The Biophilia Hypothesis (A Shearwater Book)
List Price:
Our Price: $41.51
You Save: $8.49 (17%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $26.05 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Editor: Stephen R. KellertEditor: Edward O. Wilson
Contributor: Scott McVay
Contributor: Aaron Katcher
Contributor: Cecilia McCarthy
Contributor: Gregory Wilkins
Contributor: Roger Ulrich
Contributor: Paul Shepard
Contributor: Sara St. Antoine
Contributor: Jared Diamond
Contributor: Gordon Orians
Contributor: Richard Nelson
Contributor: Madhav Gadgil
Contributor: Lynn Margulis
Contributor: Elizabeth Lawrence
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1995-03-01
ISBN: 1559631473
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Island Press
Summary of The Biophilia Hypothesis (A Shearwater Book)
"Biophilia" is the term coined by Edward O. Wilson to describe what he believes is humanity's innate affinity for the natural world. In his landmark book "Biophilia," he examined how our tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes might be a biologically based need, integral to our development as individuals and as a species. That idea has caught the imagination of diverse thinkers."The Biophilia Hypothesis" brings together the views of some of the most creative scientists of our time, each attempting to amplify and refine the concept of biophilia. The variety of perspectives -- psychological, biological, cultural, symbolic, and aesthetic -- frame the theoretical issues by presenting empirical evidence that supports or refutes the hypothesis. Numerous examples illustrate the idea that biophilia and its converse, biophobia, have a genetic component: fear, and even full-blown phobias of snakes and spiders are quick to develop with very little negative reinforcement, while more threatening modern artifacts -- knives, guns, automobiles -- rarely elicit such a response people find trees that are climbable and have a broad, umbrella-like canopy more attractive than trees without these characteristics people would rather look at water, green vegetation, or flowers than built structures of glass and concrete The biophilia hypothesis, if substantiated, provides a powerful argument for the conservation of biological diversity. More important, it implies serious consequences for our well-being as society becomes further estranged from the natural world. Relentless environmental destruction could have a significant impact on our quality of life, not just materially but psychologically and evenspiritually.Why is it that most of us find baby animals irresistibly cute? Why do so many people fear even the sight of snakes? What prompts us to feed birds, to allow cats to roam around the house at will, to admire the lines of dogs and horses? Stephen Kellert and Edward Wilson, the prolific Harvard biologist, gather essays by various hands on these and other questions, and the result is a fascinating glimpse into our relations with other animals. Humans, Wilson writes, 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. There is much to ponder in this timely book.
Biology Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Biology Books
Living Planet: Preserving Edens of the Earthby World Wildlife Fund
Crown; Published: 1999-09-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $8.89
Price in other shops:
Modern Infectious Disease Epidemiologyby Johan Giesecke
Hodder Arnold Publishers; Published: 1994-01-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $36.00
Scientist's Guide to Poster Presentationsby Peter J. Gosling
Springer; Published: 1999-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $61.34
Price in other shops:
Rivers in Time: The Search for Clues to Earth's Mass Extinctionsby Peter D. Ward
Columbia University Press; Published: 2000-03-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.00
Price in other shops:
Out of Control: The Rise of Neo-Biological Civilizationby Kevin Kelly
Perseus Books; Published: 1994-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.99
Price in other shops:
The Way of the Cell: Molecules, Organisms, and the Order of Lifeby Franklin M. Harold
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2001-06-21; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
The Selfish Gene (New Edition)by Richard Dawkins
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1989-11-23; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $87.35
Reef Evolutionby Rachel Wood
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1999-07-29; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Biologyby Sylvia S. Mader
McGraw-Hill College; Published: 2000; Hardcover; Book
Anatomy and Physiologyby SEELEY
McGraw-Hill Education; Published: 1999-05; Hardcover; Book
Similar Books and other products
The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human Worldby David Abram
Vintage; Published: 1997-02-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
Biophilic Cities: Integrating Nature into Urban Design and Planningby Timothy Beatley
Island Press; Published: 2010-10-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.69
Price in other shops:
Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connectionby Stephen R. Kellert
Island Press; Published: 2005-09-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $41.67
Price in other shops:
The Value of Life: Biological Diversity And Human Societyby Stephen R. Kellert
Island Press; Published: 1997-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $37.95
Price in other shops:
Children and Nature: Psychological, Sociocultural, and Evolutionary InvestigationsThe MIT Press; Published: 2002-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.22
Price in other shops:
Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospectby David W. Orr
Island Press; Published: 2004-07-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.78
Price in other shops:
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorderby Richard Louv
Algonquin Books; Published: 2008-04-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops:
The Human Relationship with Nature: Development and Cultureby Peter H. Kahn Jr.
The MIT Press; Published: 2001-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $26.24
Price in other shops:
Biophilic Design: The Theory, Science and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Lifeby Stephen R. Kellert, Judith Heerwagen, Martin Mador
Wiley; Published: 2008-02-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $55.34
Price in other shops:
Biophiliaby Edward O. Wilson
Harvard University Press; Published: 1984-01-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.50
Price in other shops: