Promotional Information

A superb collection covering what has become a major scientific field. It marks the evolution of the Gaia hypothesis, from a warm and fuzzy, flowers-in-the-hair concept with vaguely religious connotations, to a well-defined and increasingly quantitative theory. The papers in this book show that the theory is becoming applicable to problems of the real earth, such as deforestation, global warming, and desertification. -- Paul D. Lowman, Jr., Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics, Goddard Space Flight Center, author of Exploring Space, Exploring Earth This is a stimulating, up-to-date account of one of the most far-reaching modern ideas connecting biology and geology. -- Jared Diamond, Professor of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel

About the Author

Stephen H. Schneider was Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies and Professor of Biology at Stanford University. He was also Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC's working group on Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, from 1997 to 2001, and, with his IPCC colleagues, was awarded a joint Nobel Prize in 2007. He was the author or editor of many books, including Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate and Scientists Debate Gaia: The Next Century (MIT Press, 2004). James R. Miller is Professor of Earth System Science in the Department of Marine and Coastal Studies at Rutgers University. Eileen Crist is Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies in the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Virginia Tech, the author of Images of Animals: Anthropomorphism and the Animal Mind, and the coeditor of Scientists Debate Gaia (MIT Press, 2004). Dr. Penelope J. Boston is Director of the Cave and Karst Studies Program at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Studies. Lynn Margulis, Distinguished Professor of Botany at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, is the modern originator of the symbiotic theory of cell evolution. Once considered heresy, her ideas are now part of the microbiological revolution.

Reviews

As Lovelock neatly argues in his own essay, even in her finery Gaia was never any more fanciful than her archfoe, the selfish gene. This volume amply shows how she has earned her place in conventional science.
*New Scientist*