Hypersea [Hardcover]

Mark A. McMenamin (Author), Dianna L. S. McMenamin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0231075308 | ISBN-13: 978-0231075305 | Publication Date: April 15, 1994 | Edition: 1St Edition

A bold step forward from Gaia, Hypersea is a new theory of how life moved from the sea to the harsher environment of land, and how on land life diversified more than marine life ever has. Presented now for the first time in a book, the concept of Hypersea will revolutionize the way we perceive and study life on Earth. In the sea nutrients pass with relative ease between organisms. But when life first invaded land, it needed to evolve far more complex relationships to sustain itself - instead of accepting nutrients passively, land life was compelled to cooperatively direct the flow of nutrients. As a result, life on land displays an extraordinary degree of connectedness - to the point where it can be seen as one inclusive terrestrial land form. It is this intimately connected land form the authors call Hypersea. Hypersea theory presses us to reconsider ourselves as functional parts of a greater life form. Indeed, the propensity for organisms to dwell within other organisms gives life on land an intricate nested quality not found in marine life. The ground-breaking new paradigm of Hypersea will stimulate a range of research that matches the diversity of land life itself, prompting new insights into evolutionary biology, conservation science and management, paleontology, and medical science - from more effective malarial treatments to new perspectives for thinking about AIDS. Enhanced by nearly one hundred illustrations, many of them never before published, Hypersea: Life on Land is an adventure for everyone who is curious about nature - scientists included. Mark and Dianna McMenamin invite us to look through the Hypersea lens, which offers a view that will alter forever the way weexperience the living world.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The authors (The Emergence of Animals: The Cambrian Breakthrough, Columbia Univ. Pr., 1990) claim that an association exists among terrestrial organisms to the extent that their body fluids commingle and that this connectedness forms a sea through which other organisms (symbionts) and nutrients can move. Authoritative, up-to-date research results are recounted from the areas of paleontology, ecology, physiology, embryology, and evolution to corroborate this radical vision of life. A convincingly clear and upbeat style drives home "hypersea" as both a proposed scientific theory with testable hypotheses and a philosophical viewpoint providing a novel perspective on our living world. Continuing in the symbiogenetics vein of Lynn Margulis and Dorian Sagan's Microcosmos (LJ 1/3/87), this book will spur controversy and is essential reading for the science buff as well as the specialist. Highly recommended.
Frank Reiser, Nassau Community Coll., Garden City, N.Y.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

This isn't just another scientific survey of life's movement from sea to land: it provides a different interpretation of how live has evolved from calm to harsher environments, considering life's need to evolve more complex relationships in order to sustain itself beyond its simple beginnings. The advanced and detailed science within lends to college-level reading. -- Midwest Book Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 343 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press; 1St Edition edition (April 15, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231075308
• ISBN-13: 978-0231075305
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,512,592 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Challenges of living on land, November 26, 2000

By 

Howard Schneider (Thornhill, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hypersea (Hardcover)

This book shows how complex lifeforms came onto the land from the sea. Hypersea does not include bacteria already living on the land, but is defined by the authors as the sum total of plant, animal, protoctistan and fungal terrestrial-based life. The challenges of living on land are discussed in detail - the need to retain water within, the difficulty extracting crucial nutrients, locomotion out of the water, etc. The importance of the fungi in extracting and delivering nutrients to plants, in return for carbohydrates produced by the plants, is considered, and a picture of the interconnectedness of terrestrial lifeforms emerges.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for understanding how the world works, October 10, 2000

By 

David Keirsey (Carlsbad, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hypersea: Life on Land (Paperback)

Ok, for those not up on their biology or the Gaia hypothesis, it might be difficult to get through, but Hypersea is well written and fascinating for those interested in knowing how life has and will continue to evolve in more complex ways. An extremely important addition to the Gaia hypothesis. You will never see the world in the same way again.

The Hypersea and Gaia hypotheses are the only two clearly defined scientific theories that have been put forth to give us some answers to questions not asked by most of biology.