The Future of Life

商家名称	信用等级	购买信息	订购本书
		The Future of Life
		The Future of Life

基本信息·出版社：Vintage
·页码：256 页
·出版日期：2003年03月
·ISBN：0679768114
·International Standard Book Number：0679768114
·条形码：9780679768111
·EAN：9780679768111
·装帧：平装
·正文语种：英语

内容简介 One of the world’s most important scientists, Edward O. Wilson is also an abundantly talented writer who has twice won the Pulitzer Prize. In this, his most personal and timely book to date, he assesses the precarious state of our environment, examining the mass extinctions occurring in our time and the natural treasures we are about to lose forever. Yet, rather than eschewing doomsday prophesies, he spells out a specific plan to save our world while there is still time. His vision is a hopeful one, as economically sound as it is environmentally necessary. Eloquent, practical and wise, this book should be read and studied by anyone concerned with the fate of the natural world.
作者简介 Edward O. Wilson is the author of two Pulitzer Prize-winning books, On Human Nature (1978) and The Ants (1990, with Bert Hölldobler), as well as many other groundbreaking works, including Consilience, Naturalist, and Sociobiology. A recipient of many of the world’s leading prizes in science and conservation, he is currently Pellegrino University Research Professor and Honorary Curator in Entomology of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. He lives in Lexington, Massachusetts, with his wife, Renee.
媒体推荐 ?Wilson, perhaps our greatest living scientist . . . offers the most powerful indictment yet of humanity as destroyer.? ?San Francisco Chronicle Observer

?His book eloquently makes one thing clear: . . . we know what we do, and we have a choice.? ?The New York Times Book Review

?The Future of Life makes it clear once again that Wilson is one of our most gifted science writers.? ?The Washington Post

?[An] elegant manifesto. . . . [A] nuanced and evocative explanation of just why biodiversity matters.? ?The New Yorker

?Wilson writes with a magisterial tone. . . . The Future of Life is the work of a man with deep convictions who is also utterly reasonable.? ?Bill McKibben, The Boston Globe

?A critical report card for planet Earth, an urgent manifesto on global action, an eloquent plea . . . A literate, even poetic recounting of current scientific information that is readily accessible to lay readers. A more engaging and persuasive single volume on this crucial subject is difficult to imagine.? ?Seattle Post-Intelligencer

?A no-nonsense appraisal of the problem of species extinctions and a pragmatic road map for renewal. . . . The Future of Life takes the reader on a fascinating and ultimately hopeful journey.? ?San José Mercury News

?Our contemporary Thoreau, Wilson elegantly and insistently makes the case that to choose biodiversity is to choose survival.? ?Atlanta Journal-Constitution

?Wilson knows his subject too well. It behooves the rest of us to listen.? ?San Diego union Tribune

?One of the most clear-eyed pictures of how bad things have gotten.??Minneapolis Star-Tribune

?The Future of Life offers an encouraging vision that solutions to the environmental problems facing humanity are within reach. . . . A refreshing change from the doom-and-gloom rhetoric that marked much environmentalism in the past.??American Scientist

?A landmark new book.? ?Houston Chronicle

?The biosphere?s Paul Revere defines the incalculable value and fragility of ?the totality of life.?? ?Outside

?Wilson is a member of an important but very rare species: the world-class scientist who is also a great writer.? ?Nature

?A short book of breathtaking scope. . . . Wilson brings genuine authority to these weighty pronouncements.??New York Observer

?[A] readable gem. . . . Wilson manages to avoid dark gloom while still cataloguing the damage we have wrought.? ?Toronto Star

?Takes the reader on a fascinating and ultimately hopeful journey. . . . A concise primer remarkable in its breadth and clarity.??Austin American-Statesman



-- Review
专业书评 From the Back Cover

“Wilson, perhaps our greatest living scientist . . . offers the most powerful indictment yet of humanity as destroyer.” –San Francisco Chronicle Observer

“His book eloquently makes one thing clear: . . . we know what we do, and we have a choice.” –The New York Times Book Review

“The Future of Life makes it clear once again that Wilson is one of our most gifted science writers.” –The Washington Post

“[An] elegant manifesto. . . . [A] nuanced and evocative explanation of just why biodiversity matters.” –The New Yorker

“Wilson writes with a magisterial tone. . . . The Future of Life is the work of a man with deep convictions who is also utterly reasonable.” –Bill McKibben, The Boston Globe

“A critical report card for planet Earth, an urgent manifesto on global action, an eloquent plea . . . A literate, even poetic recounting of current scientific information that is readily accessible to lay readers. A more engaging and persuasive single volume on this crucial subject is difficult to imagine.” –Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“A no-nonsense appraisal of the problem of species extinctions and a pragmatic road map for renewal. . . . The Future of Life takes the reader on a fascinating and ultimately hopeful journey.” –San José Mercury News

“Our contemporary Thoreau, Wilson elegantly and insistently makes the case that to choose biodiversity is to choose survival.” –Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Wilson knows his subject too well. It behooves the rest of us to listen.” –San Diego union Tribune

“One of the most clear-eyed pictures of how bad things have gotten.”–Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“The Future of Life offers an encouraging vision that solutions to the environmental problems facing humanity are within reach. . . . A refreshing change from the doom-and-gloom rhetoric that marked much environmentalism in the past.”–American Scientist

“A landmark new book.” –Houston Chronicle

“The biosphere’s Paul Revere defines the incalculable value and fragility of ‘the totality of life.’” –Outside

“Wilson is a member of an important but very rare species: the world-class scientist who is also a great writer.” –Nature

“A short book of breathtaking scope. . . . Wilson brings genuine authority to these weighty pronouncements.”–New York Observer

“[A] readable gem. . . . Wilson manages to avoid dark gloom while still cataloguing the damage we have wrought.” –Toronto Star

“Takes the reader on a fascinating and ultimately hopeful journey. . . . A concise primer remarkable in its breadth and clarity.”–Austin American-Statesman




目录
List of Endangered and Extinct Species and Races
Prologue: A Letter to Thoreau

Chapter One: TO THE ENDS OF EARTH
Chapter Two: THE BOTTLENECK
Chapter Three: NATURE’S LAST STAND
Chapter Four: THE PLANETARY KILLER
Chapter Five: HOW MUCH IS THE BIOSPHERE WORTH?
Chapter Six: FOR THE LOVE OF LIFE
Chapter Seven: THE SOLUTION

Notes
Glossary
Acknowledgments
Index
……
文摘 Chapter 1

TO THE ENDS OF EARTH

The totality of life, known as the biosphere to scientists and creation to theologians, is a membrane of organisms wrapped around Earth so thin it cannot be seen edgewise from a space shuttle, yet so internally complex that most species composing it remain undiscovered. The membrane is seamless. From Everest's peak to the floor of the Mariana Trench, creatures of one kind or another inhabit virtually every square inch of the planetary surface. They obey the fundamental principle of biological geography, that wherever there is liquid water, organic molecules, and an energy source, there is life. Given the near-universality of organic materials and energy of some kind or other, water is the deciding element on planet Earth. It may be no more than a transient film on grains of sand, it may never see sunlight, it may be boiling hot or supercooled, but there will be some kind of organism living in or upon it. Even if nothing alive is visible to the naked eye, single cells of microorganisms will be growing and reproducing there, or at least dormant and awaiting the arrival of liquid water to kick them back into activity.

An extreme example is the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica, whose soils are the coldest, driest, and most nutritionally deficient in the world. On first inspection the habitat seems as sterile as a cabinet of autoclaved glassware. In 1903, Robert F. Scott, the first to explore the region, wrote, "We have seen no living thing, not even a moss or lichen; all that we did find, far inland among the moraine heaps, was the skeleton of a Weddell seal, and how that came there is beyond guessing." On all of Earth the McMurdo Dry Valleys most resemble the rubbled plains of Mars.

But the trained eye, aided by a microscope, sees otherwise. In the parched streambeds live twenty species of photosynthetic bacteria, a comparable variety of mostly single-celled algae, and an array of microscopic invertebrate an
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