12wonderY
The Human Planet is the textbook for the fall class I’m taking. The class has the same title, and it’s being taught in the history department.
This is the smallest, most reader friendly textbook I’ve seen in quite some time. It can be held in one hand. It has 414 pages of text, plus notes and index, and is broken into 11 chapters.
Published in 2018, I’m counting on it to discuss fairly current thought in the discipline.
The syllabus adds a lot of outside reading, so there will be some slop over in material discussion, I expect.
This is the smallest, most reader friendly textbook I’ve seen in quite some time. It can be held in one hand. It has 414 pages of text, plus notes and index, and is broken into 11 chapters.
Published in 2018, I’m counting on it to discuss fairly current thought in the discipline.
The syllabus adds a lot of outside reading, so there will be some slop over in material discussion, I expect.
22wonderY
Since I am reading this for class, my comments will include what happens in class.
We were assigned to read the introduction to the textbook, The Human Planet.
Dr. Crum pointed out the review in the Wall Street Journal that said it had “the force of a Greek tragedy.”
Instead of diving right in, we looked at online bios of the authors first.
Both teach at University College London.
Simon L. Lewis is a plant ecologist specializing in the tropics. The jacket blurb says “he has been described as having “one of the world’s most influential scientific minds.””
Mark A. Maslin’s bio went on and on and on and on about his businesses, research connections, speaking engagements, and his impact on climate change policies. The photo attached was quite provocative. We had a merry few minutes making fun of him.
He too is an earth systems scientist.
So, as pointed out by our historian, neither has credentials in the discipline of history.
This led to a discussion of a couple of terms important for framing the story.
“Presentism” is basing analysis on present understandings and attitudes, possibly also present circumstances? (Still a bit muzzy.)
“Useable past” ???
“Bias” start your search by looking for confirmation of your beliefs.
I’m very impressed with this thrust and with my fellow students.
So, read, but question.
I will actually get into content next post.
We were assigned to read the introduction to the textbook, The Human Planet.
Dr. Crum pointed out the review in the Wall Street Journal that said it had “the force of a Greek tragedy.”
Instead of diving right in, we looked at online bios of the authors first.
Both teach at University College London.
Simon L. Lewis is a plant ecologist specializing in the tropics. The jacket blurb says “he has been described as having “one of the world’s most influential scientific minds.””
Mark A. Maslin’s bio went on and on and on and on about his businesses, research connections, speaking engagements, and his impact on climate change policies. The photo attached was quite provocative. We had a merry few minutes making fun of him.
He too is an earth systems scientist.
So, as pointed out by our historian, neither has credentials in the discipline of history.
This led to a discussion of a couple of terms important for framing the story.
“Presentism” is basing analysis on present understandings and attitudes, possibly also present circumstances? (Still a bit muzzy.)
“Useable past” ???
“Bias” start your search by looking for confirmation of your beliefs.
I’m very impressed with this thrust and with my fellow students.
So, read, but question.
I will actually get into content next post.
32wonderY
Introduction
The authors begin with some startling numbers. Humans are responsible for reducing the earth's tree population from 6 trillion to 3 trillion. Considering the weight of large mammals today, the distribution is 3% wild, 30% human, and 67% domesticated animals. In the past 50 years, population has doubled, while the global economy has increased sixfold.
They pose the question - Is the human animal "special" in that it can out-think and out-maneuver itself from decline such as happens in an over-ripe petri dish?
They describe the four themes they will lay out.
1. They declare that human activity constitutes a new force of nature.
2. They will describe four major transitions, which they call the human development two-step:
a. farming
b. global trade
c. fossil fuels/industrialization
d. "The Great Acceleration"
3. They want to choose the Orbis Spike of 1610 to peg the beginning of the Anthropocene. That's when European colonization caused the death of millions of indigenous humans and caused enough land to go fallow that it is evident in the climate record as the last global cooling up to the present.
4. They will discuss the possibilities of the future. Will there be a 5th transition?
They highlight:
Two sixteenth century cultural factors became interlinked self-reinforcing feedback loops
- in economics, the investment of profits began to be used to generate more profits.
- the scientific method produced ever-greater knowledge.
The authors begin with some startling numbers. Humans are responsible for reducing the earth's tree population from 6 trillion to 3 trillion. Considering the weight of large mammals today, the distribution is 3% wild, 30% human, and 67% domesticated animals. In the past 50 years, population has doubled, while the global economy has increased sixfold.
They pose the question - Is the human animal "special" in that it can out-think and out-maneuver itself from decline such as happens in an over-ripe petri dish?
They describe the four themes they will lay out.
1. They declare that human activity constitutes a new force of nature.
2. They will describe four major transitions, which they call the human development two-step:
a. farming
b. global trade
c. fossil fuels/industrialization
d. "The Great Acceleration"
3. They want to choose the Orbis Spike of 1610 to peg the beginning of the Anthropocene. That's when European colonization caused the death of millions of indigenous humans and caused enough land to go fallow that it is evident in the climate record as the last global cooling up to the present.
4. They will discuss the possibilities of the future. Will there be a 5th transition?
They highlight:
Two sixteenth century cultural factors became interlinked self-reinforcing feedback loops
- in economics, the investment of profits began to be used to generate more profits.
- the scientific method produced ever-greater knowledge.
