Machinery of Nature: The Living World Around Us-And How It Works

by Paul R. Ehrlich

Book Overview

This explanation of ecology, written specifically for nonscientists emphasizes the relationships of living things and their environment and the delicate balance of natural ecosystems.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671633120
• ISBN13: 9780671633127
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The Machinery of Nature

I used this book as one in a comparison of ecological books for different user populations. It is such a great read, due to author's amazing skills and knowledge on the subjects plus writing skills. The reader can learn ecological principles without even realizing it! However, the interest needs to still be there. And it may not be a substitute for a class room text book.

Hurry Hurry, Read All About It!

The Machinery of Nature is for those who are interested in environmental management, its politics, development and business side OR for those who just want to read something. This book is full of information about the world around us and how everything, from abiotic to biotic, functions together. Paul Ehrlich really made me realize how much I want to protect our precious environment, in which life depends on, from wasteful resources. Ehrlich states in this book, "Each individual organism is constructed so that it can grow and reproduce in a given set of environmental conditions. If it finds itself outside the boundaries of that set of conditions, its chemical life processes grind to a halt. Too much cold or too little water will often take plants or animals beyond the limits of survival" (20). Human influence on the earth's environment has become a matter of public concern to most people because everyday we are losing a species from what humans do, even the little things, such as flick a cigarette bud out the window, or toss a gum wrapper in the bushes. Clean water resources and habitat quality are essential for the health of all living organisms. So let's not take this world for granted. My closing comment regarding this book to everyone is READ IT, LIVE IT, AND LEARN!

Stop and Smell the Roses--They may not be around much longer

The most fascinating aspect of this piece of bio-literature was Ehrlich's outcry in the Epilogue of the book. For a setup, the premise of this book is a biological occurrence by biological occurrence account of nature, environment, and role of that environment. For those science buffs it is very much like another piece of biological door-to-door titled Diversity of Life by Edward Wilson. The largest difference being a smidgen above personal commentary, which I like to call passion; you just feel that there is a lot more at stake by the end of this book. Back to Ehrlich's outcry. I think that this quote by Ehrlich sums it all up, "The future of the discipline of ecology appears bright-even if that of the biosphere does not." For those of you that may not pick up Ehrlich's message there, let me explain: He is basically rendering the discipline of Ecology to be in an infantile state with nothing but enlightenment to stand in it's way, but, on the other hand, he does not feel that Earth will be around to see the fruits of it's existence. In fact, he blames the ignorance and lack of appreciation by the general public as a major burden on society and our own cognitive evolution. I really enjoyed the ending of this book more than the tedious yet interesting recounts of various biological structures and occurrences.