| View Larger Image | The Diversity of Life | Paperbackby E. O. Wilson (Author), Edward O. Wilson (Author)
| List Price: | $18.95 | | Price: | $12.89 | | You Save: | $6.06 (32%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Paperback | | Publisher: | W. W. Norton & Company | | Edition: | 2ndnd Edition | | Page Count: | 432 Pages | | Publication Date: | May 01, 1999 | | Sales Rank: | 48,509th |
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FEATURES | - ISBN13: 9780393319408
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Harvard Professor and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Wilson takes readers through time--tracing the processes that create new species, the five cataclysmic events that have disrupted evolution over the past 600 million years, and how humans are destroying diversity at a projected rate of 20 percent over the next 30 years. "In the Amazon Basin the greatest violence sometimes begins as a flicker of light beyond the horizon. There in the perfect bowl of the night sky, untouched by light from any human source, a thunderstorm sends its premonitory signal and begins a slow journey to the observer, who thinks: the world is about to change." Watching from the edge of the Brazilian rain forest, witness to the sort of violence nature visits upon its creatures, Edward O. Wilson reflects on the crucible of evolution, and so begins his remarkable account of how the living world became diverse and how humans are destroying that diversity. Wilson, internationally regarded as the dean of biodiversity studies, conducts us on a tour through time, traces the processes that create new species in bursts of adaptive radiation, and points out the cataclysmic events that have disrupted evolution and diminished global diversity over the past 600 million years. The five enormous natural blows to the planet (such as meteorite strikes and climatic changes) required 10 to 100 million years of evolutionary repair. The sixth great spasm of extinction on earth--caused this time entirely by humans--may be the one that breaks the crucible of life. Wilson identifies this crisis in countless ecosystems around the globe: coral reefs, grasslands, rain forests, and other natural habitats. Drawing on a variety of examples such as the decline of bird populations in the United States, the extinction of many species of freshwater fish in Africa and Asia, and the rapid disappearance of flora and fauna as the rain forests are cut down, he poignantly describes the death throes of the living worlds diversity--projected to decline as much as 20 percent by the year 2020. All evidence marshaled here resonates through Wilson's tightly reasoned call for a spirit of stewardship over the worlds biological wealth. He makes a plea for specific actions that will enhance rather than diminish not just diversity but the quality of life on earth. Cutting through the tangle of environmental issues that often obscure the real concern, Wilson maintains that the era of confrontation between forces for the preservation of nature and those for economic development is over; he convincingly drives home the point that both aims can, and must, be integrated. Unparalleled in its range and depth, Wilson's masterwork is essential reading for those who care about preserving the worlds biological variety and ensuring our planets health. |
Amazon.com Review
Humans, the Harvard University entomologist Edward O. Wilson has observed, have an innate--or at least extremely ancient--connection to the natural world, and our continued divorce from it has led to the loss of not only "a vast intellectual legacy born of intimacy" with nature, but also our very sanity. In The Diversity of Life, Wilson takes a sweeping view of our planet's natural richness, remarking on what on the surface seems a paradox: "almost all the species that ever lived are extinct, and yet more are alive today than at any time in the past." (Wilson's elegant explanation is a scientific education in itself.) This great variety of species is, of course, threatened by habitat destruction, global climate change, and a host of other forces, and Wilson revisits his oft-stated call for the protection of wilderness and undeveloped land, noting that "wilderness has virtue unto itself and needs no extraneous justification." We should, he continues, regard every species, "every scrap of biodiversity," as precious and irreplaceable, without attempting to quantify that regard with utilitarian measures such as "bio-economics." In short, Wilson offers with this book a simple, workable environmental ethic that extends the work of Aldo Leopold and other conservationists. A remarkably productive and influential scientist, Wilson is also a fine writer, and his survey of biodiversity makes for welcome and instructive reading. --Gregory McNamee |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 38 reviews)
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Bonus review packet by Hoy Jaynie  4 Stars
September 17, 2009
The book came in a timely manner, and I was very pleased to find out that it had a review book with it that I was unaware was included. It was really good!
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One planet, one experiment by Guy Denutte (Cali, Colombia)  5 Stars
February 13, 2009
Humanity destroys biodiversity as if we would no longer need it. The author wonders : "...if enough species are extinguished, will the ecosystems collapse, and will extinction of most other species follow soon afterward ? The only answer anyone can give is : possibly. By the time we found out, however, it might be too late. One planet, one experiment."
Edward Wilson explains in this important work why biodiversity is so important : "The immense variety of the insects and flowering plants combined is no accident. The two empires are united by intricate symbioses. The insects consume every anatomical part of the plants, while dwelling on them in every nook and cranny. A large fraction of the plant species depend on insects for pollination and reproduction. Ultimately they owe them their very lives, because insects turn the soil around their roots and decompose dead tissue into the nutrients required for continued growth. So important are insects and other land-dwelling arthopods that if all were to disappear, humanity probably could not last more than a few months. Most of the amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals would crash to extinction about the same time. Next would go the bulk of the flowering plants and with them the physical structure of most forests and other terrestrial habitats of the world. The land surface would literally rot. As dead vegetation piled up and dried out, closing the channels of the nutrient cycles, other complex forms of vegetation would die off, and with them all but a few remnants of the land vertebrates. The free-living fungi, after enjoying a population explosion of stupendous proportions, would decline precipitously, and most species would perish. The land would return to approximately its condition in early Paleozoic times, covered by mats of recumbent wind-pollinated vegetation, sprinkled with clumps of small trees and bushes here and there, largely devoid of animal life."
Therefore we face an enormous ecological challenge. "Humanity's responsibility to the rest of life and to future generations is clear : bring with us as much of the environment and biodiversity through the bottleneck as possible." This is a very important and urgent message.
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Great Book by O. Long 5 Stars
September 07, 2008
If you love the planet and want to understand your small place in the grand scheme of things this book is not for you. If you want to understand how we are all interdependent on the life around us, and how evolution has shaped the face of the earth, buy this book. Mr Wilson's writing is welcoming and the information is great.
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The Diversity of Life by John A. White (Chico, CA) 5 Stars
January 10, 2007
This is an outstanding book. If you read this before you read Darwin's Origin of Species you'll get soooo much more from reading the latter. Anyway, the book encapsulates in easy to read prose much information that your mind can easily wrap itself around.
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Second time round by Dick Viveen (Netherlands) 4 Stars
January 03, 2007
When I received the book, it appeared that I had already an earlier edition in my bookcase. I did not regret my purchase, because the new version is updated/upgraded and E.O. Wilson is an excellent author and scientist on the subject of evolution.
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