Reviews (22)

A Book to Reinvent Our Goals
Alan Weisman, a journalist hired by NPR to investigate solutions for environmental crises, spent years collecting information in a tiny, remote village at the eastern edge of the war-torn country of Colombia. That village was Gaviotas; this book is his result.

I read this book on a recommendation from Daniel Quinn, author of "The Story of B" and "Beyond Civilization." Quinn's entire philosophy rests on two ideas: living in a sustainable manner, and allowing the reader to come up with their own solutions for doing so. Gaviotas is a community where people did just that - through ingenuity, creativity, and hard work, the residents of this planned village created a place where water is pulled from the ground using pumps attached to children's see-saws, heat is provided by the sun, and electricity by the wind.

It's a progressive's dream come true, and an experiment that has succeeded in all possible ways. This book lays out the history of Gaviotas and its unique founder, Paolo Lugari, and places it within the context of the ongoing struggles in Colombia. In the wake of the World Trade Center attack, I decided to re-read Gaviotas to remind myself that not only is there hope for humanity as a whole, but hope that individuals will begin to take responsibility to begin freeing ourselves from the confining forces of our self-imposed prisons called "civilization," but still manage to retain the good things, too.

Every person on earth should read and re-read this book. If you haven't, buy it now or start hoofing it to the library.

Wonderful, Inspiring, Hopeful!
It was one of the best books I've ever read.
Go get it right now!

Gaviotas is an inspiring story of hope and success
Gaviotas the place is amazing! I can't believe how many good ideas were put into practice in one community! Incredible. All working/aspiring engineers, city planners, architects, etc. should having a working knowledge of the theories and practices Alan Weisman describes in this book.

Humans CAN be part of a non-destructive, even a positive, productive relationship with their surroundings. We CAN prosper without decimating everything with which we interact. Gaviotas is a good start--a good example for the rest of the world.

READ THE BOOK! BUY THE BOOK!

Hope Floats
I read this book after one of my Colombian friend recommended it. I could not put it down once I started reading it. It is not an easy reading and it requires you to think about how everybody in the western world takes life and facilities for granted which people in countries like Colombia strive hard to achieve.

This book is a fantastic tale of individuals who don't take no for an answer, who had a dream and they worked to achieve it and in the process created an outstanding example of the fact that 'life and nature can co-exist' because that is how they were before we made discoveries and inventions to conquer nature.

The book ends with a final message...If you have a dream then pursue it...you will meet people along the way who share your thinking...Hope floats.

A vision of humanities existence
Gaviotas

I can honestly say that this book completely changed the way I look human existence and relation to nature. Not only are the people of Gaviotas innovators, but visionaries aided by the studies past and present technologies. While reading this tale I was not only amazed by the resourcefulness of a few people, rather what the implications are to the human family as a whole. It seems that the people of Gaviotas have given themselves an education that no classroom can offer. In fact quite the contrary, they are scholars of the laws of nature.
One thing that I learned from this book is that it is easy to get stuck thinking within the parameters of modern society. It seems that every technology around us is based purely on the short term and hard resources. However it is the natural dynamics of Earth which run the resource base for the natural world, the wind, hot, cold and ultimately the sun. ... Read more

Book Description

The pioneering young scientist whose work on the structure of small worlds has triggered an avalanche of interest in networks. In this remarkable book, Duncan Watts, one of the principal architects of network theory, sets out to explain the innovative research that he and other scientists are spearheading to create a blueprint of our connected planet. Whether they bind computers, economies, or terrorist organizations, networks are everywhere in the real world, yet only recently have scientists attempted to explain their mysterious workings.

From epidemics of disease to outbreaks of market madness, from people searching for information to firms surviving crisis and change, from the structure of personal relationships to the technological and social choices of entire societies, Watts weaves together a network of discoveries across an array of disciplines to tell the story of an explosive new field of knowledge, the people who are building it, and his own peculiar path in forging this new science. 24 b/w illustrations. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Uncertainly networked world
Our world is narrower and people are closer to each other than ever before due to the development of a variety of transportation and telecommunications technologies. We can jet any foreign country within a few days. What is more surprising is the flow of information. The advent of Internet made it possible to access to global information with a series of clicks. We can be connected to each other through diverse network systems. Duncan J. Watts shows this well through his book, Six Degrees: the science of a connected age.
The author attempts to define our world as a complex network and develop simple mathematical models such as ¥á and ¥â to represent the dynamics of it and on it. What is intriguing in this book is that it shows interdisciplinary efforts to understand and explain small world phenomena, in which people can be connected within fewer steps than expected. The author could gain insight and develop his models through direct and indirect academic encounters with mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, and sociologists.
Furthermore, he tries to develop more plausible model through interaction between existing models and actual natural and social phenomena. Taking the contagion of disease such as AIDS/HIV, Ebola, and plague as examples, he introduces the concept of percolation and threshold. It is especially important that characteristics of a network can produce both robustness and weakness. For example, a network which has a few large clusters and a high degree of connectivity can be efficient in terms of information transmission, but it also has the risk of catastrophic contagion of diseases or computer viruses.
This book starts from general mathematical models of our world and ends with the difference and uncertainty in specific situations. We can be taught two points based on this process. First, the science of network is necessary to make a better understand of our world. People are still geographically separated and do not know most of others. But it is also true that individual people or actions can be connected sometimes to cause globally influential accidents. Behind these are invisible and intangible mechanisms of network system which depend on the specific network systems. The author argues that the science of network is required to understand those mechanisms rather than predict them. Second, the new science can be effective only if we take interdisciplinary perspective. That is shown well in the process which the author develop his model to understand our world.
It seems impossible that we make a perfectly accurate model of our connected world and devise network system with perfect robustness. Because of environmental uncertainty and ambiguity, there are always accidental factors. Still, we can do our best to make our systems as tolerant and flexible as possible. That is the way the science of network goes.

"New" Science of Networks?
At the core of this book, which is easy to miss especially due to all of the wonderful examples of how connected we all are and that make you want to sing "It's a small world after all," is the argument that a new science of networks has been developed and that this science of networks is "new" because in the author's own words its view has "as an integral part of a continously evolving and self-constituting system." (Read: we don't view the network as static and it's structure as explicit like the previous models). Duncan Watts uses the first two chapters to make this argument so that he can go on to talk about how exciting this new science of networks is and what an integral role he played and is playing in it. After all, how could he and his publishers sell so many copies of this book if they couldn't make grand claims like they do on the side-cover of the jacket where they say, "...Duncan Watts, one of the principal architects of the new science of networks, lays out nothing less than a new way to understand our connected planet?"

The main problem I have with this book is that like many science books written for lay-people by self-important scientists, such as Laszlo Barabasi and Stephen Wolfram, who extol their scientific research as a singular event of such magnificent proportions that nothing less than a scientific revolution a la Karl Popper would suffice in recognition of the brilliance of their ideas, you have a situation where the author at some point decided not to actually mention the competing work and ideas that either pre-existed or co-evolved with his own work because doing so would diminish the work's importance. Instead, they choose to go the route of setting up a straw man, whether it's intentional I know not, where they identify a few strains of ideas that are clearly not as powerful as their own in the context in which they are explained and then proceed to knock them down in order to motivate the significance of their own accomplishments. Wolfram did this by simply claiming to have invented the field of cellular automata and then failed to cite all of the other work in the area. In this case, Watts uses centrality measures and block models as his strawman, both widely used in sociology and indeed normally only used on static graphs thus supposedly making them inferior to his "new" models. (Ironically, the small world model, which he is most famous for and implicitly argues was the watershed event of the evolution of the "new" science has no real concept of dynamics build into it either unless you consider tuning a parameter as "dynamic".) If Watts was being honest and had done his homework he would have toned down the rhetoric and mentioned such work as the many statistical models of networks that abound in the literature, models of social networks dynamics, for example, exponential random graphs, such as the work by Snijders, Pattison, Skvoretz, etc.

Another problem I have with this book is that the models he describes as being part of the "new science of networks" are not backed up by reliable data. He describes one of the great achievements being that his model which takes into account different social dimensions produces results very similar to Stanley Milgram's results, the only real data set on finding targets in a small world network that exists. But earlier in the book he admits that this data is very small, unreliable, and even questionable in its veracity. Furthermore, he describes a project he is heading up involving collecting data (email chains) from 150,000 people but he doesn't even wait until this project is completed to report its findings. In other words, it could turn out that the findings invalidate the models he has built. (You have to wonder "Why the rush to print?") So all he has done so far, from what I can tell, is give a possible explanation for how small worlds might be created and used to navigate through without actually verifying whether these models are emprically reasonable. Funny enough, a point he mentions throughout the book is that there are many different ways, e.g. different parameters one could use, to do this.

Although I think this book is very informative and actually has a lot to say, for example, nice vignettes about the process of scientific discovery, the revolutionary self-important tone of his book, the exaggeration of how powerful these models are, and the omission of other strong work which actually complements this work, will, in my opinion, only help to make this "new" science a passing fad much like chaos theory was a decade ago.

One of the best written books of the year
This was one of the most fascinating books I've read recently. Although I had heard of the concept of at most six links between any two people on the earth and the connection with Kevin Bacon as well as a famous mathematician whose name I forget right now, I was not aware of the origin of this concept. Watts tells a fascinating tale of statisticians, social workers, mathematicians, physicists, network engineers, and several other disciplines whose work derives from or adds to the whole science of networks and connectedness. The networking and connectedness of people studying connectedness is as fascinating as any topic in the book. It almost makes me want to go back to college and choose some aspect of network theory as a thesis. Exciting book.

six degrees?
Six Degrees has been the only book that I¡¦ve been reading lately. It was the description of this book to me by a friend that caught my attention. Can I possibly be just 6 people away from any other person on the other side or the world? After I started reading it, the book sucked me right in, and I found this book quite different from other books in the same genera. Duncan J. Watts, the author of this book, unlike other specialists in their area who often take an absolute and definite view in their opinions, instead adapted a more humble attitude in his own works. He open questioned the possible flaws and mistakes in his own theories and opinions, in which I think granted the readers some space to think, and to better digest the contents of this book.

Duncan J. Watts gathered opinions and research results from different areas to develop his theories. Network, as Duncan himself had mentioned, is an area of science with much more yet to be discovered. I got to say, this is some hard science that this book is discussing. It covers materials all the way from the study of social structures, advanced math, to advanced physics, and much more. Also according to Duncan, the science of network could actually be more closely to our lives then we imagined. Diseases, social structure, and economy are all under the fields of network. There¡¦s no way that a regular high school student like me could get a complete hold of such a complex structure of materials. Yet, Duncan¡¦s explanations and thoughtful examples successfully illustrated a number of clear pictures in my minds and really helped me a lot in the understanding of his concepts.

I suggest everyone to read this book, even though one might not fully understand the book, it does give inspirations and provide new perspectives. I am glad that I read this book, it had an great impact upon my view of the world, and reminded how closely things could be related unexpectedly.

I Liked It
I picked up the book to get an introduction into social network theory. Unlike the other critics, I enjoyed the descriptions of his working relationships with others. The book provides good food for thought for the uninitiated, which includes me. I particularly liked his historical description of what was known prior to his research (graph theory, random graphs, Milgrams work). In particular, his use of contemporary events provided a foundation for understanding the significance to his work. I detected, and the author admits, that there were a few areas not fully substantiated yet.

There was one aspect particularly exciting for me. As a Christian, I revisited the Book of Acts after reading this book. I thought about the fact that if Christ had lived the 12 apostles might not have dispersed - they would have remained clustered in one group. Their disbursement was crucial to the proliferation of a network and in a sense provides another form of validating the author's thoughts on thresholds and cascading effects. An incredible mind was certainly at work!

I gave one start less than five, though, due to the author's tendency for age discrimination in the area of people doing graduate work. I started graduate school well into my forties. :-) ... Read more

Book Description

STAY INFORMED-STAY COMPLIANT-STAY UP-TO-DATEYou can't do business in the United States without complying with a whole new generation of environmental regulations. Get all the information you need with Environmental Compliance: A Web-Enhanced Resource. This resource will never be outdated. With the continually updated Web site, you will always have access to the latest Federal, state, and local regulations. ENVIRONMENTAL PROFESSIONALSIf you are in charge of implementing your company's environmental compliance you need accurate up-to-date information on environmental laws and standards. If you are in charge of training personnel you need quick easy access to training materials. Environmental Compliance: A Web-Enhanced Resource provides you with an accurate, easy-to-use resource that meets all these needs. You get weblinks to: search engines, electronic libraries, electric on-line journals, environmental searchable databases, and environmental regulation sites all in one complete resource.ENVIRONMENTAL PROFESSORS When you teach a course on environmental compliance, you require time- and energy-saving course materials that give you everything you need to be fully prepared. You need ready-made resources on hand. Environmental Compliance: A Web-Enhanced Resource provides you with a test bank, review questions, downloadable PowerPoint® slides, and useful weblinks. Your students will learn faster and learn more by taking advantage of the resources available on the Web site.GOALS AND OBJECTIVESThis book covers the basic regulatory and state requirements for environmental compliance so you can:oIdentify and define the environmental regulations that require compliance by corporations, agencies, and municipalitiesoUnderstand the conditions that provide compliance or non-compliance with environmental regulationsoUse your compliance knowledge by developing reports consistent with regulatory requirementsoEvaluate the degree of compliance with environmental regulations for a particular industry FIND EVERYTHING YOU NEED IN ONE CONVENIENT RESOURCECarefully illustrated and written in a style that is accessible to the layman and the professional - with a supporting web site that will be continually updated by the author - Environmental Compliance: A Web-Enhanced Resource incorporates the common concepts associated with environmental regulations with new, emerging, and controversial issues of domestic and international environmental compliance. The book serves as a college level textbook and an easy-to-use tool for corporate officers, environmental professionals, and government agency personnel who need and easy-to-read, graphically-rich resource for compliance issues. It walks you through the compliance process: how to comply, what forms are needed, where and to whom to send them, when to send them, and more. ... Read more

Book Description

The message of The Hydrogen Economy is resoundingly simple: The earth is depleting its oil reserves and even the most generous estimates show oil reserves peaking in about forty years. The specter of global warming and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the oil-rich regions of the earth worsen the problem considerably. The answer, asserts Rifkin, is to embrace a new energy source that is just now gaining public attention: hydrogen.

This abundant element, found everywhere on earth including in air and water, can be transformed, using sustainable methods, into a potentially limitless form of clean-burning fuel. But this potential will founder unless we act now to create the necessary global infrastructure before the factors above overtake us. If we embrace this momentous opportunity, Rifkin says, we will also be able to reinvent the global economy as one in which an inexpensive energy grid provides affordable, efficient fuel for virtually everyone on earth. If we fail, our current economic regime-built exclusively on fossil fuels-will collapse.As the concept of a hydrogen-based future grows in the news, The Hydrogen Economy will lead the way. ... Read more

Reviews (24)

The coming storm
This book paints a pretty scary view of the future, but let's remember that gasoline powered cars have not been around all that long, and the fact that they might not be around forever shouldn't come as that much of a surprise. I thought that the division of 175 pages for the problem and 75 pages for the solution about summed up the issue. We need to start putting some real effort (read money) into this so we can begin to pull ourselves out of the middle east. With respect to comments that hydrogen needs to be separated from water, and is not a primary energy source in and of itself... of course, but that doesn't change the fact that it will become our only choice, and if one reads past the dust jacket, they will see that is addressed in the book. Overall, this is chocked full of statistics, yet somehow seems to be 1% more like an infomercial than a literary work, but it is something that everybody should drop their nintendos and read. Maybe it should be a required read in school as well.

Most Interesting Book I've Read In Years
We're running out of oil and other fossil fuels faster than most people realize. Peak oil production might occur in 10 years or less. Then, prices will go up dramatically causing another worldwide recession. Middle Eastern countries will once again hold the world hostage, as they own most oil reserves. Global warming will continue to get worse as more fossil fuels are burned. Despite this gloomy picture, the author provides a "silver bullet" solution--hydrogen power. Hydrogen is clean; it contains no carbon and thus produces no carbon dioxide; it's inexhaustible; it's renewable; and it's getting cheaper to produce. With hydrogen fuel cell technologies coming on strong, each of us can become both producer and consumer of hydrogen, breaking the stranglehold of big oil companies and unstable Arab governments. Hopefully, the switchover to hydrogen power will occur before we exhaust our oil and gas reserves and have to increase the amount of coal we burn and the harmful acid rain that inevitably follows. The author has presented a coherent argument for hydrogen and a hopeful vision for our energy future.

Well Written and Horrifying
Rifkin's Hydrogen Economy, although short on scientific evidence to back up some of his claims, paints a truly terrifying portriat of the next thirty years; one that will inevitably come true if we do not embrace new energy sources. Buy this book for the first 125 pages, and check out "tomorrow's energy" for a great look at the emerging HEW. Rifkin's thesis on the Rise and Fall of civilizations and its relation to energy needs is very relevant to todays efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan and leaves one with an entirely different outlook on aspects of human civilization that seem to be commonplace and immutable. A must-read.

Energy for Rifkin's hydrogen economy?
I'm probably not qualified to write a review - I haven't read the book, nor do I intend to. But I have read the 30 reviews (8 of them identical?) on this Amazon web page (Everyone together: a big "bravo" for Amazon). I read those reviews looking for one phrase: nuclear energy. I don't expect to find it in Rifkin, but I am surprised that the absence of that phrase was not noted by even a single reviewer.

Briefly, wind mills and solar cells will simply not suffice to provide the energy needed by our industrial civilization. Even with hydrogen as a storage medium, as accurately noted by many of the reviewers. Nuclear fission is the only source of energy comparable in quantity and availability to coal, oil and natural gas. It already provides 20% of the electricity used in the US. and 17% in the world; it is clean and competitive, it produces a very small volume of waste which can be more easily managed than the waste (CO2) of fossil fuels. Well designed, well managed and well maintained nuclear power is just a safe as fossil power, in terms of loss of life and public health, if not safer.

Readers would be well advised to look for solutions to the energy problem in
Megawatts and Megatons, by Garwin and Charpak,
The Environmental Case for Nuclear Power by Robert C. Morris,
Nuclear Power, Villain or Victim? by Max W. Carbon,
Nuclear Energy by Walter Scheider.

For anyone who reads French: L'Nucleaire Avenir de l'Ecologie? by Bruno Comby.

Not recommended is Tomorrow's Energy by Peter Hoffmann; Hoffmann dismisses nuclear energy with a quotation which antedates the
Chernobyl disaster, which, by the way, was rather less disastrous than many would have us believe.

Criticizing what they haven't read
I just want to correct one recurrent misunderstanding of Rifkin's thesis. I note that several one-star reviews of this book included a caveat to the effect that the reviewers had not even read the book. They go on to point out that since energy is required to free hydrogen in the first place, hydrogen is not an energy source but at best a form of stored energy, and not yet a terribly efficent form at that. (One reviewer from Florida even got his/her one-star review entered mulitple times! Were each of these identical entries counted against the over-all rating of this book??) Having heard Rifkin interviewed on the energy source/storage issue, I believe that these one-star reviewers have missed the point. Rifkin is advocating for hydrogen precisely as the future's medium of energy storage. Say the energy is initally gathered through solar panels. You need a way to store the surplus. Use the surplus photo-electricity to free some hydrogen from water, store the hydrogen. The energy sources of tomorrow are solar, wind, etc. The battery of tomorrow that makes these sources viable, in as much as civilization depends on the ability to accrue a surplus, is hydrogen. ... Read more

Book Description

Vandana Shiva, "the world's most prominent radical scientist" (the Guardian), exposes yet another corporate maneuver to convert a critical world resource into a profitable commodity. Using the global water trade as a lens, she highlights the destruction of the earth and the disenfranchisement of the world's poor as they lose their right to a life-sustaining common good. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Don't take water for granted!
Water is an essential part of life most Americans take for granted. It's easy to dismiss water quality or availability issues, but they affect everyone.

Although Shiva puts a decidedly anti-corporation spin on her anecdotes, she raises many interesting points and asks some tough questions. Everyone should be concerned with environmental quality, and this book is a good start.

The book isn't merely about environmentalism, however. It also covers the economic, political, and financial impact of control over water. Those who control water, control the world!

The book is well-written and intriguing. Shiva's environmental science is solid, but described in a way laymen can understand.

This book is a TREASURE!
It should be required reading in every college and university!

You don't need to be a rocket scientist to realize that corporations want to control all of our natural resources. If these temples of greed could bottle and sell the air we breathe, they would! And, guess what, every living thing on earth needs water, either directly, or indirectly, to survive. I would even dare say water is more precious than oil!

This is a very well reasoned and articulate book. While some reviewers are satisfied with ridiculous ad hominem attacks, I say you be the judge! Don't let someone with ax to grind influence your decision about what to read!

total garbage
The author obviously doesn't have the slightest understanding of the basis of economics.

Much potential, but lost in hurried and cursory analysis
The term "water wars" has gained popular currency ever since Joyce Starr wrote an article by this title in Foreign Policy almost 12 years ago regarding hydropolitics in the Middle East. The alliterative ring of the phrase has endured many empirical studies that dispute its relevance, including some by erstwhile proponents of environmental determinism such as Thomas Homer-Dixon. Such is the allure of the term that only last year (2002) two books of this title were authored (the other one by the American journalist Diane Raines Ward).

Vandana Shiva is a renowned Indian environmentalist who is known for her eclectic interests. However, in the last few years she has focused her indignation for the world's problems on private capital. Thus her eclecticism has reached a rather reductionist end, which unfortunately leads her popular writings to shed more heat than light. In "Water Wars," Shiva weaves together anecdotes (largely from India) and secondary references to present yet another scathing indictment of multinational corporations and international development institutions.

After presenting a brief history of water property rights, which she largely dismisses as "cowboy economics," Shiva goes on to describe instances of conflicts pertaining to water in four areas: i) climate change, ii) dams, iii) potable water supply and iv) irrigation. In all these cases, she makes connections -- some more tenuous than others -- to multinational corporations and international development institutions. In the last two chapters, she prescribes atavistic solutions predicated on traditional practices, such as the Bihari irrigation system of ahars and pynes. The book concludes with theological and transcendental references to the sacred spirit of water and an appendix enlisting a 108 names of the Ganges River.

Overall, Shiva's sincerity of purpose shines through the text, but preconceived notions and normative assertions occlude any rigorous analysis. Regrettably, Shiva appears to have abandoned her methodological roots as an academic physicist. Instead of laying out all the evidence and the arguments in favor and against particular schemes, she chooses to harp on negative cases and offer broad generalizations, which often limit the credibility of her argument. While the book serves a useful purpose of sounding the alarm about world water issues, it does not go the next measure to provide a coherent and constructive vision for change.

Is Water worth fighting for?
With the debate around water scarcity expanding across the globe, Vandana Shiva's Water Wars is an important book to read. With it, she has produced another collection of thought-provoking and well-researched essays. A physicist turned environmental activist, Shiva has a passion for the "essence of life". Water, she argues, is intrinsically different from other resources and products and can NOT be treated simply as a commodity: without water people and the environment cannot survive. To subject water to commercial restrictions and to control its availability to people and communities is unacceptable.

Vandana Shiva discusses the failures and successes of diverse water management systems, past and present. She builds her case by reviewing traditional water systems and evaluating the impact of modern dam building. She examines the recent and current conflicts around water and access controls between countries and peoples. Contrary to others who claim that water scarcity will lead to conflicts in the future, Shiva brings evidence that water wars are already with us and are happening all over the world. She is furthermore convinced, based on her research, that conflicts will become increasingly violent as fresh water resources dwindle.

Destruction of fragile ecosystems and the displacement of people and communities have resulted from the construction of the huge dams, so popular in the sixties to the eighties. She describes the impacts of some of the best-known big dams in India, the United States, Mexico, and China. Using her in-depth knowledge of the Indian Subcontinent she strengthens her arguments with many examples from that region. But she has also studied the conflicts surrounding the Rio Grande rerouting and the big Hoover Dam that has channeled huge amounts of water from Texas and other crop growing regions to satisfy the ever-increasing water hunger of California.

For some readers, Vandana Shiva's focus on Indian examples of water system mismanagement may seem a bit tedious. However, it is worth persisting as there are important lessons to be learned from her examples, in particular, as numerous successful projects have also emerged from India. The successful traditional and present-day initiatives, which she cites, are primarily based on locally managed and community controlled water systems. Experience in many developing countries confirm her conclusions that water is most valued and best preserved for people and environment when managed at the community level with user participation. The chapter 'Food and Water' is a reminder and warning of the fragility of our food production systems.

Privatization of water resources and systems is a major concern to many and Vandana Shiva adds her strong voice. The World Bank estimated the potential water market at $1trillion. Shiva cites examples where the privatization of water has resulted in profits for a minority while increasing the economic burden on the poor. She warns of the consequences if water scarcity develops into a marketing opportunity for private business and transnational corporations.

Vandana Shiva's focus on ethics does not come as a surprise to the reader. Her 'Principles of Water Democracy' take a strong stand for water rights in the current debate whether water is a "human need" or a "human right". She ends with a reminder that water sources have been sacred throughout history. If we were to understand 'value' without its monetary connotation, usually implicit these days, we could treasure natural resources like water and biodiversity without a price tag - as major elements of the global common. This well-researched and well-written book should be read, whatever side of the current debate the reader may be. ... Read more

Book Description

Groundwater is an increasingly important resource to human populations around the world, and the study and protection of groundwater is an essential part of hydrogeology - the subset of hydrology that concentrates on the subsurface. Environmental isotopes, naturally occurring nuclides in water and solutes, have become fundamental tools for tracing the recharge, history, and contamination of groundwater. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The very good book in the field of isotope hydrogeology!
This is one of the best textbooks I have ever read. The book regards the light, stable isotopes so called in hydrogeology - "environmental isotopes". The authors present the occurrence of the environmental isotopes, physical and chemical processes affecting the variations of isotopic composition of different types of waters in understandable, logical manner - starting from the hydrological cycle, from evaporation and water vapor through precipitation and fresh water to groundwaters, mixtures and brines. I think that Fritz's and Clark's book is very usefull especially for those starting the research with the isotopes in waters because such complex processes like the isotope fractionation and the mechanisms of isotope exchange are explained clearly and effectively. Although the big part of the book, what is also important to me, regards the interpretation of isotopic data, possibilities of using them to the evaluation of a water quality, identifying and dating both the modern and the old groundwaters. I refere this book either for those starting the work with stable isotopes in waters or for those having many years practice in that field. In my opinion it is not only the very good textbook but also the very well organized compendium of useful scientific information. ... Read more

Book Description

All manner of models are used to describe, simulate, extrapolate, and ultimately understand the function of dynamic systems. These sorts of models are usually based upon a mathematical foundation that can be difficult to manipulate especially for students. Modeling for All Scales uses object-oriented programming to erect and evaluate the efficacy of models of small, intermediate and large scale systems. Such models allow users to employ intuitively based symbols and a systems ecology approach. The authors have been leaders in the systems ecology community and have originated much of the scientific vocabulary of the field. After introducing modeling and its benefits, there is a series of chapters detailing the more particular elements of successful simulation. There follows another series of chapters, each devoted to models of different sorts of systems. Small scale models of growth, competition, and evolution give way, successively, to larger and larger scale models such as international trade and the global geobiosphere. Anyone interested in an easy to use approach to modeling complex systems authored by perhaps the most original systems ecologists of the century will want this book. To further enhance the users ability to apply the lessons of this book, there is included a CD-ROM disc which provides the fundamental tools for modeling at all scales.

Key Features
* The book makes it possible to teach modeling and simulation without much prior knowledge of mathematics
* Reasons for modeling and simulation are discussed
* The book makes modeling and simulation fun by keeping focused on simplified overview minimodels that have important principles to science and society
* The steps in successive chapters are arranged so that readers can teach themselves modeling, simulation, and the programming necessary to simulate the systems they diagram
* The CD-ROM has minimodel programs and versions of QuickBasic and EXTEND to run them ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A good alternative to larger Ecology texts
I used the earlier edition of this book twice for an ecology course that I teach, and my students appreciated the length, price, readability, and content. The rating that I give the book (four stars) is mostly based on their satisfaction. This updated version is very similar to the fifth edition, but has some nice additions, such as a chapter on Phylogeny that mentions Felsenstein's independent contrasts methods. If you are interested in reviewing this book as a possible book for your course, I would first read this brief chapter on phylogeny (16) to get a feel for the brevity of all the topics in ecology that are covered. Because many details are left out (as are many important references), this book cannot be used without supplemental literature. I usually require readings of at least 5 additional papers per chapter in this book. In fact, without supplemental readings and additional material presented in lecture, I would probably only grant two stars to this book. Strengths of the book include: very easy to read, excellent figures, adequate treatment of mathematical models, logical organization, and some nice examples from the literature. ... Read more

Book Description

This comprehensive textbook by a leading authority in the field is likely to become the standard work for freshwater ecologists on the subject. ... Read more

Book Description

Practical Environmental Analysis is supplemented by theoretical material explaining, amongst other concepts, the principles behind each method and the importance of various pollutants. Also included are suggestions for projects and example calculations. ... Read more

Book Description

Forcing the Spring challenges standard histories of the environmental movement by offering a broad and inclusive interpretation of past environmentalist thought and a sweeping redefinition of the nature of the contemporary environmental movement. Robert Gottlieb demonstrates the centrality of environmental concerns to a wide range of social movements of the past century as he explores the connections between pressures on human and natural environments and the role of these pressures in shaping society. His analysis provides fundamental new insights into the past and future of the American environmental movement by placing it within the larger context of American social history.

After considering the historical roots of environmentalism from the 1890s through the 1960s, Gottlieb discusses the rise and consolidation of environmental groups in the years between Earth Day 1970 and Earth Day 1990. He examines the increasing professionalization of the major environmental organizations and the parallel rise of community-based groups over the past decade, and ends with an in-depth consideration of the role of ethnicity, gender, and class in the formation and definition of movements. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Great Environmental Chem Text
I took a web-based environmental chem course, and this book was used in lieu of lectures. The author does an outstanding job of presentation and the text is very well-organized. Includes a lot of current information. The problems within the text are very challenging and reflect real world issues (i.e., PCB concentrations in the Great Lakes) My only criticism is that the chapters are sometimes overly long. Other than that, this is one of the best E-chem texts I've come up against, and I certainly learned more from it than I would have from listening to a prof lecturing for a term. Recommended highly!

Good presentation of a broad topic.
I am also a chemistry student and I found the book to be rather easy, but that is because the text is very clearly written with good presentation and concise wording. It is certainly a good place to start in trying to understand an environmental problem, especially if the readers background in chemistry is only on a general and limited organic level.

Informative, easy to understand
Environmetal chemistry is a very helpful book for studensts in environmental chemistry studies. But as a pure chemistry student i find some parts of the book too easy, even boring at times, specially the chapters on organic environmental chemistry.On the other hand the chapters on physical environmental chemistry are very good and contain challenging problems. ... Read more

Book Description

One of the greatest challenges facing chemists and chemical educators today is conveying the central importance and relevance of chemistry to students and society at large. The new edition of Chemistry Connections highlights the fundamental role of chemical principles in governing our everyday experiences and observations.

Introductory chemistry students and educators as well as laypersons with an inquisitiveness about the world around them will find the book an informative introduction to the context of chemistry in their lives. The book is written in a lively question-and-answer format with presentations in both lay and technical terms.

* Two levels of explanations: general, accessible ones highlight the chemical essence of the phenomenon; and technical ones using chemical principles provide more in-depth interpretation
* Indexing of questions according to key principles or terms enhances instructional use
* Figures and 3-D chemical structures illustrate the chemical concepts presented
* References to related World Wide Web sites for further exploration provide inexpensive and convient access to related information.
* Color plates enhance connections between specific topics ... Read more

Reviews (4)

An absorbing intermediate to advanced level chemical text
Now in an updated second edition, Chemistry Connections: The Chemical Basis Of Everyday Phenomena is an amazing volume with chapters based around answers to questions such as "What causes an egg to crack if it's boiled too rapidly?"; "Why do carbonated drinks go flat as they warm?"; "Why do lightsticks glow?"; "How does a timed-release medicine work?"; and much, much more. The collaborative effort of Kerry K. Karukstis (Professor of Chemistry, Harvey Mudd College) and Gerald R. Van Hecke (Professor of Chemistry, Harvey Mudd College), Chemistry Connections is an absorbing intermediate to advanced level chemical text that makes learning chemistry a lot of fun in some unique but quite effective ways.

there are better alternatives
Overall this book and is fairly successful in its aim of explaining a selection of everyday chemical phenomena in terms accssible to most people. There are a couple of points which really let it down though.
First, the presentation of the material and the diagrams could be greatly improved. For example, there is a "3-D" structure of EDTA given. In fact, it just seems to be a 2-D Chemdraw diagram pasted in to Chem3D! It gives no sense of how the dispostion of the oxygen and nitrogen atoms allow EDTA to surround the metal centre thus making it an effective metal sequestering agent.
Second, certain sections go in to extraordinary detail concerning the physical chemistry of certain phenomena. Rather complicated equations and diagrams are presented which don't aid the reader in really understanding conceptualising the processe which are described.
Third, annoyingly, temperatures are presented only in Fahrenheit. Hello!? Did the authors not consider that they may have readers outside of the US.....
(...)

Great teacher resource
I found Chemistry Connections very interesting and informative. I am a high school science teacher and I already have a strong background in chemistry. The format presents infomation on each question at multiple levels of sophistication, from introductory information accessible without much knowledge of chemistry to in-depth information on specific molecular structures and interactions. This book would be a great resource for chemistry teachers. My only critisism is that the writing style could be a bit more engaging.

Fascinating without forsaking the science
Chemistry Connections is an excellent, well-written book that I found extremely easy and fun to read. It is a fascinating book for both the layperson and the scientist, presenting explanations of everyday phenomena that all of us have wondered about at one time or another. Things like household cleaners, paper money, seashells, shampoo, and chili pepper are explained on a simplified chemical basis, and then on a more detailed scientific basis. Chemical structures and some reactions are presented, as well as very current references and websites on each topic. This has got to be the most entertaining chemistry book I have every read! ... Read more

Book Description

As global population continues to grow, mankind must learn to balance consumption and conservation of the planet's scarece commodoties. Geographic information system (GIS) technology brings a new perspective to the challenges faced by natural resource managers. How can agricultural yields be improved without depleting the soil? Where should timber be cut to best protect endangered species? How can landscapes be restored after the extraction of oil or minerals? What can be done to keep land development from choking rivers and coastlines with silt?

This book presents a dozen case studies of real organizations using GIS to address these and other pressing issues of natural resource management.Case studies include: Oregon Department of Forestry, City of New York, World Resources Institute, US Environmental Protection Agency, Chevron Corporation Seaside High School, Delaware Coastal Management Program, US Borax, Portand Metro, USDA Forest Service, New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection, and Southcorp Wines Estate.

Managing Natural Resources with GIS provides a behind-the-scenes look at how geographic information systems are used to frame questions and find answers to problems that affect us all.

Bonus CD - Test drive ArcView GIS, the easy-to-use software for viewing and analyzing geographic information.Learn what GIS is and how it works in six multimedia presentations.See and hear how ArcView GIS software performs basic GIS tasks.Use a trial copy of ArcView GIS software to work through a tutorial using a variety of data. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

More like an Advertisement
I think one could get the gist of GIS from free web sites instead of buying this book. It's not bad, it's just more like an advertisement than what the title suggests.

Good Book
Very good book that explains the uses of GIS in the Natural Resource Environment. Book is very simple to understand yet can also be used by more advanced individuals for exmaples on how to use GIS. ... Read more

Book Description

Miller's SUSTAINING THE EARTH, 7th Edition, part of the new ADVANTAGE SERIES, is the briefest and most up-to-date environmental science text on the market. It has the most balanced approach to the environmental science instruction, with bias-free comparative diagrams throughout and a focus on prevention of and solutions to environmental problems.Tyler Miller is the most successful author in academic writing on environmental science because of his attention to currency, trend setting presentation of content, ability to predict student and instructor needs for new and different supplements, and his ability to retain the hallmarks on which instructors have come to depend. The content in the 7th edition of SUSTAINING THE EARTH is everything you have come to expect and more.In this 7th edition, the author has added the "How Would You Vote?" feature, which is an application of environmental science-related topics in the news. Students apply their environmental science knowledge from the book to a Web activity, which helps them investigate environmental science issues in a structured manner. They then cast their votes on the Web. Results are then tallied.Also found at the Miller website is the much used "Updates on Line." Updated twice a year with articles from InfoTrac College Edition service, CNN® Today Video Clips, and Web links, instructors can seamlessly incorporate the most current news articles and research findings to support text presentations. This is a time saver for instructors and part-time teachers who can quickly determine what ancillary materials they want to utilize in just minutes.As with the last edition, this text is packaged with a free Student CD-ROM entitled "Interactive Concepts in Environmental Science." Organized by chapter, the CD gives students links to relevant resources, narrated animations, interactive figures, and prompts to review material and test themselves. ... Read more

Book Description

From the Reviews of the Previous Editions:

"...recommended as a readable reference to the large complex world of hazardous waste regulation." — Environmental Protection

"...presented in a very readable and understandable format." — The Hazardous Waste Consultant

"...a valuable reference tool because it is easy to use, and includes clear, concise discussions." — Bowker's Legal Publishing Review

The transportation of hazardous materials anddisposal have become immense environmental concerns. As a result a number of government agencies have constructed regulation for manufacturers to follow, which are often confusing and written in complex legal terminologies. This new edition of a successful publication is designed to help professionals from all disciplines understand the national hazardous waste regulatory program. Available in both print and CD-ROM formats, the work presents the often complex and hazy material in a straightforward and lucid manner. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Bravo!
A great reference book for those needing to decipher hazardous waste regulatory jargon. I've wasted my money on other so-called interpretive guides, which merely summarized the law. Ho hum. Wagner's book goes much further to explain and decipher the regulations, not just the law. Very helpful!

Finally, a book that fully and correctly explains RCRA!
A colleague shared this book with me to help explain some meaty aspect of RCRA. I finally understand what is required so that I can talk intelligently with the regulators. I subsequently went out and purchased my own copy. This book is great as a reference. I highly recommend you obtain a copy if you are as mystified by the RCRA regs as most of us are. ... Read more

Book Description

The Handbook of Weather, Climate, and Water: Atmospheric Chemistry, Hydrology, and Societal Impacts is the first of two stand-alone volumes that will be landmarks in the meteorological literature for many years to come. Each volume encompasses both fundamental topics and critical issues that have recently surfaced in studies of the hydrosphere and atmosphere. Renowned experts have contributed to every part of this handbook. Each overview chapter is followed by topic-specific chapters written by specialists who present comprehensive discussions at a greater level of detail and complexity.

The Handbook of Weather, Climate, and Water: Atmospheric Chemistry, Hydrology, and Societal Impacts covers topics that are essential for grasping the scientific bases of major issues such as global climate warming, the ozone hole, acid rain, floods, droughts, and other natural disasters. Cross-references between chapters allow readers to easily pursue a specific interest beyond a particular subtopic or individual chapter.  Other topics include:

-Aerosols and smog
-Cloud chemistry
-Greenhouse gases
-Remote sensing techniques in hydrology
-Hydrologic forecasting and simulation
-Tropical deforestation effects on the climate system
-Societal impacts of the El Niño phenomenon

The Handbook of Weather, Climate, and Water: Atmospheric Chemistry, Hydrology, and Societal Impacts will be an essential addition to the libraries of professionals and academics in the environmental sciences, and a valuable source book for university and technical libraries throughout the world. ... Read more

Book Description

The only book on the market to offer complete coverage of the topic, Software Configuration Management explores the full spectrum of configuration management techniques. It delineates a common approach to problems that any team-based development environment requires. Managers and members of development teams can then use a common, multipurpose approach to overcome everyday obstacles encountered in controlling software projects. The book teaches how development problems can be identified or avoided and discusses management, planning, and measurement. Written in an easy-to-read style, the book emphasizes simple techniques, uses real-world examples, and offers a wealth of templates and samples. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Best book on SCM (and CM) I own
If I could use only one of the stack of SCM books I own to guide me through an implementation and serve as reference this book would be it. The reasons for this bold statement are:

- it's comprehensive in coverage, starting with an in-depth introduction that clearly explains software configuration management as a discipline and process area, its benefits, and an overview of implementation issues, to details on every aspect of performing and managing software configuration.

- it addresses SCM from both software engineering and project management perspectives.

- it's based on established standards (MIL-STD-973 and EIA-649).

To readers who are working in agile environments that employ rapid development and implementation approaches the MIL-STD-973 and EIA-649 standards upon which this book is based may raise a red flag. To assuage concerns about introducing what many may perceive to be heavy, bureaucratic standards to processes designed for fast paced implementation, SCM is one area that requires checkpoints and a methodical process to ensure quality. As you read this book you'll find that neither MIL-STD-973 or EIA-649 are inherently cumbersome, especially if tailored to your specific project or development environment.

Highlights of this book, aside from the detailed treatment of every facet of SCM, are the copious use of tables and graphics to summarize or clarify key concepts and how processes work, and the wealth of artifacts contained in the appendices. The appendices alone are worth the price of this book because they provide templates, guidelines and checklists, and forms that you can immediately use. Note, though, that many of these artifacts are also provided in other books from the publisher, and some such as the DoD Engineering Change Proposal may not be applicable to your objectives (although they will be useful if tailored).

As you read this book you'll discover that general configuration management principles are also introduced, expanding the usefulness to integrators as well as software engineers. What I especially like is how the book never loses sight of the relationship between SCM and quality, the way metrics are identified and presented, and the interrelationship between configuration management and maintenance.

I personally believe that this book is the best there is for implementing and employing a strong SCM process, which is critical to any software or integration project. ... Read more