Best of
Ecology

1972

Steps to an Ecology of Mind: Collected Essays in Anthropology, Psychiatry, Evolution, and Epistemology


Gregory Bateson - 1972
    With a new foreword by his daughter Mary Katherine Bateson, this classic anthology of his major work will continue to delight and inform generations of readers. "This collection amounts to a retrospective exhibition of a working life. . . . Bateson has come to this position during a career that carried him not only into anthropology, for which he was first trained, but into psychiatry, genetics, and communication theory. . . . He . . . examines the nature of the mind, seeing it not as a nebulous something, somehow lodged somewhere in the body of each man, but as a network of interactions relating the individual with his society and his species and with the universe at large."—D. W. Harding, New York Review of Books "[Bateson's] view of the world, of science, of culture, and of man is vast and challenging. His efforts at synthesis are tantalizingly and cryptically suggestive. . . .This is a book we should all read and ponder."—Roger Keesing, American Anthropologist

The Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update


Donella H. Meadows - 1972
    Their results shocked the world and created stirring conversation about global 'overshoot,' or resource use beyond the carrying capacity of the planet. Now, preeminent environmental scientists Donnella Meadows, Jorgen Randers, and Dennis Meadows have teamed up again to update and expand their original findings in The Limits to Growth: The 30 Year Global Update.Meadows, Randers, and Meadows are international environmental leaders recognized for their groundbreaking research into early signs of wear on the planet. Citing climate change as the most tangible example of our current overshoot, the scientists now provide us with an updated scenario and a plan to reduce our needs to meet the carrying capacity of the planet.Over the past three decades, population growth and global warming have forged on with a striking semblance to the scenarios laid out by the World3 computer model in the original Limits to Growth. While Meadows, Randers, and Meadows do not make a practice of predicting future environmental degradation, they offer an analysis of present and future trends in resource use, and assess a variety of possible outcomes.In many ways, the message contained in Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update is a warning. Overshoot cannot be sustained without collapse. But, as the authors are careful to point out, there is reason to believe that humanity can still reverse some of its damage to Earth if it takes appropriate measures to reduce inefficiency and waste.Written in refreshingly accessible prose, Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update is a long anticipated revival of some of the original voices in the growing chorus of sustainability. Limits to Growth: The 30 Year Update is a work of stunning intelligence that will expose for humanity the hazy but critical line between human growth and human development.

A Continuous Harmony: Essays Cultural and Agricultural


Wendell Berry - 1972
    The splendid centerpiece of A Continuous Harmony, “Discipline and Hope,” is an insightful and articulate essay of instruction and caution. This volume contains original content, with only slight revisions as might be desired. It gives readers the opportunity to read the work of this remarkable cultural critic and agrarian, and to delight in the prose of one of America’s greatest stylists.

Round River


Aldo Leopold - 1972
    These daily journal entries on hunting, fishing and exploring, written in camp during his many field trips in lower California, New Mexico, Canada, and Wisconsin, indicate the source of Leopold's ideas on land ethics found in his longer essays. The excerpts from these journals—many taken from notes written around a camp fire, spattered with a slapped mosquito or a drop of coffee—show in direct context what he did in his own leisure time. The essays are taken from more contemplative notes which were still in manuscript when Leopold died, fighting a grass fire in 1948. Round River has been edited by Leopold's son, Luna, a geologist well-known in the field of conservation. It is also illustrated throughout with line drawings by Charles W. Schwartz. All admirers of Leopold's work—indeed, all lovers of nature—will find this book richly rewarding.

The Gift of the Tree


Alvin Tresselt - 1972
    Henri Sorensen’s exquisite paintings for this reillustrated edition capture all the beauty and power of the tree’s transformations.As School Library Journal commented: "The interdependence of plant and animal life is clearly evident, including both those that seek its shelter and those that hasten the decaying process to prepare the soil for new life. The original text stands the test of time, reaching its audience with power and emotion as it directs attention to the forces of nature at work."

The Serengeti Lion: A Study of Predator-Prey Relations


George B. Schaller - 1972
    Schaller’s The Serengeti Lion describes the vast impact of the lion and other predators on the vast herds of wildebeest, zebra, and gazelle for which the area is famous. The most comprehensive book available on the lion, this classic work includes the author’s findings on all aspects of lion behavior, including its social system, population dynamics, hunting behavior, and predation patterns.“If you have only enough time to read one book about field biology, this is the one I recommend.”—Edward O. Wilson, Science“This book conveys not only the fascination of its particular study of lion behavior but the drama and wonder and beauty of the intimate interdependence of all living things.”—Saturday Review“This is an important book, not just for its valuable information on lions, but for its broad, open, and intelligent approach to problems that cut across the fields of behavior, populations, ecology, wildlife management, evolution, anthropology, and comparative biology.”—Richard G. Van Gelder, Bioscience

Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two


Robert Silverberg - 1972
    

Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance


Charles J. Krebs - 1972
    The author emphasizes the role of experiments in testing ecological ideas, discusses many contemporary, controversial problems, and explains all mathematical concepts of ecology and reinforces concepts with research references and chapter-ending review questions. This edition has been updated and reviewed by experts in the field to feature coverage of the emerging areas of behavioural and physiolgical ecology and a more in-depth discussion of population genetics, mutualism and succession. It also includes a new two-colour format, four-colour insert, and new features to aid learning.

Manzanita


Gary Snyder - 1972
    (McNeil A42.) The only separate printing of this collection, although it was included in his Pulitzer Prize winning TURTLE ISLAND. Cover illustration by Arthur Okamura.