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The God Species: How the Planet Can Survive the Age of Humans [Paperback]

Mark Lynas
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
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Book Description

7 July 2011

We humans are the God Species, both the creators and destroyers of life. In this groundbreaking new book, Mark Lynas shows us how we must use our technological mastery over nature to the planet from ourselves.

Building on recent scientific discoveries, Mark Lynas explains that there are nine ‘planetary boundaries’ that humanity must not cross if the Earth is to continue to support life and our civilisation. Climate change is one, but others - like ocean acidification, nitrogen use and biodiversity loss - are less well-known, though equally crucial. These boundaries all interact, and we can only hope to manage the planet successfully if we understand how they affect one another.

But this is no depressing lamentation of eco-doom. Instead, Lynas presents a radical manifesto that calls for the increased use of controversial but environmentally-friendly technologies, such as genetic engineering and nuclear power, as part of a global effort to protect and nurture the biosphere. Ripping up years of ‘green’ orthodoxy, he reveals how the prescriptions of the current environmental movement are likely to hinder as much as help our vitally-needed effort to use science and technology to play God and save the planet.


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The God Species: How the Planet Can Survive the Age of Humans + Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet + The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning
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Product details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Fourth Estate (7 July 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 000731342X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007313426
  • Product Dimensions: 15.4 x 23.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 131,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Product Description

Review

‘It certainly convinced me’ Independent on Sunday

About the Author

Mark Lynas is an activist, journalist and traveller. He was editor of the website www.oneworld.net and has made many appearances in the press and TV as a commentator on environmental issues. He is the author of High Tide and Six Degrees.


Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
75 of 77 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The paperback edition of "The God Species" by Mark Lynas has been withdrawn from sale by Amazon just as it was launched, after somebody complained it was "not as described". The author suspects foul play - and having read it I can see that he might have made some enemies.

But importantly - and this is the reason why you should read the book - Lynas's argument is so groundbreaking that there are a number of different traditional "camps" within which someone may have been offended enough to try to stop the book in its tracks. Lynas has been seen by many as on the side of the Greens, as he speaks about the need to avoid catastrophic environmental change. Hence opponents of the Green movement may automatically be opponents of Lynas. But in "The God Species", Lynas has taken the bold and innovative step of making strong argument in favour of using our technology to make us more responsible as stewards of the Earth, which he views us as now ruling with the power of Gods.

Perhaps most controversially, Lynas argues that nuclear power and genetic engineering do have a place in avoiding dangerous climate change and protecting food security - clearly views which risk alienating many traditional Greens. But the point is that Lynas has backed up his case with extensive and well-referenced evidence, so this is not an idealogical book - yes it still is his opinion, but it is a well-informed opinion which can be challenged point by point by counter-evidence if you so wish.

Lynas has successfully broken free of the chains of partisan views in the environmental debate, which must be a good thing - polarization of the argument has led to entrenched positions which will ultimately do nobody any good, and lead to underhand behaviour such as (in this this case, it seems) the suppression of free speech. But that is precisely why the book should be read - it's a novel, independent view about which you can make up your own mind.

My guess is that anyone who reads this book would find something they agree with, something they disagree with and something utterly surprising. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anybody that is interested in a fresh take on environmental matters, whichever "side" you think you are on.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a really important contribution to debates about human activity and its interaction with the environment.

Its importance lies in the clear discussion about 'planetary boundary systems' and not just climate change: those nine interconnected and crucial 'whole earth' systems that sustain human life. These systems can be characterised as having some room for more human intervention before the system starts breaking down, being more or less in equilibrium with human activity, or being beyond equilibrium now. He presnets convincing data and shows each system's rate of change given current trends.

Not being a planetary system scientist, there was a lot of new information for me here, some of it surprising. I would have liked a few graphs and the content is crying out for good diagrams and graphics.

The ideas are of a piece with other 'revisionist' thinking, for example Stewart Brand (on the benefits of cities) and to some extent George Monbiot (on the benefits of nuclear power, despite Fukashima). I like Lynas's fracture of 'being green' equals anti-capitalist/anti-science/anti-corporate.

Probably the biggest challenge for politically active 'greens' is the idea that, given the right incentives, 'the market' i.e current corporate capitalism and governments, can really help shape these boundaries for the better. Growth might be ok, as long as its impact can be sustained by each system, is his basic point.

However, he appears to downplay the appalling history of rampant corporate and regulatory mismanagement of the very systems he wants 'us' to deal with. While his arguments can appeal to and be understood by interested readers, activists, corporate heads and investment funders, it seems to me he is at his weakest when he appeals to so called 'responsible' captains of industry. His call to action just doesn't hit that bottom line, while some innovation simply needs to stop, such as 'fracking'.

Having said that, this book is essential reading for anyone who thinks, talks and acts on environmental issues. I guess that means you.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A breath of fresh air for planet Earth. 1 July 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
If you read just one book on climate change, let it be this one. In fact, I would go further and say it should be mandatory reading, not just for governmental policy makers, but for everyone on the planet. Mark Lynas is both eloquent and persuasive in this important, extensively researched yet eminently readable and pragmatic account of the nine planetary boundaries within which humanity must now learn to live. But if you're expecting the usual `Greens' manifesto of opposing all `scary' scientific advances such as nuclear power and genetic engineering, think again. In what I found to be wonderfully refreshing departure from the usual literature, Lynas explodes the myths of nuclear power's alleged lack of safety, of GM's alleged risks, and perhaps most importantly of the incompatibility between economic growth and ecological sustainability. While the book in no way paints a rose-tinted picture of our current dire position on the road to planetary disaster, it shows that both the technology and geo-political processes to effect an immediate U-turn, already exist.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely thought provoking
I am 50 and consider myself a reasonably well-read green. Some of the proposals in this book fly in the face of general green ideology but it is an extremely thought provoking... Read more
Published 2 months ago by J. Davis
5.0 out of 5 stars Very good
A very good book that was both informative and easy to read. Made a nice change from the normal text books on this subject.
Published 3 months ago by Estella
2.0 out of 5 stars It is most of humanity that is wrong
It is very unfortunate that Mark Lynas has allowed this book to be marketed as an attack on conventional thinking on the environment. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Martin Lack
5.0 out of 5 stars Facts and figures galore!
This is an incredibly useful book for anyone who wants to be informed about climate change and everything else that is happening to our planet. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. R. P. Mountford
2.0 out of 5 stars Faith in technology - wisdom or arrogance?
This is a curate's egg of a book - good in parts, but leaving an unpleasant aftertaste.

To start with the good, Lynas presents the 'planetary boundaries' approach with... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Alan Neale
5.0 out of 5 stars AN ENVIRONMENTAL REVOLUTION!
Everybody should read this book. All the negative criticism from these reviews is from fanatical Greens!! Read more
Published 10 months ago by Patrickinator
1.0 out of 5 stars Green hubris
The tidal wave of books by global control freaks continues with this new book by Lynas. Although it claims a scientific pedigree, there is little or no science at all, and most of... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Dr. P. R. Lewis
5.0 out of 5 stars God Species
Odd name would have put me off if a friend hadn't recommended it. However and incredibly convincing book with very sensible arguments on the fact that we have a growing problem of... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Michael in Thailand
2.0 out of 5 stars Good idea - poor execution
As he writes in the book a child need optimism to face the future and the girl who challenges her scientist father not to take it away from her is fully correct. Read more
Published 14 months ago by anders
1.0 out of 5 stars self-indulgent & soulless
This painful offering follows in the Nietzsche, Ayn Rand, Crowleyite, Dawkinesque pseudo-intellectual tradition. Read more
Published 16 months ago by George Fox
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