A wood that pays is a wood that stays, 30 Aug 2007
An excellent book for students and landowners, it starts with a brief history of woodland in Britain, followed by a chapter on tree biology and sylvicultural systems which is comprehensive and written in refreshingly plain english. The native and commonly used non-native trees are then detailed followed by how to draw up a management plan, essential if you want grant aid. Then the nitty-gritty of planting, protecting, measurement and marketing.

This is a very practical book on managing woodlands as a whole, very sensitive to their wildlife and landscape value but stressing that woodlands that pay are more likely to last.

A Starr read!, 29 Mar 2006
I found this book to be an insightful and stimulating guide to managing woodlands. The authour's writing style holds your attention and the information supplied is highly relevant and will be of value to a wide range of readers. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone with a keen interest in purchasing or managing woodlands in the future.

Good Introduction, 07 Jan 2006
This book is an excellent introduction to Forest Management. It starts from the beginning, with no assumption of prior knowledge.

Ideal for potential forestry students as well as those with an interest in woodland.

A wood that pays is a wood that stays, 30 Aug 2007
An excellent book for students and landowners, it starts with a brief history of woodland in Britain, followed by a chapter on tree biology and sylvicultural systems which is comprehensive and written in refreshingly plain english. The native and commonly used non-native trees are then detailed followed by how to draw up a management plan, essential if you want grant aid. Then the nitty-gritty of planting, protecting, measurement and marketing.

This is a very practical book on managing woodlands as a whole, very sensitive to their wildlife and landscape value but stressing that woodlands that pay are more likely to last.

A Starr read!, 29 Mar 2006
I found this book to be an insightful and stimulating guide to managing woodlands. The authour's writing style holds your attention and the information supplied is highly relevant and will be of value to a wide range of readers. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone with a keen interest in purchasing or managing woodlands in the future.

Good Introduction, 07 Jan 2006
This book is an excellent introduction to Forest Management. It starts from the beginning, with no assumption of prior knowledge.

Ideal for potential forestry students as well as those with an interest in woodland.

Still relevant in a chemical dominated age, 13 Oct 2008
Silent Spring (Penguin Modern Classics)
Some people may think this book is no longer relevant in a world where DDT is mainly consigned to history, but, unless we learn from history we will make the mistakes over again.
This classic from the early 1960s explains how the various parts of nature are all affected when man tries to eliminate a pest with what is effectively a universal poison. Despite all of the evidence of the reducing efficacy of these poisons and the damage caused to the rest of the ecosystem, the spraying continued for years. The author provides numerous examples of the destruction caused by the use of these chemicals despite following the manufacturer's guidelines.
Whilst this book can be heavy going and occasionally a little disjointed in places it is worth reading if only to remind you that not all official advice is correct or impartial. We still have the potential to make similar mistakes today, only perhaps the threat is more concealed by the large variety of man made substances in use or added to our food and its packaging every day.

Hard Work, 28 Oct 2007
One can only applaud Carson's work and marvel at her determination to be heard and the research she did. This must have been a very shocking book at the time it was published, even now it is horrifying to look back and see what wholesale garbage the American public was being sold by those supposed to be looking after their health and welfare. It is however, a dated book which I found hard to read and difficult to sustain. I believe it was first written as a series of articles for journals and magazines, which makes sense, as each chapter is very much isolated from the others in terms of style and content, so there is little sense of flow or continuity, other than the continuation of the bad news Carson imparts. It tends to jerk from quite florid poetic writing with lyrically drawn pictures of nature which give way to horrific apocalyptic style visions into bunches of data and facts which are so dry they sit hard up against the narrative and make for difficult reading. It's still a book to recommend, particularly in today's climate and with the emphasis on green issues, but you really have to want to read it rather than just having an idle interest.

The book they tried to dismiss, 02 Sep 2006
In "Any Questions" on BBC Radio 4 a panel of politicians were quizzed in turn as to one person they thought would be regarded as an important person in the future from the 20th century who improved the lot of us humans. Of about four panelists one said Nelson Mandela. Important though Mandela is, none of the other panelists had anyone else to suggest so they also ended up saying Nelson Mandela. I would have mentioned Rachel Carson representing as yet an unsung heroine - the pioneer of the "Deep Ecology" movement.

Unfortunately a lot of what she had to say is still ignored by mainstream politicians though enough has trickled through to create a stream of people who think in the context of concern for all life on Earth rather than how best one group of us can dominate and manipulate our human and environmental resources at irreplaceable cost to life as we know it.

This is the book that started it all - showing us that science and technology unrestrained were not the solution to all our problems. The EPA at least owes its very existence to Carson.

I salute Carson and her book as a lighthouse that guided our thinking from the cliffs of short sighted destructiveness. Long may the beacon prevail.

This is an important book. Perhaps dated, Carson's voice is not shrill but reasoned and strident. A classic worth sharing and upgrading.


Mighty oaks from small acorns grow, 06 Aug 2006
Reading some of the reviews here I can't help but feel they are reading 'Silent Spring' out of context. Being written in 1962 in will never be a current and up to date account of our pesticide use today. However I recommend it as a pioneering piece of literature, and a period piece that will stand the test of time.

Now that our bookshelves are stacked with Ecological titles, it is all the more important to re-read 'Silent Spring' and to judge for ourselves a book that actually did make a difference. For instance, this book greatly influenced my parents into becoming founder members of 'Friends of the Earth'.

What stands is an inspirational and at times poetic cry for ecological common sense. What has aged and dated stands to keep our contemporary rhetoric in check. Rachel Carson has a searching and inquisitive mind. Let this book be the document that she would want it to be - A step towards understanding our continued place in the world.

Mighty oaks from small acorns grow, 14 Jul 2006
This book helped inspire the movement that had DDT banned worldwide including Africa. As a result millions of Africans died of mosquito-transmitted malaria. Yay, Environmentalism...

A wood that pays is a wood that stays, 30 Aug 2007
An excellent book for students and landowners, it starts with a brief history of woodland in Britain, followed by a chapter on tree biology and sylvicultural systems which is comprehensive and written in refreshingly plain english. The native and commonly used non-native trees are then detailed followed by how to draw up a management plan, essential if you want grant aid. Then the nitty-gritty of planting, protecting, measurement and marketing.

This is a very practical book on managing woodlands as a whole, very sensitive to their wildlife and landscape value but stressing that woodlands that pay are more likely to last.

A Starr read!, 29 Mar 2006
I found this book to be an insightful and stimulating guide to managing woodlands. The authour's writing style holds your attention and the information supplied is highly relevant and will be of value to a wide range of readers. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone with a keen interest in purchasing or managing woodlands in the future.

Good Introduction, 07 Jan 2006
This book is an excellent introduction to Forest Management. It starts from the beginning, with no assumption of prior knowledge.

Ideal for potential forestry students as well as those with an interest in woodland.

Still relevant in a chemical dominated age, 13 Oct 2008
Silent Spring (Penguin Modern Classics)
Some people may think this book is no longer relevant in a world where DDT is mainly consigned to history, but, unless we learn from history we will make the mistakes over again.
This classic from the early 1960s explains how the various parts of nature are all affected when man tries to eliminate a pest with what is effectively a universal poison. Despite all of the evidence of the reducing efficacy of these poisons and the damage caused to the rest of the ecosystem, the spraying continued for years. The author provides numerous examples of the destruction caused by the use of these chemicals despite following the manufacturer's guidelines.
Whilst this book can be heavy going and occasionally a little disjointed in places it is worth reading if only to remind you that not all official advice is correct or impartial. We still have the potential to make similar mistakes today, only perhaps the threat is more concealed by the large variety of man made substances in use or added to our food and its packaging every day.

Hard Work, 28 Oct 2007
One can only applaud Carson's work and marvel at her determination to be heard and the research she did. This must have been a very shocking book at the time it was published, even now it is horrifying to look back and see what wholesale garbage the American public was being sold by those supposed to be looking after their health and welfare. It is however, a dated book which I found hard to read and difficult to sustain. I believe it was first written as a series of articles for journals and magazines, which makes sense, as each chapter is very much isolated from the others in terms of style and content, so there is little sense of flow or continuity, other than the continuation of the bad news Carson imparts. It tends to jerk from quite florid poetic writing with lyrically drawn pictures of nature which give way to horrific apocalyptic style visions into bunches of data and facts which are so dry they sit hard up against the narrative and make for difficult reading. It's still a book to recommend, particularly in today's climate and with the emphasis on green issues, but you really have to want to read it rather than just having an idle interest.

The book they tried to dismiss, 02 Sep 2006
In "Any Questions" on BBC Radio 4 a panel of politicians were quizzed in turn as to one person they thought would be regarded as an important person in the future from the 20th century who improved the lot of us humans. Of about four panelists one said Nelson Mandela. Important though Mandela is, none of the other panelists had anyone else to suggest so they also ended up saying Nelson Mandela. I would have mentioned Rachel Carson representing as yet an unsung heroine - the pioneer of the "Deep Ecology" movement.

Unfortunately a lot of what she had to say is still ignored by mainstream politicians though enough has trickled through to create a stream of people who think in the context of concern for all life on Earth rather than how best one group of us can dominate and manipulate our human and environmental resources at irreplaceable cost to life as we know it.

This is the book that started it all - showing us that science and technology unrestrained were not the solution to all our problems. The EPA at least owes its very existence to Carson.

I salute Carson and her book as a lighthouse that guided our thinking from the cliffs of short sighted destructiveness. Long may the beacon prevail.

This is an important book. Perhaps dated, Carson's voice is not shrill but reasoned and strident. A classic worth sharing and upgrading.


Mighty oaks from small acorns grow, 06 Aug 2006
Reading some of the reviews here I can't help but feel they are reading 'Silent Spring' out of context. Being written in 1962 in will never be a current and up to date account of our pesticide use today. However I recommend it as a pioneering piece of literature, and a period piece that will stand the test of time.

Now that our bookshelves are stacked with Ecological titles, it is all the more important to re-read 'Silent Spring' and to judge for ourselves a book that actually did make a difference. For instance, this book greatly influenced my parents into becoming founder members of 'Friends of the Earth'.

What stands is an inspirational and at times poetic cry for ecological common sense. What has aged and dated stands to keep our contemporary rhetoric in check. Rachel Carson has a searching and inquisitive mind. Let this book be the document that she would want it to be - A step towards understanding our continued place in the world.

Mighty oaks from small acorns grow, 14 Jul 2006
This book helped inspire the movement that had DDT banned worldwide including Africa. As a result millions of Africans died of mosquito-transmitted malaria. Yay, Environmentalism...

Great Way to View the Earth!, 25 Aug 2008
I read this book sometime ago and is impacted me significantly as it has with many others. I enjoyed the explanation of the huge organism (Earth) that is self- regulating. I also enjoyed that Lovelock points out that we humans are part of the environment and belong here. We will produce waste.

Having said that, any system can overload. Thus, we need to be good stewards of our planet.

As the astronauts left the earth in the 1960's and headed towards the moon they looked back at our planet and did not see borders or countries. They saw the earth as a single unit...beautiful and fragile. It rotated on an invisible string in the blackness of night. It affected many of the astronauts profoundly.

The book has already helped many more people see the earth as a single unit. If it can continue to do that, hopefully we will find a way to live more harmoniously with the environment on our planet.

Gaia is a great read and a way of looking at things that is both fascination and enlightening!

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide To: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

A masterful and poetic scientific break-through. James Lovelock is a visionary of the highest order., 07 Nov 2007
It didn't have the direct and dramatic impact of Newton's Principia - a book that radically changed the world, nevertheless James Lovelock's book Gaia - a New Look at Life on Earth, did have a more subtle influence on our world - particularly that of science. In a sense the Gaia Hypothesis prefigured - culturally and symbolically - the evolution of pure science from that classical, mechanistic world view inspired by the uncanny genius of Newton, to a less linear, more holistic awareness of the irreducible relationships (`gestalts') that permeate apparently discreet phenomena. Indeed this kind of more `organic' approach is radically renewing the scope of Science.

What this unique book may also prove to have done is act as a pivotal stepping stone in time: a step back into our most atavistic, indigenous roots, a time when we lived in harmony with the Earth - talk to any Inuit, Aborigine, or Sioux elder and they retain that deeply intuitive and spiritual connection; but just as significantly, a step into the future - towards a re-newed awareness of our responsibility and acute vulnerability as part of the Earth's 'living' ecology. Climate change is the moment that latter reality is returned home to us with the harshest and most dangerous of lessons. And in a sense, climate change was the mighty prediction James Lovelock issued with his Gaia Hypothesis.

More recently he's said his hope lies "in that powerful force that takes over our lives when we sense that our tribe or nation is threatened from outside". However, he's also said "I do think it will take a disaster to wake us up''. Let's hope, on that score at least, and for all our sakes, he's wrong.


Problem with intent, 22 Mar 2006
Firstly I will say this, if you are considering buying this book then do so. If nothing else it will make you think and thats always a worthwhile thing in a publication. That being said I have issues with the text.

The data is thought provoking, the hypothesis, that the planet can be modelled by thinking of it in terms of a homeostatic (Self regulating) organism is certainly supported byy the evidence presented and the top-down look at the world makes a refreshing and worthwile change from the 'standard' reductionist approach. Now for the 'but';

Lovelock makes the common, unfortunate and in this book serial mistake (to my mind at least)of confusing effect with intent. For example he cites the chemically unstable composition of the atmosphere, maintained by life, as evidence that Gaia - the world organism - is self regulating for the benefit of life. His argument runs that if this atmospheric balance was not maintained life would die out, therefore Gaia must have lifes best interests at heart and work for the benefit and propagation of life.

This is an all too common confusion accidentaly propagted by many, the underpinning science is engaging, interesting and enlightening but the unfortunate phrasing in terms of the planets intent irritates throughout the book. Just because we can interpret things more easily by considering the planet in terms of an organism does not mean it thinks and feels as a human psyche. Conversly it also doesn't mean it doesn't think like us, it may, but I would prefer this isn't assumed when there is no evidence to support it.

Overall, well worth reading but beware the anthromorphic phrasing. I'm interested to see how his more science orientated book turns out. In the post as I type.

Interesting Hypothesis in Somewhat Convoluted Form, 27 May 2004
James Lovelock has created a powerful and interesting argument in this book that will keep scientists busy for centuries. He notices that there is an ability for the Earth to maintain relatively constant conditions in temperature, atmosphere, salinity and pH of the oceans, and reductions in pollutants that defies the simple observations of what "should" happen. From this, he concludes that there is a complex of physical, chemical and biological interrelationships that work like a living organism, which he defines as the Gaia Hypothesis. For defining that concept and providing some of the measurements to establish its premises, he deserves a 7 star rating.

Unfortunately, the argument is expressed in overlong and convoluted fashion. He deliberately limits himself to a nonscientific explanation in this book. The scientific version of the argument is in The Ages of Gaia. Although the book is not long, it certainly could have been condensed into a longish article for Scientific American or The Atlantic Monthly. My second quibble is that the editor was nowhere in sight in creating the organization of the book. The key point is often buried in the third sentence of the last paragraph in a chapter. The argument in between wanders into all kinds of places where it doesn't need to go. For organization and editing, I give this book a one star rating.

So the average is a 4 star rating. The writing itself is pleasant enough. Don't let the lack of organization and editing put you off, for it is worth your while to read this book. It will remind you of the benefits of the sort of sytems thinking that Peter Senge talks about in The Fifth Discipline.

The other thing you will learn is the weakness of scientific work that fails to develop enough field data and to connect enough with other disciplines. I was struck by the same observations recently while visiting environmental scientists at the Smithsonian Institution. The basics in many of these areas have yet to be measured and evaluated. This book will point countless generations forward in understanding how our plant maintains its environment that permits life to flourish. Clearly, it is a stallbusting effort to replace "stalled" thinking about the history and future of the Earth. I found the key questions (such as why doesn't the ocean become more saline?) to be irresistible. I think you will, too. Enjoy and think!

a great book...., 31 Jul 2002
The idea that the planet is a self-balancing system is clearly presented for non-scientists. Fully explained, this model is in fact complementary to other enviromental models rather than contradictory. I think that this book usefully fills a gap between economics, biology and physics, and it is a sobering message that if we do not take sufficient care, we could tip the planet into a new equilibrium (but without the human race).

A wood that pays is a wood that stays, 30 Aug 2007
An excellent book for students and landowners, it starts with a brief history of woodland in Britain, followed by a chapter on tree biology and sylvicultural systems which is comprehensive and written in refreshingly plain english. The native and commonly used non-native trees are then detailed followed by how to draw up a management plan, essential if you want grant aid. Then the nitty-gritty of planting, protecting, measurement and marketing.

This is a very practical book on managing woodlands as a whole, very sensitive to their wildlife and landscape value but stressing that woodlands that pay are more likely to last.

A Starr read!, 29 Mar 2006
I found this book to be an insightful and stimulating guide to managing woodlands. The authour's writing style holds your attention and the information supplied is highly relevant and will be of value to a wide range of readers. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone with a keen interest in purchasing or managing woodlands in the future.

Good Introduction, 07 Jan 2006
This book is an excellent introduction to Forest Management. It starts from the beginning, with no assumption of prior knowledge.

Ideal for potential forestry students as well as those with an interest in woodland.

Still relevant in a chemical dominated age, 13 Oct 2008
Silent Spring (Penguin Modern Classics)
Some people may think this book is no longer relevant in a world where DDT is mainly consigned to history, but, unless we learn from history we will make the mistakes over again.
This classic from the early 1960s explains how the various parts of nature are all affected when man tries to eliminate a pest with what is effectively a universal poison. Despite all of the evidence of the reducing efficacy of these poisons and the damage caused to the rest of the ecosystem, the spraying continued for years. The author provides numerous examples of the destruction caused by the use of these chemicals despite following the manufacturer's guidelines.
Whilst this book can be heavy going and occasionally a little disjointed in places it is worth reading if only to remind you that not all official advice is correct or impartial. We still have the potential to make similar mistakes today, only perhaps the threat is more concealed by the large variety of man made substances in use or added to our food and its packaging every day.

Hard Work, 28 Oct 2007
One can only applaud Carson's work and marvel at her determination to be heard and the research she did. This must have been a very shocking book at the time it was published, even now it is horrifying to look back and see what wholesale garbage the American public was being sold by those supposed to be looking after their health and welfare. It is however, a dated book which I found hard to read and difficult to sustain. I believe it was first written as a series of articles for journals and magazines, which makes sense, as each chapter is very much isolated from the others in terms of style and content, so there is little sense of flow or continuity, other than the continuation of the bad news Carson imparts. It tends to jerk from quite florid poetic writing with lyrically drawn pictures of nature which give way to horrific apocalyptic style visions into bunches of data and facts which are so dry they sit hard up against the narrative and make for difficult reading. It's still a book to recommend, particularly in today's climate and with the emphasis on green issues, but you really have to want to read it rather than just having an idle interest.

The book they tried to dismiss, 02 Sep 2006
In "Any Questions" on BBC Radio 4 a panel of politicians were quizzed in turn as to one person they thought would be regarded as an important person in the future from the 20th century who improved the lot of us humans. Of about four panelists one said Nelson Mandela. Important though Mandela is, none of the other panelists had anyone else to suggest so they also ended up saying Nelson Mandela. I would have mentioned Rachel Carson representing as yet an unsung heroine - the pioneer of the "Deep Ecology" movement.

Unfortunately a lot of what she had to say is still ignored by mainstream politicians though enough has trickled through to create a stream of people who think in the context of concern for all life on Earth rather than how best one group of us can dominate and manipulate our human and environmental resources at irreplaceable cost to life as we know it.

This is the book that started it all - showing us that science and technology unrestrained were not the solution to all our problems. The EPA at least owes its very existence to Carson.

I salute Carson and her book as a lighthouse that guided our thinking from the cliffs of short sighted destructiveness. Long may the beacon prevail.

This is an important book. Perhaps dated, Carson's voice is not shrill but reasoned and strident. A classic worth sharing and upgrading.


Mighty oaks from small acorns grow, 06 Aug 2006
Reading some of the reviews here I can't help but feel they are reading 'Silent Spring' out of context. Being written in 1962 in will never be a current and up to date account of our pesticide use today. However I recommend it as a pioneering piece of literature, and a period piece that will stand the test of time.

Now that our bookshelves are stacked with Ecological titles, it is all the more important to re-read 'Silent Spring' and to judge for ourselves a book that actually did make a difference. For instance, this book greatly influenced my parents into becoming founder members of 'Friends of the Earth'.

What stands is an inspirational and at times poetic cry for ecological common sense. What has aged and dated stands to keep our contemporary rhetoric in check. Rachel Carson has a searching and inquisitive mind. Let this book be the document that she would want it to be - A step towards understanding our continued place in the world.

Mighty oaks from small acorns grow, 14 Jul 2006
This book helped inspire the movement that had DDT banned worldwide including Africa. As a result millions of Africans died of mosquito-transmitted malaria. Yay, Environmentalism...

Great Way to View the Earth!, 25 Aug 2008
I read this book sometime ago and is impacted me significantly as it has with many others. I enjoyed the explanation of the huge organism (Earth) that is self- regulating. I also enjoyed that Lovelock points out that we humans are part of the environment and belong here. We will produce waste.

Having said that, any system can overload. Thus, we need to be good stewards of our planet.

As the astronauts left the earth in the 1960's and headed towards the moon they looked back at our planet and did not see borders or countries. They saw the earth as a single unit...beautiful and fragile. It rotated on an invisible string in the blackness of night. It affected many of the astronauts profoundly.

The book has already helped many more people see the earth as a single unit. If it can continue to do that, hopefully we will find a way to live more harmoniously with the environment on our planet.

Gaia is a great read and a way of looking at things that is both fascination and enlightening!

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide To: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

A masterful and poetic scientific break-through. James Lovelock is a visionary of the highest order., 07 Nov 2007
It didn't have the direct and dramatic impact of Newton's Principia - a book that radically changed the world, nevertheless James Lovelock's book Gaia - a New Look at Life on Earth, did have a more subtle influence on our world - particularly that of science. In a sense the Gaia Hypothesis prefigured - culturally and symbolically - the evolution of pure science from that classical, mechanistic world view inspired by the uncanny genius of Newton, to a less linear, more holistic awareness of the irreducible relationships (`gestalts') that permeate apparently discreet phenomena. Indeed this kind of more `organic' approach is radically renewing the scope of Science.

What this unique book may also prove to have done is act as a pivotal stepping stone in time: a step back into our most atavistic, indigenous roots, a time when we lived in harmony with the Earth - talk to any Inuit, Aborigine, or Sioux elder and they retain that deeply intuitive and spiritual connection; but just as significantly, a step into the future - towards a re-newed awareness of our responsibility and acute vulnerability as part of the Earth's 'living' ecology. Climate change is the moment that latter reality is returned home to us with the harshest and most dangerous of lessons. And in a sense, climate change was the mighty prediction James Lovelock issued with his Gaia Hypothesis.

More recently he's said his hope lies "in that powerful force that takes over our lives when we sense that our tribe or nation is threatened from outside". However, he's also said "I do think it will take a disaster to wake us up''. Let's hope, on that score at least, and for all our sakes, he's wrong.


Problem with intent, 22 Mar 2006
Firstly I will say this, if you are considering buying this book then do so. If nothing else it will make you think and thats always a worthwhile thing in a publication. That being said I have issues with the text.

The data is thought provoking, the hypothesis, that the planet can be modelled by thinking of it in terms of a homeostatic (Self regulating) organism is certainly supported byy the evidence presented and the top-down look at the world makes a refreshing and worthwile change from the 'standard' reductionist approach. Now for the 'but';

Lovelock makes the common, unfortunate and in this book serial mistake (to my mind at least)of confusing effect with intent. For example he cites the chemically unstable composition of the atmosphere, maintained by life, as evidence that Gaia - the world organism - is self regulating for the benefit of life. His argument runs that if this atmospheric balance was not maintained life would die out, therefore Gaia must have lifes best interests at heart and work for the benefit and propagation of life.

This is an all too common confusion accidentaly propagted by many, the underpinning science is engaging, interesting and enlightening but the unfortunate phrasing in terms of the planets intent irritates throughout the book. Just because we can interpret things more easily by considering the planet in terms of an organism does not mean it thinks and feels as a human psyche. Conversly it also doesn't mean it doesn't think like us, it may, but I would prefer this isn't assumed when there is no evidence to support it.

Overall, well worth reading but beware the anthromorphic phrasing. I'm interested to see how his more science orientated book turns out. In the post as I type.

Interesting Hypothesis in Somewhat Convoluted Form, 27 May 2004
James Lovelock has created a powerful and interesting argument in this book that will keep scientists busy for centuries. He notices that there is an ability for the Earth to maintain relatively constant conditions in temperature, atmosphere, salinity and pH of the oceans, and reductions in pollutants that defies the simple observations of what "should" happen. From this, he concludes that there is a complex of physical, chemical and biological interrelationships that work like a living organism, which he defines as the Gaia Hypothesis. For defining that concept and providing some of the measurements to establish its premises, he deserves a 7 star rating.

Unfortunately, the argument is expressed in overlong and convoluted fashion. He deliberately limits himself to a nonscientific explanation in this book. The scientific version of the argument is in The Ages of Gaia. Although the book is not long, it certainly could have been condensed into a longish article for Scientific American or The Atlantic Monthly. My second quibble is that the editor was nowhere in sight in creating the organization of the book. The key point is often buried in the third sentence of the last paragraph in a chapter. The argument in between wanders into all kinds of places where it doesn't need to go. For organization and editing, I give this book a one star rating.

So the average is a 4 star rating. The writing itself is pleasant enough. Don't let the lack of organization and editing put you off, for it is worth your while to read this book. It will remind you of the benefits of the sort of sytems thinking that Peter Senge talks about in The Fifth Discipline.

The other thing you will learn is the weakness of scientific work that fails to develop enough field data and to connect enough with other disciplines. I was struck by the same observations recently while visiting environmental scientists at the Smithsonian Institution. The basics in many of these areas have yet to be measured and evaluated. This book will point countless generations forward in understanding how our plant maintains its environment that permits life to flourish. Clearly, it is a stallbusting effort to replace "stalled" thinking about the history and future of the Earth. I found the key questions (such as why doesn't the ocean become more saline?) to be irresistible. I think you will, too. Enjoy and think!

a great book...., 31 Jul 2002
The idea that the planet is a self-balancing system is clearly presented for non-scientists. Fully explained, this model is in fact complementary to other enviromental models rather than contradictory. I think that this book usefully fills a gap between economics, biology and physics, and it is a sobering message that if we do not take sufficient care, we could tip the planet into a new equilibrium (but without the human race).

Good enough, 23 Sep 2006
The problem faced by anyone writing about woodland management is that there are so many types of woodland, each of which can be managed in several ways, so their books often end up as a series of generalisations and lacking in detail.
Ben Law's book is the best I have read on the subject, and it is particularly pleasing in its honesty and aspects of its detail.
This is a realistic book, not given to overstatement.
I am not entirely sure whether there is a difference between sensible woodland management and the permaculture approach. I have planted 150 acres of new woodland and manage it along the lines outlined in the book without ever having heard of Permaculture before, but if nothing else I have found this book has been very encouraging, and feel reasured that I am doing most things "right"

An inspirational and enjoyable book, 18 Dec 2001
The author, writes from the heart and obviously has a very deep commitment to practical sustainability. He lives in his own woodlands, 'Prickly Nut Wood' in Lodsworth and he has recently been granted permission for a permanent home there. There are plenty of excellent photographs adding vision to his text. He covers every conceivable issue relating to wood, woodlands and woodland management. Some of his ideas are radical alternatives to conventional woodland management and his aim is to create bio-diversity, a healthy environment, added value products and food, a livelihood for woodland workers and farmers and benefits for the local community. His vision is to encourage such woodlands all over Britain.

How to learn about truly living a Permaculture lifestyle, 22 Oct 2001
We have all read or heard descriptions of how our world needs to change. But much of what I've heard or read (or said myself, especially after a drink or two!) doesn't adequately bridge the gap between theory and practice. The Woodland Way bridges this gap, and does it well. It sets out Ben's thesis and original vision for sustainable woodland management in Britain. I found it a most inspiring book in its practicality and "do-ability".

Ben taught the permaculture design course that I took, and I have him to thank for opening my eyes to the whole PC design process. One can see this process underlying Ben's approach to woodlands in general and to his own land throughout this book. Reading it has opened my eyes to a new, much more holistic way of using and living in and with woodlands in Britain. The range of sustainable, income-generating ways that Ben uses his own woodland is truly astonishing (just look at the amazing "Analysis of Ben Law's Livelihood" in the centre of the book!), let alone what he suggests as options for woodlands in general.

The Woodland Way is packed with detail. For many areas this detail is more than adequate to use the book as an instructional guide. For other aspects of woodland management, Ben has provided an overview that starts the reader on a path needing further information. Here the extensive and excellent appendices come into their own. They are packed with extra information, further references and contact details for many woodland related organisations. They enhance its value greatly and turn it from a very readable book into a hugely usable reference as well. This aspect of the book in particular is very similar in style to its sister publication Plants for a Future. I am sure that my copy of the Woodland Way will become as dog-eared as Plants for a Future has become - the best review that any author could wish for!

If I have a criticism of the book, it is only the very minor one that it has a slight southern English bias in its plant information and recommendations. Ben does warn that some of the plants that he lists may not thrive everywhere in Britain. Having moved to West Wales after living just down the road from Ben, it is surprising just how different the two climates are. For instance, bluebells are a native woodland indicator in Ben's bioregion, here in Ceredigion they grow on almost any suitable roadside verge that isn't cut too frequently, as well as on many bracken covered hill slopes! But you can fill in such info from your own local observations so don't let that put you off. If you want to learn about truly living a Permaculture lifestyle as well as working woodlands

A wood that pays is a wood that stays, 30 Aug 2007
An excellent book for students and landowners, it starts with a brief history of woodland in Britain, followed by a chapter on tree biology and sylvicultural systems which is comprehensive and written in refreshingly plain english. The native and commonly used non-native trees are then detailed followed by how to draw up a management plan, essential if you want grant aid. Then the nitty-gritty of planting, protecting, measurement and marketing.

This is a very practical book on managing woodlands as a whole, very sensitive to their wildlife and landscape value but stressing that woodlands that pay are more likely to last.

A Starr read!, 29 Mar 2006
I found this book to be an insightful and stimulating guide to managing woodlands. The authour's writing style holds your attention and the information supplied is highly relevant and will be of value to a wide range of readers. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone with a keen interest in purchasing or managing woodlands in the future.

Good Introduction, 07 Jan 2006
This book is an excellent introduction to Forest Management. It starts from the beginning, with no assumption of prior knowledge.

Ideal for potential forestry students as well as those with an interest in woodland.

Still relevant in a chemical dominated age, 13 Oct 2008
Silent Spring (Penguin Modern Classics)
Some people may think this book is no longer relevant in a world where DDT is mainly consigned to history, but, unless we learn from history we will make the mistakes over again.
This classic from the early 1960s explains how the various parts of nature are all affected when man tries to eliminate a pest with what is effectively a universal poison. Despite all of the evidence of the reducing efficacy of these poisons and the damage caused to the rest of the ecosystem, the spraying continued for years. The author provides numerous examples of the destruction caused by the use of these chemicals despite following the manufacturer's guidelines.
Whilst this book can be heavy going and occasionally a little disjointed in places it is worth reading if only to remind you that not all official advice is correct or impartial. We still have the potential to make similar mistakes today, only perhaps the threat is more concealed by the large variety of man made substances in use or added to our food and its packaging every day.

Hard Work, 28 Oct 2007
One can only applaud Carson's work and marvel at her determination to be heard and the research she did. This must have been a very shocking book at the time it was published, even now it is horrifying to look back and see what wholesale garbage the American public was being sold by those supposed to be looking after their health and welfare. It is however, a dated book which I found hard to read and difficult to sustain. I believe it was first written as a series of articles for journals and magazines, which makes sense, as each chapter is very much isolated from the others in terms of style and content, so there is little sense of flow or continuity, other than the continuation of the bad news Carson imparts. It tends to jerk from quite florid poetic writing with lyrically drawn pictures of nature which give way to horrific apocalyptic style visions into bunches of data and facts which are so dry they sit hard up against the narrative and make for difficult reading. It's still a book to recommend, particularly in today's climate and with the emphasis on green issues, but you really have to want to read it rather than just having an idle interest.

The book they tried to dismiss, 02 Sep 2006
In "Any Questions" on BBC Radio 4 a panel of politicians were quizzed in turn as to one person they thought would be regarded as an important person in the future from the 20th century who improved the lot of us humans. Of about four panelists one said Nelson Mandela. Important though Mandela is, none of the other panelists had anyone else to suggest so they also ended up saying Nelson Mandela. I would have mentioned Rachel Carson representing as yet an unsung heroine - the pioneer of the "Deep Ecology" movement.

Unfortunately a lot of what she had to say is still ignored by mainstream politicians though enough has trickled through to create a stream of people who think in the context of concern for all life on Earth rather than how best one group of us can dominate and manipulate our human and environmental resources at irreplaceable cost to life as we know it.

This is the book that started it all - showing us that science and technology unrestrained were not the solution to all our problems. The EPA at least owes its very existence to Carson.

I salute Carson and her book as a lighthouse that guided our thinking from the cliffs of short sighted destructiveness. Long may the beacon prevail.

This is an important book. Perhaps dated, Carson's voice is not shrill but reasoned and strident. A classic worth sharing and upgrading.


Mighty oaks from small acorns grow, 06 Aug 2006
Reading some of the reviews here I can't help but feel they are reading 'Silent Spring' out of context. Being written in 1962 in will never be a current and up to date account of our pesticide use today. However I recommend it as a pioneering piece of literature, and a period piece that will stand the test of time.

Now that our bookshelves are stacked with Ecological titles, it is all the more important to re-read 'Silent Spring' and to judge for ourselves a book that actually did make a difference. For instance, this book greatly influenced my parents into becoming founder members of 'Friends of the Earth'.

What stands is an inspirational and at times poetic cry for ecological common sense. What has aged and dated stands to keep our contemporary rhetoric in check. Rachel Carson has a searching and inquisitive mind. Let this book be the document that she would want it to be - A step towards understanding our continued place in the world.

Mighty oaks from small acorns grow, 14 Jul 2006
This book helped inspire the movement that had DDT banned worldwide including Africa. As a result millions of Africans died of mosquito-transmitted malaria. Yay, Environmentalism...

Great Way to View the Earth!, 25 Aug 2008
I read this book sometime ago and is impacted me significantly as it has with many others. I enjoyed the explanation of the huge organism (Earth) that is self- regulating. I also enjoyed that Lovelock points out that we humans are part of the environment and belong here. We will produce waste.

Having said that, any system can overload. Thus, we need to be good stewards of our planet.

As the astronauts left the earth in the 1960's and headed towards the moon they looked back at our planet and did not see borders or countries. They saw the earth as a single unit...beautiful and fragile. It rotated on an invisible string in the blackness of night. It affected many of the astronauts profoundly.

The book has already helped many more people see the earth as a single unit. If it can continue to do that, hopefully we will find a way to live more harmoniously with the environment on our planet.

Gaia is a great read and a way of looking at things that is both fascination and enlightening!

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide To: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

A masterful and poetic scientific break-through. James Lovelock is a visionary of the highest order., 07 Nov 2007
It didn't have the direct and dramatic impact of Newton's Principia - a book that radically changed the world, nevertheless James Lovelock's book Gaia - a New Look at Life on Earth, did have a more subtle influence on our world - particularly that of science. In a sense the Gaia Hypothesis prefigured - culturally and symbolically - the evolution of pure science from that classical, mechanistic world view inspired by the uncanny genius of Newton, to a less linear, more holistic awareness of the irreducible relationships (`gestalts') that permeate apparently discreet phenomena. Indeed this kind of more `organic' approach is radically renewing the scope of Science.

What this unique book may also prove to have done is act as a pivotal stepping stone in time: a step back into our most atavistic, indigenous roots, a time when we lived in harmony with the Earth - talk to any Inuit, Aborigine, or Sioux elder and they retain that deeply intuitive and spiritual connection; but just as significantly, a step into the future - towards a re-newed awareness of our responsibility and acute vulnerability as part of the Earth's 'living' ecology. Climate change is the moment that latter reality is returned home to us with the harshest and most dangerous of lessons. And in a sense, climate change was the mighty prediction James Lovelock issued with his Gaia Hypothesis.

More recently he's said his hope lies "in that powerful force that takes over our lives when we sense that our tribe or nation is threatened from outside". However, he's also said "I do think it will take a disaster to wake us up''. Let's hope, on that score at least, and for all our sakes, he's wrong.


Problem with intent, 22 Mar 2006
Firstly I will say this, if you are considering buying this book then do so. If nothing else it will make you think and thats always a worthwhile thing in a publication. That being said I have issues with the text.

The data is thought provoking, the hypothesis, that the planet can be modelled by thinking of it in terms of a homeostatic (Self regulating) organism is certainly supported byy the evidence presented and the top-down look at the world makes a refreshing and worthwile change from the 'standard' reductionist approach. Now for the 'but';

Lovelock makes the common, unfortunate and in this book serial mistake (to my mind at least)of confusing effect with intent. For example he cites the chemically unstable composition of the atmosphere, maintained by life, as evidence that Gaia - the world organism - is self regulating for the benefit of life. His argument runs that if this atmospheric balance was not maintained life would die out, therefore Gaia must have lifes best interests at heart and work for the benefit and propagation of life.

This is an all too common confusion accidentaly propagted by many, the underpinning science is engaging, interesting and enlightening but the unfortunate phrasing in terms of the planets intent irritates throughout the book. Just because we can interpret things more easily by considering the planet in terms of an organism does not mean it thinks and feels as a human psyche. Conversly it also doesn't mean it doesn't think like us, it may, but I would prefer this isn't assumed when there is no evidence to support it.

Overall, well worth reading but beware the anthromorphic phrasing. I'm interested to see how his more science orientated book turns out. In the post as I type.

Interesting Hypothesis in Somewhat Convoluted Form, 27 May 2004
James Lovelock has created a powerful and interesting argument in this book that will keep scientists busy for centuries. He notices that there is an ability for the Earth to maintain relatively constant conditions in temperature, atmosphere, salinity and pH of the oceans, and reductions in pollutants that defies the simple observations of what "should" happen. From this, he concludes that there is a complex of physical, chemical and biological interrelationships that work like a living organism, which he defines as the Gaia Hypothesis. For defining that concept and providing some of the measurements to establish its premises, he deserves a 7 star rating.

Unfortunately, the argument is expressed in overlong and convoluted fashion. He deliberately limits himself to a nonscientific explanation in this book. The scientific version of the argument is in The Ages of Gaia. Although the book is not long, it certainly could have been condensed into a longish article for Scientific American or The Atlantic Monthly. My second quibble is that the editor was nowhere in sight in creating the organization of the book. The key point is often buried in the third sentence of the last paragraph in a chapter. The argument in between wanders into all kinds of places where it doesn't need to go. For organization and editing, I give this book a one star rating.

So the average is a 4 star rating. The writing itself is pleasant enough. Don't let the lack of organization and editing put you off, for it is worth your while to read this book. It will remind you of the benefits of the sort of sytems thinking that Peter Senge talks about in The Fifth Discipline.

The other thing you will learn is the weakness of scientific work that fails to develop enough field data and to connect enough with other disciplines. I was struck by the same observations recently while visiting environmental scientists at the Smithsonian Institution. The basics in many of these areas have yet to be measured and evaluated. This book will point countless generations forward in understanding how our plant maintains its environment that permits life to flourish. Clearly, it is a stallbusting effort to replace "stalled" thinking about the history and future of the Earth. I found the key questions (such as why doesn't the ocean become more saline?) to be irresistible. I think you will, too. Enjoy and think!

a great book...., 31 Jul 2002
The idea that the planet is a self-balancing system is clearly presented for non-scientists. Fully explained, this model is in fact complementary to other enviromental models rather than contradictory. I think that this book usefully fills a gap between economics, biology and physics, and it is a sobering message that if we do not take sufficient care, we could tip the planet into a new equilibrium (but without the human race).

Good enough, 23 Sep 2006
The problem faced by anyone writing about woodland management is that there are so many types of woodland, each of which can be managed in several ways, so their books often end up as a series of generalisations and lacking in detail.
Ben Law's book is the best I have read on the subject, and it is particularly pleasing in its honesty and aspects of its detail.
This is a realistic book, not given to overstatement.
I am not entirely sure whether there is a difference between sensible woodland management and the permaculture approach. I have planted 150 acres of new woodland and manage it along the lines outlined in the book without ever having heard of Permaculture before, but if nothing else I have found this book has been very encouraging, and feel reasured that I am doing most things "right"

An inspirational and enjoyable book, 18 Dec 2001
The author, writes from the heart and obviously has a very deep commitment to practical sustainability. He lives in his own woodlands, 'Prickly Nut Wood' in Lodsworth and he has recently been granted permission for a permanent home there. There are plenty of excellent photographs adding vision to his text. He covers every conceivable issue relating to wood, woodlands and woodland management. Some of his ideas are radical alternatives to conventional woodland management and his aim is to create bio-diversity, a healthy environment, added value products and food, a livelihood for woodland workers and farmers and benefits for the local community. His vision is to encourage such woodlands all over Britain.

How to learn about truly living a Permaculture lifestyle, 22 Oct 2001
We have all read or heard descriptions of how our world needs to change. But much of what I've heard or read (or said myself, especially after a drink or two!) doesn't adequately bridge the gap between theory and practice. The Woodland Way bridges this gap, and does it well. It sets out Ben's thesis and original vision for sustainable woodland management in Britain. I found it a most inspiring book in its practicality and "do-ability".

Ben taught the permaculture design course that I took, and I have him to thank for opening my eyes to the whole PC design process. One can see this process underlying Ben's approach to woodlands in general and to his own land throughout this book. Reading it has opened my eyes to a new, much more holistic way of using and living in and with woodlands in Britain. The range of sustainable, income-generating ways that Ben uses his own woodland is truly astonishing (just look at the amazing "Analysis of Ben Law's Livelihood" in the centre of the book!), let alone what he suggests as options for woodlands in general.

The Woodland Way is packed with detail. For many areas this detail is more than adequate to use the book as an instructional guide. For other aspects of woodland management, Ben has provided an overview that starts the reader on a path needing further information. Here the extensive and excellent appendices come into their own. They are packed with extra information, further references and contact details for many woodland related organisations. They enhance its value greatly and turn it from a very readable book into a hugely usable reference as well. This aspect of the book in particular is very similar in style to its sister publication Plants for a Future. I am sure that my copy of the Woodland Way will become as dog-eared as Plants for a Future has become - the best review that any author could wish for!

If I have a criticism of the book, it is only the very minor one that it has a slight southern English bias in its plant information and recommendations. Ben does warn that some of the plants that he lists may not thrive everywhere in Britain. Having moved to West Wales after living just down the road from Ben, it is surprising just how different the two climates are. For instance, bluebells are a native woodland indicator in Ben's bioregion, here in Ceredigion they grow on almost any suitable roadside verge that isn't cut too frequently, as well as on many bracken covered hill slopes! But you can fill in such info from your own local observations so don't let that put you off. If you want to learn about truly living a Permaculture lifestyle as well as working woodlands

Superb!, 26 Jul 2008
This is not only well written, well illustrated and throughly researched, it's also well-thought out as a robust ring-bound book for being dumped on the ground, covered in muck as you work.

As practical guidebooks go, it's got to be near-perfect.

The "must have" guide for wallers., 19 Dec 2006
I bought this guide on the recommendation of a Master Craftsman, when I took up walling recently. It is an excellent manual with clear illustrations showing both best practice and the pitfalls to avoid. It goes from basics right through to advanced features and covers the range of British walling styles. A brilliant book.

A wood that pays is a wood that stays, 30 Aug 2007
An excellent book for students and landowners, it starts with a brief history of woodland in Britain, followed by a chapter on tree biology and sylvicultural systems which is comprehensive and written in refreshingly plain english. The native and commonly used non-native trees are then detailed followed by how to draw up a management plan, essential if you want grant aid. Then the nitty-gritty of planting, protecting, measurement and marketing.

This is a very practical book on managing woodlands as a whole, very sensitive to their wildlife and landscape value but stressing that woodlands that pay are more likely to last.

A Starr read!, 29 Mar 2006
I found this book to be an insightful and stimulating guide to managing woodlands. The authour's writing style holds your attention and the information supplied is highly relevant and will be of value to a wide range of readers. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone with a keen interest in purchasing or managing woodlands in the future.

Good Introduction, 07 Jan 2006
This book is an excellent introduction to Forest Management. It starts from the beginning, with no assumption of prior knowledge.

Ideal for potential forestry students as well as those with an interest in woodland.

Still relevant in a chemical dominated age, 13 Oct 2008
Silent Spring (Penguin Modern Classics)
Some people may think this book is no longer relevant in a world where DDT is mainly consigned to history, but, unless we learn from history we will make the mistakes over again.
This classic from the early 1960s explains how the various parts of nature are all affected when man tries to eliminate a pest with what is effectively a universal poison. Despite all of the evidence of the reducing efficacy of these poisons and the damage caused to the rest of the ecosystem, the spraying continued for years. The author provides numerous examples of the destruction caused by the use of these chemicals despite following the manufacturer's guidelines.
Whilst this book can be heavy going and occasionally a little disjointed in places it is worth reading if only to remind you that not all official advice is correct or impartial. We still have the potential to make similar mistakes today, only perhaps the threat is more concealed by the large variety of man made substances in use or added to our food and its packaging every day.

Hard Work, 28 Oct 2007
One can only applaud Carson's work and marvel at her determination to be heard and the research she did. This must have been a very shocking book at the time it was published, even now it is horrifying to look back and see what wholesale garbage the American public was being sold by those supposed to be looking after their health and welfare. It is however, a dated book which I found hard to read and difficult to sustain. I believe it was first written as a series of articles for journals and magazines, which makes sense, as each chapter is very much isolated from the others in terms of style and content, so there is little sense of flow or continuity, other than the continuation of the bad news Carson imparts. It tends to jerk from quite florid poetic writing with lyrically drawn pictures of nature which give way to horrific apocalyptic style visions into bunches of data and facts which are so dry they sit hard up against the narrative and make for difficult reading. It's still a book to recommend, particularly in today's climate and with the emphasis on green issues, but you really have to want to read it rather than just having an idle interest.

The book they tried to dismiss, 02 Sep 2006
In "Any Questions" on BBC Radio 4 a panel of politicians were quizzed in turn as to one person they thought would be regarded as an important person in the future from the 20th century who improved the lot of us humans. Of about four panelists one said Nelson Mandela. Important though Mandela is, none of the other panelists had anyone else to suggest so they also ended up saying Nelson Mandela. I would have mentioned Rachel Carson representing as yet an unsung heroine - the pioneer of the "Deep Ecology" movement.

Unfortunately a lot of what she had to say is still ignored by mainstream politicians though enough has trickled through to create a stream of people who think in the context of concern for all life on Earth rather than how best one group of us can dominate and manipulate our human and environmental resources at irreplaceable cost to life as we know it.

This is the book that started it all - showing us that science and technology unrestrained were not the solution to all our problems. The EPA at least owes its very existence to Carson.

I salute Carson and her book as a lighthouse that guided our thinking from the cliffs of short sighted destructiveness. Long may the beacon prevail.

This is an important book. Perhaps dated, Carson's voice is not shrill but reasoned and strident. A classic worth sharing and upgrading.


Mighty oaks from small acorns grow, 06 Aug 2006
Reading some of the reviews here I can't help but feel they are reading 'Silent Spring' out of context. Being written in 1962 in will never be a current and up to date account of our pesticide use today. However I recommend it as a pioneering piece of literature, and a period piece that will stand the test of time.

Now that our bookshelves are stacked with Ecological titles, it is all the more important to re-read 'Silent Spring' and to judge for ourselves a book that actually did make a difference. For instance, this book greatly influenced my parents into becoming founder members of 'Friends of the Earth'.

What stands is an inspirational and at times poetic cry for ecological common sense. What has aged and dated stands to keep our contemporary rhetoric in check. Rachel Carson has a searching and inquisitive mind. Let this book be the document that she would want it to be - A step towards understanding our continued place in the world.

Mighty oaks from small acorns grow, 14 Jul 2006
This book helped inspire the movement that had DDT banned worldwide including Africa. As a result millions of Africans died of mosquito-transmitted malaria. Yay, Environmentalism...

Great Way to View the Earth!, 25 Aug 2008
I read this book sometime ago and is impacted me significantly as it has with many others. I enjoyed the explanation of the huge organism (Earth) that is self- regulating. I also enjoyed that Lovelock points out that we humans are part of the environment and belong here. We will produce waste.

Having said that, any system can overload. Thus, we need to be good stewards of our planet.

As the astronauts left the earth in the 1960's and headed towards the moon they looked back at our planet and did not see borders or countries. They saw the earth as a single unit...beautiful and fragile. It rotated on an invisible string in the blackness of night. It affected many of the astronauts profoundly.

The book has already helped many more people see the earth as a single unit. If it can continue to do that, hopefully we will find a way to live more harmoniously with the environment on our planet.

Gaia is a great read and a way of looking at things that is both fascination and enlightening!

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide To: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

A masterful and poetic scientific break-through. James Lovelock is a visionary of the highest order., 07 Nov 2007
It didn't have the direct and dramatic impact of Newton's Principia - a book that radically changed the world, nevertheless James Lovelock's book Gaia - a New Look at Life on Earth, did have a more subtle influence on our world - particularly that of science. In a sense the Gaia Hypothesis prefigured - culturally and symbolically - the evolution of pure science from that classical, mechanistic world view inspired by the uncanny genius of Newton, to a less linear, more holistic awareness of the irreducible relationships (`gestalts') that permeate apparently discreet phenomena. Indeed this kind of more `organic' approach is radically renewing the scope of Science.

What this unique book may also prove to have done is act as a pivotal stepping stone in time: a step back into our most atavistic, indigenous roots, a time when we lived in harmony with the Earth - talk to any Inuit, Aborigine, or Sioux elder and they retain that deeply intuitive and spiritual connection; but just as significantly, a step into the future - towards a re-newed awareness of our responsibility and acute vulnerability as part of the Earth's 'living' ecology. Climate change is the moment that latter reality is returned home to us with the harshest and most dangerous of lessons. And in a sense, climate change was the mighty prediction James Lovelock issued with his Gaia Hypothesis.

More recently he's said his hope lies "in that powerful force that takes over our lives when we sense that our tribe or nation is threatened from outside". However, he's also said "I do think it will take a disaster to wake us up''. Let's hope, on that score at least, and for all our sakes, he's wrong.


Problem with intent, 22 Mar 2006
Firstly I will say this, if you are considering buying this book then do so. If nothing else it will make you think and thats always a worthwhile thing in a publication. That being said I have issues with the text.

The data is thought provoking, the hypothesis, that the planet can be modelled by thinking of it in terms of a homeostatic (Self regulating) organism is certainly supported byy the evidence presented and the top-down look at the world makes a refreshing and worthwile change from the 'standard' reductionist approach. Now for the 'but';

Lovelock makes the common, unfortunate and in this book serial mistake (to my mind at least)of confusing effect with intent. For example he cites the chemically unstable composition of the atmosphere, maintained by life, as evidence that Gaia - the world organism - is self regulating for the benefit of life. His argument runs that if this atmospheric balance was not maintained life would die out, therefore Gaia must have lifes best interests at heart and work for the benefit and propagation of life.

This is an all too common confusion accidentaly propagted by many, the underpinning science is engaging, interesting and enlightening but the unfortunate phrasing in terms of the planets intent irritates throughout the book. Just because we can interpret things more easily by considering the planet in terms of an organism does not mean it thinks and feels as a human psyche. Conversly it also doesn't mean it doesn't think like us, it may, but I would prefer this isn't assumed when there is no evidence to support it.

Overall, well worth reading but beware the anthromorphic phrasing. I'm interested to see how his more science orientated book turns out. In the post as I type.

Interesting Hypothesis in Somewhat Convoluted Form, 27 May 2004
James Lovelock has created a powerful and interesting argument in this book that will keep scientists busy for centuries. He notices that there is an ability for the Earth to maintain relatively constant conditions in temperature, atmosphere, salinity and pH of the oceans, and reductions in pollutants that defies the simple observations of what "should" happen. From this, he concludes that there is a complex of physical, chemical and biological interrelationships that work like a living organism, which he defines as the Gaia Hypothesis. For defining that concept and providing some of the measurements to establish its premises, he deserves a 7 star rating.

Unfortunately, the argument is expressed in overlong and convoluted fashion. He deliberately limits himself to a nonscientific explanation in this book. The scientific version of the argument is in The Ages of Gaia. Although the book is not long, it certainly could have been condensed into a longish article for Scientific American or The Atlantic Monthly. My second quibble is that the editor was nowhere in sight in creating the organization of the book. The key point is often buried in the third sentence of the last paragraph in a chapter. The argument in between wanders into all kinds of places where it doesn't need to go. For organization and editing, I give this book a one star rating.

So the average is a 4 star rating. The writing itself is pleasant enough. Don't let the lack of organization and editing put you off, for it is worth your while to read this book. It will remind you of the benefits of the sort of sytems thinking that Peter Senge talks about in The Fifth Discipline.

The other thing you will learn is the weakness of scientific work that fails to develop enough field data and to connect enough with other disciplines. I was struck by the same observations recently while visiting environmental scientists at the Smithsonian Institution. The basics in many of these areas have yet to be measured and evaluated. This book will point countless generations forward in understanding how our plant maintains its environment that permits life to flourish. Clearly, it is a stallbusting effort to replace "stalled" thinking about the history and future of the Earth. I found the key questions (such as why doesn't the ocean become more saline?) to be irresistible. I think you will, too. Enjoy and think!

a great book...., 31 Jul 2002
The idea that the planet is a self-balancing system is clearly presented for non-scientists. Fully explained, this model is in fact complementary to other enviromental models rather than contradictory. I think that this book usefully fills a gap between economics, biology and physics, and it is a sobering message that if we do not take sufficient care, we could tip the planet into a new equilibrium (but without the human race).

Good enough, 23 Sep 2006
The problem faced by anyone writing about woodland management is that there are so many types of woodland, each of which can be managed in several ways, so their books often end up as a series of generalisations and lacking in detail.
Ben Law's book is the best I have read on the subject, and it is particularly pleasing in its honesty and aspects of its detail.
This is a realistic book, not given to overstatement.
I am not entirely sure whether there is a difference between sensible woodland management and the permaculture approach. I have planted 150 acres of new woodland and manage it along the lines outlined in the book without ever having heard of Permaculture before, but if nothing else I have found this book has been very encouraging, and feel reasured that I am doing most things "right"

An inspirational and enjoyable book, 18 Dec 2001
The author, writes from the heart and obviously has a very deep commitment to practical sustainability. He lives in his own woodlands, 'Prickly Nut Wood' in Lodsworth and he has recently been granted permission for a permanent home there. There are plenty of excellent photographs adding vision to his text. He covers every conceivable issue relating to wood, woodlands and woodland management. Some of his ideas are radical alternatives to conventional woodland management and his aim is to create bio-diversity, a healthy environment, added value products and food, a livelihood for woodland workers and farmers and benefits for the local community. His vision is to encourage such woodlands all over Britain.

How to learn about truly living a Permaculture lifestyle, 22 Oct 2001
We have all read or heard descriptions of how our world needs to change. But much of what I've heard or read (or said myself, especially after a drink or two!) doesn't adequately bridge the gap between theory and practice. The Woodland Way bridges this gap, and does it well. It sets out Ben's thesis and original vision for sustainable woodland management in Britain. I found it a most inspiring book in its practicality and "do-ability".

Ben taught the permaculture design course that I took, and I have him to thank for opening my eyes to the whole PC design process. One can see this process underlying Ben's approach to woodlands in general and to his own land throughout this book. Reading it has opened my eyes to a new, much more holistic way of using and living in and with woodlands in Britain. The range of sustainable, income-generating ways that Ben uses his own woodland is truly astonishing (just look at the amazing "Analysis of Ben Law's Livelihood" in the centre of the book!), let alone what he suggests as options for woodlands in general.

The Woodland Way is packed with detail. For many areas this detail is more than adequate to use the book as an instructional guide. For other aspects of woodland management, Ben has provided an overview that starts the reader on a path needing further information. Here the extensive and excellent appendices come into their own. They are packed with extra information, further references and contact details for many woodland related organisations. They enhance its value greatly and turn it from a very readable book into a hugely usable reference as well. This aspect of the book in particular is very similar in style to its sister publication Plants for a Future. I am sure that my copy of the Woodland Way will become as dog-eared as Plants for a Future has become - the best review that any author could wish for!

If I have a criticism of the book, it is only the very minor one that it has a slight southern English bias in its plant information and recommendations. Ben does warn that some of the plants that he lists may not thrive everywhere in Britain. Having moved to West Wales after living just down the road from Ben, it is surprising just how different the two climates are. For instance, bluebells are a native woodland indicator in Ben's bioregion, here in Ceredigion they grow on almost any suitable roadside verge that isn't cut too frequently, as well as on many bracken covered hill slopes! But you can fill in such info from your own local observations so don't let that put you off. If you want to learn about truly living a Permaculture lifestyle as well as working woodlands

Superb!, 26 Jul 2008
This is not only well written, well illustrated and throughly researched, it's also well-thought out as a robust ring-bound book for being dumped on the ground, covered in muck as you work.

As practical guidebooks go, it's got to be near-perfect.

The "must have" guide for wallers., 19 Dec 2006
I bought this guide on the recommendation of a Master Craftsman, when I took up walling recently. It is an excellent manual with clear illustrations showing both best practice and the pitfalls to avoid. It goes from basics right through to advanced features and covers the range of British walling styles. A brilliant book.

It helped to open my eyes to the world around me!, 14 Mar 1999
It is a perfect little book to carry with you for inspiration. It makes me want to take a walk... and the beautiful thing about this book is that it allows me to take a walk in my mind without ever leaving my office or room. I have and will continue to read it over and over.

A wood that pays is a wood that stays, 30 Aug 2007
An excellent book for students and landowners, it starts with a brief history of woodland in Britain, followed by a chapter on tree biology and sylvicultural systems which is comprehensive and written in refreshingly plain english. The native and commonly used non-native trees are then detailed followed by how to draw up a management plan, essential if you want grant aid. Then the nitty-gritty of planting, protecting, measurement and marketing.

This is a very practical book on managing woodlands as a whole, very sensitive to their wildlife and landscape value but stressing that woodlands that pay are more likely to last.

A Starr read!, 29 Mar 2006
I found this book to be an insightful and stimulating guide to managing woodlands. The authour's writing style holds your attention and the information supplied is highly relevant and will be of value to a wide range of readers. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone with a keen interest in purchasing or managing woodlands in the future.

Good Introduction, 07 Jan 2006
This book is an excellent introduction to Forest Management. It starts from the beginning, with no assumption of prior knowledge.

Ideal for potential forestry students as well as those with an interest in woodland.

Still relevant in a chemical dominated age, 13 Oct 2008
Silent Spring (Penguin Modern Classics)
Some people may think this book is no longer relevant in a world where DDT is mainly consigned to history, but, unless we learn from history we will make the mistakes over again.
This classic from the early 1960s explains how the various parts of nature are all affected when man tries to eliminate a pest with what is effectively a universal poison. Despite all of the evidence of the reducing efficacy of these poisons and the damage caused to the rest of the ecosystem, the spraying continued for years. The author provides numerous examples of the destruction caused by the use of these chemicals despite following the manufacturer's guidelines.
Whilst this book can be heavy going and occasionally a little disjointed in places it is worth reading if only to remind you that not all official advice is correct or impartial. We still have the potential to make similar mistakes today, only perhaps the threat is more concealed by the large variety of man made substances in use or added to our food and its packaging every day.

Hard Work, 28 Oct 2007
One can only applaud Carson's work and marvel at her determination to be heard and the research she did. This must have been a very shocking book at the time it was published, even now it is horrifying to look back and see what wholesale garbage the American public was being sold by those supposed to be looking after their health and welfare. It is however, a dated book which I found hard to read and difficult to sustain. I believe it was first written as a series of articles for journals and magazines, which makes sense, as each chapter is very much isolated from the others in terms of style and content, so there is little sense of flow or continuity, other than the continuation of the bad news Carson imparts. It tends to jerk from quite florid poetic writing with lyrically drawn pictures of nature which give way to horrific apocalyptic style visions into bunches of data and facts which are so dry they sit hard up against the narrative and make for difficult reading. It's still a book to recommend, particularly in today's climate and with the emphasis on green issues, but you really have to want to read it rather than just having an idle interest.

The book they tried to dismiss, 02 Sep 2006
In "Any Questions" on BBC Radio 4 a panel of politicians were quizzed in turn as to one person they thought would be regarded as an important person in the future from the 20th century who improved the lot of us humans. Of about four panelists one said Nelson Mandela. Important though Mandela is, none of the other panelists had anyone else to suggest so they also ended up saying Nelson Mandela. I would have mentioned Rachel Carson representing as yet an unsung heroine - the pioneer of the "Deep Ecology" movement.

Unfortunately a lot of what she had to say is still ignored by mainstream politicians though enough has trickled through to create a stream of people who think in the context of concern for all life on Earth rather than how best one group of us can dominate and manipulate our human and environmental resources at irreplaceable cost to life as we know it.

This is the book that started it all - showing us that science and technology unrestrained were not the solution to all our problems. The EPA at least owes its very existence to Carson.

I salute Carson and her book as a lighthouse that guided our thinking from the cliffs of short sighted destructiveness. Long may the beacon prevail.

This is an important book. Perhaps dated, Carson's voice is not shrill but reasoned and strident. A classic worth sharing and upgrading.


Mighty oaks from small acorns grow, 06 Aug 2006
Reading some of the reviews here I can't help but feel they are reading 'Silent Spring' out of context. Being written in 1962 in will never be a current and up to date account of our pesticide use today. However I recommend it as a pioneering piece of literature, and a period piece that will stand the test of time.

Now that our bookshelves are stacked with Ecological titles, it is all the more important to re-read 'Silent Spring' and to judge for ourselves a book that actually did make a difference. For instance, this book greatly influenced my parents into becoming founder members of 'Friends of the Earth'.

What stands is an inspirational and at times poetic cry for ecological common sense. What has aged and dated stands to keep our contemporary rhetoric in check. Rachel Carson has a searching and inquisitive mind. Let this book be the document that she would want it to be - A step towards understanding our continued place in the world.

Mighty oaks from small acorns grow, 14 Jul 2006
This book helped inspire the movement that had DDT banned worldwide including Africa. As a result millions of Africans died of mosquito-transmitted malaria. Yay, Environmentalism...

Great Way to View the Earth!, 25 Aug 2008
I read this book sometime ago and is impacted me significantly as it has with many others. I enjoyed the explanation of the huge organism (Earth) that is self- regulating. I also enjoyed that Lovelock points out that we humans are part of the environment and belong here. We will produce waste.

Having said that, any system can overload. Thus, we need to be good stewards of our planet.

As the astronauts left the earth in the 1960's and headed towards the moon they looked back at our planet and did not see borders or countries. They saw the earth as a single unit...beautiful and fragile. It rotated on an invisible string in the blackness of night. It affected many of the astronauts profoundly.

The book has already helped many more people see the earth as a single unit. If it can continue to do that, hopefully we will find a way to live more harmoniously with the environment on our planet.

Gaia is a great read and a way of looking at things that is both fascination and enlightening!

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide To: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

A masterful and poetic scientific break-through. James Lovelock is a visionary of the highest order., 07 Nov 2007
It didn't have the direct and dramatic impact of Newton's Principia - a book that radically changed the world, nevertheless James Lovelock's book Gaia - a New Look at Life on Earth, did have a more subtle influence on our world - particularly that of science. In a sense the Gaia Hypothesis prefigured - culturally and symbolically - the evolution of pure science from that classical, mechanistic world view inspired by the uncanny genius of Newton, to a less linear, more holistic awareness of the irreducible relationships (`gestalts') that permeate apparently discreet phenomena. Indeed this kind of more `organic' approach is radically renewing the scope of Science.

What this unique book may also prove to have done is act as a pivotal stepping stone in time: a step back into our most atavistic, indigenous roots, a time when we lived in harmony with the Earth - talk to any Inuit, Aborigine, or Sioux elder and they retain that deeply intuitive and spiritual connection; but just as significantly, a step into the future - towards a re-newed awareness of our responsibility and ac