About this title: "Not since Darwin has an author so lifted the science of ecology with insight and delightful imagery" - Richard Dawkins. In this book a master scientist tells the great story of how life on earth evolved. E.O. Wilson eloquently describes how the species of the world became diverse, and why the threat to this diversity today is beyond the scope of anything we have known before. In an extensive new foreword for this edition, Professor Wilson addresses the explosion of the field of conservation biology and takes a clear-eyed look at the work still to be done.
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Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. [ No Hassle 30 Day Returns ] [ Underlining/Highlighting: NONE ] [ Writing: NONE ] [ Torn pages: NO ] [ Broken Seams: NO ] Publisher: INGRAM BOOK COMPANY Pub Date: 1/1/1993 Binding: Paperback Pages: 448. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780393310474ISBN:0393310477
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Clean cover with tight binding. Soft corner creases curled slightly. A few light pencil margin notes & underlining in the last study guide section. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: INGRAM BOOK COMPANY
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780393310474ISBN:0393310477
Description: Very Good. Ex-library copy with typical markings and attachments. Text is clean and bright. Binding is tight and square. This is a very nice hardcover copy. Careful packaging and fast shipping. read more
Edition: 1st Printing
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc, Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780393310474ISBN:0393310477
Description: Good. No Dust Jacket as Issued. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Book shows moderate wear/ spine tight, pages clean/ covers creased; moderate edge wear/ corners and spine creased/ several page tips creased. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. 1992-Paperback----Used-Good-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Description: Good. RELIABLE library withdrawal with a NICE dust jacket in the plastic, protective cover. Stamped at the page edge with a card pocket page on the inside. Light scuff to the plastic cover. This edition is PRESENTABLE! read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York and London
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780393310474ISBN:0393310477
Description: Very Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 424 pp., illus. (some col. ), maps, bib. notes, index; 24 cm. "In this book a master scientist tells the story of how life on earth evolved. Edward O. Wilson eloquently describes how the species of the world became diverse and why that diversity is threatened today as never before. A great spasm of extinction--the disappearance of whole species--is occurring now, caused this time entirely by humans. Unlike the deterioration of the physical environment, which ... read more
Edition: 1st
Binding: Cloth
Publisher: The Belnap Press of Harvard University Press, Ma
Date Published: 1992
Description: Illustrated. Good. No Jacket. Hard Back. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. The hard cover has very light shelf wear....Spine cock..........We are very careful when we list our books, but sometimes something minor may get by.. read more
Description: Very Good. Hardcover w / dustjacket. Very good condition; edges, corners, and covers of book show minor wear and discoloration. No underlining; no highlighting; no internal markings except for previous owner's gift dedication on ffep. DJ is Very Good. 1992. Hardcover w / dustjacket. read more
Description: Very Good. 0393319407 Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light curve to the spine / light reading creases to the covers. read more
"This book is indicative of Wilson's worldview. It also explains a lot about why one might consider biological diversity to be worth saving, regardless of ethics, and mostly because we know so little about the world in which we live."
"The Diversity of Life is a practical book (a book that shows you how to do something). The first part of the book (well over 3/4) is devoted to a general overview of evolution - its history, the mechanisms through which it works, and particularly the process of extinction. The last part is a plea, an argument to save our planet's biodiversity. He shows a few of the already-known benefits we have received from it, hoping to prove it is too valuable to be summarily destroyed. Finally, he gives his plan for saving it (which is why this is a practical book; the rest is entirely theoretical): 1. Survey the World's Biodiversity - Learn about species, familiarize the public with them to motivate public support for preservation, and find benefits that will . . . 2. Create Biological Wealth - Make biodiversity economically valuable, if through tourism, long-term harvesting of rain forest plots, pharmaceuticals, or new and improved agricultural products. 3. Promote Sustainable Development - The rural poor in the Third World are destroying the world's biodiversity to put off for a short time their hunger and poverty. We must teach them ways to use biodiversity in a long-term way, and ease their poverty by removing the competition of heavily subsidized farms in the developed world and lifting debt, which can also be done so as to: 4. Save What Remains - No scientific process like cloning, freezing, seed banks, arboretums, zoos, or botanical gardens can ever hope to truly restore an ecosystem to its original state - the climate and conditions are very difficult to reproduce, and populations will have been reduced so low that their genetic diversity will be mostly lost anyway. There is no feasible alternative to saving natural ecosystems. One of the best ways to do this in the Third World (near the equator and therefore home to a large part of the world's biodiversity) is through debt-for-nature programs, in which foundations like The Nature Conservancy or WWF, etc, buy debt in exchange for the creation of more reserves. 5. Restore the Wildlands - Finally, we need to retake the land lost to logging, and allow the forests to grow back. This is accomplished in essentially the same way as 4. Wilson is very hopeful about this and says the next century will be "the age of restoration."
So, I agree with Wilson. I agree that his ends are of utmost importance, and that his ends would reach them. But, though I am perhaps an idealist, I am skeptical those ideas will come about. I feel like there are reasons to be skeptical, but I don't understand them yet, and want to read more before I try to explain them.
Mortimer Adler says that when you read a practical book, and you agree that its ends are good and that its means will achieve them, you ought to go do what the book says. So, I suppose I do feel a lot more inclined to spend my life cataloging and researching organisms right now. But I am not sure I am in a position to realize the changes he suggests. Is that an excuse?
Incidentally, I want to start an arboretum, or maybe something less ambitious to start with. I want to grow those rare plants he talks about, like amaranth and winged bean and the delicious fruits, durian and mangosteen and such."
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