James LOVELOCK

Click on the photo to enlarge it an outstanding scientist pioneer in the development of environmental awareness

Short biography

James LOVELOCK's books :

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305 pages W.W. Norton, New York, 1988 Available at www.amazon.com	The Ages of GAIA The Earth, James Lovelock proposes, behaves as if it were a superorganism, made up from all the living things and from their material environment. When he first sketched out his brilliant Gaia theory in the 1970s, people around the world embraced it, and within a short time Gaia has moved from the margins of scientific research to the mainstream. James Lovelock argues that such things as the level of oxygen, the formation of clouds, and the saltiness of the oceans may be controlled by interacting physical, chemical and biological processes. He believes that "the self-regulation of climate and chemical composition is a process that emerges from the rightly coupled evolution of rocks, air and the ocean - in addition to that of organisms. Such interlocking self-regulation, while rarely optimal - consider the cold and hot places of the earth, the wet and the dry - nevertheless keeps the Earth a place fit for life." The New York Times Book Review has called his arguments in favor of Gaia "plausible and above all illuminating." New fields of research have been opened by this pathbreaking concept. Lovelock adds : "if we see the world as a superorganism of which we are a part - not the owner, nor the tenant, not even a passenger - we could have a long time ahead of us and our species might survive for its "alloted span". It all depends on you and me."
185 pages Oxford University Press, Oxford,1979 Available at www.amazon.com	GAIA - A New Look at Life on Earth In his classic work that continues to inspire its many readers, James Lovelock puts forward his idea that the Earth functions as if it were a living organism. Written for non-scientists, GAIA is a journey through time and space, in search of evidence with which to support a new and radically different model of our planet. In contrast to the conventional belief that living matter is passive in the face of threats to its existence, the book explores the theory that the Earth's living matter - air, ocean, and land surfaces - forms a complex system which has the capacity to keep Earth a place fit for life. Since GAIA was first published, many of James Lovelock's predictions have come true and his theory has become a hotly argued topic in scientific circles. ___________ "Lovelock writes beautifully. A book that is both original and well written is indeed a bonus. Only a genius thinks of the obvious, and Lovelock deserves to be described as a genius." New Scientist. "One of my all time favorites. The breath-taking sweep of his central idea - that the Earth is a living, self-regulating organism - poses the most dramatic challenge to scientists, politicians, and the environmentalists". Jonathan Porritt "The exciting and personal argument of an original thinker caught up in wonder. It wins and repays attention." Scientific American.
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000 Available at www.amazon.com	Homage to GAIA - The Life of an Independent Scientist Lovelock's autobiography. _______________ "He is to science what Gandhi was to politics. And his central notion, that the planet behaves as a living organism, is as radical, profound, and far-reaching in its impact as any of Gandhi's ideas." New scientist. "His Gaia hypothesis' is certainly heroic, with all the illusion-busting potential of Galileo's or Einstein's theories." The Independant.

 

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