A scientist's thoughts on a book by a great naturalist

[Aleta]

Indeed, you could assess this provocative book as a rambling mess...or the musings of a great thinker. When thought of as a collection of musings, its wandering can be forgiven or even enjoyed. He does the necessary work of introducing the importance and vastness of biodiversity to the non-scientist (I am, in fact, a scientist). That is best done by storytelling, and that he does. This book will leave you with a greater sense of what is at stake, and the wonder of it all. Wilson does not fully develop his concept of the half-earth solution, he merely offers it up. If you consider this book a series of essays, then the title is in fact a title of one of the essays, which would explain that it is not really the topic of the book. Wilson likes to introduce big ideas, and sometimes to develop them as theories. Half-Earth is a big idea, and he starts the conversation. Not many well-known writers in this field are willing to be unabashedly eco-centric. In the human oriented "resource" view of nature, the idea of Half Earth is galling. I am glad Wilson specifically takes on the human-centric trend in environmental thinking and action in this book, and reminds us that this is not just our planet.