Gaia?s Body: Toward a Physiology of Earth
by Tyler Volk
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Book Summary Information
Author: Tyler VolkEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-11
ISBN: 0756761778
Number of pages: 269
Publisher: Diane Pub Co
Book Reviews of Gaia?s Body: Toward a Physiology of Earth
Book Review: Science for Humanity!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you believe Science is unnecessarily baffling,...if you believe our Earth is suffering because of an unexamined drive for "progress",...if you enjoy masterful writing,...READ "GAIA'S BODY: Toward a Physiology of Earth..!" Dr. Tyler Volk has worked as a principle researcher for NASA on how a global system supports life. He is not only at the top of his field, Atmospheric Chemistry, but he writes with humility, warmth and immediacy. Even if you don't understand ALL of the "hard Science", you will be delighted at what Tyler Volk DOES render easily understood. If you, like Karl Popper, would like hierarchies to remain as they are, and prefer a harsh, thwarting sort of Science, proceed at your own discomfort. If you love learning, and believe it should be a pleasure, proceed happily!
Summary of Gaia?s Body: Toward a Physiology of Earth
The concept of Gaia resonates with a wide range of people -- from nature lovers, theologians, and philosophers to environmental and earth systems scientists. The term, which scientist James Lovelock, originator of the Gaia hyposthesis, borrowed from Greek mythology, refers to the interacting system of life, soil, atmosphere, and ocean. Like the interiors of organisms, Gaia contains complex cycles and material transformations driven by biological energy. Gaia's inclusion of life means that from some perspectives it resembles life. But Gaia also differs from organisms in significant ways. Although it has changed through time, it does not evolve in a Darwinian sense. Whereas organisms are open, flow-through systems, Gaia is relatively closed to material transfer across its borders. It exists according to its own level of operating rules, a level as complex as that of organisms and the subject of the emerging field known as Earth physiology, or geophysiology.Blending science and evocative imagery, Gaia's Body offers an engaging introduction to this new field. It explains how every important chemical in the atmosphere is regulated by living processes -- why, for example, strange, spaghetti-like bacteria off the coast of Chile have an intimate connection with the plants in Long Island backyards; why "biochemical guilds" may be Earth's most important unit of life; and how scientists have detected the biosphere's "breathing." The book includes a Preface written for the paperback edition.
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