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Loading... The Diversity of Life (1992)by Edward O. Wilson
 Felixelhombre | Mar 31, 2013 |  I love, love, L O V E E.O. Wilson as a scientist, and I love reading him when the audience he's writing for is comprised of fellow scientists. Unfortunately, the Diversity of Life is not one of those works, and as such doesn't pack near the punch as Quammen's 1997 tome on biogeography--Wilson's for-the-layperson writing style made me a wee bits uncomfortable--, nor is it as far-reaching in its coverage. It's also more noticeably out-dated (the early '90s were a time of many breakthroughs in ecology, or at least cementations of ideas proposed in the past decade-half, many of which were still being studied or assessed during the writing of this book: they are not explored in much detail as they are in Quammen's monstrous, highly readable book). I admit, Wilson's attempts at adding fancy and color to his writing (and his recounting of past events) to make it more 'artistic' and 'literary' occasionally had me groanin' and facepalmin'. (Makes me wonder if I should ever pick up his novel....) I still dug Diversity--so don't pay too much attention to my overwhelmingly negative focus--and Wilson's still my bro, but damn, dude, it was a bit redundant and dry for me. [Started off as a recommendation for [redacted] and became too much of a [bad] review in itself.] (  ) rickybutler | Jul 2, 2012 | A wonderful and deeply disturbing book. It commences with a detailed explanation of how life came to be so stunningly diverse and ends by confronting us with the brutal reality of the destruction of the biosphere by our own hand. I was deeply affected by the exposition of this distruction and have been conscripted into action by Wilson's plea to save what little remains. Fifteen years have passed since it was written and I shudder to consider the scale of damage that we have caused in that time. (  )2  stuster | Sep 30, 2009 | This is a wonderful book. Wilson discusses how/why variations in populations come about in the first place. He really conveys what a miracle biodiversity is, and why we need to preserve it. kdough03 | Feb 2, 2008 | If you are turned on by biodiversity, this one is for you. ( ) miketroll | Feb 21, 2007 | no reviews | add a review Is abridged in
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Wikipedia in English (3)
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The man in Mexico who is believed to have shot the very last of a giant woodpecker species said, "It was a great piece of meat."
Our kind has ravaged the earth as we have spread and occupied territory, eliminating species through hunting, habitat destruction, and introduction of exotic species. The rate of that elimination has only increased over time.
"For the green prehuman earth is the mystery we were chosen to solve, a guide to the birthplace of our spirit, but it is slipping away. The way back seems harder every year. If there is danger in the human trajectory, it is not so much in the survival of our own species as in the fulfillment of the ultimate irony of organic evolution: that in the instant of achieving self-understanding through the mind of man, life has doomed its most beautiful creations. And thus humanity closes the door to its past."
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