from: Oxford University Press, USA
List Price: $34.95
Prices subject to change.
Amazon.com's Price: $26.40
You Save: $8.55 (24%)Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 333.9516
EAN: 9780195175097
ISBN: 0195175093
Label: Oxford University Press, USA
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 568
Publication Date: June 02, 2008
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Sales Rank: 10101
Studio: Oxford University Press, USA
Related Items:
- Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America
- The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time
- The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability
- The Diversity of Life
- Climate Change and Biodiversity
- see more
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
The Earth's biodiversity-the rich variety of life on our planet-is disappearing at an alarming rate. And while many books have focused on the expected ecological consequences, or on the aesthetic, ethical, sociological, or economic dimensions of this loss, Sustaining Life is the first book to examine the full range of potential threats that diminishing biodiversity poses to human health.
Edited and written by Harvard Medical School physicians Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein, along with more than 100 leading scientists who contributed to writing and reviewing the book, Sustaining Life presents a comprehensive--and sobering--view of how human medicines, biomedical research, the emergence and spread of infectious diseases, and the production of food, both on land and in the oceans, depend on biodiversity. The book's ten chapters cover everything from what biodiversity is and how human activity threatens it to how we as individuals can help conserve the world's richly varied biota. Seven groups of organisms, some of the most endangered on Earth, provide detailed case studies to illustrate the contributions they have already made to human medicine, and those they are expected to make if we do not drive them to extinction. Drawing on the latest research, but written in language a general reader can easily follow, Sustaining Life argues that we can no longer see ourselves as separate from the natural world, nor assume that we will not be harmed by its alteration. Our health, as the authors so vividly show, depends on the health of other species and on the vitality of natural ecosystems.
With a foreword by E.O. Wilson and a prologue by Kofi Annan, and more than 200 poignant color illustrations, Sustaining Life contributes essential perspective to the debate over how humans affect biodiversity and a compelling demonstration of the human health costs.
Average Rating: 
Rating:
- Sustaining Life : a breakthrough publicationThe recent publication of Sustaining Life, edited by Eric Chivian and Aaron Bernstein, is an immensely valuable and timely addition to the growing body of literature in support of a One Health approach. This volume should stand as key testimony to the core value of biodiversity in maintaining the health of the planet and all life that depends on it, including humans, and should supersede political agendas that depend only on aesthetics as an argument for conservation. Best of all, this highly readable ... Read More
Rating:
- InspiringEducational and intesting. Includes excellent discussion on biodiversity and ecosystems, and ties these into topics from medicines and human health to food and farming. Finally it closes with a discussion on what people can do. Clear explanations, good list of references and further reading.
Rating:
- Crucially importantWow! What a comprehensive piece of work. I believe "Sustaining Life" will prove to be one of the most important books of the 21st century.
I am a retired physician, now leading a small, volunteer-run conservation organization. Our objective is to educate the public about our local fauna and flora, to get them outdoors and to inspire an appreciation for wildlife and an understanding of their habitat needs. We teach people to recognize tracks and other signs of wild creatures and how they ... Read More
Rating:
- A must have for conservationists and general public (and cheap!!)First the more practical stuff. I think the book is very cheap, because I found for a much higher price somewhere else, but also because of its size and print quality (I expected something smaller). And it arrived very fast (I got super-fast shipping for free).
Now the book. I like that it has a lot of figures. I'm a scientist and usually have to read long, black and white papers, with only formal figures. Adding figures to text books is not cheap, but is makes is much more reader-friendly. Also, ... Read More
Browse for similar items by category:
- Administration & Policy - Medicine & Health Sciences - New & Used Textbooks - Custom Stores - Specialty Stores - Books - Public Health
- Administration & Policy - Medicine & Health Sciences - New & Used Textbooks - Custom Stores - Specialty Stores - Books - General AAS
- Medicine & Health Sciences - New & Used Textbooks - Custom Stores - Specialty Stores - Books - General AAS
- Biology & Life Sciences - Science & Mathematics - New & Used Textbooks - Custom Stores - Specialty Stores - Books - Ecology
- Biology & Life Sciences - Science & Mathematics - New & Used Textbooks - Custom Stores - Specialty Stores - Books - General AAS
