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Nature's Economy

A History of Ecological Ideas

Donald Worster author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:24th Jun '94

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Nature's Economy cover

Nature's Economy is a wide-ranging investigation of ecology's past, first published in 1994. It traces the origins of the concept, discusses the thinkers who have shaped it, and shows how it in turn has shaped the modern perception of our place in nature. Our view of the living world is a product of culture, and the development of ecology since the eighteenth century has closely reflected society's changing concerns. Donald Worster focuses on these dramatic shifts in outlook and on the individuals whose work has expressed and influenced society's point of view. The book includes portraits of Linnaeus, Gilbert White, Darwin, Thoreau, and such key twentieth-century ecologists as Rachel Carson, Frederic Clements, Aldo Leopold, James Lovelock, and Eugene Odum.

'A major purpose of this book, written at a time when ecology burgeons as both a science and a cult, is to show that ecological science has always been shifting ground … Worster's style is warm, intellectually strong, and eloquent.' Frederick E. Smith, Science
'The in-depth treatment Worster has given to many who contributed to the evolution and revolution of the discipline reflects scholarship of high order. To write in a highly readable and absorbing style makes it even more praiseworthy. Graduates in ecology at baccalaureate to doctoral levels, and many practitioners of the discipline, basic and applied, would do well to take stock of where they came from. Worster is a very worthwhile guide.' Edward J. Kormondy, Ecology
'Donald Worster's book, a gracefully written account of select events in the history of ecology, is designed to show how this field developed prior to the mid-twentieth century explosion of concern about the subject … Worster has written a volume that should be read and pondered.' Keir B. Sterling, The American Historical Review
'Worster has produced a fascinating book. One reading left a copy littered with checkmarks, underlined passages, exclamation, and a note paper of quotations and ideas. The book is well written, well organized, interesting, and provocative.' Frank B. Golley, Human Ecology

ISBN: 9780521452731

Dimensions: 243mm x 162mm x 37mm

Weight: 862g

423 pages

2nd Revised edition