Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth

By: James Lovelock

Narrated by: Gary Telles

Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

In this classic work that continues to inspire its many fans, James Lovelock deftly explains his idea that life on Earth functions as a single organism. Written for the non-scientist, Gaia is a journey through time and space in search of evidence with which to support a new and radically different model of our planet. In contrast to conventional belief that living matter is passive in the face of threats to its existence, the book explores the hypothesis that the Earth's living matter - air, ocean, and land surfaces - forms a complex system that has the capacity to keep the Earth a fit place for life.

Since Gaia was first published, many of Jim Lovelock's predictions have come true, and his theory has become a hotly argued topic in scientific circles. Here, in a new preface, Lovelock outlines the present state of the debate.

©1995 J. E. Lovelock (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Critical insights about our planetary condition

From James Lovelock, possibly the most influential tinker we have regarding the true implications of
climate change and what we can do about it. this book is particularly prescient.
I highly suggest all of Lovelock's books
Wish there were more in audio format. All of them!!
this book is rich with insight and authoritative examples and possible solution.
Truly we must act and wisely
Bravo!

Complicated, but interesting and eye-opening

A lot of comments talk about how the narrator is robotic, but just play the book at 1.40x and he will sound normal!

one of the most important books of our time

I enjoyed it. I already purchased the hard copy to further study the terms used since I have no background in biology and chemistry. beautiful read. I am raising my kids based on the knowledge I gathered in this book. in my culture, gaia is called Ani. I am somewhat familiar with the ideas expressed in this book. James will probably be worshipped in the future. lol

Interesting content marred by lacklustre read

This is a great look at the first public iteration of the Gaia hypothesis. Though some of the analysis is dated (the first edition is from 1979, after all), the data is still the same, and the conclusions drawn still quite relevant.

The analysis of different 'Gaian' control systems was particularly fascinating, as some of them are far more complex than I - a fairly knowledgeable person, but no expert - would have thought: for example, ocean salinity and the controls involved with keeping it constant.

Unfortunately, this read is particularly lacklustre. The performance requires extra effort to engage with the content, and I came to the book excited to listen to it. It may be worth reading a hard copy or finding a different performance, if one exists.

Hard to follow sometimes

Found the vocabulary to be harder to assimilate than other books on climate and evolution. But found the evidence and arguments to be compelling. Fears for humanity’s future are warranted.

Great book, poor recording

It feels like the book was read by AI. No logical intonation, the whole recording feels a lot like a patchwork of a thousand short pieces. Comprehension is highly problematic.