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| The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth | 
| Author: Edward O. Wilson
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $21.95
Buy New: $15.89
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New (7) from $15.89
Avg. Customer Rating:  44 reviews
Sales Rank: 706212
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.8
Dewey Decimal Number: 333.9516
ASIN: B001717522
Publication Date: September 5, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A Miracle Worth Saving November 3, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I heard a sermon based on this book at my church and bought a copy at the book table after the service. Like me, the eminent biologist Wilson is a secular humanist. Unlike me, Wilson has made study and thought about nature his life's work. In "The Creation" he appeals to fundamental Christians (as one of which he was raised) to consider the commonality of their beliefs--that the miracle of creation, whether created by God in seven days, or evolved after the Big Bang over a period of billions of years, is something worth saving. He goes on to demonstrate how humans, the supposed lords of the earth, depend of the rest of the nature for their continued existence.
Wilson's sincere attempt to bridge the gap between religion and science is much appreciated by a reader like me who tries to stay grounded in both worlds. My religious tradition, Unitarian-Universalism, calls the concept described by Wilson as the "interdependent web of life". It's heartening to read some real structure to add to that foundation. I also will follow with interest his effort to create an on-line Encyclopedia of Life (http://www.eol.org/). A prototype edition is due out in mid-2008. Wilson also offers ideas on how biology should be taught to develop a generations of citizen environmentalists who can each do their part in this civilization-saving work. After I read this book, I contacted my daughter's high school biology teacher. To my delight, she responded that Wilson was her hero, and that she assigned another of his books to her advanced placement class.
Whether you come at the subject from the scientific or religious perspective, or from somewhere in between, you'll gain a broad perspective on the issue of global sustainability and mankind's role in the struggle. Highly recommended to all readers--middle school on up--even a 5th or 6th grader with a strong interest in nature could enjoy and learn from Wilson's short but powerful book.
Plea to protect nature October 15, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
'"The Creation" represents Ed Wilson's writing at once at its simplest and yet most magnificent. I read it with approximately the same sense of urgency as that with which I jump off railroad tracks when I hear a train whistle. My sense of urgency is similar to that with which I have read half a dozen of Wilson's previous books--generated by the remote sense that I had very much wanted to write such if I were a decent writer myself. This is not said to detract in the least from Wilson's vision, method or perspicacity. He and I have indeed shared many of the same greatest friends and parallel experiences, but Ed Wilson has gone on to participate in true scholarship and refined education, while I have gone my own much lesser way.
More than that, we have both watched the ascendancy of molecular studies TO THE TRAGIC DETRIMENT OF environmental and field studies for over forty years; watched with growing anxiety the developing gap between what was NEEDED from field studies to make adequate societal decisions and what was available financially to provide such information. We have both watched, helpless, while education in natural history has been eroded by the molecular imperative--based solely on the notion that (now that scientists admit that biology is all reducible to chemistry and physics) all society really needs to teach in our colleges is chemistry and physics! Absurd notion when first stated in 1963 by Jim Watson (Harvard, pers com), and equally preposterous in 2006 at Wilson's writing. I personally and repeatedly have tried to disabuse several molecular biologists of this egotistic fantasy, but obviously to no avail.
As a scholar, Ed Wilson stands uniquely able to bridge the gap between religious conservatism and scientific conservation. Raised a Baptist in Alabama, he correctly has identified the deeply rooted spiritual connections between the naturalist, loving and studying nature, and the nature-connected religious fundamentalist. Speaking at once informed by his spiritual beliefs and by his profound--almost unique--understanding of the natural world, he eloquently pleads for a cease fire--a new cooperation between science and religion, (such as the Bush administration has fervently sought to abolish). Wilson makes it clear we are at a critical juncture, this is truly for the sake of all future generations.
First, Wilson establishes the fact and the rationale for the emotional links between our psyches and Nature, writ large. We have evolved to possess, he explains, a sense of natural kinship based on evolution during the long (pre-agricultural revolution) hunting-gathering period--likely a period of many million years. Then, Wilson eloquently details our deeper needs, for wholesome self-realization, to commune with a more complex nature than that provided by the suburban lawn or by the urban park. Here, I needed no convincing.
Then Wilson provides the urgency of species loss, of a radical decrease in diversity, globally. He cites numerous studies indicating hundreds-thousands of species dying irrevocably before even being described and cataloged. The solution? Several steps: For religious and scientific leaders to join forces to preserve "The Creation", the ecology that, largely unseen, provides actual support for our fragile human ecosystem.
Lastly, Wilson, award-winning teacher (never mind writer, published naturalist, or author of the socio-biology paradigm-shift), provides thoughtful teaching principles for providing a student with a real foundation in nature studies--ones with which many experienced teachers wilI certainly concur. Early, almost primal contact is urged, with nature and curiosity, tools and self-directed inquiry. Wilson, perhaps characteristically, reaches out, finally, in respect and humility, for help in his reverence to study this "little-known planet." Wilson cites numerous recent studies where experts and amateurs combine forces in concerted volunteer efforts to obtain the missing data--many one-time local population censuses of diverse plant and animal groups.
As a book, I rate this as a "must-read", but after watching the political-religious manipulations of millions of voters for six years with lies on pseudo-issues, I doubt this heroic effort by a genuine scholar will have much affect on those who deliberately self-proclaim their ignorance. At the same time I hope to be proven dead wrong!
 Great Read -- But pay attention October 5, 2007
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
It took me a couple of weeks to read this book, because the biology in it requires you to really pay attention. But Wilson's chapter on extinctions is scary and saddening.
A Passion for Life on Earth September 13, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
It seems that Edward O. Wilson's goal in this book as an open letter to a southern Baptist minister was a persuasion to an enthusiasm in the enjoyment of the diversity of life, to use this to protect "The Creation" which is the biological riches that are still here, and indirectly to share his belief in evolution. Other than the last goal I felt his eloquent writing and passion was quite persuasive. He made me feel a bit guilty for not continuiing on as a biology teacher.
Wilson does mention evolution in the book but his mentioning is not part of an overall arguement in defense of it. I imagine some people that either do not believe in evolution or do and would like it well defended were disappointed in this aspect of the book. I did not feel that it was the main point, despite the title and it's near play on creationism, and I think Wilson's writing and avidity for the diversity of life are the substance of this book.
There are plenty of biological gems illuminated in "The Creation" and I think anyone would be interested and fascinated by such information as the existence of over 700 species of bacteria in the average person's mouth or details of the underground biosphere that could continue existing even with a complete scorching of the earth's surface. Wilson's has learned much about the life of the earth and this small book is a distillation of his learning and thoughts from a life of study. I would recommend it to anyone.
" a title" ! What do you mean? explain August 8, 2007
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Very detail analysis of issues. I hope our leaders are required to read such material
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Wildlife, nature and the Environment
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