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| The Future of Life | 
| Author: Edward O. Wilson
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  62 reviews
Sales Rank: 61605
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 0.7
ISBN: 0679768114
Dewey Decimal Number: 333.9522
EAN: 9780679768111
ASIN: 0679768114
Publication Date: March 11, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Bottleneck Society December 10, 2005
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Please feel free to view the discussions and feelings of many student who have read this novel at http://futureoflife22.blogspot.com/
A Clear and Urgent Message October 26, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I am grateful to Edward Wilson for having written "The Future of Life". This book has given me new insights into the current situation of our ecology, scenarios for future developments and solutions for problems we are facing.
Wilson clearly describes the urgency we are in. On the one hand the human population keeps growing. If all people have to be fed and at least many of them want to have a high standard of living, this requires more and more from our natural environment. On the other hand, at the same time humanity is destroying that environment very rapidly. Wilson makes a point that during the coming decades we will have to go through a "bottleneck". We either find solutions in which humanity can live in harmony with its natural environment, or...
Whereas I used to be just "concerned" about the environment, because of Wilson's clear descriptions and detailed examples I now understand much better the processes behind deforestation and the extinction of species. Although it is clear on which side Wilson is (he was a member of the board of directors of the World Wildlife Fund from 1984 to 1994), he is very convincing and remains objective.
At a certain point, Wilson compares preventing the extinction of species with that of conserving art. Both nature and culture are a piece of our history and we are responsible to save them. I found it an original argument, but not very convincing and perhaps a bit too anthropocentric. Although nobody knows what the eventual effect will be on the total ecology when a specific species becomes extinct, I think we should not take the risk of letting this happen, especially in cases we can do something. One thing is sure: an extinct species will never return, and the pace of extinction is currently many times faster than that of the evolutionary rise of new species.
I was amazed by the fact that tropical rainforests are so cheap: in the order of $1 per acre. Combined with the fact that the profits made by cutting the trees are relatively low, Wilson shows that it should be relatively easy to buy pieces of land to protect them. NGOs are actually doing so already. Based on some figures Wilson uses, I estimated that it will cost approximately $110 billion to buy the most important pieces of land worldwide to conserve biodiversity on earth forever. Alright, let's be pessimistic and make it $300 billion. And alright, not all plants and animals will be saved. But still, it will help a lot. Then look at the subsidies governments are paying annually: $390 to $520 billion on agriculture alone, and a total of $2 trillion. Couldn't we simply use a very small part of those subsidies and conserve our nature?
I highly recommend reading this book. (Maybe I should be proud for having read the electronic version of it on my PDA, saving another tree somewhere...)
Bottleneck Now October 11, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
In this book Edward Wilson puts into perspective the necessity for global change. Like an artist highlighting the finest details, Wilson points out the enormous diversity of life this world contains -- from extinct massive flying animals to micro-organisms that may be living in our eyelashes. The book is an urgent call for change with a number of possible solutions to current world issues including overpopulation, rapidly vanishing species, and polution.
Wilson's Compelling Map To Survival Of All Species May 3, 2005
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Edward O. Wilson has produced a map of recovery from the devastation we have wrought on Earth and it's life-support systems in this monumental book. As he so expertly points out, humanity is at the "bottleneck " stage of existence right now: that worrisome convergence point where all of our past environmental mistakes have caught up with us and met our current unsustainable resource use that huge population and unrealistic life style demands create.
Add to that, Earth's life-cycle mechanics being thrown out of whack by global warming and dwindling green cover resources that help regulate it, water scarcity, pollution, and we have a dire pan of worms on our hands. Wilson maintains, however, that our vast accumulated reservoir of technology and abundant earth resource-cycle knowledge can help us through the bottleneck and on to a more rational, thoughtful, and harmonious future with Earth's regulation processes influencing all of our ethical and moral guidelines in our activities on Earth.
On the front cover is a beautiful art rendering of what, at first appears to be an expertly produced flower arrangement. But taking a closer look at it reveals a collage of plants and animals that are extinct or on the verge of extinction and then on pages viii to x is a diagram and list of the cover species and listed by common and taxonomic names.
Next, is the Prologue which is a letter to Henry David Thoreau. It is actually a dialogue of Wilson having a posthumous conversation with Thoreau at Walden's Pond where in part, he explains to H.D.T what state of environmental affairs we are now in- very moving!
Wilson's writing style is very gentle, sometimes poetic, and an easy flowing discourse packed with compelling punch lines for thoughtful consideration of the subject matter at hand: hopeful survival of all Earth's flora/fauna. And he posits this can be accomplished in dialogue such as:
"In order to pass through the bottleneck, a global land ethic is urgently needed." and, "Surely the rest of life matters. Surely our stewardship is our only hope. We will be wise to listen to the heart, then act with rational intention and all the tools we can gather and bring to bear." And, "The great dilemma of environmental reasoning stems from this conflict between short-term and long-term values."
For those that are familiar with the works of Thomas Berry- "The Dream of the Earth" and "The Great Work", Chet Raymo- "The Path", et al., Hawkin and Lovins- "Natural Capitalism" and many more such fine thinkers and doers, will no doubt be impressed with the ground that Wilson covers with his very realistic, but guarded pronouncement that we humans will get through the bottleneck if we immediately start listening to the voices of reason and start embracing what life-style changes we need in order enhance our survival possibilities. To be sure, it is a crap shoot in our survival odds, but Wilson helps bump-up those odds with his guarded enthusiasm based on a life-time of biology and environmental study. There is an abundance of resources and organizations mentioned all through this great work. Thank you, Prof. E. O. Wilson!
 TFOL 4 life February 4, 2005
4 out of 23 found this review helpful
...This book was off the shizzel my nizzel. It was a good read... it was a good story book for night time reading, because it made me zzzz zzzzz zzzzz mucho well. If you like saving the environment, taking long strolls in the park, and protecting rhinos, then this book is for you. It addresses problems with biodiversity and extinction. The Future of Life is an eye opener to many problems that need addressing. I highly recommend this dead tree... with ink... and stuff. (the book)
Peace out,
A town, Johnny, and Heffer
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Wildlife, nature and the Environment
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