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Chris McKay
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Gian Francesco Giudice
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Ian Kenyon
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Revolutions that Made the Earth
Tim Lenton and Andrew Watson
440 pages
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80 b/w line and halftone illustrations
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234x156mm
978-0-19-958704-9
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Hardback
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20 January 2011
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- A new historical perspective on how we came to be here
- An antidote to the current string of depressing and apocalyptic books about climate change
- A new synthesis of Earth and life science, which tries to reconcile Gaia and natural selection, to show the way forward for Earth system science
- A guide to sustainability based on the system that sustains us
- An accessible introduction to an exciting area of science progress
The Earth that sustains us today was born out of a few remarkable, near-catastrophic revolutions, started by biological innovations and marked by global environmental consequences. The revolutions have certain features in common, such as an increase in complexity, energy utilization, and information processing by life. This book describes these revolutions, showing the fundamental interdependence of the evolution of life and its non-living environment. We would not exist unless these upheavals had led eventually to 'successful' outcomes - meaning that after each one, at length, a new stable world emerged.
The current
planet-reshaping activities of our species may be the start of another great Earth system revolution, but there is no guarantee that this one will be successful. The book explains what a successful transition through it might look like, if we are wise enough to steer such a course.
This book places humanity in context as part of the Earth system, using a new scientific synthesis to illustrate our debt to the deep past and our potential for the future.Readership: Scientifically educated and/or environmentally aware general readers; undergraduates and taught postgraduates in the fields of environmental/Earth/biological sciences (including geology, ecology, evolutionary biology, atmosphere and
ocean sciences); postgraduate researchers and research students in the field of Earth system science.
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Tim Lenton, University of Exeter, UK, and Andrew Watson, University of East Anglia, UK
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"Lenton and Watson have written a remarkable and timely book which is both entertaining and impeccably researched from the beginning I felt both engaged and enlightened... With its academic rigour and, at the same time, its accessibility, the authors have clearly succeeded in their aim of writing scholarly popular science. As such, it should inspire us to learn from how the Earth system has evolved in the past and face up to the final question: Are we as yet sufficiently grown up to take responsibility for a whole planet? One thing is for sure: Over the nextcentury we will find out." - Peter Horton, Chemistry World "Worth close study for anyone with more than a passing interest in the Earth sciences, from geology to
climatology, and for anyone curious about why this planet is alive whilst all the other ones we know about are dead." - Mark Lynas "fascinating book ." - Oliver Morton, The Economist "Lenton and Watson's thought-provoking book is the latest in a distinguished line of works that have altered our perception of the planet." - Wolfgang Lucht, Nature "This book is a stimulating read that involves its audience and challenges us to enlarge our awareness of many branches of human knowledge. It embraces the ethical question of how we can overcome our selfish genes to co-operate with our fellow human beings and recognise our symbiotic relationship with the Earth ecosystem that sustains us." - Susan Jappie, A
World to Win
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Preface
Part I - Introduction
1: Origins
2: Carbon and oxygen
3: Russion dolls
4: The revolutions
Part II - Theory
5: The anthropic Earth
6: The critical steps
7: Playing Gaia
Part III - The oygen revolution
8: Photosynthesis
9: The trial of the oxygen poisoners
10: The great oxidation
Part IV - The complexity revolution
11: Life gets an upgrade
12: When did eukaryotes evolve?
13: The not-so-boring billion
14: The Neoproterozoic
Part V - Interlude
15: Animals and oxygen
16: The grand recycling coalition
17: Rolls of the dice
Part VI - A new revolution?
18: Climate wobbles
19: The origins of us
20: Review
21: Where next?
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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