Buy used:

$1.78

$3.96 delivery January 24 - 31. Details

Or fastest delivery January 21 - 26. Details

Used: Acceptable | Details

Sold by Clean Earth Books

Share

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Author

Paul Ehrlich

The Machinery of Nature Paperback – February 1, 1987

by Paul R. Ehrlich (Author)

4 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$15.99

$14.95

$2.01

Paperback

"Please retry"

$1.78

$9.96

$1.60

This explanation of ecology, written specifically for nonscientists emphasizes the relationships of living things and their environment and the delicate balance of natural ecosystems

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Touchstone Books
Publication date

February 1, 1987
ISBN-10

0671633120
ISBN-13

978-0671633127
See all details

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Touchstone Books (February 1, 1987)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0671633120
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0671633127
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.1 ounces

Best Sellers Rank: #2,100,747 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5,563 in Ecology (Books)
- #7,024 in Environmental Science (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		50%
4 star 0% (0%)		0%
3 star		50%
2 star 0% (0%)		0%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Alec Driscoll

Stop and Smell the Roses--They may not be around much longer

Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2000

The most fascinating aspect of this piece of bio-literature was Ehrlich's outcry in the Epilogue of the book. For a setup, the premise of this book is a biological occurrence by biological occurrence account of nature, environment, and role of that environment. For those science buffs it is very much like another piece of biological door-to-door titled Diversity of Life by Edward Wilson. The largest difference being a smidgen above personal commentary, which I like to call passion; you just feel that there is a lot more at stake by the end of this book. Back to Ehrlich's outcry. I think that this quote by Ehrlich sums it all up, "The future of the discipline of ecology appears bright-even if that of the biosphere does not." For those of you that may not pick up Ehrlich's message there, let me explain: He is basically rendering the discipline of Ecology to be in an infantile state with nothing but enlightenment to stand in it's way, but, on the other hand, he does not feel that Earth will be around to see the fruits of it's existence. In fact, he blames the ignorance and lack of appreciation by the general public as a major burden on society and our own cognitive evolution. I really enjoyed the ending of this book more than the tedious yet interesting recounts of various biological structures and occurrences.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Jennifer G.

Hurry, Hurry- Read All About It!

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2001

The Machinery of Nature is for those who are interested in environmental management, its politics, development and business side OR for those who just want to read something. This book is full of information about the world around us and how everything, from abiotic to biotic, functions together. Paul Ehrlich really made me realize how much I want to protect our precious environment, in which life depends on, from wasteful resources. Ehrlich states in this book, "Each individual organism is constructed so that it can grow and reproduce in a given set of environmental conditions. If it finds itself outside the boundaries of that set of conditions, its chemical life processes grind to a halt. Too much cold or too little water will often take plants or animals beyond the limits of survival" (20). Human influence on the earth's environment has become a matter of public concern to most people because everyday we are losing a species from what humans do, even the little things, such as flick a cigarette bud out the window, or toss a gum wrapper in the bushes. Clean water resources and habitat quality are essential for the health of all living organisms. So let's not take this world for granted. My closing comment regarding this book to everyone is READ IT, LIVE IT, AND LEARN!

Helpful

Jennifer G.

Hurry Hurry, Read All About It!

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2001

The Machinery of Nature is for those who are interested in environmental management, its politics, development and business side OR for those who just want to read something. This book is full of information about the world around us and how everything, from abiotic to biotic, functions together. Paul Ehrlich really made me realize how much I want to protect our precious environment, in which life depends on, from wasteful resources. Ehrlich states in this book, "Each individual organism is constructed so that it can grow and reproduce in a given set of environmental conditions. If it finds itself outside the boundaries of that set of conditions, its chemical life processes grind to a halt. Too much cold or too little water will often take plants or animals beyond the limits of survival" (20). Human influence on the earth's environment has become a matter of public concern to most people because everyday we are losing a species from what humans do, even the little things, such as flick a cigarette bud out the window, or toss a gum wrapper in the bushes. Clean water resources and habitat quality are essential for the health of all living organisms. So let's not take this world for granted. My closing comment regarding this book to everyone is READ IT, LIVE IT, AND LEARN!

Helpful

Yoshika Hayashi

The Machinery of Nature

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2001

This book is well-explained about the "machinery" of nature. The writer, Paul R. Ehrlich strongly insist that it is significant for us to understand how nature works to us human beings today. He issued many principles of physiological ecology, that how the relationship works with us and our surroundings. He mentioned why population sizes change and how . He gave us many detailed knowledge of examples of how nature goes in this world. He observed carefully toward each sex in the society, and defined who tend to live in a appropriate place, and how they live together. And at the end, the writer expound why we should upkeep our own life support system that maintain our ecosystem exology. I found out this book is very useful general study about our ilving system in Nature. And, Ehrlich is really concern at our natural environment.

Helpful

Follow the Author

Similar authors to follow

The Machinery of Nature Paperback – February 1, 1987

Product details

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.