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The greening of mars
Arc Ifmiromm~r Vol.21. No I, pi. 267-271. 1987 Frin~cd inGIW Brimin.
s3.00+0.00 krgamon ~JMIS Ltd.
otxu-69sl~?
BOOK REVIEWS Tbe Greening of Mars, James B. Lovelock and Michael Allaby, Warner Books, Inc., 666 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10103, 1984,215 pp. Price S3.50, paperback. In 1972 this Journal carried a short paper by J. E Lovelock and the present reviewer. titled “Oxygen in the contemporary atmosphere.” It thus participated-in the early &es if Lovelock’s develooment of the “Gaia hvPothesis,”for which he is now widely known. Hence, altho
fact or proofreading; finding them will be left as an exercise for the reader.) Lovelock has assured me personally that the book was really nor intended as a handbook for the tmnsfo~ation of Mars, but rather as a sort of example of the scaleof work that humans could accomplish if they could only stop fighting one another long enough. In other quarters, however, it has been taken seriously; he also told me that at least two sizable scientificgatherings have been convened explicitly to evaluate the actual practicality of the scheme he sets forth. In fact, it would probably work essentially as designed. 1 am not sure that I have faith that there is quite as much water locked up in the Martian soil as he projects; if I were going to Mars to settle, I think 1 might feel betIer if a few passing comets had been deflected into collision with Mars so that I had the assurance of adequate water. I also suspect that, having got the tem~rature up to a reasonable level with anaerobic or~njsms, I would be more concerned to try to get matters converted to an oxygen atmosphere. However, that may simply be the conservatism of age on my part. Along the way, the narrator touches on most of the major aspects of the Gaia hypothesis in its present form, interestingly enough without ever calling it thaw Sad to say, it appears that the anti-intellectual group-or conceivably the antisciencegroup-so obvious and vocal today have concluded that it was Lovelock’s intention to found a new religion focusing on the worship of Gaia in her original mythological sense,or something close to it. He may rue the day he ever let William Golding convince him to use a mythological name for the apparent “superorganism” he feit he had discovered. It would appear that his recent studies on “Daisyworld” are devoted at least as much to demytholog~ing Gaia as they are to refuting the scientists who quibble about the apparent teleological nature of the beast. In fact, he might have been better off had he taken my initial suggestionand showed the hypothesis as a rather direct extension of the views of Teilhard de Chardin! But these are quibbles. The book represents the most dramatic and imaginative application of ecological fundamentals of recent memory, in real terms probably surpassing the late Frank Herbert’s Dune. It may be a trifle less fun to read, being devoid of conversation, sex and bloodshed. It neverthelessneeds to be pondered by everyone purporting to concern for the environment. I am strongly tempted to buy severalcopies and send them to my Legislators and President, each inscribed, “Read this to see what we could be doing instead of preparing to kill each other!”
267
JAMESP. LODGE, JR
Cloud Investigation by Satellite, Richard Scorer, Ellis Horwood Ltd, Market Cross House, Cooper Street, Chichester, West Sussex,POI 9 I EB, England, Halsted Press, John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York, NY 10158, 1986. Price S68.95. I have commented in the past on the extreme hazard involved in miting micws of books by good fricndqand the hazard is certainly present here, not only because Prof. Scorer is a friend of long standing, but becauseof Ids well-known ability to destroy an opponent in verbal exchange.
s3.00+0.00 krgamon ~JMIS Ltd.
otxu-69sl~?
BOOK REVIEWS Tbe Greening of Mars, James B. Lovelock and Michael Allaby, Warner Books, Inc., 666 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10103, 1984,215 pp. Price S3.50, paperback. In 1972 this Journal carried a short paper by J. E Lovelock and the present reviewer. titled “Oxygen in the contemporary atmosphere.” It thus participated-in the early &es if Lovelock’s develooment of the “Gaia hvPothesis,”for which he is now widely known. Hence, altho
fact or proofreading; finding them will be left as an exercise for the reader.) Lovelock has assured me personally that the book was really nor intended as a handbook for the tmnsfo~ation of Mars, but rather as a sort of example of the scaleof work that humans could accomplish if they could only stop fighting one another long enough. In other quarters, however, it has been taken seriously; he also told me that at least two sizable scientificgatherings have been convened explicitly to evaluate the actual practicality of the scheme he sets forth. In fact, it would probably work essentially as designed. 1 am not sure that I have faith that there is quite as much water locked up in the Martian soil as he projects; if I were going to Mars to settle, I think 1 might feel betIer if a few passing comets had been deflected into collision with Mars so that I had the assurance of adequate water. I also suspect that, having got the tem~rature up to a reasonable level with anaerobic or~njsms, I would be more concerned to try to get matters converted to an oxygen atmosphere. However, that may simply be the conservatism of age on my part. Along the way, the narrator touches on most of the major aspects of the Gaia hypothesis in its present form, interestingly enough without ever calling it thaw Sad to say, it appears that the anti-intellectual group-or conceivably the antisciencegroup-so obvious and vocal today have concluded that it was Lovelock’s intention to found a new religion focusing on the worship of Gaia in her original mythological sense,or something close to it. He may rue the day he ever let William Golding convince him to use a mythological name for the apparent “superorganism” he feit he had discovered. It would appear that his recent studies on “Daisyworld” are devoted at least as much to demytholog~ing Gaia as they are to refuting the scientists who quibble about the apparent teleological nature of the beast. In fact, he might have been better off had he taken my initial suggestionand showed the hypothesis as a rather direct extension of the views of Teilhard de Chardin! But these are quibbles. The book represents the most dramatic and imaginative application of ecological fundamentals of recent memory, in real terms probably surpassing the late Frank Herbert’s Dune. It may be a trifle less fun to read, being devoid of conversation, sex and bloodshed. It neverthelessneeds to be pondered by everyone purporting to concern for the environment. I am strongly tempted to buy severalcopies and send them to my Legislators and President, each inscribed, “Read this to see what we could be doing instead of preparing to kill each other!”
267
JAMESP. LODGE, JR
Cloud Investigation by Satellite, Richard Scorer, Ellis Horwood Ltd, Market Cross House, Cooper Street, Chichester, West Sussex,POI 9 I EB, England, Halsted Press, John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Ave., New York, NY 10158, 1986. Price S68.95. I have commented in the past on the extreme hazard involved in miting micws of books by good fricndqand the hazard is certainly present here, not only because Prof. Scorer is a friend of long standing, but becauseof Ids well-known ability to destroy an opponent in verbal exchange.