"Illich's theories on the effectiveness of cars, air travel, and energy showed that industrial progress actually hampers the speed and effectiveness we have as people who were born capable of walking to our desired destinations. Roads, airports, stations, traffic jams, all take away the benefits of using complicated engineered methods of travel, and make our actual travel times longer"--

"Illich discusses reading as a major part of life. His belief is that reading and studying are synonymous with a religious lifestyle, either that of a Christian monk, or those who follow Judaism. He tells of those who continue to read the scriptures when they return from the synagogue. Illich shows us how a meditative state of mind is conducive to world peace and harmony, and how this can come about if we listen to those who follow a 'bookish' lifestyle."

During the 1980s Ivan Illich added another dimension to his thought through the study of Medieval history. In the current volume he aims to demonstrate the extent to which the groundwork for the institutions that characterize our world today was laid in the twelfth century. The topics with which Illich engages center on health, housing, schooling, literacy, technology, peace and ethical values, his overiding concern being individual freedom realized in personal 'inter-dependence'.

"Ivan Illich alights on such topics as education, history, language, politics, and the church. The conversations range over the whole of Illich's published work and public career as a priest, vice-rector of a university, founder of the Centre for Intercultural Documentation in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and author of such classics as Tools for Conviviality , Medical Nemesis , and Deschooling Society ."