I Eat the Stars

How to Live Fully and Beautifully in a Collapsing World

Read by Sarah Wilson
From New York Times bestselling author Sarah Wilson comes a deeply moving, wise guide to finding joy and meaning in a world that seems to be falling apart

It’s hard to escape the feeling that something is deeply wrong . . . that life has become precariously off-balance. We are hit hourly with headlines about catastrophic wildfires, unprecedented flooding, record heat waves, collapsing democracies, AI and nuclear threat, rising economic inequality, widespread unrest, and more. In I Eat the Stars, Sarah Wilson argues we are undergoing what every complex civilization before us has—systemic collapse.

So how do we continue to live as sensitive humans amidst such a tumultuous shift? What does life look like when the systems we rely on deteriorate? Should we be having kids? How do we make financial decisions? Should we be prepping? And, most importantly, how do we avoid succumbing to doom and despair?

In I Eat the Stars, Sarah Wilson delves into these pressing questions. Drawing on many years of research and wisdom gained from more than 200 conversations with philosophers, poets, game theorists, and spiritual leaders, Wilson takes readers on an intimate journey as she lays out a path for living fully, meaningfully, and beautifully through these troubled times. Our predicament, she argues, is ultimately an urgent call to us all to relish what is valuable to us—to eat the stars—and to return to our humanity once again.

I Eat the Stars empowers readers to move beyond panic, doom, and despair. With her warm, incisively intelligent, wise, and down-to-earth voice, Wilson creates a space for readers to confront their fears and anxieties about an uncertain future, guiding them toward one rooted in truth, hope, justice, creativity, community, and to step up as “warriors” and meet the moment.

We are in what we were warned about for decades. But from a crisis comes stunning possibility.
"What the hell is happening to our world? The wonderful Sarah Wilson writes straight to the beating heart of what we all need to hear. This loving and uplifting book is the wise guide that can hold our hands as we tread these dark times."
—Liam Neeson, actor and Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF

"This book feels like a raw conversation with the friend who can capture where we are as a collective. There are some people I do not want to ever leave this planet. If we can keep Sarah Wilson and David Attenborough forever, there will always be beacons of possibility to guide us."
—Lena Headey, activist and star of Game of Thrones

"Praising Sarah Wilson sufficiently is a prodigious task. Her range, her freedom of spirit, her brilliance, her unflinching honesty. . . . I Eat the Stars is a feisty, outspoken testament that devours wobbly beliefs and half-lived lies. Wilson’s not here to soothe. Her writing agitates. It awakens our exasperation, but also our compassion. It is unlike any book you have ever read. Be warned: you may never see the world again as you do now."
—Paul Hawken, New York Times bestselling author of Drawdown

"As I read chapter after chapter of this book, I realized that Sarah Wilson understands it all—every aspect of our species, our societies, and our inclinations that make us vulnerable to collapse. I have met no one else with such knowledge and insight. Whatever your taste in reading, if you are concerned about our future, take this book seriously."
—Joseph A. Tainter, author of The Collapse of Complex Societies

"A chilling and important book about the chaos and complexity of what’s happening in the world—and how to understand it at a human level."
—Johann Hari, New York Times bestselling author of Stolen Focus

"Sarah Wilson has taken material that I am deeply familiar with in my own work and made it
come alive in compelling and captivating ways. I love her memorable prose. I love the
non-linear romp through facts and emotions. I love her presence. This is a long, hard road we’re on, and I am glad for her companionship on the journey."
—Margaret J. Wheatley, collapse theorist and author of Who Do We Choose to Be?

"A book for dark times that is filled with light and hope. Thoughtful, sometimes unsettling, but always brave."
—Peter Frankopan, international bestselling author of The Silk Roads

"I Eat the Stars is a personal but information-and-thought-packed account of a vividly intelligent, profoundly concerned mind grappling with the threats and challenges of our increasingly chaotic world. Boldly and passionately confronting what is happening, Sarah Wilson seeks to make sense, to identify solutions, to question, to call out those who are harming the world, on a vigorous crusade to save the future. This is a clarion of a book. Hers is a soaring voice, which speaks with incisive clarity on behalf of the fears and hopes of many, and in doing so shows where hope is still to be found."
—A. C. Grayling, philosopher and author of The History of Philosophy

"It is difficult to provide philosophical guidance through rupture while it is still tearing the fabric of the world apart. But this is what Sarah Wilson manages to do, with exactly the kind of tenderness and wild-spiritedness that we are going to need—and want—going forward."
—Alain de Botton, philosopher, author, and founder of The School of Life

"When it comes to analyzing all the many things going wrong in our world, Sarah Wilson has few rivals. Her latest book sets them out with brutal clarity and whilst she does not offer policy solutions, the analysis itself is an important contribution to the current debate. We need more people like Wilson alerting the world to its painful realities if change and improvement are to come."
—Alastair Campbell, journalist and host of The Rest Is Politics

“Drawing on perspectives from climate scientists, psychologists, and technology futurists, the author’s raw soul searching gives rise to plenty of hard questions as well as some surprisingly beautiful meditations on what it means to be human in an age of uncertainty. Challenging and rewarding, this will stick in readers’ minds.”
Publishers Weekly, starred review
© Peter Tarasiuk
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. View titles by Sarah Wilson

About

From New York Times bestselling author Sarah Wilson comes a deeply moving, wise guide to finding joy and meaning in a world that seems to be falling apart

It’s hard to escape the feeling that something is deeply wrong . . . that life has become precariously off-balance. We are hit hourly with headlines about catastrophic wildfires, unprecedented flooding, record heat waves, collapsing democracies, AI and nuclear threat, rising economic inequality, widespread unrest, and more. In I Eat the Stars, Sarah Wilson argues we are undergoing what every complex civilization before us has—systemic collapse.

So how do we continue to live as sensitive humans amidst such a tumultuous shift? What does life look like when the systems we rely on deteriorate? Should we be having kids? How do we make financial decisions? Should we be prepping? And, most importantly, how do we avoid succumbing to doom and despair?

In I Eat the Stars, Sarah Wilson delves into these pressing questions. Drawing on many years of research and wisdom gained from more than 200 conversations with philosophers, poets, game theorists, and spiritual leaders, Wilson takes readers on an intimate journey as she lays out a path for living fully, meaningfully, and beautifully through these troubled times. Our predicament, she argues, is ultimately an urgent call to us all to relish what is valuable to us—to eat the stars—and to return to our humanity once again.

I Eat the Stars empowers readers to move beyond panic, doom, and despair. With her warm, incisively intelligent, wise, and down-to-earth voice, Wilson creates a space for readers to confront their fears and anxieties about an uncertain future, guiding them toward one rooted in truth, hope, justice, creativity, community, and to step up as “warriors” and meet the moment.

We are in what we were warned about for decades. But from a crisis comes stunning possibility.

Reviews

"What the hell is happening to our world? The wonderful Sarah Wilson writes straight to the beating heart of what we all need to hear. This loving and uplifting book is the wise guide that can hold our hands as we tread these dark times."
—Liam Neeson, actor and Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF

"This book feels like a raw conversation with the friend who can capture where we are as a collective. There are some people I do not want to ever leave this planet. If we can keep Sarah Wilson and David Attenborough forever, there will always be beacons of possibility to guide us."
—Lena Headey, activist and star of Game of Thrones

"Praising Sarah Wilson sufficiently is a prodigious task. Her range, her freedom of spirit, her brilliance, her unflinching honesty. . . . I Eat the Stars is a feisty, outspoken testament that devours wobbly beliefs and half-lived lies. Wilson’s not here to soothe. Her writing agitates. It awakens our exasperation, but also our compassion. It is unlike any book you have ever read. Be warned: you may never see the world again as you do now."
—Paul Hawken, New York Times bestselling author of Drawdown

"As I read chapter after chapter of this book, I realized that Sarah Wilson understands it all—every aspect of our species, our societies, and our inclinations that make us vulnerable to collapse. I have met no one else with such knowledge and insight. Whatever your taste in reading, if you are concerned about our future, take this book seriously."
—Joseph A. Tainter, author of The Collapse of Complex Societies

"A chilling and important book about the chaos and complexity of what’s happening in the world—and how to understand it at a human level."
—Johann Hari, New York Times bestselling author of Stolen Focus

"Sarah Wilson has taken material that I am deeply familiar with in my own work and made it
come alive in compelling and captivating ways. I love her memorable prose. I love the
non-linear romp through facts and emotions. I love her presence. This is a long, hard road we’re on, and I am glad for her companionship on the journey."
—Margaret J. Wheatley, collapse theorist and author of Who Do We Choose to Be?

"A book for dark times that is filled with light and hope. Thoughtful, sometimes unsettling, but always brave."
—Peter Frankopan, international bestselling author of The Silk Roads

"I Eat the Stars is a personal but information-and-thought-packed account of a vividly intelligent, profoundly concerned mind grappling with the threats and challenges of our increasingly chaotic world. Boldly and passionately confronting what is happening, Sarah Wilson seeks to make sense, to identify solutions, to question, to call out those who are harming the world, on a vigorous crusade to save the future. This is a clarion of a book. Hers is a soaring voice, which speaks with incisive clarity on behalf of the fears and hopes of many, and in doing so shows where hope is still to be found."
—A. C. Grayling, philosopher and author of The History of Philosophy

"It is difficult to provide philosophical guidance through rupture while it is still tearing the fabric of the world apart. But this is what Sarah Wilson manages to do, with exactly the kind of tenderness and wild-spiritedness that we are going to need—and want—going forward."
—Alain de Botton, philosopher, author, and founder of The School of Life

"When it comes to analyzing all the many things going wrong in our world, Sarah Wilson has few rivals. Her latest book sets them out with brutal clarity and whilst she does not offer policy solutions, the analysis itself is an important contribution to the current debate. We need more people like Wilson alerting the world to its painful realities if change and improvement are to come."
—Alastair Campbell, journalist and host of The Rest Is Politics

“Drawing on perspectives from climate scientists, psychologists, and technology futurists, the author’s raw soul searching gives rise to plenty of hard questions as well as some surprisingly beautiful meditations on what it means to be human in an age of uncertainty. Challenging and rewarding, this will stick in readers’ minds.”
Publishers Weekly, starred review

Author

© Peter Tarasiuk
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. View titles by Sarah Wilson
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