Customer Reviews

Gaia

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We are all well aware of the world-wide problems concerning humans harming the environment, such as ozone depletants and cars causing global warming. We are a great deal less aware, however, of the real damage done to the earth and whether or not the planet can recover.

In this revolutionary book Lovelock describes his profound new theory of planetary ecology. The Gaia theory views the earth as a living, self-regulatory organism in which the evolution of life is closely coupled with the evolution of the climate. The theory accounts for the remarkable ability of the biosphere to recover from planetary disasters such as the impact that killed the dinosaurs, and many other previously unexplained features of life on earth.

The book should be on the shelf of anyone interested in the planetary maladies mankind has inflicted upon the earth. In easy to understand language with the minimum of jargon. Lovelock eloquently explains his theory and suggests sensible and empirical remedies for an ailing Gaia.

The other review on this page was written by me (Lloyd) a few years ago. I am writing this review as a second look at the book now that I am older and (hopefully) more critical - i.e. less willing to be persuaded (!). Whilst I still think that the Gaia hypothesis is a fascinating idea and that Lovelock's book is well worth reading, I am now much more sceptical about the actual evidence for the hypothesis -- empirical evidence is, after all, the final and absolute test of a hypothesis in science.

Lovelock's writing can be very poetic. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, but in some cases -- such as the description of the earth as being an `organism' -- clarity and scientific precision seems to be sacrificed in favour of emotion. In the review `Reviewing Lovelock's second book on the Gaia Hypothesis' of `The Ages of Gaia' someone explains Lovelock's ideas about the earth as an organism more eloquently than I can. I find this view much less likely (and therefore not as good as a scientific hypothesis) than the more down to earth -- if you will forgive the pun! -- statement that living things sometimes modify their environment in a way that keeps conditions favourable for life.

Which brings me back to the all-important question of whether the earth is `self regulating'. It seems to me that this would be quite a difficult thing to demonstrate experimentally or by observation (although Lovelock does give examples of observations that support his hypothesis). I don't know what the current evidence amounts to (I am not a scientist!) but it seems to me that the current consensus is not with Lovelock.

In summary, I would recommend people to read the book but to bear in mind that Gaia is not a well-established theory. In particular, it might be good to also read some books about more mainstream evolutionary theory by authors such as Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould (which are, in my opinion, brilliant books) first.

I ordered GAIA "A new look at life on earth. What I received was GAIA "The practical science of planetary medicine". This book in itself is interesting, it's just not the one that I wanted & paid for. It was delivered within the time frame I was given, it was in great condition & I am happy with everything except it's just not the one I wanted.