Gaia: The Growth of an Idea [Hardcover]

Lawrence E. Joseph (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1990 | ISBN-10: 031204318X | ISBN-13: 978-0312043186 | Edition: 1st

Joseph offers the first complete overview of the Gaia hypotheses--that the Earth is a living organism--its historical development, its supporters and critics, its environmental and political implications as well as the burgeoning spiritual and New Age Movements that have been inspired by the Gaia hypothesis.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Gaia hypothesis, which holds that planet Earth is a living, self-adjusting organism, continues to breed controversy. Is it a viable theory or a poetic metaphor? In this brisk journalistic report, science writer Joseph takes a critical yet sympathetic look at the scientific investigations underlying Gaian thought. "The case against Gaia remains stronger by far than the case for Gaia," he concludes. Even so, he finds that the Gaian perspective--neither human- nor deity-centered--offers "a secular alternative to the doctrine of humanism." The twists and turns of Gaian politics are deftly unraveled. British chemist James Lovelock, co-inventor of the Gaia theory, discovered that aerosol chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) accumulate in the Earth's atmosphere. Yet, for two decades, he scorned environmentalists' and scientists' warnings linking CFCs to depletion of the ozone layer, blinded by Gaia's supposed capacity to adjust to almost any situation. Joseph explores how the Gaian outlook has influenced feminism, goddess art, neopaganism and Green party ecopolitics.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 276 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (April 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031204318X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312043186
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,816,984 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Date and place of birth

February 7, 1954 Danbury, Connecticut. But I was raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with which I most closely identify.

Current Residence

Beverly Hills, California, USA

Current position/Key Projects
Lawrence E. Joseph was formerly the chairman of an advanced plasma physics research and development company in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Key projects included the development of the the Vulcan Plasma Disintegrator, an ultra-high temperature (10,000 to 15,000 degrees K) furnace designed to completely dissociate highly toxic biological and chemical wastes, leaving no toxic residue.

Previous Works

Strawberry Fields Forever: John Lennon Remembered (Bantam Books, 1980) (co-writer). Written, typeset, printed and distributed twelve days after John Lennon's assassination, this Bantam "instant book" became a NY Times bestseller and was sold globally.

American Lifestyles for the 1980's (Packaged Facts, Inc., New York, NY 1981) This marketing study examined American social and cultural trends and projected their impact on the consumption of consumer goods throughout the 1980's.

Amerika, (Simon & Schuster, 1987) (co-writer). This novelization of the 14-hour ABC miniseries, on which I also served as creative editor, became a NY Times bestseller and was sold internationally.

Gaia: The Growth of an Idea (St. Martin's Press, hardcover, 1990, softcover, 1991) The book also came out in the United Kingdom (Penguin Arkana, 1991), Italy (Geo), Spain/Latin America (Cuatro Vientos) and Japan. More than any other project, this book, arising from my November, 1986 article on Gaia in The New York Times Magazine, has defined my career. Over the past twenty years, I have since written and lectured on the Gaia movement at UNCED, the 1992 United Nations "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro, at two American Geophysical Union Chapman conferences on the Gaia Hypothesis (San Diego, 1988; Valencia, Spain, 2000) on Surtsey, the youngest island in the world, an ecological preserve at the southwestern tip of the Icelandic archipelago, New York City, Prague, Beirut and many other locations.

Common Sense: Why It's No Longer Common (Addison-Wesley, 1994) This book enabled me to pursue a brief career as a common sense consultant, with such clients as the United Nations Development Programme (assignment in Bogota, Colombia), and the American Society for Industrial Security.

Education

Stuyvesant High School, New York, NY 1967-1970
Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island B.A. 1970-1974
University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California, 1975-1977, graduate studies, teaching assistant, in literature

Previous Positions

Editor, Charleston Poetic Review, Charleston, South Carolina, 1978
Chief Marketing Writer, Packaged Facts, Inc, New York, NY 1980-1990
Chairman of the Board, Aerospace Consulting Corporation (AC2), Albuquerque, New Mexico, April, 2005 to present. (I first joined the company in 1995, and have been a member of the board since 2003).

Professional, Academic, or Fraternal Organization Membership

Writer's Guild of America, 1986-present PEN American Center, 1990-present

Honors, Awards, and Prizes

1987, 1988: Summer residencies at Fondation Karolyi, an artistic foundation in Vence, France.
1992: Major grant from Gaiaship Foundation, Oslo, Norway

Magazines, Newspapers and Professional Journals

The New York Times (Sunday magazine, Op-Ed, Travel)
Salon.com
Family Circle
Audubon
Art News
Discover
Diversion

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, palatable for those not scientically inclined, December 7, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Montreal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gaia: The Growth of an Idea (Hardcover)

I preface my review by acknowledging that it has been more than six years since I've read this book and regrettably, no longer have it in my posession. But it so enriched my view of the world, although I harbor only a lay person's curiosity about science, I feel compelled to share my memories of it.

In this book, Lawrence Joseph succeeds in revealing, without judgement, how the world of science can be as insular as any other. He explores the processes that eventually bring Lynn Margulies, the macrobiologist, and James Lovelock, the atmospheric scientist, together.

Their combined vision of a wholly interactive planet, of cause and effect endlessly mirrored through a timeless looking glass, is resisted by the scientific community. As authors of the Gaia Theory, they struggle with a revolutionary approach to viewing the interaction of the planet from both above and beneath the skin of the earth. For this, they endure the suspicion of other scientists from both disciplines who believe Margulies and Lovelock have sold out to the New Age concept of a holistic universe.

The reality of cause and affect, a notion readily accepted as common sense in the most pragmatic of circles, is resisted and often rejected straight out of hand by those with a protectionist view to science.

The struggle of Margulies and Lovelock, two creative-thinkers very different in their personalities as well as their areas of interest, provides an element of high drama. And their persistence in developing and expanding the Gaia Theory made for compelling, thought-provoking reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thought-provoking book, May 2, 2006

By 

Elizabeth A. Root (Laurel, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gaia: The Growth of an Idea (Paperback)

I am always a little hesitant about relying on a science book that is 16 years old - so much can change. Apparently, Gaia is still an open issue, and even though there must have been developments since this book, it is still a fascinating look at the beginnings of the issue.

Joseph is sympathetic towards the Gaia theory, and obviously an admirer of Lovelock and Margulis, but he approaches the subject with some scepticism, explaining critical points of view and sometimes agreeing that theory is weak at points. Perhaps his attitude is best summed up by his dedication: " ... to James Lovelock, Lynn Margulis and everyone who gives them a good argument". He also mentions controversies that Lovelock has been involved in, such as his failure to support the banning of CFCs. I am somewhat relieved to realize that one of the reasons that I have never been too clear on the exact meaning of the theory is that Lovelock isn't entirely clear and has shifted over the years.

I've been doing some study of science history lately, and it strikes me that it is not as important whether or not Gaia is correct if it is fecund. If it gets researchers to look at the relationship of organism and their environment in new ways, to ask questions that they haven't previously thought of, then it will have been valuable, even if it is ultimately disproved. I will admit that a friend who is a geologist was rather distressed at my lackadaisical attitude.

Joseph also discusses the spritual aspects of the theory, e.g., how it is used by neo-pagans. He also relates to to historic religions and philosophies. I'm not sure if Lovelock, and particularly Margulis, are grateful for this, but it is interesting. My one complaint about the writing style is Joseph's tendency to use metaphors anthropomorphizing Gaia. This may be fine literary form, but it risks further confusing the reader on this somewhat vexed point.

The book includes extensive notes and an index.