Homage to Gaia: The Life of an Independent Scientist (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There is much more than science in this book....This is ultimately an uplifting book about the way life ought to be, both at a personal and at a global level."--Sunday Times (London)

Product Description

With over fifty patents to his name and a stream of awards--including one from the Queen of England--James Lovelock is a distinguished scientist who has been widely recognized by the international scientific community.
In this inspiring autobiography, Lovelock tells the story of his life as an independent scientist--from his first job as a lab assistant to his energetic crusade to save the ozone layer. We see how Lovelock came to develop his inventions and theories--he recounts the history behind his famous Gaia theory and talks us through his many inventions. We learn about the electron capture detector, which was extremely important in the development of environmental awareness, revealing for the first time the ubiquitous distribution of pesticide residues in the environment and the global distribution of CFCs. He talks about his work with NASA, where his ideas were adopted in the program for planetary exploration. And he tells about the work he has done for organizations like the Ministry of Defence, The Marine Biological Association, and companies such as Shell and Hewlett Packard.
Written in a sharp and energetic style, James Lovelock's book will entertain and inspire anyone interested in science or the creative spirit.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; Later Printing edition (December 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198604297
• ISBN-13: 978-0198604297
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #356,507 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Life of an Independent Scientist, August 17, 2003

By	Dennis H. Le Croissette (Carlsbad, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This is a remarkable book by and about a remarkable man. Big science is now the norm so that few working scientists manage to survive on their own. But Jim Lovelock not only survived but was responsible for a number of outstanding scientific achievements.
I met Jim when he was a consultant to Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the 1970's. I was a physicist with an intense interest in all things biological, and in charge of the scientists and engineers devising instruments to try to detect life on Mars. Jim immediately impressed me with his quiet manner and understanding of the problems. A year later, I visited his laboratory in his cottage at Bowerchalke, near Salisbury, England and met his first wife, Helen.
This book is autobiographical, discussing in depth his early life and how he gradually became so well regarded in the scientific community that he was sought after as a consultant around the world. I can hear Jim's voice in this book. Peter Simmonds, who worked with Jim in Britain and at JPL once said, "Jim carries a little bird on his shoulder who tells him exactly what to say." It seemed like that when he was able to make a pungent comment clearing up a difficulty that had plagued us for days.
This is a remarkable book as it tells with great clarity what Jim thought of many of the people he worked with. The names include many of the great scientists working on the environment and other problems of the age. He's kind in his assessment of some of them, I think.
Read this book if you want to understand what makes a great scientist: ability, knowledge, study, intuition and imagination. Read it as a gripping story of one man's life as an independent scientist. Read it, also, to learn how much Jim contributed to our understanding of the world's environment as we know it today.

Dennis Le Croissette, Ph.D.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Science is about creating yourself, September 4, 2003

By A Customer

This book is a brilliant illustration of George Bernard Shaw's philosophy: "Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself." As a professional scientist struggling to reconcile the freedom of thought required to produce truly innovative research and the constraints of institutional science, I found this book very stimulating. Lovelock's depiction of a bright, adventurous, and independent scientific path will be a wonderful inspiration to all vocational scientists.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars His autobiography, written at age 80. 4.3 stars, January 20, 2006

By	Peter D. Tillman (Taos, NM USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

______________________________________________
This is his autobiography, written at age 80. Lovelock is best-known for formulating the Gaia hypothesis, that the Earth is, metaphorically, a global superorganism: life regulates its environment to be more favorable for life, by the familiar and everyday process of natural selection. For example, a higher CO2 level in the atmosphere will result in more luxuriant plant growth, which will lower the CO2 content [1].

Lovelock, who has a Ph.D in medicine, had a long career as a working scientist and inventor. He invented the exquisitely-sensitive electron-capture detector, and used it to pioneer measuurements of fluorocarbons in the atmosphere, work which led to the banning of Freon as a hazard to the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere.
Lovelock is appropriately skeptical about the rhetorical excesses in the "Ozone Wars", and deplores the continued misuse of science in environmemtalism-as-religion. He's well-aware of the misuse of his Gaia "earth-mother" metaphor by muddle-headed New Agers, but gave numerous lectures to religious groups at the time the Gaia hypothesis was struggling for scientific respectability, which couldn't have helped his case. Lovelock himself is an agnostic, a fiercely-independent iconoclast, and an old-fashioned, very British eccentric scholar.

Lovelock spent most of his career as an independent scientist and consultant, a difficult path for a research scientist but one which suited his personality -- and his desire to live and work in a rural setting. He's an interesting man and an influential scientist. His memoir is somewhat repetitive and overlong, and he sometimes sounds like a querulous old fart -- but if you have admired Lovelock's scientific work, you will enjoy reading about his life.

Lovelock himself is a science-fiction fan -- as was William Golding, a neighbor who named the Gaia hypothesis. Lovelock co-wrote one science-fiction (sort-of) novel, _The Greening of Mars_ -- and his critics gleefully (and unfairly) labelled his Gaia work as science-fantasy. His work has held up pretty well, and his ideas are becoming mainstream in the earth and life-sciences -- though many of his successors avoid the "tainted" Gaia label.

Lovelock's memoir has an interesting account of his progress from an unquestioning young Socialist in the 1930's to an admirer of Lady Thatcher. His uncritical admiration for the British National Health Service continues, even after a disastrous operation that permanently damaged his urethra, apparently due to a 'labour action' by the union at his hospital. Oddly enough.

Lovelock is currently campaigning for nuclear power, as a way out of global-warming. His book has kind words for the industries he's worked in, especially Shell Oil. My kind of Green.

Lovelock's official website: http://www.ecolo.org/lovelock/lovebioen.htm
_____________________
[1] --eventually. This feedback mechanism clearly doesn't operate quickly enough to control fossil-fuel CO2 emissions.

Review copyright 2006 by Peter D. Tillman