While I was excited to read this book, seeking inspiration for how my business can become more open to green opportunities, I found it extremely difficult to navigate. While it is full of examples, I found it was more about the kind of people we need in the future rather than offering practical solutions to the climate emergency. More signposting and less formality would make it more accessible and garner a wider audience to help build momentum to tackle the climate crisis.

As a self employed business owner, there are some inspiring and interesting stories in there. Not a light read but its good for business owners and professionals who want to get some pep in their step!

This is a positive and inspiring look at who we need and when we need them - which is leaders, and right now, or sooner. The author explains that nobody has to solve all the world's problems, but climate change and plastic pollution, to say nothing of hunger, will only be solved by many people working on projects in tandem. If you reduce food waste or recycle fruit peels into vegan leather, this reduces methane emissions and the use of fossil fuels. Some small businesses took off during the pandemic, with several examples provided. They used a good idea and scaled it up to serve more customers via online orders and new customer consciousness of sustainable credentials. However, many businesses had to close. Getting funding to start up could be difficult.

A catchy graphic is provided, in which five circles are arranged in a ring and a star placed onto them in negative form. The white space of the star is the solutionist. The circles represent aspects of the person, from agility (called flex) to grit and soul, vision and fun. Each one is broken down further, but the important lesser aspects are those like future-focused and socially conscious.

Later, the author borrows another author's separation of characters into three types, confusingly changing his names. She calls them brick, the solid workers, green, the sustainable-thinking folks, and gold, the ones focused on themselves and how a project will make them look. I may be over-simplifying. She says that nowadays, all three are needed as marketing is so important, and no matter how good an idea we have, the basic work still has to get done.

I would have liked more graphics and some photos of the leaders who provided interviews. If these people have online businesses, presumably they have publicity photos. But a good balance is shown, women, men, people from differing cultures and indigenous leaders.

I read an e-ARC from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.

The Solutions is an excellent book that offers a compelling vision of how sustainable innovation can be used to tackle some of the world's most pressing problems. Solitaire Townsend's writing is clear and engaging, and her ideas are both practical and inspiring. If you're interested in sustainability and innovation, this book is definitely worth reading.

The E-Book could be improved and more user-friendly, such as links to the chapters, no significant gaps between words and a cover for the book would be better. It is very document-like instead of a book. A star has been deducted because of this.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and I would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I was looking forward to reading this book but I think I must have misread the description. I was looking for a book that might list some of the solutions that we need to avoid the current climate crisis, but this was more of blueprint for the kind of people and mindsets that we will need.
That said I did find the first part of the book interesting, but it failed to maintain that interest as to me it seemed to just rehash the same themes and I’m afraid that this is one of the few books that I haven’t been able to finish.

This book is well written and inspirational, in a world full of crippling financial hardships this book opens your eyes to the possibility’s that are out there!