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Homage to Gaia: The Life of an Independent Scientist
With over fifty patents to his name and a stream of awards--including one from the Queen of England--James Lovelock is a distinguished scientist who has been widely recognized by the international scientific community.
In this inspiring autobiography, Lovelock tells the story of his life as an independent scientist--from his first job as a lab assistant to his energetic crusade to save the ozone layer. We see how Lovelock came to develop his inventions and theories--he recounts the history behind his famous Gaia
theory and talks us through his many inventions. We learn about the electron capture detector, which was extremely important in the development of environmental awareness, revealing for the first time the ubiquitous distribution of pesticide residues in the environment and the global distribution of
CFCs. He talks about his work with NASA, where his ideas were adopted in the program for planetary exploration. And he tells about the work he has done for organizations like the Ministry of Defence, The Marine Biological Association, and companies such as Shell and Hewlett Packard.
Written in a sharp and energetic style, James Lovelock's book will entertain and inspire anyone interested in science or the creative spirit.
In this inspiring autobiography, Lovelock tells the story of his life as an independent scientist--from his first job as a lab assistant to his energetic crusade to save the ozone layer. We see how Lovelock came to develop his inventions and theories--he recounts the history behind his famous Gaia
theory and talks us through his many inventions. We learn about the electron capture detector, which was extremely important in the development of environmental awareness, revealing for the first time the ubiquitous distribution of pesticide residues in the environment and the global distribution of
CFCs. He talks about his work with NASA, where his ideas were adopted in the program for planetary exploration. And he tells about the work he has done for organizations like the Ministry of Defence, The Marine Biological Association, and companies such as Shell and Hewlett Packard.
Written in a sharp and energetic style, James Lovelock's book will entertain and inspire anyone interested in science or the creative spirit.
464 pages, Paperback
First published September 28, 2000
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184 people want to read
About the author
James E. Lovelock
29 books314 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
James Ephraim Lovelock, CH, CBE, FRS, is an independent scientist, author, researcher, environmentalist, and futurist who lives in Devon, England. He is known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, in which he postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating system.
James Ephraim Lovelock, CH, CBE, FRS, is an independent scientist, author, researcher, environmentalist, and futurist who lives in Devon, England. He is known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, in which he postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating system.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 10, 2021
This is his autobiography, written at age 80, 22(!) years ago. Lovelock is best-known for his Gaia hypothesis, that the Earth is, metaphorically, a global superorganism: life regulates its environment to be more favorable for life, by the familiar and everyday process of natural selection. For example, a higher CO2 level in the atmosphere will result in more luxuriant plant growth, which will lower the CO2 content [1].
Lovelock, who has a Ph.D in medicine, had a long career as a working scientist and inventor. He invented the exquisitely-sensitive electron-capture detector, and used it to pioneer measuurements of fluorocarbons in the atmosphere, work which led to the banning of Freon as a hazard to the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere.
Lovelock is appropriately skeptical about the rhetorical excesses in the "Ozone Wars", and deplores the continued misuse of science in environmemtalism-as-religion. He's well-aware of the misuse of his Gaia "earth-mother" metaphor by muddle-headed New Agers, but gave numerous lectures to religious groups at the time the Gaia hypothesis was struggling for scientific respectability, which couldn't have helped his case. Lovelock himself is an agnostic, a fiercely-independent iconoclast, and an old-fashioned, very British eccentric scholar.
Lovelock spent most of his career as an independent scientist and consultant, a difficult path for a research scientist but one which suited his personality -- and his desire to live and work in a rural setting. He's an interesting man and an influential scientist. His memoir is somewhat repetitive and overlong, and he sometimes sounds like a querulous old fart -- but if you have admired Lovelock's scientific work, you will enjoy reading about his life.
Lovelock is himself a science-fiction fan -- as was William Golding, a neighbor who named the Gaia hypothesis for him. Lovelock co-wrote one science-fiction (sort-of) novel, _The Greening of Mars_ -- and his critics gleefully (and unfairly) labelled his Gaia work as science-fantasy. His work has held up pretty well, and his ideas are becoming mainstream in the earth and life-sciences -- though many of his successors avoid the "tainted" Gaia label.
Lovelock's memoir has an interesting account of his progress from an unquestioning young Socialist in the 1930's to an admirer of Lady Thatcher. His uncritical admiration for the British National Health Service continues, even after a disastrous operation that permanently damaged his urethra, apparently due to a 'labour action' by the union at his hospital. Oddly enough.
Lovelock is currently campaigning for nuclear power, as a way out of global-warming. His book has kind words for the industries he's worked in, especially Shell Oil. My kind of Green.
Lovelock's official website: http://www.ecolo.org/lovelock/lovebio...
PS 10/10/21: still with us, at age 102! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_L...
_____________________
[1] --eventually. This feedback mechanism clearly doesn't operate quickly enough to control fossil-fuel CO2 emissions.
Review written 2006. Updated a bit since then
Lovelock, who has a Ph.D in medicine, had a long career as a working scientist and inventor. He invented the exquisitely-sensitive electron-capture detector, and used it to pioneer measuurements of fluorocarbons in the atmosphere, work which led to the banning of Freon as a hazard to the ozone layer in the upper atmosphere.
Lovelock is appropriately skeptical about the rhetorical excesses in the "Ozone Wars", and deplores the continued misuse of science in environmemtalism-as-religion. He's well-aware of the misuse of his Gaia "earth-mother" metaphor by muddle-headed New Agers, but gave numerous lectures to religious groups at the time the Gaia hypothesis was struggling for scientific respectability, which couldn't have helped his case. Lovelock himself is an agnostic, a fiercely-independent iconoclast, and an old-fashioned, very British eccentric scholar.
Lovelock spent most of his career as an independent scientist and consultant, a difficult path for a research scientist but one which suited his personality -- and his desire to live and work in a rural setting. He's an interesting man and an influential scientist. His memoir is somewhat repetitive and overlong, and he sometimes sounds like a querulous old fart -- but if you have admired Lovelock's scientific work, you will enjoy reading about his life.
Lovelock is himself a science-fiction fan -- as was William Golding, a neighbor who named the Gaia hypothesis for him. Lovelock co-wrote one science-fiction (sort-of) novel, _The Greening of Mars_ -- and his critics gleefully (and unfairly) labelled his Gaia work as science-fantasy. His work has held up pretty well, and his ideas are becoming mainstream in the earth and life-sciences -- though many of his successors avoid the "tainted" Gaia label.
Lovelock's memoir has an interesting account of his progress from an unquestioning young Socialist in the 1930's to an admirer of Lady Thatcher. His uncritical admiration for the British National Health Service continues, even after a disastrous operation that permanently damaged his urethra, apparently due to a 'labour action' by the union at his hospital. Oddly enough.
Lovelock is currently campaigning for nuclear power, as a way out of global-warming. His book has kind words for the industries he's worked in, especially Shell Oil. My kind of Green.
Lovelock's official website: http://www.ecolo.org/lovelock/lovebio...
PS 10/10/21: still with us, at age 102! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_L...
_____________________
[1] --eventually. This feedback mechanism clearly doesn't operate quickly enough to control fossil-fuel CO2 emissions.
Review written 2006. Updated a bit since then
June 28, 2021
It gives me no pleasure to rate this book so poorly, and I do not do so because I think Lovelock is dumb or wrong, which he certainly is at least not dumb and probably not entirely wrong.
However, the book is a bore of enormous proportions. Lovelock is in great need of a strong editor who could shape this narrative and focus on the areas that are of greater interest to the reading public. We spend the whole first 100 pages on his life as a child and young person. We spend huge swaths of the book recounting scientific inventions and modifications and ideas that may well have been the subject of some interest to specialists in the field, but that are definitely not the content that most readers of this book will be after.
Lovelock's ideas about Gaia are what interests us, and maybe to a lesser extent his role in the ozone hole discussion that preceded his Gaia work. Gaia, as the astute reader will note, is in the title of the book. Yet, it plays a very minor role in the narrative of Lovelock's life as he tells it.
Again, I do not mean to come across as overly critical. This volume would be a great item to hand down to your grandchildren explaining your life. But as a book to be sold to general audiences, it is so far afield from the purported topic, and so full of tedious and unwelcome detail, that it was a great chore for me to finish.
It is also sprinkled with dubious stray thoughts on non-science topics, including occasional forays into political subjects and health care delivery (based on his own experiences but generalized unhelpfully) as well as a detail-heavy recounting of his carrying on of an extra-marital affair as his wife slowly succumbs to MS. This is material that just did not have to be included here at all.
I've now read four of Lovelock's books and can really only recommend one of them: 1989's Ages of Gaia. He may be an innovative and thought-provoking scientist, but his written output is leaving me cold.
However, the book is a bore of enormous proportions. Lovelock is in great need of a strong editor who could shape this narrative and focus on the areas that are of greater interest to the reading public. We spend the whole first 100 pages on his life as a child and young person. We spend huge swaths of the book recounting scientific inventions and modifications and ideas that may well have been the subject of some interest to specialists in the field, but that are definitely not the content that most readers of this book will be after.
Lovelock's ideas about Gaia are what interests us, and maybe to a lesser extent his role in the ozone hole discussion that preceded his Gaia work. Gaia, as the astute reader will note, is in the title of the book. Yet, it plays a very minor role in the narrative of Lovelock's life as he tells it.
Again, I do not mean to come across as overly critical. This volume would be a great item to hand down to your grandchildren explaining your life. But as a book to be sold to general audiences, it is so far afield from the purported topic, and so full of tedious and unwelcome detail, that it was a great chore for me to finish.
It is also sprinkled with dubious stray thoughts on non-science topics, including occasional forays into political subjects and health care delivery (based on his own experiences but generalized unhelpfully) as well as a detail-heavy recounting of his carrying on of an extra-marital affair as his wife slowly succumbs to MS. This is material that just did not have to be included here at all.
I've now read four of Lovelock's books and can really only recommend one of them: 1989's Ages of Gaia. He may be an innovative and thought-provoking scientist, but his written output is leaving me cold.
January 12, 2020
Okay till it got to the mysticism then it became boring. For a multi-disciplined scientist he had an interesting career and I felt his veering off into feeding the strident greens by using the title gaia a mistake.
to-buy
August 4, 2022Died 2022 aged 103 - from an observer obit
April 14, 2016
This is Lovelock's autobiography written when he was 80. He has had a fairly impressive career, and has taken an interdisciplinary path learning in great experiential detail a kind of science that would not be readily available today. Pretty interesting book, full of information and various anecdotal detail. I thought this would be more about Gaia than about himself, but I am glad that I did read it.
July 30, 2023
You must read this book. Such an extraordinary story that probably could not be repeated in the 21st century of a home-made scientist working on science that changed our view of the world and made a major contribution to our understanding of climate and the idea of the earth as a connected living body that we are destroying. Such a wonderful life well lived.
April 1, 2014
Uno de mis libros favoritos, un repaso por la vida de este científico odiado por sus ideas entonces y ahora. Más allá de lo discutibles de estas, no deja de ser un libro fantástico
March 4, 2016
WWF and Greenpeace say "hi".
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews