Customer Reviews

The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Many people in 1991 were fascinated by the idea of Biosphere 2, a closed, hermetically sealed, self-sustaining, man-made ecosystem with a desert, an ocean, a rainforest, a savannah, a marsh, a habitat and an intensive farm, all in three acres. On September 26 eight people entered the structure for a two-year stint living "as if on Mars, farming all our food, recycling our water, our waste and even the oxygen we breathed..."

But bad publicity dogged the project even before the team went in. The public grew skeptical, as the Biospherians were dismissed as frauds, cult figures, publicity hounds and charlatans. None of which, strictly speaking, was completely false. Or completely true.

Jane Poynter, who celebrated her 30th birthday in Biosphere 2, and went on to found an aerospace firm with fellow Biospherian (and later husband) Taber MacCallum, attempts to set the record straight with this emotional and wide ranging account.

Poynter was an upper-class English girl who joined the Institute of Ecotechnics at age 20 for travel and adventure - and, no doubt, to escape her parents' conventional expectations. The IE group, headed by charismatic and authoritarian John Allen, were Synergists who believed in a "strict adherence " to three avocations - theater, philosophy and business - to keep themselves in intellectual, emotional and economic balance. This was the group that went on to conceive and build Biosphere 2.

Poynter was an early candidate for the team. Her training included stints on a Ferro-cement research vessel built by IE staffers and an outback ranch in remote Australia populated primarily by large meat-eating ants, plagues of flies, and termites who ate the tires off cars. Lessons in resourcefulness, difficult physical conditions and close, isolated living may have been useful as Poynter says, but nothing could really prepare any of them for the Biosphere experience.

"After thirteen months in Biosphere 2, we were starving, suffocating and going quite mad."

Inadequate food had plagued them from the start. In part this goes back to the cult-like group dynamic.

The Biospherian candidates worked on design and construction of Biosphere 2 (earth being Biosphere 1), and were shifted to different tasks in order to have well-rounded experience. In practice, shifts were sometimes made to punish a staffer for disloyalty, i.e., criticism. Criticism was also dealt with in less subtle ways.

Poynter, as agriculture manager, was asked to draw up a report showing that Biosphere 2 could produce all of the food they would need. When she could only arrive at a total of 80 percent she, and two others who sided with her, were fired from the team. Poynter and another woman were taken back three days later without explanation - the third was shunted to some other aspect of the program.

This type of behavior was common and served to keep all of them cowed, off balance, and unwilling to point out snags. When a certain root fungus was cited as a potential problem, John Allen's response was to make the scientist "jump up and down, screaming `pythium, pythium.' " The fungus was indeed a persistent rice-crop killer.

Their second big problem was a steady, unexpected drop in oxygen. For months they did intensive experiments, but the debilitating riddle remained unsolved until an outsider provided a clue in a casual phone call. Serendipity and science working together would seem to give the Synergists' creed of balance a lift.

But the "going mad" part never really got better. Much of Poynter's book focuses on the interpersonal acrimony, which eventually divided them into two groups of four. Difficulties were exacerbated by backbreaking work on inadequate diets in low oxygen, but even when these problems were somewhat alleviated relations stayed poor.

Of course, the manipulation by outside management never got better and it was that that separated them into loyalists and non-loyalists. Poynter was a non-loyalist. When she walked out of Biosphere 2 her time as a Synergist was done too.

But her book seems balanced and open - something of a catharsis. She celebrates the science, such as it was, and laments that more was not done later to study closed-ecosystem reactions. There was one more 6-month group sojourn inside, but the project was too expensive to continue.

Though the two years were arduous she counts them a success - "we had proven that a man-made biosphere can successfully sustain life, including human life, for an extended period of time without inexplicably crashing, or devolving rapidly into green slime." True, but they did need two infusions of oxygen, which would not have been possible in space, and for all their psychological problems they always knew they could walk out at any time.

Naturally many questions remain, particularly about the environmental science. Though the environment was carefully engineered and controlled they still had ceaseless problems with insect pests (including ant intruders from outside) and plant diseases.

Poynter is at her best describing daily life; the "dysfunctional family" they became, the feasts and famines, and the daily grind of work, though you get the feeling she's leaving a lot out to avoid pressing on old wounds. An absorbing, varied and often suspenseful read.

-- Portsmouth Herald

First, I am not a professional reviewer or writer. I am an like everyone else who likes to read a good book.

I liked this book for a few good reasons. It was easy to read and follow. I didn't get tired from reading it. At times I would get so engrossed in reading it that time would seem to fly by.

This book gives you the inside story of the Biosphere 2 experiment. It tells about the relationships of the people involved and some of the History leading up to the experiment. It even gives you a bit of the science behind the Biosphere told in a way that a non technical person can understand. It tells about the fun times and some of the bad times even some of the funny times. It is certainly not a dry read. I think that Jane Poynter did a good job writing this book. It certainly answers some of the questions raised in the past about the Biosphere 2 experiment. It is a good read, I recommend it. I own it, I am going to keep it and I look forward to reading it again.

In past books written by other biospherians, the science behind Biosphere 2 was well covered, but the tomes came across "whitewashed" and impersonal. This memoir definitely stands out. The author shares stories of conflict between the crew members. It seems that although these biospherians went in as friends, no amount of training prepared them for the life in isolation that ended some of their relationships while still inside. Definitely an interesting analysis of the effects of living in seclusions a person's psyche. I found this to be an "edge-of-your-seat" read.

Jane Poynter gives a very honest story of her involvement in the group that conceived and built the Biosphere 2, where she came from and where the group was coming from.

Jane obviously knows her Biospherics, the book has Bibliography and Index for easy reference like a scientific paper, the Science almost reads like a hard techno-thriller, Low Oxygen, Failing Power, Constant food shortage.
This combined with the tensions between the people inside and outside of the biosphere makes a very intense story, where the reader gets drawn into the drama and emotional stress.

That the story is real, and told by one of the participants is astounding.
"No-one can make this up"

Written in 2005 Jane Poynter has the distance to the events to make the story balanced, it is not one sided, she objectively describes the events, and tries to make an objective assessment of her own feelings at the time.

The book is not a personal vendetta against other people in the Biosphere 2 project.

Overall a 5 star book

The unique thing about Biosphere 2 was that it was a scientific experiment launched by the anti-establishment. Ultimately, the anti-establishment people who were running this experiment were miffed that the establishment wasn't taking their work seriously. Jane Poynter describes the demeaning experience of lacking credibility with the scientific fraternity, despite their great efforts.

These people were mavericks in the world of science. Serious scientific research is typically conducted by the government or universities on projects of a much smaller scale. To circumvent the usual process was audacious and somewhat naive. This group had guts, imagination and, most importantly, a very wealthy donor.

A group of vintage 1960's alternative lifestyle types, not drugged-out hippies, their goal was to make some big discoveries. Perhaps a science discovery inspired by science fiction. They chose an objective to study: Discover important information about enclosed environments,(..yeah, sounds good!)...something that can possibly be used for habitats on Mars..(yeah!)..or the Moon.. (...yeah, yeah, let's do it!). They decided to set a record for staying the longest inside a sealed building(...ok, we're gonna do what?).

Similar to the crew on Star Trek, they went on a two year mission, separated from the rest of us on earth. They lived a tortuous existence inside an enclosed space with too little oxygen, too little food and too much CO2. This enviroment caused them all sorts of physical and psychological problems. They were constantly bickering, factioning into groups.

As interesting as this appears, I just didn't share the same passion for "breaking the record" inside a building. Reading the other great reviews, this book obviously appeals to a lot of people, but it just didn't work for me. I can't blame Poynter's writing, because Poynter, an English woman, writes well. She is frankly honest about what it was like to participate in this grand experiment. I simply didn't share their enthusiasm about the mission.

The Human Experiment was a pleasant surprise on several counts. First, it is a very "good read"; so good in fact that I read it straight through in one sitting. Second, there is enough technical detail that those interested in such things can get a good sense of the technical issues inherent in the design and operation of Biosphere 2, yet non-technical readers will not be so overwhelmed that they will fail to grasp the overall significance of the experiment. Third, the social issues, which are really the strongest focus of the book, are described with real passion, yet with more than enough objectivity to leave one comfortable with the overall accuracy of the account. The author admits her own biases with sufficient sincerity that her basic integrity seems self-evident. And, finally, the philosophical issues that underlay the design and analysis of the experiment are laid out in a very engrossing fashion. This last point may sound rather dry and of limited practical interest, but in fact such questions are central to our very ability to understand anything at all of a scientific nature. Anyone who cares about the basic validity of any scientific activity will find the detailed examples in this book well worth the trouble of reading.

One is also struck by the sheer ambition of the project. It not only cost 250 million dollars, which is an obvious measure of the scope, but anyone with even a little knowledge of biology and chemistry can see clearly how much needed to be fit into a structure of less than 150,000 square feet. This is smaller than an average grocery warehouse, yet there was essentially everything needed to make up a completely closed ecosystem. There were a couple of oversights, to be sure, and that is to be expected in any pioneering technical project, but in retrospect the vast majority of the design worked as intended, which is quite amazing, and especially so to anyone who has ever been involved in a high-tech project of any kind. In addition, the project "bug list" was not only short, but all of the design errors were susceptible to straightforward correction. In other words, the overall design was generally correct and robust. Very impressive indeed.

In short, this book will likely appeal to anyone with an interest in any or all of the following: ecology, the environment, manned spaceflight, engineering, human social dynamics, philosophy of science, or simple adventure.

This is a revealing account of life inside Biosphere 2. The autobiography follows the author, Jane Poynter from her childhood in England to the present day. In addition to interesting tech tidbits about the building and functionality, she shares about relationships with the other "inmates" of Bio2. Jane explains the science behind this unique accomplishment in an interesting and non-boring way. The most exciting part for me in this book was imagining them doing this giant science experiment on Mars, and definitely the behind the scenes lowdown on the creators and participants of this experiment. Highly recommend.

It was very hard to take this book seriously after reading the part where Ms. Poynter reflects on, and then rejects, the notion that the group building and living in Biosphere 2 was a cult. They called themselves Synergists. They usually lived together (on a remote ranch, for instance); they worked together; they pursued leisure activities together (meditation, theater, speechmaking, philosophy studies); and they followed the grandiose ideas of a charismatic but autocratic leader who later degenerated into a despotic, dictatorial fool. What aspect of "culthood" is missing here?

They wanted to be taken seriously as scientists, but as soon as the scientists they asked to review their project actually demanded serious science from them, the whole thing unraveled in the most childish, unprofessional way. How could it have been more stupid and wasteful than to begin the 2-year project with no idea of how it would really work? Why didn't they start with a "shakedown cruise" of 4 or 5 months? Why didn't they have psychological preparation and ongoing help? I'm amazed by the whole thing, and not in a good way.

A few weeks ago I had teh chance to visit Biosphere 2 and found the tour to be well worth the detour from Tucson. I saw this book in the gift shop but ordered it here on Amazon for much less.

Jane Poynter paints a riveting tale of how the Biosphere came to be, the science behind building it, and most important, the eperience of being a biospherian. The story combines science and human interactions in a true tale that captivates the imagination. Indeed, it reads much like any really good story whereby once you start reading it, you simply can not put it down.

Perfect condition. Written extremely well. After actually visiting Biosphere 2, this was a must read!