Peter Nolan is an academic who isn't scared to use his wide-ranging wisdom to make an argument. He relies on a mix of history, politics, philosophy and economics to underpin his thesis that, if left unchecked, the contradictions inherent in what he calls "wild capitalism" will ultimately prove disastrous for humanity. As he puts it: "Unrestrained capitalism has created intense threats to the very existence of the human species at the same time as it has liberated humanity."

We are at a crossroads and can take the difficult path of greater global collaboration and co-operation or the more immediately obvious path, carrying on with unfettered global competition, which will lead to humanity's destruction.

It is a dense, detailed and carefully constructed argument. Global collaboration, he argues, relies on an unlikely tripartite alliance between the US, China and the Muslim world. If this seems unlikely, Nolan is upbeat, placing as much weight on mankind's instinct for survival through co-operation as he does on the equally inherent destructive competitiveness represented by globalisation.