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Title: From Naked Ape to Super Species: A Personal Perspective on Humanity and the Global Ecocrisis by David T. Suzuki, Holly Dressel ISBN: 0-7737-3194-6 Publisher: Stoddart Pub Pub. Date: November, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.11 (9 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Timely Perspective On Humanity in the Biosphere
Comment: SUZUKI:
Although David Suzuki was trained to genetically engineer fruit flies to grow arms from their heads, his perspective on science and life is remarkably human. I would go so far as to say that his understanding of humanity and its place in nature is perhaps unequaled among environmental philosophers today. Aside from working as a scientist, Suzuki also spent some 30-some years producing nature documentaries. This gave him the opportunity travel the globe, visit many different cultures and geographic regions, from indigenous tribes to povrety-striken Third World nations. It was through profound cultural education that Suzuki unlearned the mad science he studied as a youth and gained new understand about culture, economics and biodiversity. Nowadays, Suzuki mainly spends his time writing books and articles. He also runs an environmental organization in Canada, where he and his family live, called the David Suzuki Foundation. The website address is: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/
DESCRIPTION OF THE BOOK:
In this book Suzuki teams up with writer and researcher Holly Dressel to produce a sort of global guide to the biosphere-a work of scope and detail that will amaze you. They will walk you through ancient arboreal forests and the global economy with the ease of an experienced mountain tracker. They will be introduced you to people and movements that are sure to move. And perhaps most importantly the book will provide you with an important ecological perspective. Filled with stories, anecdotes, interesting facts, and tons of suggestions and references, from books to organizations - "From Naked Ape to Super-Species" is nothing less than a manual for humanity. Simply put, this is one of the most important books I have read.
EXERPT:
"Time is the one ingredient that is absolutely for vital for nature. It is the vast sweep of evolutionary time that has allowed life to flourish and huge changes to occur. In the 4 billion years that life has existed, the sun has increased in intensity by 25 percent, magnetic poles have switched and reversed back, continents have smashed into each other and then pulled apart, ice ages and warm periods have come and gone, and the atmosphere has been transformed from a non-oxygen to a oxygen-rich one. Yet life has persisted, simply because of the immense periods of time it has to make adjustments.
Today, the rate at which we are extracting trees, fish, topsoil and clean water, as well as creating pollutants and greenhouse gases, may match the speed of information technology and the economy, but it is not in synch with the reproductive rates of natural systems. More and more, our sources of information are no longer connected to the natural world and its limits. Politics, civic action and participatory democracy need time too. Democratic groups like PTAs and other voluntary human institutions take time to do their work.
Until we slow down the rate of growth in information and technology and learn to pay attention to the true pace of the non-technological planet, we'll keep making unrealistic demands that can't be fulfilled. At the very least, we need to understand that our accelerated rates of production and use of human-made technical information function at a completely different pace from that of the natural rates of information exchange, like those I experienced in the Brazilian rain forest."
MAIN ISSUES:
General Environment Issuses: from the toxification of our environment to Environmental Justice.
Consumer Issues: How do our shopping habits effect the world aroud us?
The Question of Progress: What does it mean?
Food Issues and Biotechnology: In Canada, America, the world abroad.
Globalization Issues: Impacts at home and abroad
Global Warming and Forest Issues
Non-Violent Direct Actions: some groups and individuals fighting against large international corporations for local sovereignty
Human Rights, Environmental Rights
Rating: 4
Summary: Timely and thought-provoking
Comment: In his new book, From Naked Ape to Superspecies, David Suzuki explores a myriad of topics of profound importance. The environment is his central theme, though there are are chapters on genetic engineering, globalisation, and environmental activisim. Like other authors before him, Suzuki is deeply concerned about the current nature of the world. Biodiversity is threatened, cultural diversity is diminisihing with the onslaught of globalisation, and our very health and well-being are potentially in danger from genetically-modified (GM)food. Each of these topics is explained through the viewpoint of numerous experts in the various fields, as the book is based on a radio series which interviewed many people.
For a student of biological science, the book was real eye-opener as it exposed me to many of the ramifications of broad issues I had previously taken little notice of. I knew little of globalisation, now I think I know enough to be able to form an opinion. Same for GM food. I had not realised that Suzuki was so green, but he clearly has an active interest in the perhaps not-so-scientific side of environmentalism. He is a wise man who deserves to receive ample attention.
Overall, I found the book to be highly interesting and thought-provoking, and I recommend it to anyone with a more than a passing interest in the environment and other portentous issues. I have no criticisms to make, besides the fact that little written material seems to be referred to. As a result, the accuracy of some his comments must necessarily come under suscipician. This, however, should not detract from the overall superior quality of the book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Reality for Environmental Dummies
Comment: I encountered this book first on tape, and have now ordered a copy for my town library, another for a faculty member at Norwich University who chairs a committee that makes an annual Earth Stewardship Prize award to students/faculty, and one for the Environment bookshelf in my own library. Unfortunately, this is a message that is far too late, but " better late than never". Those who think that simply expanding world trade, or consuming as usual, or that technology will save us from the results of human predation and exploitation of the ecosystem of the planet, or that there is no real global warming, or that the world can sustain an unlimited human population are the ones who MUST read this book. Yes, the earth will recover from what we humans are doing to it , but there won't be any of our (highly endangered) species around to find out what the world will look like then!
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Title: The Left Hand of Eden: Meditations on Nature and Human Nature by William Ashworth ISBN: 0870714600 Publisher: Oregon State University Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos: Humanity and the New Story by Brian Swimme ISBN: 1570752818 Publisher: Orbis Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature by David Suzuki, Amanda McConnell ISBN: 0898868971 Publisher: Mountaineers Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Great Remembering: Further Thoughts on Land, Soul, and Society by Peter Forbes ISBN: 0967280613 Publisher: Trust for Public Land Pub. Date: 01 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: You Are the Earth: Know the Planet So You Can Make It Better by David T. Suzuki, Kathy Vanderlinden ISBN: 1550548395 Publisher: Sterling Publishing Pub. Date: 01 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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