Autonomous Nature

In this ambitious history of ideas, Carolyn Merchant calls attention to the ancient idea of nature as unpredictable, rebellious, and impossible to understand and control completely. She urges us to recover that older idea for the foundation of a new ecological ethic. Wide-ranging, original, and provocative.

Donald Worster, author of "Nature’s Economy: A History of Ecological Ideas"

Merchant has written a key history of ideas for evaluating two of the big questions today: how did we get into this mess, and how can we get out of it. Western thinkers, who gave us the scientific method, also fell short of the truer, fuller view of reality, dynamical and chaotic. It is against this richer backdrop that we can grasp today’s emerging complexity paradigm, and find hope and insight for restoring our planet’s beautifully ‘rambunctious gardens.’

Jennifer Wells, California Institute of Integral Studies, author of Complexity and Sustainability

'I believe this book can be recommended highly to the readers for whom Carolyn Merchant intended it: “those with a background in the humanities, social sciences, and the sciences and for an educated audience interested in the past, present, and future of humanity and life on Earth”'

J. Donald Hughes

The information and content of this book are unique, and it will help readers to understand the history of climate change governance. The extensive bibliography shows the intensive research done to put forth the facts as a testimonial to the credibility of the book.

S. Suresh Ramanan, Australian Journal of Environmental Education


Merchant’s book can help inform education programs that are concerned with understanding changing human relationships with nature and how humanity can live with an autonomous earthly nature in a partnership ethic. I found Merchant’s book easier to digest and apply in educational settings.

Annette Gough, University, Melbourne, Australian Journal of Environmental Education