Gaian Hypothesis Links

Watch this 9 minute online film in which James Lovelock discusses his life as an independent scientist. http://www.techtv.com/bigthinkers/story/0,23008,3355557,00.html

A lecture given by James Lovelock at the United Nations University in 1992.
http://www.unu.edu/unupress/lecture1.html

Read a lecture given by Lovelock in 1989 — the John Preedy Memorial Lecture given at Cardiff. http://www.newearth.demon.co.uk/misc/lovelock.htm

Radio National’s transcription of a lively interview with James Loveock discussing nuclear power, the Greens, and the Gaia hypothesis. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ss/stories/s421192.htm

An online chat with James Lovelock, from the Guardian Unlimited, September, 2000 http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/scienceandnature/story/0,6000,375194,00.html

An interview with Lovelock from Salon.com. August, 2000.
http://dir.salon.com/people/feature/2000/08/17/lovelock/index.html

This is the ‘Lovelock website’.
http://www.ecolo.org/lovelock/lovebioen.htm

Other "Gaian Variations" — Introductions, that is, to the Gaia hypothesis from various sources:

Gaia Theory: Science of the Living Earth, by David Orrell. A clearly written short online introduction to the Gaia hypothesis. http://www.gaianet.fsbusiness.co.uk/gaiatheory.html

A brief introduction to James Lovelock and the Gaia hypothesis.
http://noosphere.cc/lovelockmenu.html

From the Wikipedia encyclopedia, an entry on the Gaia hypothesis.
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis

Several webpages discussing the Gaia hypothesis as well as Lynn Margulis’ endosymbiosis theory. http://www.mountainman.com.au/gaia_int.html

This is a very brief selection from Scientists on Gaia, edited by Stephen Schneider and Penelope Boston, an in-depth collection of articles taken from papers delivered at the American Geophysical Union's Chapman Conference of 1988. The book is geared towards scientists, and unfortunately out of print (The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1991). http://ess.geology.ufl.edu/ess/Introduction/GAIA_hypothesis.html

New York Times, Science Times, August 11, 1998, interview with Tyler Volk of New York University. http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/081198sci-gaia.html

Gaiaweb — a whole website by Steve Smith of the University of Wales, devoted to the Gaia hypothesis. http://www.bangor.ac.uk/~iss023/gaiaweb/index.htm

A finely composed general article introducing the Gaia hypothesis, and an accompanying classroom-like study page, by W. Sean Chamberlin, Ph.D.
http://www.oceansonline.com/gaiaho.htm
http://www.oceansonline.com/gaia.htm

A review of Lovelock’s second book, designed to serve as a general introduction to the Gaia hypothesis, written by Stephen Miller in 1989. http://erg.ucd.ie/arupa/references/gaia.html

a brief discussion of the evidence in support of Gaia
http://www.geog.ouc.bc.ca/physgeog/contents/5d.html

The article discussing the Gaia hypothesis on this site dealing with exogenesis has an interesting What’s New section. http://www.panspermia.org/gaia.htm#%205ref

An example of the kind of New Age material frequently inspired by the Gaia hypothesis, this site also includes a short article by Lovelock http://www.ozi.com/ourplanet/gaia.html

Noel Charlton’s introduction to the Gaia hypothesis, with a reading list. http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/philosophy/mave/guide/gaiath~1.htm

On Daisyworld modelling -

For anyone interested, this short article by Ralph H. Abraham demonstrates the math behind the daisyworld model. http://www.vismath.com/research/gaia/WLpaper/daisymath.html

This highly entertaining site from Yale University turns daisyworld into a fun game that can be run with various different settings, but also offers homework, a lab-like environment, and a general discussion of daisyworld and its origins. Written by Ginger Booth. http://www.gingerbooth.com/courseware/daisy.html

Daisyworld: a tutorial approach to geophysiological modelling, by Werner von Bloh, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. This interesting site contains more information dealing with daisyworld. The second link is for an animation of daisyworld, which unfortunately takes much longer to download than the Ginger Booth version above.
http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~bloh/#second
http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~bloh/mpeg/

an example of a site dealing with non-Gaian modelling techniques.
http://gaim.unh.edu/

Daisyworld & Beyond is a whole research network dealing with Daisyworld models and its implications, involving annual workshops, membership, etc. http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/daisyworld/

The Earth Systems Project. A project designed to make important global models accessible to everyone. One of these is a model of Daisyworld, which only runs on Macintosh computers. http://www.rpi.edu/~simonk/ESP/EarthSystemsProject.html

Reflections on Gaia and Gaian philosophy

Elisabet Sahtouris has placed the whole of her book Earthdance online. The work deals with the Gaia hypothesis as well as other ideas. http://www.ratical.com/LifeWeb/Erthdnce/erthdnce.html

Two personal reflections on the Gaia hypothesis from Marty Catherine Bateson. http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m0GER/1999_Fall/56457592/p1/article.jhtml
http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/earth2/bateson.html

Marcia Bjornerud makes interesting observations about critiques of the Gaia hypothesis on this webpage. http://www.lawrence.edu/dept/environmental_studies/gaia.html

This site contains The Perceptual Implications of Gaia, an interesting article by David Abram.
http://www.webcom.com/gaia/

An article called The Meaning of Gaia by David Spangler.
http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC24/Spangler.htm

Gaia pedagogy -

From Yale-New Haven Teacher’s Institute. The Gaia Hypothesis: an approach to problem solving in the environment, by Stephen Beasley-Murray. This is a fine guide for use of Gaian material in the classroom. http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1997/7/97.07.02.x.html

Links related to the other texts of Currier’s work Gaian Variations:

on Loren Eiseley:

website of the Friends of Loren Eiseley Society
http://www.eiseley.unomaha.edu/

Incudes some selections of his writings, as well as a biography
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4189/

Lewis Thomas:

An interview with Lewis Thomas from 1992
http://www.bookpage.com/BPinterviews/thomas492.html

A biography of Thomas, with a list of writings
http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/LewisThomas.htm

A review of Thomas’ The Lives of a Cell; Notes of a Biology Watcher
http://www.crimsonbird.com/science/livescell.htm

to order books of Lewis Thomas:

http://www.alphabet.bc.ca/thomas.htm

BOOKS

Principal works of James Lovelock:

Gaia: a New Look at Life on Earth, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1979. New edition with updated Preface, 1987.

The Ages of Gaia: A Biography of our Living Earth, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1988. New edition, 1996.

Gaia: The Practical Science of Planetary Medicine, Gaia Books Ltd., London, 1991. (In USA: "Healing Gaia: Practical Medicine for the Planet", Harmony, New York. 1991.)

Homage to Gaia, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000.

ALSO OF INTEREST:

Bunyard, Peter (ed.), "Gaia in Action: Science of the Living Earth", Floris Books, Edinburgh, 1996. The most recent anthology of Gaian writing including contributions by Lovelock, Lynn Margulis, Brian Goodwin, Elisabet Sartouris and Kate Rawles.

The computer "game" Sim Earth (Maxis, Inc.) provides more entertaining ways to play with Daisyworld

The following is a short selection from James Lovelock’s own suggested further reading list (taken from The Ages of Gaia, Lovelock, Oxford University Press, 1988), with some of Lovelock’s annotations in italics:

Carson, Rachel:
Silent Spring.
Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1962.
Rachel Carson stands, like Marx, as the major influence behind a revolution, this time in environmental thought and action.

Dyson, Freeman:
Origins of Life.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
If you are interested in the beginnings, then read ‘Origins of Life.’

Holland, H. D.;
The Chemical Evolution of the Atmosphere and the Oceans.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984.
For a straightforward account of the evolution of the Earth from a geologist's viewpoint, there is no better book.

Jantsch, Erich;
The Self-Organizing Universe.
Oxford: Pergamon, 1980.
For an understanding of scientists’ views of the Universe, perhaps the best summary is in

‘The Self-Organizing Universe.’
Lotka, Alfred;
Elements of Physical Biology.
Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1925.
Those interested in geophysiological theory should read this classic.

Margulis, Lynn;
Early Life.
Boston: Science Books International, 1982.
Provides a beautiful and clearly written account of the known and the conjectured of the obscure period before and after life began, including a picture of the evolution of nascent life.

Margulis, Lynn;
Symbiosis in Cell Evolution.
San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1981.
For those interested in the evolution of eukaryotic cells, there is a detailed account.

Margulis, Lynn and Dorian Sagan;
Microcosmos.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986.
London: Allan and Unwin, 1987.
A splendid account of the four eons of evolution from our microbial ancestors.

Marurana, Humberto R., and Francisco J. Varela;
The Tree of Knowledge.
Boston: New Sciences Library, 1987.
Autopoiesis, the organization of living things, and many other concetps helpful for understanding life as a process, are described.

Schrodinger, Erwin
What is Life?
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1944.
The classic account of the problem of defining life.

Thomas, Lewis
The Lives of a Cell.
New York: Viking Press, 1975.
For those who find the topic of Gaia entertaining, probably no one has written with more feeling than Lewis Thomas.

ARTICLES related to Gaia:

Carter, R. N., and S. D. Prince;
Epidemiological models used to explain biogeographical distribution limits.
Nature 293 (1981) 644-645.

Dubos, Rene;
Symbiosis between Earth and humankind;
Science 193 (1976) 459.

Lovelock, J. E.;
Gaia as seen through the atmosphere,
Atmospheric Environment 6 (1972) 579-580.
NB: First mention of the gaia hypothesis.

Lovelock, J. E.;
Methyl chloroform in the troposphere as an indicator of radical abundance,
Nature 267 (1977) 32.

Lovelock, J. E.;
Gaia as seen through the atmosphere,
In: Biomineralization and Biological Metal Accumulation,
P. Westbroek and E. W. de Jong, eds.
Dordrecht: Reidel, 1982, 15-25.
NB: Discussion of daisy world with equations.

Lovelock, James E.,
Geophysiology: A new look at earth science.
Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 67(4) (April, 1986) 392-397.
NB: discussion of daisyworld.

Lovelock, James E.,
A numerical model for biodiversity,
Phil. Trans. R. Soc. London B 338 (1992) 383-391.

Lovelock, J. E., and S. R. Epton;
The quest for Gaia.
New Scientist 6 (Feb. 1975).

Lovelock, J. E., and L. Margulis;
Atmospheric homeostasis by and for the biophere: the Gaia hypothesis;
Tellus 26 (1974) 1-10.

Lovelock, J. E., and L. Margulis;
Biological modulation of the Earth's atmosphere,
Icarus 21 (1974) 471.

Lovelock, J. E., and L. Margulis;
Homeostatic tendencies of the earth's atmosphere,
Origin of Life 1 (1974) 12-22.

Lovelock, J. E., and A. J. Watson;
The regulation of carbon dioxide and climate: Gaia or geochemistry,
Planet Space Science 30 (1982) 795-802.

Sellers, Ann and A. J. Meadows;
Long-term variations in the albedo and surface temperature of the Earth;
Nature 254 (1975) 44.

Vernadsky, V.;
The biosphere and the noosphere,
Amer. Sci.33 (1945) 1-12.

Watson, Andrew J., and James E. Lovelock;
Biological homeostasis of the global environment: the parable of Daisyworld,
Tellus 35B (1983) 284-289.

Watson, A. J., J. E. Lovelock, and L. Margulis,
Methanogenesis, fires and the regulation of atmospheric oxygen;
BioSystems 10 (1978) 293-298.

Xubin Zeng, R. A. Pielke, and R. Eykholt;
Chaos in daisyworld,
Tellus 42B (1990) 309-318.