From Amazon
In this vivid gathering of words and images, scientist/environmentalist David Suzuki and documentary filmmaker Amanda McConnell pay homage to earth, water, air, and fire and their manifold interplay. Virtually all the planet's human cultures agree that the world is made up of discrete elements. Some traditions count four, others fewer, others more. But virtually all of those cultures hold, too, that these elements are the primal stuff of the nature that we humans "emerged from, remain embedded in, and are utterly dependent on." Water's metamorphoses, they write, "keep the world alive at every level, from the planetary to the cellular"; from water came life, and in water life was sustained. At some unimaginably distant point in the past, they continue, some ancestral cyanobacterium split molecules of water apart, "adding its hydrogen atoms to carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to make sugar" and producing free oxygen: the air that allowed life to diversify and expand. Add the energy wrought by sunlight, and photosynthesis enters into play; bring dead plants to the stony earth, and you have soil; with those foundations, life diversifies even further; and so on to the present, when much of the work of creation is being undone. Poetic but grounded in good science, the authors' narrative--illustrated by superb, oversized photographs--makes for a lovely creation story. --Gregory McNamee
From Publishers Weekly
This impressive coffee-table book invites readers, through word and image, to experience and reflect on the interconnectedness of all life. It opens with a somewhat overwritten and florid explanation of the evolution of life and then settles into a personal essay by Suzuki, a scientist and environmentalist. In this piece, the highlight of the written text, he describes his own transformation from a young researcher who believed that science could answer every problem to an environmental activist who came to realize that science often created as many problems as it solved. (In one fascinating vignette, he explores na‹ve enthusiasm for science by describing the universal praise in the 1950s for DEET, which his mother used to spray directly on the family's dinner just before serving it.) The book then devotes chapters to seven "elements" that are necessary to sustain life: water, air, fire, earth, biodiversity, love and spirit. "Spirit is beyond science," the authors say in the last chapter; it involves understanding the interdependence of life. The seven chapters are mostly taken up with DeCambra's stunning photographs, interspersed with quotations from various thinkers and excerpts from the sacred texts of the world's religions. Each chapter begins with a few introductory pages about its theme. Although these preambles contain some interesting tidbits ("there are 200 million insects for every human being on Earth") and a few insights into spirituality, the book's most original and memorable contribution is its photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"The finest work to date by Canada's leading environmentalist, The Sacred Balance is a celebration of wonder, a scientific journey of insight and wisdom, and a profound meditation on the complexity and fragility of the biological and physical forces that sustain all life on Earth." (Wade Davis 20041101)
"David Suzuki reminds us of our unlikely origins and makes an eloquent plea for the millennium, finding peace on and with the Earth." (David Brower, Chairman of the Earth Island Institute 20041101)
"This book is the most complete expression to date of an environmental ethic from one of the world's leading conservation writers, combining science, theology, poetry and philosophy to express a world view towards which the human species must shift in the twenty-first century. The Sacred Balance has a beautiful spirit." (E.O. Wilson, author of "The Diversity of Life" 20041101)
"Suzuki's eloquent plea is to recognize that if we are to get back into balance with the natural world that supports us, we need to look at the real bottom line. We are biological beings and our very existence depends on the integrity and quality of the web of life." (Paul Ehrlich, author of "Betrayal, Science and Reason" ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
"David Suzuki reminds us of our unlikely origins and makes an eloquent plea for the millennium, finding peace on and with the Earth." (David Brower, Chairman of the Earth Island Institute 20041101)
"This book is the most complete expression to date of an environmental ethic from one of the world's leading conservation writers, combining science, theology, poetry and philosophy to express a world view towards which the human species must shift in the twenty-first century. The Sacred Balance has a beautiful spirit." (E.O. Wilson, author of "The Diversity of Life" 20041101)
"Suzuki's eloquent plea is to recognize that if we are to get back into balance with the natural world that supports us, we need to look at the real bottom line. We are biological beings and our very existence depends on the integrity and quality of the web of life." (Paul Ehrlich, author of "Betrayal, Science and Reason" ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Book Description
This outstanding book is based on David Suzuki and Amanda McConnell's best-selling The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature, a textual exploration of the web of life that unites all living things. This visual feast celebrates that connection in spectacular photographs, beautiful reproductions of artwork, and amazing electron micrographs and satellite photographs.
The accompanying text presents David Suzuki's idiosyncratic, bold, and inspiring view of the human place on Earth, drawn from his life as a scientist, environmentalist, writer, and thinker. The result is a rich and uplifting expression of the sacred balance that is life.
Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation.
(20041101) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.About the Author
Maria DeCambra is a photo researcher and editor who lives in Toronto, Ontario.
David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author, and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. He is Companion to the Order of Canada and a recipient of UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for science, the United Nations Environment Program medal, the 2009 Right Livelihood Award, and Global 500. He is familiar to television audiences as host of the long-running CBC television program The Nature of Things. His written work includes more than fifty-two books, nineteen of them for children. Suzuki lives with his wife, Tara Cullis, in Vancouver.
Amanda McConnell has written more than 100 documentary films, many of them for The Nature of Things. She has a Ph.D. in English Literature, and she writes and gardens in Toronto, Ontario. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author, and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. He is Companion to the Order of Canada and a recipient of UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for science, the United Nations Environment Program medal, the 2009 Right Livelihood Award, and Global 500. He is familiar to television audiences as host of the long-running CBC television program The Nature of Things. His written work includes more than fifty-two books, nineteen of them for children. Suzuki lives with his wife, Tara Cullis, in Vancouver.
Amanda McConnell has written more than 100 documentary films, many of them for The Nature of Things. She has a Ph.D. in English Literature, and she writes and gardens in Toronto, Ontario. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
