The Revenge of Gaia - James Lovelock

James Lovelock opens his third and most pessimistic Gaia book with a portentous inscription from the King James Bible: "Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel." Lovelock predicts that by the end of this century, "billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable." Sadly, grand proclamations like this do little to mask the fact that '...Gaia' - which was conceived by Lovelock in 'a moment of revelation' on the rooftop of a NASA base - is little more than a quasi-mystical, modern reworking of primitive Mother Earth myths.

When Lovelock takes pause from proclaiming the End Of Days, the author reveals himself to be an impressively articulate proponent of nuclear power. He also deserves praise as one of the first scientists to have asserted that human actions can indeed have serious and lasting effects upon our environment. However, 'The Revenge of Gaia' reads embarrassingly like a dyspeptic told-you-so from an 86 year-old man who feels we should all have paid him more attention in the first place. It is good science that will help us now, not this modern Jeremiad of hopelessness and gloom. [Michael Gallagher]