## Metadata - Author: [[Helena Norberg-Hodge]] - Full Title: Ancient Futures - Category: #books ## Highlights - Rather than thinking just in terms of isolated, scattered efforts, we need government policies that promote small scale on a large scale. ([Location 334](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B071Y7PW41&location=334)) - In Ladakh I have seen progress divide people from the earth, from one another, and ultimately from themselves. I have seen happy people lose their serenity when they started living according to our norms. As a result, I have had to conclude that culture plays a far more fundamental role in shaping the individual than I had previously thought. ([Location 486](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B071Y7PW41&location=486)) - The average family holding is about five acres; occasionally a household might have as many as ten. Optimum acreage is determined by the size of the family, roughly one acre per working member of the household. Beyond that, land is not of much use. There is no point in possessing land you cannot work. (This is reflected in the fact that Ladakhis measure land according to how long it takes to plough it. The size of a plot is described as “one day,” “two days,” and so on.) ([Location 545](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B071Y7PW41&location=545))