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Read complete books and articles on: Gaia Hypothesis
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11 of the Best Books and Articles on: Gaia Hypothesis
as selected by Questia librarians
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Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth
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by James Lovelock.
148 pgs.
The Gaia hypothesis, first put forth in the mid-1960s, and published in book form in 1975, has had a radical effect on scientific views of evolution and the environment. Fiercely debated by biologists, chemists, and cyberneticists, it has been the subject of numerous conferences and a BBC special...
The Gaia hypothesis, first put forth in the mid-1960s, and published in book form in 1975, has had a radical effect on scientific views of evolution and the environment. Fiercely debated by biologists, chemists, and cyberneticists, it has been the subject of numerous conferences and a BBC special which aired on public TV's "Nova" series. Green Peace and other environmental groups have embraced the theory, and Isaac Asimov incorporated it into two his science fiction novels. Now, James Lovelock provides a new preface to his his seminal work, confronting his critics, and, addressing the current advances in science and technology, demonstrates how his predictions have already begun to be fulfilled. According to the Gaia hypothesis, the environment does not coincidentally support life on earth; rather the two interact much the way a bird and its nest interact. "The Earth's living matter," writes Lovelock, "air, oceans, and land surface form a complex system which can be seen as a single organism and which has the capacity to keep our planet a fit place for life." This revolutionary book offers the clearest explanation of the interaction of life and the environment.
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Nature's Web: Rethinking Our Place on Earth (Chap. 5 "Early Greece: Gaia" and Chap. 28 "The Resurrection of Gaia")
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by Peter Marshall.
516 pgs.
This powerful book provides the first comprehensive overview of the intellectual roots of the worldwide environmental movement - from ancient religions and philosophies to modern science and ethics - and synthesizes them into a new philosophy of nature in which to ground our moral values and social...
This powerful book provides the first comprehensive overview of the intellectual roots of the worldwide environmental movement - from ancient religions and philosophies to modern science and ethics - and synthesizes them into a new philosophy of nature in which to ground our moral values and social action. It traces the origins and evolution of the dominant worldview that has built our industrial, technocratic, man-centered civilization, and brought us to the current ecological crisis. At the same time, it uncovers an alternative cultural tradition in the world's different religions and philosophies and describes how these ideas are now surfacing and coalescing to form an ecological sensibility and a new vision of nature which recognizes the inter-relatedness of all living things. Finally, this book integrates these varied traditions with modern physics and the science of ecology into a larger philosophical whole that provides the environmental movement with a comprehensive vision of an organic and sustainable society in harmony with nature. As ecological disasters continue to threaten our planet, becoming worse with every passing moment of indifference, it has become clear that we must take action. We must change our relationship with nature, and return to the days when our lives were intimately connected to and dependent upon the natural world. Nature's Web lays the foundations for that change by explaining where our complex ideas about nature come from, why they are wrong, and what we can do to change them.
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Symbiotic Planet: A New Look at Evolution (Chap. 8 "Gaia")
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by Lynn Margulis.
147 pgs.
Called "one of the most successful synthetic thinkers in modern biology" by E.O. Wilson, Lynn Margulis has made a career of proposing wild, improbable ideas that later became mainstream science. In this fascinating volume, she shows that cooperation has been as potent a force as competition in the...
Called "one of the most successful synthetic thinkers in modern biology" by E.O. Wilson, Lynn Margulis has made a career of proposing wild, improbable ideas that later became mainstream science. In this fascinating volume, she shows that cooperation has been as potent a force as competition in the evolution of life.
Margulis taps her vast fund of landmark ideas to show how natural systems working together have guided the course of existence on our planet. She proposes that there are five kingdoms of life rather that just two, a theory that ignited a fierce debate but ultimately changed biologists' most basic map of the living world. From there Margulis presents a compelling case for the importance of symbiosis in not only the emergence of higher organisms but in the evolution of sex, movement, minds, and life on land. Symbiotic Planet will be eagerly sought by anyone with a taste for truly visionary science.
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The Role of the Sun in Climate Change (Chap. 12 "Gaia or Athena? The Early Faint-Sun Paradox")
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by Douglas V. Hoyt, Kenneth H. Schatten.
280 pgs.
The luminosity of the sun governs the temperature of the planets. And the solar forcing, or driving, of climate, primarily due to changes insolar radiation, is an idea whose history has not been well documented in a book. Recent satellite measurements have shown that solar radiation varies as a...
The luminosity of the sun governs the temperature of the planets. And the solar forcing, or driving, of climate, primarily due to changes insolar radiation, is an idea whose history has not been well documented in a book. Recent satellite measurements have shown that solar radiation varies as a function of wavelength - a concept that for the past two centuries scientists have claimed would be proved. Now, with all of the attention being given to global warming, this topic has again become timely. The book will review the physics of the concept of solar forcing in manageable terms, tracing its history from its beginnings in the early 1800s toits apparent success in the 1920s, to its near demise in the 1950s and its resurrection in recent years. Emphasis will be on solar variation as a driver for climate change, with only a brief discussion of other mechanisms - thus assuring the book a clear focus.
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New Age Spirituality: An Assessment
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by Duncan S. Ferguson.
235 pgs.
Ten contributors describe the range of thought and practice within the New Age and offer balanced judgments regarding its value for societies and individuals undergoing unprecedented change. Assessing its weaknesses and strengths, the authors and editor Ferguson say the New Age is not all good or...
Ten contributors describe the range of thought and practice within the New Age and offer balanced judgments regarding its value for societies and individuals undergoing unprecedented change. Assessing its weaknesses and strengths, the authors and editor Ferguson say the New Age is not all good or all bad and that some of its holistic and ecological tenets may be useful in formulating a spirituality in our confusing time.
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Sacred Gaia: Holistic Theology and Earth System Science
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by Anne Primavesi.
196 pgs.
Gaia, the scientific theory founded by James Lovelock in 1979, embraces the earth as a whole, dynamic entity whose sum is always larger than its parts. While science and theology are often seen as contraries, which negate or dilute one another, Gaia theory harmonizes both systems of thought. Sacred...
Gaia, the scientific theory founded by James Lovelock in 1979, embraces the earth as a whole, dynamic entity whose sum is always larger than its parts. While science and theology are often seen as contraries, which negate or dilute one another, Gaia theory harmonizes both systems of thought. Sacred Gaia cogently describes Gaia theory's analysis of human and earthly evolution. Anne Primavesi's remarkable, effortlessly coherent book helps us to recognize the sacredness of our origins and our responsibility for the future.
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Gaia's Gift: Earth, Ourselves, and God after Copernicus
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by Anne Primavesi.
150 pgs.
Gaia's Gift , the second of Anne Primavesi's explorations of human relationships with the earth, asks that we complete the ideological revolution set in motion by Copernicus and Darwin concerning human importancene. They challenged the notion of our God-given centrality within the universe and...
Gaia's Gift , the second of Anne Primavesi's explorations of human relationships with the earth, asks that we complete the ideological revolution set in motion by Copernicus and Darwin concerning human importancene. They challenged the notion of our God-given centrality within the universe and within earth's evolutionary history. Yet as our continuing exploitation of earth's resources and species demonstrates, we remain wedded to the theological assumption that these are there for our sole use and benefit. Now James Lovelock's scientific understanding of the existential reality of Gaia's gift of life again raises the question of our proper place within the universe. It turns us decisively towards an understanding of ourselves as dependent on, rather than in control of, the whole earth community.
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Nature's Web: Rethinking Our Place on Earth (Chap. 28 "The Resurrection of Gaia")
» Read Now
by Peter Marshall.
516 pgs.
This powerful book provides the first comprehensive overview of the intellectual roots of the worldwide environmental movement - from ancient religions and philosophies to modern science and ethics - and synthesizes them into a new philosophy of nature in which to ground our moral values and social...
This powerful book provides the first comprehensive overview of the intellectual roots of the worldwide environmental movement - from ancient religions and philosophies to modern science and ethics - and synthesizes them into a new philosophy of nature in which to ground our moral values and social action. It traces the origins and evolution of the dominant worldview that has built our industrial, technocratic, man-centered civilization, and brought us to the current ecological crisis. At the same time, it uncovers an alternative cultural tradition in the world's different religions and philosophies and describes how these ideas are now surfacing and coalescing to form an ecological sensibility and a new vision of nature which recognizes the inter-relatedness of all living things. Finally, this book integrates these varied traditions with modern physics and the science of ecology into a larger philosophical whole that provides the environmental movement with a comprehensive vision of an organic and sustainable society in harmony with nature. As ecological disasters continue to threaten our planet, becoming worse with every passing moment of indifference, it has become clear that we must take action. We must change our relationship with nature, and return to the days when our lives were intimately connected to and dependent upon the natural world. Nature's Web lays the foundations for that change by explaining where our complex ideas about nature come from, why they are wrong, and what we can do to change them.
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