A new book about Earth science offers a distinctly dark view of the world. "Life is toxic," Peter Ward explains.
[L]ife isn't naturally nourishing - it's poisonous. Rather than a supple system of checks and balances, he argues, the natural world is a doomsday device careening from one cataclysm to another...
The story of life on earth, in Ward's reckoning, is a long series of suicide attempts.
The story of life on earth, in Ward's reckoning, is a long series of suicide attempts.
Charmingly, he calls this "the Medea hypothesis." As in not being Gaea, not that Harlan Ellison book, either.
the link is not quite right
Posted by: Bill Tozier | January 20, 2009 at 13:49
looks like it should link to http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8855.html
Posted by: catherwood | January 20, 2009 at 14:39
sorry, i grabbed the first book review from google, the article is here http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/01/11/dark_green/
Posted by: catherwood | January 20, 2009 at 14:42
Thank you for catching that, Bill. And thank you, catherwood, for quickly grabbing the URL. Sorry - weird Typepad typo.
Posted by: Bryan Alexander | January 21, 2009 at 00:04