Harvesting the Biosphere: What We Have Taken from Nature

by Vaclav Smil

Book Overview

An interdisciplinary and quantitative account of human claims on the biosphere's stores of living matter, from prehistoric hunting to modern energy production.

The biosphere--the Earth's thin layer of life--dates from nearly four billion years ago, when the first simple organisms appeared. Many species have exerted enormous influence on the biosphere's character and productivity, but none has transformed the Earth in so many ways and on such...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 026201856X
• ISBN13: 9780262018562
• Release Date: December 2012
• Publisher: MIT Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.2" x 9.4"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher