From Publishers Weekly
Paleontologist Novacek (
Time Traveler) tells the story of our ecosystem and warns that humans are transforming it so drastically that it may not be habitable in the future. Discussing the evolutionary processes that led to the diversification of all life, he asserts that people who reject the theory of evolution impede efforts to preserve the ecosystem because they ignore the importance of biological diversity. To demonstrate biodiversity's crucial role, he considers the evolution of flowering plants and the myriad insect species that pollinate them, stressing that as we decimate these insect populations, we interfere with the very core of what has been built by evolution. Extinction is normal during the course of evolution, but studies cited by the author show that every year tens of thousands of species may now be going extinct, thousands of times faster than they would naturally do so, as humans exploit the ecosystem by cutting forests, exhausting sources of fresh water, polluting the air, destroying habitats, depleting the ocean and introducing invasive species to new habitats. We can avoid this, Novacek contends, if we learn to appreciate the history of our ecosystem in all its beauty and complexity, and have the will to reverse our destructive course. His timely book, with its wealth of lucidly presented information, should go a long way toward promoting this appreciation.
(Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"This beautifully written volume draws on a lifetime of experience with fossil organisms to place the challenges of the present in context. Clearly written, and filled with wisdom and hope for the future, "Terra" should be read by everyone who cares about the future of our planet and wants to do something about it." --Peter H. Raven, President, Missouri Botanical Garden and George Engelmann Professor of Botany, Washington University in St. Louis
"This is a great read. Michael Novacek's book vividly portrays the human folly and cavalier disregard for Terra, our only home, and he puts the environmental crisis in its most profound context. This is a masterful hundred-million-year biography of our unique planet of life--how it came to be, how it works." --Thomas Lovejoy, President, The Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment
"Terra" is a much needed book on the human condition that could have been written only by a paleontologist with a thorough, field-based knowledge of evolutionary and environmental biology. Starting with the birth of Earth's modern ecosystems, in the Age of Dinosaurs, Novacek explains how the living environment came together in a way that yielded humanity, and why our careless destruction of it is a profound and eternal loss. --Edward O. Wilson, Harvard University
""Terra" is one of the important books of our time--and it will change the way you think about the world around you. Novacek's coup is that he not only brings the past to life but shows how it holds the keys to our future. The extraordinary breadth of his accomplishments as a scientist gives his book a powerful combination of authority, wit, and humanity. Reading "Terra," it is hard notto feel humbled being a steward of a planet so ancient, wondrous, and fragile as our own." --Neil Shubin, Provost, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago
