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Biophilia Paperback – January 31, 1986

4.6 out of 5 stars 24 customer reviews

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Editorial Reviews

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 157 pages
  • Publisher: Harvard University Press; Revised ed. edition (January 13, 1984)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0674074424
  • ISBN-13: 978-0674074422
  • Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.5 x 9.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #158,482 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

Format: Paperback
"The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper."
- Eden Phillpotts
Wilson crafted this book about the "love of life" for a wide-ranging audience. Biophilia begins in journalistic style recounting Wilson's various expeditions to the Amazon river basin in search of elusive species of ants. He describes the scenes in the forest with appeal to all five senses, making it easy to mentally accompany with Wilson upon his tropical trips. The adventurous feel in the opening chapters allows Wilson to demonstrate biophilia instead of describing it. It becomes obvious that biophilia is a major force affecting the way humans react to living organisms. Wilson describes biophilia as the "innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes."

In the middle of Biophilia, Wilson sorts out different time divisions, arguing that the way you organize time creates biases. Wilson holds that most humans divided time according to their own evolution. Humans are not the only species that matter. Bacteria, fungi, protoctists, and plants have been around far longer than Homo sapiens, and humans depend on these other kingdoms for survival. This argument allows Wilson to build a platform from which to apply his notion of biophilia.

Wilson alludes to a "conservation ethic" throughout the first half of the book of which he makes his readers aware in later chapters of Biophilia. Wilson's term "conservation ethic" describes what humans need to do because of biophilia. Clear evidence shows that humans depend on other living organisms for survival. Wilson argues that humans need to care for natural resources if we want to remain alive.
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Format: Paperback
Edward Wilson is an entomologist. He studies insects. It's significant that he can write a book that can appeal to so many readers, given the obscure public perception of insects and arthropods.
I expected this book to be an onslaught of scientific explanations and studies, but this was clearly not the case. Wilson writes about his worldly field biology travels with such rich, sensory language. It's actually fun to read.
In no section of the book does he thoroughly or methodically explain the construct of biophilia in a textbook fashion. Instead, he writes his very personal memoirs and takes us through rain forests and other areas teeming with tropical life. For readers familiar with Neil Gaiman's Sandman, Wilson writes as if "Biophilia" were one of the Endless, who are anthropomorphic personifications of ideas and states of human consciousness. In biophilia, Wilson writes a story (his own) that is INTENSELY biophilia THEMED, while not necessarily about biophilia explicitly.
Edward Wilson is a two time pulitzer prize winner, and a great writer at that. You'll be surprised how readable yet informative and entertaining this book is.
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Format: Paperback
"Biophilia" is a rather thin book, and it isn't the scientific treatise on the biophilia hypothesis that I thought it was going to be. (The biophilia hypothesis being the idea that humans have an innate bond with other living beings, and that coexistence is necessary for the human psyche.) Instead, "Biophilia" is more of a mini-memoir by one of the world's leading naturalists.

Wilson is an entomologist - specifically a myrmecologist (an expert on ants). Though it sounds like a narrow, obscure field, studying the diversity of ant species and habitats has taken Wilson all over the globe and given him a broad perspective that has allowed him to make valuable contributions to science. In "Biophilia," we wander with Wilson from jungle to jungle, and back to Wilson's boyhood in the rural South - revelling in the beauty and wonder of the natural world all the while.

Ever the scientist (and a Harvard-educated one at that), Wilson does make a rational appeal for the protection of the environment - citing, for example, the potential for undiscovered sources of food and medicine in the planet's (as of now) rich botanical diversity. But it's through his excellent, almost poetic prose that Wilson's love of the biosphere, concern for the planet, and enthusiasm for the diversity of life are made contagious.
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Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
This book is almost like a love story. It is one of the best books that I have ever red.
It is a book that does great service to science in general; biology in particular; and, especially the wonderful variety in our planet. You can almost feel the beauty of the living fauna, the insects, and the world that Edward Wilson describes.
The book weaves in and out between poetry, science and the environment.
The writing is lyrical.
What can I say? This book is a joy to read.
Read it, and go out and rediscover the world.
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Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
As all his work, this is excellent. A wonderful insight to a basic, but often missed human attribute. With Dr. Wilson's years of highly productive work and his outstanding literary ability his books are always a pleasure and highly rewarding.
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Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This thin little book is very well written and full of the love and wonder E. O. Wilson feels for the natural world which just radiates from his narrative. It is a joy to read not just because it takes readers to Central America, Papua New Guinea, and elsewhere, but also because it makes one think about the value of conservation. It's a call to get us all to think of the world from the tiniest creature, onwards. It is a subtle call to action to protect the incredible planet we inhabit.
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