Revolutions That Made the Earth

by Tim Lenton, Andrew Watson

The Earth that sustains us today was born out of a few remarkable, near-catastrophic revolutions, started by biological innovations and marked by global environmental consequences. The revolutions have certain features in common, such as an increase in complexity, energy utilization, and information processing by life. This book describes these revolutions, showing the fundamental interdependence of the evolution of life and its non-living environment. We would not exist unless these upheavals had led eventually to 'successful' outcomes - meaning that after each one, at length, a new stable world emerged. The current planet-reshaping activities of our species may be the start of another great Earth system revolution, but there is no guarantee that this one will be successful. The book explains what a successful transition through it might look like, if we are wise enough to steer such a course. This book places humanity in context as part of the Earth system, using a new scientific synthesis to illustrate our debt to the deep past and our potential for the future.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History

438 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[Lalo Hinojosa Palma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not your average pop science book, neither a "science for the masses" book in the style of Brian Greene. No, this is a full science thesis, so if you are not into heavy technical lenguage, this is not your book.
That said, this is a brilliant book for ecologists, climatologists, geologists, or any other earth scientist. It will place you in the right mindset to understand how the Earth works and how it has come to work that way.
The last chapter is a good introduction to the Anthropocene. Will we survive our own pollution, climate change, deforestation, and so on?

[Maxim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revolutions that Made the Earth - An absolutely fantastic book that lets us see the history of planet Earth, the life on it and ultimately our own place in the Earth System with new eyes and a much better understanding what it took for us to get here. The book has a clear thesis which it develops convincingly: the precondition to development of us were four highly impactful and exceedingly unlikely “revolutions”: Genetic code, oxygenic photosynthesis, multi-cell eucaryotes, natural language. Each had planet altering, and often catastrophic, effects: Snowball Earth’s, large scale extinctions & other near-misses for life on Earth. But each ultimately led to a new order, new stability and a further step towards “intelligent observers” - us. The last of these revolutions, humans, is still playing out. With the potential for great harm and equally great progress for the Earth System, or even beyond!

The book is a notch above most “popular science” accounts and technical at times, but definitely understandable for an interested lay-person. The book and it’s chapters are very well structured, have a clear message and useful illustrations, so following the argument is not a big challenge. (Chapter 8 on photosynthesis is the most challenging, skip it if it feels too tedious). The fact that significant part deals with the 4bn years prior to the Cambrian revolution (and how the Earth got to the place which made it possible) sets it apart from what most interested layman might have heard or understood of the
development it Earth and life on it.

Highly recommended!

5/5

[Acquafortis · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a very long long read.
I am not saying it is not interesting. A lot of details put in and written in a very accessible manner. It is just at times I found it too long a read.
Not boring but "oh my when will all this come to an end?!".
I read it as part of a study I am undertaking.

[Christopher Strganac · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book wonderfully synthesized many aspects of my undergraduate/graduate classes in geology and geochemistry - and brought a deep meaning to these subjects by putting this in the context of Earth's history. Most of the book pertains to the first 4 billion years of the planet's history which I found fascinating, as what I usually study/read is in the past few hundred million years.