Book Description
Read it.
You're already living it.
Was diabetes evolution's response to the last Ice Age? Did a deadly genetic disease help our ancestors survive the bubonic plagues of Europe? Will a visit to the tanning salon help lower your cholesterol? Why do we age? Why are some people immune to HIV? Can your genes be turned on -- or off?
Joining the ranks of modern myth busters, Dr. Sharon Moalem turns our current understanding of illness on its head and challenges us to fundamentally change the way we think about our bodies, our health, and our relationship to just about every other living thing on earth, from plants and animals to insects and bacteria.
Through a fresh and engaging examination of our evolutionary history, Dr. Moalem reveals how many of the conditions that are diseases today actually gave our ancestors a leg up in the survival sweepstakes. When the option is a long life with a disease or a short one without it, evolution opts for disease almost every time.
Everything from the climate our ancestors lived in to the crops they planted and ate to their beverage of choice can be seen in our genetic inheritance. But Survival of the Sickest doesn't stop there. It goes on to demonstrate just how little modern medicine really understands about human health, and offers a new way of thinking that can help all of us live longer, healthier lives.
Survival of the Sickest is filled with fascinating insights and cutting-edge research, presented in a way that is both accessible and utterly absorbing. This is a book about the interconnectedness of all life on earth -- and, especially, what that means for us.
Customer Reviews:
Very,very, interesting.......2007-09-21
This is one of those books that is a delightful read, educating, interesting, and entertaining. The author puts forth his theories that many modern diseases are variations of evolutionary traits that were held by our ancestors that enabled them to survive the ice age and bubonic plague. He goes on to describe how viruses cause certain behavior in their carriers to help the viruses survival. The common cold leaves you well enough to stay moving and go to work so you can spread the virus to others, while the parasitic malaria wants you immobile and in bed because mosquitos can continue to carry it even better with you immobile.
The author also presents a case currently making head way in evolutionary science that is challenging the savannah theory. He proposes that we are evolved form aquatic apes as opposed to grassland dwellers, which would explain our hairlessness like other aquatic mammals and being bipedal. We also have fat stored at the skin like water dwellers and our infants have swimming instincts at birth that have been proven by water birthing that is very successful.
And finally I was really fascinated by the finding that what scientists have believed were "junk DNA" is slowly being shown to actually be a creative force that causes mutations in DNA for the benefit of survival of the species. I have always had trouble believing in the evolutionary theory because no mechanism could be created with causing it outside of God, and God would not need it. I also believed that the key was in DNA. Now I have a cause, the DNA itself creates and casues beneficial mutations.
I really can not do this book justice in a review with out making it far to long so buy the book if the above sounds interesting. The book presents an excellent case and has made me a believer.
Evolution in a way you never knew!.......2007-09-08
Everything out there is influencing the evolution of everything else. The bacteria and viruses and parasites that cause disease in us have affected our evolution as we have adapted in ways to cope with their effects. In response they have evolved in turn, and keep on doing so.
There are many dietary diseases that have had an evolutionary advantage in our ancestors but that today do more harm than good. In a person with hemochromatosis, for example, the body always thinks that it doesn't have enough iron and continues to absorb iron unabated. The excess iron can lead to liver failure, heart failure, diabetes, and even cancer.
Why would a disease so deadly be bred into our genetic code? Remember how natural selection works. If a given genetic trait makes you stronger--especially if it makes you stronger before you have children--then you're more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass that trait on. People with hemochromatosis have therefore an evolutionary advantage--protection against the bubonic plague!
On one set of experiments, macrophages from people who had hemochromatosis and macrophages from people who did not were matched against bacteria in separate dishes to test their killing ability. The hemochromatic macrophages crushed the bacteria. They are thought to be significantly better at combating bacteria by limiting the availability of iron than the nonhemochromatic macrophages. So though hemochromatosis will kill those inflicted with it decades later, they are much more likely than people without hemochromatosis to survive plagues, reproduce, and pass the mutation on to their children.
Diabetes also provided an evolutionary advantage to our ancestors by providing superior ability to withstand the cold by eliminating water and driving up sugar levels (like alcohol, sugar is a natural antifreeze). As a theory, it's hotly controversial, but diabetes may have helped our European ancestors survive the sudden cold, including the ice-age.
Malaria is an infectious disease that infects as many as 500 million people every year, killing more than 1 million of them. But not everyone who gets bit by malaria-carrying mosquitoes gets infected. And not everybody who gets infected dies. So what's helping the malaria survivors? People with a genetic tendency for sickle-cell anemia, another inherited blood disorder, had better natural resistance to malaria.
As you've seen with hemochromatosis, diabetes, and sickle-cell anemia, one generation's evolutionary solution is another generation's evolutionary problem.
At the end of the day, every living thing shares two hardwired imperatives: Survive. Reproduce. To achieve this, some organisms have inherited ingenious techniques to manipulate their hosts--the phenomenon that occurs when a parasite provokes its host to behave in a way that helps the parasite to survive and reproduce.
Orb weavers are a family of spiders that experience host manipulation. A wasp bites the spider, temporarily paralyzing it, then deposits its egg in its abdomen. The spider then goes on with his life oblivious to the egg in him. The egg then hatches, and the larva slowly feeds off the blood of the spider. When it is ready to cocoon, it injects chemicals into the spider's bloodstream to manipulate the spider into building a special web for it--instead of building circular webs, it goes back and forth building a rectangular web. Once the web is completed, the larva kills the spider by sucking off all its blood, and then throwing its carcass to the jungle floor below. It then uses the specially built web for it to cocoon by hanging on it.
A worm that infects ants is a classic example of another host manipulator. As the worms being carried by the ant develop, one of them makes its way to the ant's brain where it manipulates the ant's nervous system. Suddenly, the ant behaves in completely uncharacteristic fashion. At night, it leaves its colony and hangs on the tip of a grass, waiting to be eaten by a sheep. If it does not, it returns to its colony only to resume again its journey at night to the tip of a grass waiting to be eaten. Once eaten by a sheep, the worm would have succeeded in its manipulation, and would grow inside the sheep's stomach, its intended host.
The rabies Virus is another interesting host manipulator. It manipulates its host into becoming aggressive, which will make its host bite others and thus also infecting others.
Here is one amazing example of host manipulation: One researcher has discovered that women infected with T. gondii spend more money on clothes and are consistently rated as beings more attractive than women without the infection. Infected women were more easy-going, more warm-hearted, had more friends, and cared more about how they looked. However, they were also less trustworthy and had more relationships with men. Infected men, on the other hand, were less well groomed, more likely to be loners, and more willing to fight. They were also more likely to be suspicious and jealous and less willing to follow rules.
A normal sneeze occurs when the body's self-defense system senses a foreign invader trying to get in through your nasal passages and acts to repel the invasion by expelling it with a sneeze. But sneezing when you've got a cold? There's obviously no way to expel the cold virus which is already lodged in you. The cold virus has learned this reflex so it can infect your colleagues, family and your friends. Your body is actually being manipulated by the virus into sneezing!
The herpes virus may heighten sexual feeling, which will increase the probability of transmission. In other words, sometimes the herpes virus may want you to get some action in order for it to spread to other hosts.
So what if we made it easier for a given type of bacteria to survive in a healthy human than to survive in a sick human? Would this create evolutionary pressure against behavior that harms us? In fact there is an evolutionary advantage for the malaria parasite to push its hosts toward the brink of death. The more parasites swarming through our blood, the more parasites the mosquito is likely to ingest; the more parasites the mosquito ingests, the more likely it will cause an infection when it bites someone else. Cholera is similar--it doesn't need us moving around to find new hosts, so there's no reason for the bacteria to select against virulence. The bottom line is that if an infectious client has allies (such as mosquitoes) or good delivery systems (such as unprotected water supplies), peaceful coexistence with its host becomes a lot less important. In those cases evolution is likely to favor versions of the parasite that best exploit its host's resources, allowing the parasite to multiply as much as possible. Some researchers believe that we can use this understanding to influence the evolution of parasites away from virulence. The basic theory is this: shut down the modes of transmission that don't require human participation and suddenly all the evolutionary pressure is directed at allowing the human host to get up and get out. According to this theory, the virulence of a cholera outbreak in a given population should be directly related to the quality and safety of that population's water supply. If sewage flows easily into rivers that people wash in or drink from, then the cholera strain would evolve toward virulence--it can multiply freely, essentially using up its hosts, relying on its access to the water supply for transmission. But if the water supply is well protected, the organism should evolve away from virulence--the longer it remains in a more mobile host, the better its chance of transmission.
A series of cholera outbreaks that began in Peru in 1991 and spread across South and Central America over the next few years provide compelling evidence that this theory might actually work. The water supply systems from country to country ranged from relatively advanced to seriously rudimentary. Sure enough, when the bacteria invaded nations with poorly protected water supplies, such as Ecuador, the virus became more harmful as it spread. But in countries with safe water supplies, such as Chile, the bacteria evolved downward in virulence and killed fewer people. The implications of this are huge. Instead of challenging bacteria to become stronger and more dangerous through an antibiotic arms race (which we are currently losing), we could essentially challenge them to get along. If mosquitoes didn't have access to bedridden malaria patients, the microbe would be under evolutionary pressure to evolve in a way that allowed the infected person to remain mobile, increasing the opportunity for it to spread.
A series of groundbreaking research has shown that certain compounds can attach themselves to specific genes and suppress their expression. Let's take a look at a few examples. Depending upon the time of year the vole (a type of mouse) is due to give birth, baby voles are born with either a thick coat or a thin coat. The gene for a thick coat is always there--it's just turned on or off depending on the level of light the mother senses in her environment around the time of conception.
One species of lizard is born with a long tail and large body or a small tail and small body depending on one thing only--whether their mother smelled a lizard-eating snake while pregnant. When her babies are entering a snake-filled world, they are born with a long tail and big body, making them less likely to be snake food.
This is a fascinating book and I highly recommend it. I truly enjoyed reading it and I have learnt things I never imagined! Now that's what I call precious reading!
Understanding genetic disease from an evolutionary point of view.......2007-09-01
We really don't "need" disease. This is a bit misleading. It just so happens that some genetic disorders, such as sickle-cell anemia, favism, diabetes, hemochromatosis, the tendency to obesity, etc., confer on the afflicted compensatory advantages. Thus a predilection for getting fat is adaptive if a drought or a long winter beckons, or a person with a genetic tendency toward sickle-cell anemia is less likely to get malaria, and so on. Note that it is only diseases caused by genetic mutations that Dr. Moalem is talking about.
One of the techniques our bodies use when fighting infection is to reduce the amount of iron available to the invaders. Bacteria need iron to reproduce. If there is a lot of it available their numbers can grow quickly. Without iron they can't reproduce at all. Iron is a limiting factor for many kinds of life. Vast stretches of ocean support little in the way of life because the microorganisms that begin the food chain can't grow where there is so little iron. As Dr. Moalem reports in this wide-ranging and eyebrow-lifting book, sprinkle some iron onto those patches of ocean and they will quickly turn green with microorganisms.
So it is a bit of an irony that people who have hemochromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes them to retain large amounts of iron in their bodies, are able to survival infections like the plague. This is because they starve the invading microbes through "iron locking." They have a lot of iron in their bodies, but they keep it away from the bacteria. Other people who have low levels of iron in their bodies are able to withstand bacterial attacks because they also keep what little iron they have away from the germs. In fact, one of the body's initial responses to microbial invasion is to limit the amount of free iron in the system.
Genetic coding for levels of iron in the body is an example of evolutionary adaptation, part of the ongoing arms race between us and the microbes that live in and on our bodies. This is just one of several interesting and new ideas coming from the growing science of evolutionary medicine that I found in Survival of the Sickest. Incidentally, one way to manage hemochromatosis is through donating blood on a regular basis, which explains in part why physicians of old were sometimes successful when they bled their patients.
This got me to thinking about "only women bleed" which led me to think about hemorrhoids (which prove that it isn't only women who bleed). Perhaps bleeding instead of retaining blood, which seems like the more natural thing for our bodies to do, has adaptive value in some people in some environments.
Another interesting idea is this from page 58: "ACHOO syndrome--its full name is autosomal dominant compelling heliopthalmic outburst syndrome." It is a "disorder that causes uncontrolled sneezing when someone is exposed to bright light, usually sunlight, after being in the dark." Dr. Moalem suggests that "way back when our ancestors spent more time in caves, this reflex helped them to clear out any molds or microbes that might have lodged in their noses or upper respiratory tract." Now this may sound a bit far fetched, but I have suffered from low grade allergies all my life, and used to have asthmatic attacks. I came to believe that the buildup in my lungs and the sneezing were signals to me to move on! Of course now I clean and vacuum like a germaphobe, but the idea is the same. My symptoms were adaptive. They more or less forced me to reduce the level of potential irritants and microbes in my environment.
But there is more. I noticed long ago that sometimes the sun in the morning would cause me to sneeze. I never figured out why until I read the above from Dr. Moalem. I am just the kind of person who would need to sneeze those molds out.
Later on in the book Moalem returns to an evolutionary idea that has been kicking around for decades. Beginning with the work of Elaine Morgan from the 1970s the public became aware of the notion that we humans had an aquatic past. She got the idea from marine biologist Alister Hardy. Through such books as The Descent of Woman (1972) and The Aquatic Ape: A Theory of Human Evolution (1982) Morgan argued that some of our unusual adaptations came about because we had an aquatic past. Taking up the idea, Moalem writes, "Every hairless mammal is aquatic or at least plays in the mud--think of hippos, elephants and the African warthog. But there aren't any hairless primates." (p. 198) Furthermore we have fat directly under our skin to help keep us warm just as aquatic mammals do. Also, Moalem notes, "the ability to survive on land and sea" gives us adaptive flexibility. If "chased by a leopard, the semiaquatic ape could dive into the water; chased by a crocodile, it could run into the forest." (p. 199)
These ideas are familiar but what I didn't know was that an aquatic past could have figured in our evolution toward bipedalism. "[S]tanding upright in water allowed...[aquatic apes] to venture into deeper water and still breathe, and the water helped to support their upper bodies, making it easier to support them on two feet." (p. 199)
This is an easy to read book, aimed at a general readership. An earlier, slightly more technical book that covers some of the same territory is Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine (1994) by Randolph M. Nesse and George C. Williams, which I also recommend.
Razzle dazzle them.......2007-08-27
This book embodies much of what I dislike in popular cience books, while having few of the qualities I admire in such books. It relies more on sleigh of the hand and razzle dazzle, you-wouldn't-have-thought-of-it than on throughly thought out, well substantiated lines of thought.
Let's start with the subtitle: "A medical maverick discovers why we need disease". That is a clear case of fiction: nowhere in the book does the author "discover" anything; he merely retells the study of others. This, of course, is not a demerit, as many interesting scientists have difficulties in explaining their work in clear terms, acessible to the layman. However, the author must be hyped as the "discoverer", as the center figure in the tale.
Since James Burke's "Connections", it seems that popular science must explore all the crossroads, no matter how irrelevant. So Moalem goes on long tangents that have little to do with the theory he is trying to substantiate. In order to show how diabetes works to protect the body against cold, the reader is taken through the mechanism of an ice age, how ice core samples are removed and so on. If one were to remove all this "extra" material, this book would be thin indeed.
The book seems to revolve around this material and the author's use of jokes. Unfortunately, his sense of humour tends more towards ha-ha than funny, which helped to further fray my patience towards this book.
All of this is indeed a pity, as the subject is very interesting. If more pages had been dedicated to developing a central line of thought and substantiation and to showing the debate behind all these ideas (in a real light, instead of "the thickheaded traditionalists who won't accept new ideas"), it would be well worth the read.
Somewhat difficult subject matter for those lacking a background in science or medicine.........2007-07-08
From time to time I pick up a book on a subject I know virtually nothing about. Ordinarily I devour books about history or politics or current events. These are topics I am well versed in and comfortable with.
Dr. Sharon Moalem's "The Survival of the Sickest: sounded like a fascinating departure from my ordinary fare. So I thought I would give it a whirl. Unfortunately for me the results were somewhat mixed. Although Dr. Moalem and her co-author have written this book in fairly simple language that most should be able to follow pretty easily I found myself overwhelmed at times by the number of terms I was simply not familiar with at all. I'm afraid my lack of education in the sciences was showing. Blame me not the good doctor. Yet in spite of these difficulties I was still able to glean some important information from this book. I now have a somewhat better understanding of the whole business of why disease exists in the first place. I also discovered the important role viruses play in our ability to survive and reproduce. I also found out that the development of diabetes in human beings probably emerged as natures response to people having to cope with conditions in regions with extremely cold temperatures. This makes perfect sense and was interesting to me because a number of people in my family have battled this disease. Perhaps the most fascinating thing I learned in "Survival of the Sickest" is that exposure to the sunshine actually helps to convert the cholestorol in our bodies into the vitamin D we all need to ensure strong bones and help avoid osteoperosis. I had never heard this before and found this revelation to be quite interesting indeed!
For me, attempting to read "Survival of the Sickest" was a little like visiting a foreign country and not knowing the language. I was simply unprepared to get the most out of this book. As you can see, other reviewers continue to heap praise on Dr. Sharon Moalem for her book. I suspect their evaluation of this book is right on the money. In the end I found that reading "Survival of the Sickest" was time well spent anyway. After all, it is impossible to expand your horizons if you never make the attempt.
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Discover Biology, Second Edition (with Student CD-ROM)
Michael L. Cain ,
Hans Damman ,
Robert A. Lue , and
Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Manufacturer: Sinauer Associates
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0393940551 |
Book Description
Thoroughly revised and updated, Discover Biology, Second Edition, presents the essential concepts of modern biology in a text designed specifically for nonmajors. The authors emphasize a level of detail appropriate for nonmajors, freeing instructors to focus on the scientific issues-HIV, global climate change, DNA fingerprinting, genetic engineering, cancer-that students read about in the paper, vote on in elections, and face in their daily lives. With two new chapters, refined pedagogy and art programs, and a powerful ancillary package, Discover Biology, Second Edition, is the best choice for the nonmajors introductory course.
Book Description
This dynamic chronicle of the race to find the “missing links” between humans and apes transports readers into the highly competitive world of fossil hunting and into the lives of the ambitious scientists intent on pinpointing the dawn of humankind.
The quest to find where and when the earliest human ancestors first appeared is one of the most exciting and challenging of all scientific pursuits. The First Human is the story of four international teams obsessed with solving the mystery of human evolution and of the intense rivalries that propel them.
An award-winning science writer, Ann Gibbons introduces the various maverick fossil hunters and describes their most significant discoveries in Africa. There is Tim White, the irreverent and brilliant Californian whose team discovered the partial skeleton of a primate that lived more than 4.4 million years ago in Ethiopia. If White can prove that it was hominid—an ancestor of humans and not of chimpanzees or other great apes—he can lay claim to discovering the oldest known member of the human family. As White painstakingly prepares the bones, the French paleontologist Michel Brunet comes forth with another, even more startling find. Well known for his work in the most remote and hostile locations, Brunet and his team uncover a stunning skull in Chad that could set the date of the beginnings of humankind to almost seven million years ago. Two other groups—one led by the zoologist Meave Leakey, the other by the British geologist Martin Pickford and his partner, Brigitte Senut, a French paleontologist—enter the race with landmark discoveries of other fossils vying for the status of the first human ancestor.
Through scrupulous research and vivid first-person reporting, The First Human takes readers behind the scenes to reveal the intense challenges of fossil hunting on a grand competitive scale.
Customer Reviews:
Ann Gibbons, the First Human.......2007-09-28
Very informative summary of more recent discoveries and their significance w.r.t. older finds. The competition among field workers is not surprising although at times the story becomes a bit "gossipy"
Inspired Narrative .......2007-07-21
`The First Human' was a surprisingly literary and detailed read about the fossil hunters and their discoveries over the past half-century. While it is primarily historical, the science behind the discoveries is explained quite satisfyingly and succinctly. A great deal of time is spent explaining the politics involved and the professional disputes among the leading figures in the field. But in so doing, the scientific discussions interwoven throughout are all the more memorable.
Gibbons does a good job explaining the limitations of what is known ...and just how scientists can sometimes draw larger conclusions from an isolated fossilized bone. Also interesting is the realization that of all the ancestral hominid remains found in Africa, apart from a few isolated fossilized teeth, there have been no ancestral gorilla or chimpanzee remains found to which they can be compared.
On a lighter note, Gibbons applauds the French for their interest in this subject... and impugns the average American for their ignorance. But after reading 'The First Human' one is left with the impression that science can really do little more than guess about such matters anyway. The hominid fossil evidence is so scarce. Much of the science , in the end, is wishful thinking. And the fact that 45% of Americans think man appeared intact roughly 10,000 years ago...to that I say... their guess is as good as any.
A Human who can write!.......2007-07-03
The First Human by Ann Gibbons is a good book for any armchair paleoanthropologist. She reviews concisely the history of the search for human origins and reveals in great detail the recent discoveries made over the last few decades.
The book is well written and analytical with in depth reporting from actual interviews with the principals who have made the most recent finds.
I highly recommend this book.
Fascinating read!.......2006-12-06
As a student of paleoanthropology, I was slightly wary of reading another popular account of fossil hunting in Africa. After finishing "The First Human," however, I can say with certainty that not only did Ann Gibbons do her homework, but that she was able to deftly weave together both the science and the politics in one of the most fascinating narratives I've read in some time. One really begins to understand both the hardship of paleoanthropological fieldwork and the thrill of discovery. But that of course is only the beginning. Her descriptions of the ensuing scientific cross-fire, often tainted by personal and political conflict, is clear and engaging. All in all, a well-written and up-to-date chronicle of the science of human origins.
Makes You Want to Watch for Anything Else She Writes.......2006-11-05
As best I can tell this is Ann Gibbons first book. And it makes you want to keep an eye out for anything else she publishes.
Nominally this book is a report on the search for our first ancestors. But in reality it is a book on the people doing the searching. Big time science, be it physics or medicine or, as in this case, paleontologists the struggle is only partially one of finding the answer to the problem. The real problems are in getting funded, then when you discover something, going to war against your fellow scientists whole will be attacking your results because if you get more funding, more support, more prizes they will suffer, or at least they think they will.
Ms Gibbons primarily follows four teams who are looking for evidence about our earliest ancestors. Our ancestors didn't conveniently die in nice places that you'd want to visit. Having to go where the fossils are. And in the case of human ancestors, that means Africa. And not the nicest places in Africa but dry hot deserts in Ethiopia, Chad and places like that.
While I suspect that the discoveries described in this book will be replaced by the next finding somewhere else, the interplay of the people will remain constant.
Next, Ms. Gibbons, how about looning into astronomy/cosmology.
Book Description
Ideal for non-majors, Discover Biology is renowned for its inviting presentation and accessible coverage of biology fundamentals. This introduction develops scientific literacy with clear, lively prose, compelling real-world applications, and unique features that help students understand the relevance of biology in their lives. The Third Edition has been carefully revised for clarity and ease of use, with helpful new pedagogy, an expansion of the text's vibrant art program, and a new chapter organization. The Third Edition also features unique, fully integrated multimedia resources for students and instructors.
Book Description
Ideal for non-majors, Discover Biology is renowned for its inviting presentation and accessible coverage of biology fundamentals. This introduction develops scientific literacy with clear, lively prose, compelling real-world applications, and unique features that help students understand the relevance of biology in their lives. The Third Edition has been carefully revised for clarity and ease of use, with helpful new pedagogy, an expansion of the text's vibrant art program, and a new chapter organization. The Third Edition also features unique, fully integrated multimedia resources for students and instructors. The Core Topics edition features five of the seven units from its parent text, including the diversity of life, cells, genetics, evolution, and ecology.
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Discover Biology, Third Edition
Michael L. Cain ,
Hans Damman ,
Robert A. Lue , and
Carol Kaesuk Yoon
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
ASIN: 0393925390 |
Book Description
Ideal for non-majors, Discover Biology is renowned for its inviting presentation and accessible coverage of biology fundamentals. This introduction develops scientific literacy with clear, lively prose, compelling real-world applications, and unique features that help students understand the relevance of biology in their lives. The Third Edition has been carefully revised for clarity and ease of use, with helpful new pedagogy, an expansion of the text's vibrant art program, and a new chapter organization. The Third Edition also features unique, fully integrated multimedia resources for students and instructors.
Book Description
Forget global warming. The next ice age could begin any day. Beginning with the dinosaur extinction of 65 million years ago,
Not by Fire but by Ice explores the relationship between mass extinctions, ice ages, and geomagnetic reversals (times when compasses would have pointed south instead of north).
Customer Reviews:
excellant book - negative reviews without fact or logic.......2007-04-18
I found the book to be very intriquing and thoughtful, much more so than the current Nazi style propaganda on climate change that the negative reviews here reflect. None of the negative reviews actually cite the science and illogic they claim is so obvious. The carbon dioxide cycle LAGS, does not lead, ice-ages. We are in a regular, normal warming cycle according to all the records for all three types of ice-ages. Carbon levels have been much higher before modern man and his puny carbon additions.
Interesting theory.......2007-01-22
This was the popular thinking about ten to fifteen years ago. Now it is "global warming". It was not an asteroid, earthquakes or the biblical flood that wiped out the dinosaurs but ice, brought on by huge snowfalls of a hundred inches. This is all speculation of course. Felix supplies us with graphs and data showing us how every 22,000 or sometimes 11,000 years the planet goes through what is called a "magnetic reversal". The North and South poles trade positions causing great calamity. Moisture is drawn up into the atmosphere eventually falling in cataclysmic amounts. We are now according to Felix entering that phase as we speak.
It is an interesting read to say the least. Most all of us will agree that an ice age occurred in our past, when is speculation. I was caught up in this about ten years ago. The truth has since sent me free. We will always have our "doomsdayers": whether flooding a third of the land by melting ice caps or a sheet of ice sliding over most of the world. Why are we so afraid to trust the bible. Not by fire or ice, or even us, but by God's wrath. A young or old earth will decide the fate of this book.
Wish you well
Scott
Political Hype on Global Warming Revealed.......2007-01-18
A must read for anyone trying to counter the prevailing jibberish on "global warming". Felix provides many facts to support his conclusion that ice will do us in not warming. What's more, it can come at any time since we are well overdue according to the long and short term historic record. See what is behind the coming cooling...it may surprise you.
Outstanding Prose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2006-07-17
According to radio personality Michael Reagan people have been talking about an impending ice age for at least thirty years. If an impending ice age is really such a hot topic, how come its dwarfed by literature on global warming? Thirty years is a long time for any prophesy to incuabate and not get entrenched.
Even if Felix is wrong, he is one of the most articulate science writers to ever grace the craft. He deserves great credit for this literary treasure.
Look at both sides and decide for yourself!!!.......2006-07-07
This book is a must read for those interested in our changing climate. On one side we have the Global Warming "Chicken Littles" like Al Gore who propose all climate change is human induced. On the other side we have conservative lobbyists and free-enterprise think tanks trying to discredit the Global Warming folks. Neither is entirely believable. Robert Felix presents a scarier hypothesis and an interesting counterpoint to both. An ice age would be the most catastrophic to life as we know it. Felix never denies our climate is changing.
The bottom line is that there are so many factors that could influence climate besides mankind induced CO2. Things like the Milankovitch Cycle, Volcanism, etc. Felix presents these ideas.
Like most, I believe our climate is changing. It's better to forget the political aims of liberals and conservatives, and just read as much science as you can. We might not end up where we think we're going. Time will tell who was right. An enjoyable read... 4 stars.
Amazon.com
The authentic discovery of extraterrestrial life would usher in a scientific revolution on par with Copernicus or Darwin, says Paul Davies. Just as these ideas sparked religious and philosophical controversy when they were first offered, so would proof of life arising away from Earth. With this brief book (160 pages, including two appendices and an index), Davies tries to get ahead of the curve and begin to sort out the metaphysical mess before it happens. Many science fiction writers have preceded him, of course, but here the matter is plainly put. This is a very good introduction to a compelling subject.
Book Description
Is life on earth a "cosmic joke"-- a unique, one-time occurrence? Or is life a "cosmic imperative"? Scientists and governments are vigorously searching for signs of life in the universe, but what would (and should) we do if they meet with success? Celebrate ? Panic?
Paul Davies ponders the many ramifications of contact with extraterrestrial life, giving the general reader the latest and most scientifically sound thinking on this hot topic in the field of astronomy. As fascinating and readable as any science fiction novel, Are We Alone? delves deep into profound ideas in mathematics and philosophy, taking the layperson on an interstellar journey through issues in quantum theory, mind and matter, consciousness and time. Readers will be glued to the page as they learn why Davies believes that "they're out there" -- and what that implies.
Customer Reviews:
We'll never be alone with food for thought like this........2006-07-25
This book is a clear, concise well written overview of an incredibly complex subject - life elsewhere in the universe. While one may find much more detail and technical coverage in volumes twice the size, the author manages to pack alot of intellectual punch for a book this small.
Highly recommended as a great starting point for amateur astronomers and students of the universe everywhere.
We are not Alone.......2005-12-31
Although this book came out a while ago I have re-read it many times.
It is an absorbing book that combines the history of the evolution of the idea of extraterrestrial life, with the scientific hypotheses that show the universe is geared towards complexity [hence an implication it is geared towards life, but Darwinists would disagree, read 'An Ancestors Tale - A Journey to the dawn of Life' by Richard Dawkins, p.2. (paperback)]
More importantly it deals with the impact on religion should we discover life elswhere. I think such implications had been understated as there are a few religions that would be in serious trouble should we discover alien life. Davies deals only with Christianity and the impact alien life would have on it, but would have been better to touch on other belief systems.
I had a discussion once with a Member of Parliament (UK) about alien life forms and he indicated that the Hindu religion could accommodate this as its history (Mahabarat etc.) records events that would be considered to be wars between alien species.
I did correspond with Paul Davies about 10 years ago when this book came out to explain the Islamic view on this. Should Alien life be discovered, it will have a positive impact on Islam as the Quran does state that the Creator 'scattered life throughout the heavens and the Earth' (hence the title of my review - We are not alone). It also states, 'Do not the unbelievers see that the heavens and the Earth were joined together and We blew them asunder and got every living thing out of water, will they not then believe?'. The verse states that any life form will be originated from water. So if we are to look for alienn life a good starting point would be to search planets that have water.
Enough of preaching and now back to the book. It touches on what sort of alien signals we would be looking for, maybe prime numbers or digits of PIE. Some of the themes of the book became a part of the movie, 'Contact'. Although 'Contact' wasn't based on Davies's book it was based on Carl Sagan's books, they sing from the same hymn sheet.
Anyone interested in religion, spirituality, hard science, Darwinian evolution should read this book. It is meant to be for everyone.
by Hasan Ali Imam
Ex-Parliamentary Candidate 2005, Conservative Party
UK
Raising ultimate questions .......2004-12-07
I found this book extremely thought- provoking. I do not have a strong scientific background and so tend to let some of the more technical arguments go by me. But I did follow the overall thrust of Davies argument and he does make a good case for the idea that the discovery of extraterrestial life is an essence a positive phenomenom. In the concluding paragraph of his fifth chapter , on 'Consciousness'he writes," If this view is correct if consciousness is a basic phenomenon that is part of the natural outworking of the laws of the universe, then we can expect it to have emerged elsewhere.The search for alien beings can therefore be seen as a test of the world view that we live in a universe that is progressive, not only in the way that life and consciousness emerge from primeval chaos, but also in the way that mind plays a fundamental role. In my opinion, the most important upshot of the discovery of extraterrestial life would be to restore to human beings something of the dignity of which science has robbed them. Far from exposing Homo sapiens as an inferior creature in the vast cosmos, the certain existence of alien beings would give us cause to believe that we, in our humble way, are part of a larger, majestic process of cosmic self- knowledge."
Davies also in the course of the book makes arguments for the idea that human venturing into the cosmos, true space travel of any great significance is impossible. ie that physically we are not about to conquer the cosmos. He too suggests that the whole cosmic process of creation might be seen as one of evolution toward greater and greater complexity. In this again Humanity's meeting another kind of higher intelligence would seem to him to fit into this scenario of an overall Cosmic Process in which the development is toward a kind of total Consciousness.
I strongly recommend this work not simply for the ideas it raises but for its clarity in argument and presentation.
I would just add that a ' meeting with other minds more advanced than us' has always seemed to me a troubling possibility as I in my childlike way assumed it must mean that this compromises God's special relationship with humanity. I now am perhaps less troubled by this than by the possibility that we human beings are not going to wait to meet the ' higher consciousnesses without' but rather invent them from within. And this too raises the question of the ultimate meaning and mission of mankind .Here I turn in my thought to the Jewish idea of Mankind working with God to help complete Creation to do the Tikkun Olam which is the fixing of the world. But how this is to work out exactly and what this would mean should we truly meet minds of another civilization I would not now even begin to speculate about.
This book helps raise questions of ultimate significance, and in this sense I believe it an extremely worthwhile one.
Intellectually provocative, with religious implications.......2004-02-22
This short book, based on a series of lectures, offers philosophical and logical insights into the question of extraterrestrial life and intelligence. Davies begins with admirably concise chapters on the history of SETI, "Extraterrestrial Microbes," and the implications of detecting alien intelligences. He then addresses biological and evolutionary arguments opposing the search, coming down firmly on the side of life and intelligence being emergent properties of the universe. His long excursion into the nature of consciousness, illustrated by some rather crude diagrams, wanders away from this main line of argument until its end, when Davies returns to the idea that consciousness is an emergent property.
Davies, who goes far deeper into the religious aspects of the search than most authors, has strongly held views that challenge the clear separation between the scientific and religious aspects of this topic. He connects the search with spirituality. The theme of alien beings acting as a conduit to the Ultimate, he writes, touches a deep chord in the human psyche.
If you are looking for a general introduction to the search and its implications, you will find more comprehensive treatments elsewhere. This book does not pretend to be detached; it presents a well argued point of view. Even if you don't agree with Davies, he deserves a reading.
Intriguing questions........2003-01-05
Paul Davies tries to answer some essential questions: is there extraterrestrial life (ET)? What would happen if we discover it? What would be the character of that life? Would it be conscious?
His answer is: the most plausible outcome of conservative (!) assumptions implies that there are an infinite number (not more than that) of identical creatures in the universe.
An important consequence of the discovery of ET could be the undermining of the Neo-Darwinist theory that life and consciousness are totally arbitrary emerging phenomena. It could indicate that there is a progressive evolutionary trend in the universe.
In fact, Paul Davies sees it already on our planet and calls it the law of increasing complexity. This increasing complexity creates the brain and consciousness. For consciousness, for him, is a basic characteristic of the universe.
But why or how does consciousness emerge? As with other authors who tackled this question, Paul Davies gives no answer.
This book is one long supposition. As long as we don't discover or get in contact with ET, all his questions will stay unanswered.
This book reads like a thriller. Not be missed.
Book Description
Wetlands provide perfect arenas for nature study. Discover Nature in Water and Wetlands explores the properties, processes, and phases of water and the plant and animal life associated with it, from trees, cattails, and ferns to dragonflies, salamanders, turtles, and beavers. With just a few essentials, such as a field notebook, hand lens, and bug box, readers will find both straightforward information and all kinds of activities to uncover the fascinating, diverse ecosystem that surrounds our ponds, swamps, and other watery places.
Books:
- The American Woodland Garden: Capturing the Spirit of the Deciduous Forest
- The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
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- The Developing Person Through the Life Span (paper)
- The Elephant's Secret Sense: The Hidden Life of the Wild Herds of Africa
- The End of Days: Armageddon and Prophecies of the Return (The Earth Chronicles)
- The Nature of Consciousness : The Structure of Reality: Theory of Everything Equation Revealed : Scientific Verification and Proof of Logic God Is
- The Norse Tarot: Gods, Sagas and Runes from the Lives of the Viking/Book and Cards
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