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Confessions of an Antinatalist
Life is a mixture of good and bad, or so they say. Trouble is, there's no way to determine where a particular life might fall along fortune's spectrum. For every child born into the lap of luxury, there's another born on the point of a knife. There are no guarantees as to what may transpire as the immediate present unfolds into the uncertain future. Things change in an instant. Two things, however, are certain. Everyone will suffer. And everyone will die. Back to where we came from. Knowing this, and understanding full well that any particular life embodies the potential for experiencing extreme pain and unhappiness unceasing in some cases is procreation really worth the risk?
Jim Crawford doesn t believe it is. In Confessions of an Antinatalist, Crawford reflects on what it means to exist in the belly of a ravening serpent-life whose only prey is itself, and whose teeth are very, very sharp.
Jim Crawford doesn t believe it is. In Confessions of an Antinatalist, Crawford reflects on what it means to exist in the belly of a ravening serpent-life whose only prey is itself, and whose teeth are very, very sharp.
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
180 pages, Paperback
First published April 20, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 7, 2018
As a 40 year old married childless woman who has run the gauntlet of questions, disbelief and pleas from those demanding to know what is wrong with me, I'd direct them to this book and then to the teachings of Philip Larkin, and his amazing poem This Be The Verse. Don't pass the fuckery on to the next generation.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...
May 30, 2014
The book is an call for human being to stop procreating in order to end the endless suffering that is life as by extinction no one will be left to suffer. The main idea of the book is that suffering is bad and that life encompasses so much suffering that it overshadows any good it might contain. So the author encourages people to think about what good it will be to bring a new person into existence in this meaningless and miserable life. He talks about the illusion of purpose and meaning of life and how we always create some kind of illusion that there will be some kind of reward for this suffering. He says that we always look for a better future entailing that the present is worse and that people procreate so that their unfulfilled dreams and wishes can be fulfilled by their children. He talks about David Benatar idea that the infliction pain is immoral and the birth of a new person into this life of suffering will surely cause them harm.
"To An Aborted Fetus
Well, I can't say you really missed all that much,
and you were spared an ungodly amount of grief.
All in all. I'd have to say you came out on top
at least, that is my belief"
"To An Aborted Fetus
Well, I can't say you really missed all that much,
and you were spared an ungodly amount of grief.
All in all. I'd have to say you came out on top
at least, that is my belief"
August 29, 2015
Very well written. Like me, if you couldn't fully comprehend David Benatar's 'Better Never To Have Been', then this book is for you.
February 16, 2015
Great book. Well written, easy to read and puts the points over clearly and concisely.
September 30, 2014
Really loved it. After I finished I just wanted to hug Jim and cry.
The language is splendid. It's very well written.
The language is splendid. It's very well written.
June 15, 2023
Probably 3.5 stars. I appreciated the authenticity and reading the book in general, but for a single section that exemplified the author’s ignorance and non-serious approach to the ailments of nonhuman animals, and his very anthropocentric view in general. It’s difficult to want to recommend the book. It’s also much more of a polemic preaching to the emotionally-aligned choir (not me), rather than a philosophical piece, so there’s likely minimal effect this book could have on those aren’t already fairly convinced of the general concept.
December 22, 2021
The most illuminating portions of this book regarding anti-natalism are the Schopenhauer quotes between chapters. The rest is mostly Hunter S. Thompson wannabe anecdotes about the author’s youthful escapades with weed and LSD. When he does make his own statements about anti-natalism, it’s pretty banal stuff: all lives involve suffering, people spend most of their lives doing things they don’t want to do, you can’t predict whether something terrible might befall your child, etc. As an anti-natalist I was primed to enjoy this book, but I found basically nothing original in it. Overall it seemed self absorbed and pretentious. Not to mention racist: there’s a section where he questions whether young Hispanic mothers have considered the probability that their children will become violent gang members. Not my kind of anti-natalism.
April 23, 2019
sorta like an easier to read conspiracies against the human race by Thomas ligotti. really liked it
March 12, 2021
Works as a great, dare I even say, light-hearted introduction to the concept of antinatalism. Very amusing at times too. Would love to have a drink with the man. Recommend.
May 27, 2015
Interesting, but nothing that hasn't been said before by far more compelling writers.
September 28, 2019
Hilarious and poignant, a really accessible book for anyone at least marginally interested in antinatalism on a more practical rather than philosophical level.
March 31, 2025
Ouroboros, that hungry snake,
found nought of what he might partake.
In desperate straits, his tail he curled,
then ate himself and shat the world.
Hope is my enemy. She is a succubus who descends upon sleeping humankind, whispering that there a future. A bright future, as a matter of fact; as long as we persevere in extending our essences through the lives of our children, and through their children. She is a liar, a snakeoil salesman bartering chimera for generative fluid, which she sucks out of us before casting our withered husks onto the fire. And so we fall, row upon row like seasons of corn, but not until we relinquish our seed into her exploitive hands. For in the end, we all die, and only Hope lives on. And we rot, sometimes mourned for a season, but presently forgotten. Ultimately, like it or not, we are the future's dirt. This is the state of affairs we choose to subject our children to.
We continue to deliver into this existence, by means of procreation, generation after generation of children. Children whom we love, but also children who, by the very nature of things, are all condemned to suffer, and to die. In fact, a birth certificate and a certificate of death might as well be written on the same piece of paper. Death, including all the suffering leading up to it, is as inextricably bound up in the fabric of life as is the moth's attraction to the flame. Each of us is the thinnest of bookmarks, caught between the leaves of birth and death in the tome of eternal nothingness. Why, then, do we continue to feed the ever-burning fire that consumes without a trace?
The O.T. is an accounting of one ancient nation's attempt at making things right with their Creator. This shouldn't have been that difficult from a moralistic perspective, considering what a Giant Prick their Creator turns out to be. It was probably tough getting an accurate read on just what might please the Almighty Despot in the Sky. How do you predict the moods of One Who turns a blind eye to rape, pillaging, slavery and even genocide (fact is, He often commanded such atrocities), then whips right around and has you executed for picking up sticks on Saturday?
The whole heaven/hell thing is predicated on the idea that each of us has free will, and that most of us will choose the path that"leadeth to destruction." This isn't my reality, but if it's yours, shouldn't any thought toward bearing children take account of these most ultimately horrible of stakes? Think about it. Hold nonexistence in your right hand, and an eternity of unbearable agony, which must nonetheless somehow be borne, in your left. Is there ANY question as to the more favorable state you'd want your child to end up in, after his body has gone to ground?
Now, after allowing the utter obviousness of my rhetorical question to sink in, consider this. The right hand path, or the state of nonexistence, is exactly the state that a Christian yanks his child out of in the first place. And according to Matthew 7:13-14, the odds of that child's damnation to a place of everlasting torment are AT LEAST as good as playing Russian Roulette with five bullets in the chamber.
Life is suffering. The antinatalist wants first and foremost to cut suffering off at the root, through encouraging non-procreation. But in the end, he's just another person living among many. His life, like yours, is tied to the lives of his neighbors and loved ones -- and especially to the lives of his own children. There is love, and indeed, a sense of duty. Yes, life is suffering, but part of that suffering is loss, especially loss through the death of a parent, or another beloved person.
found nought of what he might partake.
In desperate straits, his tail he curled,
then ate himself and shat the world.
Hope is my enemy. She is a succubus who descends upon sleeping humankind, whispering that there a future. A bright future, as a matter of fact; as long as we persevere in extending our essences through the lives of our children, and through their children. She is a liar, a snakeoil salesman bartering chimera for generative fluid, which she sucks out of us before casting our withered husks onto the fire. And so we fall, row upon row like seasons of corn, but not until we relinquish our seed into her exploitive hands. For in the end, we all die, and only Hope lives on. And we rot, sometimes mourned for a season, but presently forgotten. Ultimately, like it or not, we are the future's dirt. This is the state of affairs we choose to subject our children to.
We continue to deliver into this existence, by means of procreation, generation after generation of children. Children whom we love, but also children who, by the very nature of things, are all condemned to suffer, and to die. In fact, a birth certificate and a certificate of death might as well be written on the same piece of paper. Death, including all the suffering leading up to it, is as inextricably bound up in the fabric of life as is the moth's attraction to the flame. Each of us is the thinnest of bookmarks, caught between the leaves of birth and death in the tome of eternal nothingness. Why, then, do we continue to feed the ever-burning fire that consumes without a trace?
The O.T. is an accounting of one ancient nation's attempt at making things right with their Creator. This shouldn't have been that difficult from a moralistic perspective, considering what a Giant Prick their Creator turns out to be. It was probably tough getting an accurate read on just what might please the Almighty Despot in the Sky. How do you predict the moods of One Who turns a blind eye to rape, pillaging, slavery and even genocide (fact is, He often commanded such atrocities), then whips right around and has you executed for picking up sticks on Saturday?
The whole heaven/hell thing is predicated on the idea that each of us has free will, and that most of us will choose the path that"leadeth to destruction." This isn't my reality, but if it's yours, shouldn't any thought toward bearing children take account of these most ultimately horrible of stakes? Think about it. Hold nonexistence in your right hand, and an eternity of unbearable agony, which must nonetheless somehow be borne, in your left. Is there ANY question as to the more favorable state you'd want your child to end up in, after his body has gone to ground?
Now, after allowing the utter obviousness of my rhetorical question to sink in, consider this. The right hand path, or the state of nonexistence, is exactly the state that a Christian yanks his child out of in the first place. And according to Matthew 7:13-14, the odds of that child's damnation to a place of everlasting torment are AT LEAST as good as playing Russian Roulette with five bullets in the chamber.
Life is suffering. The antinatalist wants first and foremost to cut suffering off at the root, through encouraging non-procreation. But in the end, he's just another person living among many. His life, like yours, is tied to the lives of his neighbors and loved ones -- and especially to the lives of his own children. There is love, and indeed, a sense of duty. Yes, life is suffering, but part of that suffering is loss, especially loss through the death of a parent, or another beloved person.
January 9, 2025
"To An Aborted Fetus
Well, I can't say you really missed all that much,
and you were spared an ungodly amount of grief.
All in all. I'd have to say you came out on top
at least, that is my belief"
"To be born is to be condemned to a lifetime of struggle, punctuated by moments of fleeting happiness that only serve to make the inevitable collapse into suffering all the more unbearable."
"There is no consent in birth. It is the ultimate imposition, a decision made without consultation, creating a life that must endure its burdens alone."
"Life is a ceaseless tide of desires and disappointments, a cruel joke played on creatures too conscious to laugh at the punchline."
"By choosing not to create life, we free ourselves from the responsibility of perpetuating suffering. It is a small mercy in a world devoid of larger ones."
"Procreation is praised as an act of love, yet it is rarely questioned whether love justifies the risks of existence."
Well, I can't say you really missed all that much,
and you were spared an ungodly amount of grief.
All in all. I'd have to say you came out on top
at least, that is my belief"
"To be born is to be condemned to a lifetime of struggle, punctuated by moments of fleeting happiness that only serve to make the inevitable collapse into suffering all the more unbearable."
"There is no consent in birth. It is the ultimate imposition, a decision made without consultation, creating a life that must endure its burdens alone."
"Life is a ceaseless tide of desires and disappointments, a cruel joke played on creatures too conscious to laugh at the punchline."
"By choosing not to create life, we free ourselves from the responsibility of perpetuating suffering. It is a small mercy in a world devoid of larger ones."
"Procreation is praised as an act of love, yet it is rarely questioned whether love justifies the risks of existence."
January 22, 2023
While most of the arguments presented in this book will be familiar to those who have read David Benatar or even know a little about antinatalism, it is the unique way in which these arguments are presented-through personal anecdotes, metaphors, poems, etc- which really grabbed my attention. Jim Crawford presents his arguments for antinatalism in an engaging and entertaining way, making the book really enjoyable to read. Simply put, I had a good time, despite the subject matter itself being inherently depressing. If you've read Benatar, there is no reason why you wouldn't enjoy this book too. The ideas presented in here may not be new to one already familiar with antinatalism, but the idiosyncratic way in which the ideas are conveyed make this book worth checking out.
August 7, 2021
Greatest book every written-a jaunty but jarring awakening to "the terror of knowing what this world is about-watching some good friends screaming, "let me out."" Riveting, best read through a glass, darkly....das Gesicht trägt, welches sie in einer Dose aufbewahrt....Ah, look at all the lonely people!!
July 25, 2020
No-nonsense, breezy, personal and honest. Makes a compelling case for antinatalism.
July 16, 2021
Good points in this book but not a fan of the writing style.
September 2, 2025
Fascinating take on the cyclical nature of suffering. Definitely dated (re. mild racism/sexism) but overall an amusing read that gets the point across in a semi-lighthearted way
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews