Karl Marx called religion "the opium of the masses" because of the illusory relief it offered from the cold realities of capitalism. Today, the hard reality that we must face is that we have fundamentally and irrevocably damaged life on Earth, and while distracting opiates are everywhere, it is clear that the root cause is none other than capitalism itself.

Building upon a completely unexplored facet of Marx's thought that has been lying dormant for more than a century, Japanese star philosopher Kohei Saito reveals how we are still caught in the trap that Marx diagnosed towards the end of his life - and proves that capitalism can never be compatible with a sustainable existence. Unless we can solve the dilemma that Marx spelt out in his final revelatory writings, and mend the breach we have torn in the fabric of the natural world, disaster awaits. A shock bestseller on publication in Japan, SLOW DOWN will help unleash the imaginative power necessary for us to create a better society in the age of climate crisis.

Kohei Saito is an associate professor at the University of Tokyo and the youngest ever winner of the Deutscher Memorial Prize for scholarship in the Marxist tradition. He is an editor on MEGA, an ongoing project to publish critical editions of the complete writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Slow Down was a huge bestseller on publication and has been credited for inspiring a resurgence of interest in climate economics in Japan.