The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2

by Jane Poynter

It's a story that has never been told -- until now. Imagine being sealed into a closed environment for two years -- cut off from the outside world with only seven other people -- enduring never-ending hunger, severely low levels of oxygen, and extremely difficult relationships. Crew members struggled to survive in Biosphere 2, where they swore nothing would go in or out -- no food or water, not even air -- all in the name of science. For the first time, biospherian Jane Poynter -- who lived and loved in the Biosphere -- is ready to share what really happened in there. She takes readers on a riveting, fast-paced trip through shattered lives, scientific discovery, cults, love, fears of insanity, and inspiring human endurance. The eight biospherians who closed themselves into the Biosphere emerged 730 days later -- much wiser, thinner, and having done what many had said was impossible.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, History, Biography, Memoir, Book Club, Science Nature

384 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 17, 2006

Reviews

[Benjamin Julian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been looking into books about the actual study of people in psychologically strange circumstances. This is one, where eight people were closed inside a massive, airtight greenhouse for two years. In it coalesce the stories of hippies striving for environmental harmony, hard science, space-age oriented, unforgivably efficient agriculture, human psycho-drama and a science mystery-thriller. Now, the reader may wonder, how in the world is this not the top selling book of the last few decades? And how can the popular discussion of ecology be just about silent on an $200 million, 8400 square metre airtight greenhouse, including a sample rain forest, coral reef, wetlands, savanna, desert and an agricultural system, along with living quarters, all of which has been tested in the two year mission? This book tells an insider's story of that mission, and while it has all the prescriptions for enormous success, the book simply doesn't bear it out. It's not that it's boring, it's just not fascinating in the way, for instance, the Feynman stories are. This is simply the story of the everyday life of the Biosphere inhabitants, the drama that unfolded during their stay, and useful hints for any future long-term space exploration. It tells you about the science and technology behind the greenhouse, explains the agricultural techniques, crops and animals used, and why they were chosen, tells about the hunt for the missing carbon dioxide. It's often exciting, and it's certainly a unique story, but it's simply not a hit.

[Jay Storey · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Human Experiment' is a must-read for anyone who still questions the complexity or fragility of our planet’s environment.

It’s the story of eight ‘biospherians’ who spent two virtually uninterrupted years in the early 90's inside a sealed environment called ‘Biosphere 2’ (Earth is Biosphere 1) designed to duplicate Earth’s ecology on a smaller scale. No material was allowed in or out during the entire two years. All food, water, and even the air they breathed was produced within the 3.8 acre structure, which had five ‘biomes’ representing the most important ecological zones on Earth. This is exactly the type of environment people would have to live in if they wanted to colonize Mars or some other far-flung planet.

It’s hard to decide which is scarier: the almost clownish debates between the top scientists of the day about how the plants, animals, humans, and billions of microbes contained within the mini-environment would interact in a closed system, or the desperate fight by the biospherians to control the levels of carbon dioxide exhaled by animals and produced by many other biological processes, versus the levels of oxygen generated by the plant life within the structure (sound familiar?).

The book is also a fascinating study of human interactions in a closed system. The biospherians, good friends at the outset, eventually formed into two opposing groups, who were spitting on each other by the time the experiment was over.

Fascinating in so many ways: interaction between man and the environment, between project management and the captive biospherians, between the project and the press, between the management and the scientists they hired to oversee the experiment.

Highly recommended.

[Bart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am immensely torn about this book. On the one hand, Biosphere 2 is an amazing architectural and technological accomplishment. Arguably, it’s a scientific achievement as well. On the other hand, I found myself disliking many of the people who inhabited or managed it. The individuals who went in were all affluent, privileged folks who could magically afford to take two years off from their lives to play at being astronauts. They lost a ton of weight from a mostly vegetarian diet and suffered a variety of ailments from a steady loss of oxygen in their habitat. They split into politely but passive-aggressively warring camps, with their attitudes and mental states worsening due to the lack of calories and oxygen. I wonder, truly, if humanity will be able to function in/on other worlds if these are the sorts of conditions they’re likely to face. And how much worse would it be on the Moon or Mars, where a benign world and infrastructure (civilization) are not close at hand to bail out a future settlement? Space advocates need to read this book—not just for the technical lessons learned, but for the social stresses and conflicts, which remain unpredictable and unresolvable. We are who we are, and that won’t change by living on another world. The book gets four stars because it made me ask hard questions of myself and the dream of living beyond Earth.

[Amy May · Rating 2 out of 5]

So far (1st 2 chapters) the book seems to be "I grew up so rich that I didn't have experiences in Nature. I grew up so rich that it was hard for me to tell my parents that I didn't want to do the career they told me to do." Poor girl. Next she lives in an art gallery with a bunch of hippies and studies meditation. I was REALLY interested in the Biosphere 2 experience, but it doesn't seem to be about that. After reading other reviews that indicate there weren't SCIENTISTS in the dome, just rich hippies/artists/actors, I can see there's not a lot of educational value to look forward to. P.S. Her big point about 2 years AND TWENTY MINUTES in the biosphere seems so pompous, self-centered, and... UGH don't get me started!

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would not say the author is a gifted storyteller - before we get into the Biosphere it's a bit hard to follow and my mind was wandering. Seemingly important bits of info are tossed in offhandedly around too much background about her personal life. And quotations are not handled smoothly - they're plunked down and you feel it's almost like the author is doing it because she has to for this to be seen as legit, not because they add much to the narrative. I skimmed the first third of the book, and I am not a skimmer.

But the messy bitch who loves drama in me really enjoyed hearing about how everything was going wrong once they're actually in the Biosphere. My partner told me to stop updating him about the crazy thing I'd just read because it was happening too frequently. And to her credit, she does bring up interesting points about how the positioning of the project and insistence on "nothing in, nothing out" doomed it to be deemed a failure no matter how well small hiccups (and big problems) were eventually dealt with. But also, a LOT went wrong.

All in all, I liked getting the insider account of all that happened. I think I might look into if there are any essays or shorter books about Biosphere 2 by someone who doesn't have to spend like 4 pages defending herself against accusations about being in a cult (which, sorry, you were in a cult).

[Jeffrey]

I visited Biosphere 2 recently, and I wanted to read an account of what the day-to-day experience inside had been like. This book mostly fit the bill. Jane Poynter was part of the original group of people who spent 2 years inside Biosphere 2, so she certainly has first-hand knowledge. I would have preferred it if she didn't pull so many punches during the book--glossing over some of the arguments people had, being reluctant to name names and instead resorting to cryptic summaries. There is also a tendency to jump between trains of thought. She will be relating a story about how the crew were fighting over some scientific reports, then talk about harvesting sweet potatoes, then have a paragraph on the oxygen loss that plagued the facility. All this within a page.

But in the end the book was captivating despite its messiness, much like Biosphere 2 itself. If you are in the Tucson area, I highly recommend a visit to the facility.

[Franklin Codel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having visited the biosphere and read Terranauts by TC Boyle, I was interested in reading about the Biosphere experience from one of the actual biospherians. The Human Experiment was featured in the ubiquitous gift shop at the Biosphere outside of Tucson.

The book details the life of Jane Poynter before, during, and for a few years after the 2-year lock in. She is a free-spirit who somewhat fell into the opportunity to be a participant in the biosphere. She does a nice job laying out the rigors of preparing to enter the biosphere as well as some of the technical aspects of the ecosystem that was created to support them for the two years they would be enclosed.

Once inside, the 8 participants seemed to have gone through some kind of falling out and broke into two warring camps. It had something to do with how the research was or wasn’t getting done - it was all a it vague and understated. I couldn’t figure it out.

Overall, I thought the book was light on statistics and data and confusing on the human aspect of the experience. Towards the end I couldn’t figure out who was fighting who and over what.

If we are ever going to populate Mars or the moon we need to undertake a deeper exploration of the psychological toll of enclosure and isolation alongside the ecological issues. The book breaks a little new ground and may prove interesting to some. I would recommend a visit to the biosphere before reading the book.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

an interesting account of life in Biosphere 2 by one of the inhabitants. A lot of scientific stuff that bogs it down a bit, but interesting overall.

[Michelle Welch · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed account of one of the largest-scale experiments in recent history, from one of its original participants. I'm not sure I needed the blow-by-blow descriptions of every argument the crew and management had with each other, but it does provide a vivid example of what happens to human psychology when you confine eight people to a small space for two years.

[Lucy Gilmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I visited Biosphere 2 earlier this year and IMMEDIATELY had to buy this book. I felt sure there was so much more human drama than the tour gave us. (Spoiler alert: There was. There definitely was. 😀)

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

From this patch of desert in sunny Oracle, Arizona, eight Americans are beginning the trip of a lifetime. Divided into two tribes and locked into a 3-acre, hermetically sealed building, they must work together despite their differences to grow food, reintegrate their waste, and overcome lethal challenges to survive. Nothing goes in…nothing comes out! 730 days, eight people, One Survivor!

Well, not quite. It’d make a heck of a TV show, though. Jane Poynter is one of eight people who took part in a two-year experiment, living in a self-contained project called ‘Biosphere 2’. Designed to be a self-sustaining world, the experiment set out to see if it was possible for humans to create an independent ecosystem that could sustain itself and them for a prolonged period time — something that would be necessary were we to move into space, or attempt to colonize other worlds. This was not an official government-created mission, but one that originated from the Ecotechnics Institute, an…..interesting group of people who called themselves Synergists, and looked for ways to combine technological progress with natural systems of ecological maintenance. Although that might sound like just a promising nonprofit, the Synergists were more complicated than that,living together on a ranch like a commune, and incorporating art heavily into their group projects. (“A hippy theater group” is one word used to described them: “Cult” is another.) Young Jane discovered this group while visiting an art gallery, and was soon sailing with them aboard the Heraclitus, conducting experiments at sea. Despite not having any formal training, when the Institute advanced the idea of creating a self-contained, self-sustaining Biosphere, she became one of its principal designers and a member of the two-year crew. The Human Experiment is her story of how she came to be involved, a history of the project and its creation, and then her recollection of those two troubled years themselves, when interior stress and outer drama created running conflict within the group.

I don’t know if there exists any experiment more interesting than this — a two year endeavor to see if humans could create a separate biosphere, in effect a self-contained world, and live in it for two years. I’m sure experiments performed at the Large Hadron Collider might reveal physics-changing information about life, the universe, and everything — but this is locking eight humans up for two years and seeing if they survive. The ambition of it is staggering, even thinking about the engineering required to maintain separate biomes, each with a distinct climate — nevermind the mountain of ecological variables, as a diverse array of animals , plants, soils, bacteria would need to be selected and integrated. In a sealed environment, the crew would need to be able to grow its own food, but not only that — they needed to be able to live off of the oxygen the project’s plants were creating, and find ways to recycle their urine and other waste projects to make the biosphere project a closed circuit. Although there were smaller-scaled experiments to see if a human in a sealed environment could live on the oxygen emitted by the plants sealed in with them, they always concluded in a matter of hours, at most a weekend. The jump to two years, and the added complication of having to grow food for a large crew, made things far more complicated. There was also the problem of the unknown. What ecological or environmental factors weren’t known about? What unforeseen problems might occur? Sure enough, there were: from El Niño oscillations drastically reducing the amount of sunlight the Biosphere received, to infections from a previously-unknown bacteria that destroyed the white potato crop, to the unexpectedly fecund soil bacteria that gobbled up far more oxygen than expected. (This lead to more C02, leading the crew to begin panic-modification of the vegetative environment, leading to additional problems.) This forced the crew to become subsistence farmers, who instead of reaping an easy boon and devoting free time to art, became fixated on finding enough food to get by. Those were merely the technical problems, to say nothing of the drama from outside the Biosphere — from the Institute’s internal politics — that split the increasingly malnourished and oxygen-starved crew into two fractious parties, who might enjoy one another’s company with booze on special occasions, but otherwise studiously avoided the others despite their mutual dependence. Part of the tension was dispute over how to proceed once they realized the Biosphere would become unlivable if the oxygen problem were not solved.

This is an absolutely fascinating story all around, from Poytner’s personal story — a well-heeled British young lady searching for purpose in her life, stumbling upon this group, sailing the world with them and then becoming a key member of an extraordinary project — to the challenges and sheer weirdness of life under glass that she documents. I’d seen clips of this on the news as a kid, and trailers for the Pauly Shore movie that used it as a backdrop, but never really dug into the project properly. Frankly, if it weren’t for the fact that I’m under a book-buying ban, I’d check out other crew memoirs — as it is, I’ll have to settle for watching Spaceship Earth, a recent documentary. If you’re at all interested in the Biosphere-2 project, this is definitely a solid read!

Related:
“Biosphere 2: The Once Infamous Live-in Terrarium is Transforming Climate Research“, Scientific American. Gives a history of the project and its challenges if you’re curious but don’t want to read a full book.
“Eight Go Mad in Arizona“, The Guardian. A more in-depth history of the group and the project.

[Kelsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the worst book I have read in a long time. I was so fascinated by the idea of the biosphere after seeing it in Arizona. But this book was just so poorly written. How the writer could take such a fascinating topic and make this so boring is incredible. First, it took getting through about a third of the book before we even got into the biosphere. Next, the most detailed writing was the lists of foods they ate, which seemed copied from a journal entry. Then I was so appalled at the lack of science. I didn't realize the first people in the biosphere weren't scientists, but instead a bunch of people who knew each other from a theater group. I could have forgiven that if the story had been better written. I almost didn't finish this book, but I was so interested in the subject matter, I kept hoping I'd get even just a small nugget of something that made it worthwhile, but I've read text books that were more interesting.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh man I am totally obsessed with Biosphere 2 again. This was exactly what i needed. The information on the web is pretty paltry, so this was a solid behind-the-scenes account of what was going on. I will probably need to read one more book on the subject - either John Allen's or Abigail Alling's. There was so much contention, and all the participants - inside the dome and outside - fell into two warring factions. Jane's book seems pretty even-handed and logical, and I can't help but feel sympathetic to it. But i think for a true understanding, it's best to get multiple points of view. Alling, apparently, was responsible for sabotaging the second mission by opening all the airlocks. Which is weird, since she was a Biospherian in the first mission. I'd love to try and understand what her logic was.

Also I want to go visit it. ASAP.

[Aryana Parmar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay book... I mean, I'm interested in the topic, and getting a first-hand account of what really went on in Biosphere 2 was really interesting, but I just don't think this author is meant to write. I just didn't really like her writing style, I guess. But I do want to look into the topic a bit more and get other views on it. I was looking for the science in this book, and there really wasn't any of it and I guess that's what really made it bad for me.

[Miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting recap of the Biosphere II experiment. Unfortunately, the book is badly edited.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting experience - but the book delves into the politics of the situation too much and not enough in the experiences in the Biosphere.

[Laurel Flynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

First, the disclosure statement: I read "The Human Experiment" soon after visiting Biosphere 2, a trip suggested by visitors to my new house in Arizona. I am also a retired analytical chemist and spent parts of my career doing research in a university setting as well as working in a variety of commercial enterprises. I also read some of the Goodreads and Amazon reviews of this book, of John Allen's book "Me and the Biospheres" and of Mark Nelson's books before choosing to read this one. I may read one of the latter but not John Allen's since I am mainly interested in the Biosphere 2 facility, itself. I am not convinced that all the reviewers read the same book, finished the book or, perhaps, read the book at all.
Honestly, I think a lot of scientists should read this book, at least for the insight into how science really ought to be rather than how it is performed: science within a larger context rather than as a rigidly controlled operation. It is only through looking at this honestly that we will rise, at least partially, above the petty infighting and misinformation surrounding climate change investigation. Most non-scientists, especially journalists and politicians, don't understand how experimental science happens, don't understand the math, design parameters or even the difference between causative relationships versus correlations. I'm not sure all science people understand these things, either, but people are people. Just because one is involved in science, research or high-minded "save the [blank]"-type projects does not make one immune to ego, self-promotion, control issues or the desire for expensive material goods. In my career I have seen most of the pathologies of working in the sciences that Jane Poynter discusses in her book; at least she does not reveal one that most annoys me: the thrust to prove someone's theory for them. Experimental science needs the honesty to face unexpected and unwanted results while also being allowed to fail, if only for unforeseen reasons. Biosphere 2 was not allotted this latter; everything was supposed to be happy, shiny and glorious while being sealed into the experiment turned into a lot of grunt work. Honestly, perhaps more working farmers should have been consulted.
Another topic in the book which made me pause to consider is that the crew wasn't completely made up from traditionally-trained and traditionally-chosen science and engineering people. Granted, I had a strong opinion on this before reading the book. For example, I found one of the best training programs I had for moving into laboratory management was my experience in attaining a Master's degree in education and my time spent in front of students. I am not as "different" as some of the people on the Biosphere crew but I can certainly appreciate the value of having training and experience in alternate fields that may seem superfluous to the traditionally-minded in science fields. My one reservation in considering the resumes of the eventual Biosphere dwellers is the emphasis on Type A personalities and extroverts. Science is full of people who just want to be left alone to tinker with their chemistry sets, plants and gadgets while doing gourmet cooking, fixing cars or computers, playing in the band, or hiking the wilderness in their spare time.
I would really like to see experimental science evolve away from the totally contained state and towards a more inclusive and all-encompassing attitude. We need a sense of context and value in our work, and a route to dealing with unexpected results. For goodness' sake, let us "fail," sometimes. But, then again, I could wish for critical thinking to be widely taught....I can dream.
This is a deeply personal book full of interesting issues that is not, by any means, dated. I will probably revisit the actual Biosphere 2 facility in the future with new eyes and interest; certainly with better questions for the tour guides.

[Keith Akers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very believable, sympathetic, and engaging account of Biosphere 2. It is mostly an account of what it was like to be there, rather than an analysis of the scientific results, such as they were, though there is some of that. One interesting theme in her narrative was all the internal disagreements among the residents, which Poynter says that she discovered was actually fairly typical of small groups in isolation. She compares the "factions" in Biosphere 2 with those on the Mir space station and in isolated bases in Antarctica. It was truly amazing that these people, who got along quite well on the outside (both before and after their enclosure in Biosphere 2), were barely speaking to each other when they were isolated on the inside.

They had problems with CO2 levels, oxygen levels, insect extinctions, and growing enough food. The CO2 levels were often over 2000 ppm, and at one point went over 7400 ppm (p. 114)! While this would be quite destructive in earth's atmosphere (current levels just over 400 ppm), in Biosphere 2 the main concern was that the CO2 levels would be toxic to breathe. It turns out that CO2 levels never reached those levels. At the same time, oxygen levels diminished and fell below 15% --- survivable, but not pleasant. So they pumped in oxygen from the outside. On top of that, they couldn't feed everyone adequately and people were always hungry, despite the fact that their agriculture was HIGHLY productive (p. 297).

She doesn't dwell on the problem of extinctions, but says there was less than 20% extinction rate; evidently, they "packed" species into Biosphere 2, hoping that enough of them would make it. She DOES say that cockroaches overtook the building. They had introduced 5 species of cockroach, but one stowaway species got in and caused all the problems (p. 191-2). "Much of the extinction was loss of insect species that had been overrun by ants and cockroaches, as occurs on small islands. Crazy ants, Paratrechina longicornis, pillaged almost every other insect species, eating their eggs and out-competing them for scarce resources. . . . The ants and cockroaches in Biosphere 2 are far less prolific today because the ecosystems have matured" (p. 297 - 298).

It turns out that the falling oxygen levels were due to the fact that the CO2 had reacted with the concrete. This makes the unusually high CO2 levels even more extraordinary; without this reaction, CO2 levels would have been even higher. But this problem was tractable, because the concrete could be coated with sealant (p. 286). The excessive CO2 levels were caused by overfeeding the soil microbes with compost, so they could deal with this by putting less organic matter in the soil. But in this case, one wonders if it would have been even more difficult to grow enough food. Even with hugely productive land, they were hungry most of the time. Therefore, while Biosphere 2 is very helpful in figuring out what an isolated environment (on e. g. Mars) should be like, it didn't quite give us the answer to the question, since strictly speaking it probably could not have supported all eight humans indefinitely.

Thanks to the author for writing an engaging account of what actually happened inside Biosphere 2.

[Sotto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engrossing and deeply personal, "The Human Experiment" is the autographical account of one woman who volunteered to be confined within a mini-planet science experiment in the early 1990s, the historic Biosphere 2, for two years to test the viability of the mostly biological systems utilized within to sustain human life.

Started by group of dreamers who had a bone to pick with how industrialized humanity had (and continue to) hitherto relied on corraling, controling, and destroying ecosystems for financial gain, Biosphere 2 tested the hypothesis of whether human beings could construct a miniature version of planet Earth within an enclosed area that sustained human life - gas exchange, food production, and waste disposal would all need to take place within the structure of Biosphere 2 without inputs from outside for a designated period of time.

The mixed success of this massive experiment in resource management and practical, hands-on ecology is described in full detail by Jane Poynter, one of eight people sealed within Biosphere 2, including the crises of morale, the effects of their low-calorie-high-vitamin diet, and the gradual development of in group/out group dynamics among the team of eight people chosen for their emotional resiliency, ability to cooperate, physical health, resourcefullness, and (for better or worse) loyalty to Biosphere 2's directors, who lived and observed interactions from outside.

While the Poynter's limited point-of-view approach does not touch on every single aspect of the Biosphere 2 project, this book is important for anyone thinking about challenges of establishing a self-sustaining human colony on a planet or moon. I will also note that because it was written as a autobiographical account by a non-scientist (Jane did not have a college degree at the time of entering Biosphere 2) who is nevertheless quite educated on the matter transfornation cycles of natural biomes, much of the science here is explained but might require a bit of coursework in chemistry, ecology, and oceanography to appreciate. One of the few drawbacks of "The Human Experiment" is that it lacks any diagrams, graphs, or illustrations explaining the science that makes Biosphere 2 possible.

[M. Slattery · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Biosphere 2 project was a unique glimpse into the future of humanity, and I was pulled in by the scientific appeal of this memoir. Learning about the day-to-day issues faced by the crewmembers and the problem-solving skills needed to address them was extremely intriguing...and that's about the only part of the book I enjoyed.

The rest of it was narrated by a snooty, upper-class Englishwoman who loves to talk about herself and her privileged lifestyle. She spends half the book ranting about how neither she, nor several of the other equally privileged crewmembers needed any sort of fancy degree or scientific background, because they got enough "real life experience" sailing around the world on a glorified yacht before starting the Biosphere 2 project. She then spends the other half of the book bragging about the occasional support they had from various scientists, engineers, etc. with high accolades. The failures of Biosphere 2 came about because they did not trust science, or rather, the professionals with the fancy degrees, to work with them on a solution.

Overall, there were many aspects of the book that I enjoyed. However, it does leave me wondering how the project would have gone if it was properly researched.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I vaguely remembered the news stories of people being enclosed in Biosphere 2 from back in early 90's and it was interesting to fully understand what Biosphere 2 actually was. Built with private money and run by the Institute of Ecotechnics, an enigmatic community or commune or cult, depending on your point of view, Biosphere 2 was a 3-acre enclosed environment where all oxygen, food, etc. had to be generated. In 1991, 8 people walked into Biosphere 2 and were sealed inside for 2 years. The author, Jane Poynter, and her boyfriend Taber were two of these people Jane describes how she came to be involved with the project and ultimately a biospherian despite having had no formal education. She describes the construction and planning of the project and the deterioration of relationships between the biospherians once inside. Though parts were interesting and certainly, I knew nothing of this project, there was a lot of technical detail surrounding the building and operation of the biosphere that I found difficult to get through.

[John Jannuzzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. Written 15 years after the completion of the Biosphere 2 experiment, it was a good blend of her day-to-day experience as recorded in real-time, and her later reflections tempered by the passage of time. Both the physical experience of growing and providing everything you needed for sustenance, while maintaining the closed environment to support life, and the human experience of working in isolation with the team, were fascinating stories woven together. It was disappointing to see how the team grew apart into two groups that detested each other. The comparisons to other teams, such as those living in Antarctica or on the Mir Space station, and studies of other such groups of people was interesting – unfortunately not too different than that of our general society today. The team endured considerable physiological and psychological hardship, which exacted quite a toll on them. I’m glad I got to live the experience through the book, and not by firsthand experience.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a many layered book - told by one of the eight people who lived for two years inside the large biosphere in the Arizona desert. I had no knowledge of it until I visited the Biosphere 2 last year, and I'd encourage anyone in the area to do so as well, and to read this book, too.

One aspect is the ecological one, which was the purpose of the experiment, to see if we could create an artificial biosphere, much as we imagine people might live in on another planet, or in space. The amount of work and research, as well as money that went into this is amazing.

The other main aspect I found interesting was the community that created it, of which the 8 actual 'biosphere inhabitants' in the book are just a small part. Having lived in intentional communities for years, the successes and failures of this group was very familiar to me.

[Brieana Branton · Rating 4 out of 5]

After recently visiting Biosphere 2 in Arizona and falling in love with the concept of biospherics and possible options for space exploration/living, I read this book to gain a deeper insight into how Biosphere 2 was built and what happened during the two-year experiment. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about how chaotic the management of the experiment was as well as how intense the psychological atmosphere became inside the bubble of the biosphere. At times I felt frustrated reading what occurred because of the sheer stupidity of things and how arrogant people with power can become yet other times I felt joy while reading Jane's experiences inside Biosphere 2 and how she connected to the system around her and how she is using what she learned today. Overall I seriously enjoyed this book (considering it is a biography of an event and I hate biographies) and want to learn more!

[Diane Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was going to go to Biosphere II, in Arizona, over Christmas holiday, so my daughter I suggested reading this first. I was sure glad I did. The book was written by one of the women who lived in Biosphere II for 2 years. The books gave all the information about how the idea of building it started, how it was built, How they were trained and what life was like for the 8 people who lived in it for two years. They were totally sealed off from the outside world and had to raise their own food as well as monitor the air, ocean, and crops. When I went on the tour of Biosphere II I was able to think back at what they went through. Great non-fiction for anyone interested in going there for a tour

[Elderberrywine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. Lord of the Flies except with adults and science.

Two full years in a totally enclosed and self-sufficient world, complete with an ocean, desert, savanna, marsh, farmland, etc. It was an amazing construct, but with a few issues, like insufficient oxygen and food. And an outside management team that was at odds with themselves and what their goals should be. And a division early on between the 8 members inside into Us and Them.

Let me just add, those extra 20 minutes were not immaterial. o.O

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't remember hearing about Biosphere 2 as a young child, but it was interesting to learn about it. I thought Poynter did a good job of exploring both the good and the bad of the situation and she did a good job of keeping things moving in the story.

It was interesting to read about the idealism of the project as it was coming together. It was also interesting to learn about the project in general, how it worked and what it was like for those on the inside. The science was a little tough to follow at times but all in all a good read.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently toured the Biosphere 2 and was fascinated by the engineering and the different biomes and really wanted an insider’s perspective of what it was like to live enclosed for two years. Although I feel like the author does provide many interesting and compelling details about her life, the science behind the biosphere, her experience inside the biosphere, and all the issues that transpired, I struggled with the author’s rambling and sometimes incoherent narrative. I did enjoy the book for the most part, even though the author jumped from topic to topic and seemed to repeat herself.

[Luke Lindon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The psychodrama would have been key for the story but those are glossed over while oxygen and food levels are discussed ad naseum. Great book for elder millennials who might remember reading about it in their elementary school Scholastic News.

[Guy McArthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating!