In looking to the cosmos the authors kind of beautifully illuminate some important parts of being alive. At times it seems so enlightened.
Worth the read
What I found most compelling were the moments when the authors tap into a deeper and more abstract mode of wondering. A lot of the mini essays have something to do with human emotion; They’ll look into some piece of writing, a movie, an author, a historical event, the future, political happenings, from this vantage point of affect and how it flows between the interior and the exterior of the human world. The book soon becomes a kaleidoscope of the human reckoning with his own existence, his consciousness, his doom, his love, his planet. In looking to the cosmos the authors kind of beautifully illuminate some important parts of being alive. At times it seems so enlightened.
Worth the read
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