Product Description
DNA vaccines have progressed rapidly from the conceptual stage to the stage of clinical trials. While studies in small laboratory animals have shown great promise, initial reports from human studies were less encouraging. Progress is being made, however, documented by the papers presented here. This volume contains the proceedings of a meeting devoted to the latest developments in DNA vaccines, from laboratory studies to clinical trials. The papers, written by leaders in the field, focus on the current state of DNA vaccines in humans and other large animals. The bulk of the studies involve DNA vaccines against HIV/SIV. Other promising trials make use of DNA vaccines against malaria and hepatitis B. The papers inform the reader about the immune basis of this form of vaccination and about approaches being developed to increase the efficacy of DNA vaccines in humans. These include the co-administration of cytokines, prime-boost strategies, optimising codon usage or the use of CpG motifs. ... Read more

Product Description

The Rocky Mountain West is largely arid and steep, with ecological scars from past human use visible for hundreds of years. Just how damaging were the past 150 years of activity? How do current rates of disturbance compare with past mining, grazing, and water diversion activities? In the face of constant change, what constitutes a "natural" ecosystem? And can a high quality of life be achieved for both human and natural communities in this region.

Rocky Mountain Futures presents a comprehensive and wide-ranging examination of the ecological consequences of past, current, and future human activities in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States and Canada. The book brings together 32 leading ecologists, geographers, and other scientists and researchers to present an objective assessment of the cumulative effects of human activity on the region's ecological health and to consider changes wrought by past human use. This combined view of past and present reveals where Rocky Mountain ecosystems are heading, and the authors project what the future holds based upon current economic and social trends and the patterns that emerge from them. The book:

• examines the biogeographic and paleoenvironmental setting and historical climate that have shaped Rocky Mountain ecosystems
• traces the direct human influences on landscapes and ecosystems over the past 150 years
• explores the cumulative effects of past, present, and projected future human activities on tundra, subalpine and montane forests, valleys, grasslands, and waters
• offers case studies that illustrate specific examples of human influence and current efforts to restore the environment

The United Nations has proclaimed 2002 as the International Year of Mountains to increase international awareness of the global importance of mountain ecosystems. The case-based multidisciplinary approach of this book constitutes an important new model for understanding the implications of land-use practices and economic activity on mountains, and will serve a vital role in improving decisionmaking both in the Rocky Mountains and in other parts of the world that face similar challenges. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A sober and comprehensive survey
Capably edited by Jill S. Baron (Ecosystem Ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University, Fort Collins), and enhanced with an informative four-page Foreword by Paul R. Ehrlich (Bing Professor of Population Studies and President of the Center for Conservation Biology, Department of Biological Science, Stanford University), Rocky Mountain Futures: An Ecological Perspective is a sober and comprehensive survey of the tremendous impact human influence has had on the Rocky Mountain ecosystems. Featuring case studies, cascading effects, human-driven changes and more, this seminal and authoritative compilation of researched essays by educated authors paints an accurate and documented picture of an ecology being pushed beyond its limits, and then offers succinct, practical, and occasionally inspired ideas on what to do about it before it's too late. Rocky Mountain Futures is an essential, fundamentally critical addition to any personal, professional, governmental, organizational, academic, or community library Environmental Studies reference collection and supplemental reading list. ... Read more

Product Description
Conservation Biology for All provides cutting-edge but basic conservation science to a global readership. A series of authoritative chapters have been written by the top names in conservation biology with the principal aim of disseminating cutting-edge conservation knowledge as widely as possible. Important topics such as balancing conversion and human needs, climate change, conservation planning, designing and analyzing conservation research, ecosystem services, endangered species management, extinctions, fire, habitat loss, and invasive species are covered. Numerous textboxes describing additional relevant material or case studies are also included.

The global biodiversity crisis is now unstoppable; what can be saved in the developing world will require an educated constituency in both the developing and developed world. Habitat loss is particularly acute in developing countries, which is of special concern because it tends to be these locations where the greatest species diversity and richest centres of endemism are to be found. Sadly, developing world conservation scientists have found it difficult to access an authoritative textbook, which is particularly ironic since it is these countries where the potential benefits of knowledge application are greatest. There is now an urgent need to educate the next generation of scientists in developing countries, so that they are in a better position to protect their natural resources. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

population control
I am going to read this book to check the veracity of the previous reviewer.Judging from the price of the book, I doubt that the reviewer has read it.But since a family member mentioned this probable-rumor-heard-on-Fox, I will read the book and find out for myself.I hope others will do the same, instead of spread rumors.

Please read this book.This maniac is the US's science czar
Our science czar advocates forced abortions, sterilization in the water system, eugenics and selective murder of infants. Please, please, please read this.I would, I think, rather face mother nature that an insane and souless society led by this evil.Read this. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Classic on population and the environment
With the current death of the frog population the diagram about the food web on the Long Island estuary becomes very important. Global warming shows that less than moderate attention was paid to these great teachers!
The advantage of having the population figures for 2000 to compare to the
with the appendix 2 U.N. projections, shows that the "medium" Variant
actually happened ( this after both China and India had major political and unpopular population programs).If the human race continues on the current course of environmental violation and mostly uncontrolled population expansion,
there is a big 'correction' / black swan event on the way. ... Read more

Product Description
Hanski, a leading thinker in metapopulation ecology, studies checkerspot butterfly populations in Finland.Ehrlich, one of the leading ecologists and conservation biologist, investigates checkerspot butterfly populations in California.This book reports on and synthsizes the major long-term research of both workers' careers on the population biology of checkerspot butterflies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a thorough collection of solid research
Any one interested in ecology and evolutionary biology will find something useful in this book. Checkerspots are a great model system, and despite all of the careful and thorough research reported in this volume, there is still room for many more creative research questions. This is a refreshing change from so many edited volumes that report cute little studies (much like what you might see in Science or Nature) that will not stand the test of time. I recommend this for all levels of academia (undergraduate through faculty or professional scientist). ... Read more

Product Description
There is no longer sufficient time to rely on the normal pace of cultural evolution to deal with today's dilemmas... Human beings have always been the most adaptable creatures on the planet, and they should be able to chart a new course for themselves. Some of that charting is already being done. The old mind today is being challenged and changed by many scattered efforts. Can we bring these efforts together to produce a large-scale program for a rapid "change of mind"? We know what the problem is. The "solution" is not simple--to generate the social and political will to move a program of conscious evolution to the top of the human agenda. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

an important book
This book is nearly twenty years old and is still entirely relevant, which is probably a good part of the reason it's still in print.Mr. Ornstein and Mr. Ehrlich make the basic point that the human brain is not suited for detecting many of the gradually escalating or insidious dangers, such as overpopulation and climate change, that threaten our very existence as a species.Not only do they elaborate upon this point in a highly readable fashion, but also put forth ways that we can minimize the problem, such as through educating children differently.This book should be required reading in our schools.Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.

An important point
This is a great book, and still relevant.It suggests that evolution has been running at different speeds in the different areas of human biology, culture and science, and uses this distinction to try and understand why mankind is so very bad at dealing with long-term threats like global warming. The proof of Ornstein's central idea is in the increasing cartoonisation of the world that has continued in the media since the book was published.We are essentially still monkeys. argue the authors, monkeys with clever toys, and we still respond to threats like bangs and baby-snatchings in exactly the same way that we used to when we lived in caves, and the modern media and its masters know this.If anything the so-called 'War on Terror' proves the authors point 15 years after the book was written.

From 1989, Not Updated, Superb Never-the-Less
EDIT 20 Dec 07 to add links.

This superb book was published in 1989 and is being reissued, and I am very glad it has come out again.I bought it because it was recommended by Tom Atlee, seer of the Co-Intelligence Institute, and I found it very worthwhile.

As I reflect on the book, I appreciate two key points from the book:

1)The evolution of our brains and our ability to sense cataclysmic change that takes place over long periods of time is simply not going fast enough--the only thing that can make a difference is accelerated cultural evolution, which I find quite fascinating, because cultural evolution as the authors describe it harkens to noosphere, World Brain, co-intelligence, and what the Swedes are calling M4 IS: multinational, multiagency, multidisciplinary, multidomain information sharing--what I think of as Open Source Intelligence--personal, public, & political.

2)One of the more compelling points the authors make is that not only are politicians being elected and rewarded on the basis of short-term decisions that are by many measures intellectually, morally, and financially corrupt, but the so-called knowledge workers--the scientists, engineers, and others who should be "blowing the whistle," are so specialized that there is a real lack of integrative knowledge.I realized toward the end of the book, page 248 exactly, that Knowledge Integration & Information Sharing must become the new norm.

This is a tremendous book that is loaded with gems of insight.I have it heavily marked up.Although it integrates and reminds me of ideas ably explored in other books, such as Health of Nations, Cultural Creatives, Clock of the Long Now, ATTENTION, Limits to Growth, and Forbidden Knowledge, these two authors have integrated their "brief" in a very readable way--as one person says on the book jacket, they effectively weave together many strands of knowledge.

The annotated bibliography is quite good, and causes me to be disappointed that the publishers did not provide for the updating of the bibliography--the ideas being blended are timeless and need no update.

Two notes toward the end were quite interesting.They speculate that Japan may be the first modern nation to collapse, if it is subject to disruption of the global trade and transportation system.They also have high praise for Global 2000, an integrative work whose predictions for the 2000 period (written in the 1970's, I believe) are turning out to be quite accurate.

Finally, woven throughout the book, is the simple fact that we are now burning up our savings--consuming the Earth at a much faster rate than it can replenish itself.We are very much out of harmony with our sustaining environment, and at grave risk of self-destruction.Interestingly, they remind of the Durants last word in "The Lessons of History:"that the only revolution, the only sustainable revolution, is that which takes place in the human mind.As these authors would have it, if we do not develop a new collective mind capable of integrating, understanding, and acting sensible, for the long term, on what we can know as a collective mind, then our grandchildren will become prey for the cockroaches of the future.

At a time when the new Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Ambassador Negroponte, is seriously contemplating the establishment of a national Open Source (Information) Agency as recommended by the 9-11 Commission, to get a grip on all the historical and current knowledge, both scientific and social, that we have lost touch with, I can think of just three books I would recommend to the DNI as a foundation for his reflections: this one, Buckman's "Creating a Knowledge Driven Organization," and Wheatley's "Leadership and the New Science."I would end his tutorial, or perhaps inspire it, by screening Tom Atlee's video, "From Group Magic to a Wise Democracy."

Strangely, for I tend to be very gloomy about our prospects these days, I find that this book has cheered me somewhat.I sense the possibility of a break-out through a combination of wise information acquisition and sharing policies, and the application of the new technologies that L-3, CISCO, and IBM, among others, are bringing out, technologies that put intelligence on the edge of the network, and permit the creation of infinitely scalable and shareable synthetic information exactly suited to any need at any level.

There *is* an answer to all that ails us, and these two authors discuss it in a very capable manner.

See also, with reviews:
Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution
The Tao of Democracy: Using Co-Intelligence to Create a World That Works for All
The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World
Group Genius: The Creative Power of Collaboration
The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom
Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century
World brain
Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World
The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter
THE SMART NATION ACT: Public Intelligence in the Public Interest ... Read more

Product Description
First published in 1979, this guide has become the standard resource for scientists, divers, and spearfishers interested in the fishes of the tropical Pacific Coast. The authors have revised and updated this edition to include the most current taxonomic information, additional species descriptions, and new illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Reef Fishes of the Sea of Cortez: The Rocky-Shore Fishes of the Gulf of
I ordered the book a few days before my class started and it arrived just in time. It was in great condition and i didn't have a problem with anything.

Pros and Cons
I'm sort of in between the other two reviewers.Yes, the pix are all in black and white, and it doesn't work well as a handy guide after an afternoon's snorkeling trip.But it gives a lot of information -- far more than the other fish guides for the region.So I wouldn't be without it, but I also rely on the other guides that DO have more color pictures.I wish there was one comprehensive guide for this area, but there isn't, so you need to buy two or three if you really want good coverage.

An excellent overview of the Sea of Cortez fishes
I noticed that one person reviewed this excellent book from a narrow perspective and I want to say that I totally disagree.This book is not really intended as a hand guide to identify fishes for the snorkeling amature.It is intended to give you an overview on what is known about the fishes of this region AND for the experienced snorkeler or diver or fisherman, it truly is an excellent guide in identification to species.I have worked as an ichthyologist in the region numerous times and the book was invaluable.I think it is well written and is full of interesting facts about the fishes of the region.The challenge with the black and white illustrations (which are excellent) is using them in concert with the written description.It's a fun book to use and read.I highly recommend it!

Disappointed
Summed up in one word, disappointed.I never dreamed that the pictures in this book would be in black and white.So much for fish identification when snorkeling, which is why I bought this book.If you want this book for Identification purposes, forget about it.However, if you don't mind seeing page after page of these beautiful fishes in black and white (What is the point?) then this book is for you. ... Read more

Product Description
The 26 previously published essays in this companion to v. 82 German Essays on Science in the 20th Century , represent the sciences in a comprehensive way. Authors include: Jacob Burckhardt, a professor of art history; Carl von Clausewitz,a military strategist; Paul Ehrlich, a pioneer in immunolog ... Read more

Product Description
As the human population skyrockets and the toxic impact of human society spreads, the natural habitats of birds degrade and diminish and the bird populations decline. Two hundred years ago, when the United States and Canada were home to less than 5 million people, they were also home to some 650 species of birds. Today, more than 280 million people live there, and 33 bird species have already been driven to extinction and well over 150 are in danger of extinction in all or parts of their range. This book, organized and written by the authors of The Birder's Handbook, and enriched by 191 strikingly beautiful color paintings illustrating all of the birds treated, is the first concise, authoritative review of the status of the birds currently imperiled in the United States and Canada - those that are federally listed as Endangered or Threatened and those that are listed by the National Audubon Society as suffering local or regional or widespread decline. It also treats the birds that have been driven to extinction in the past two centuries, since the stories of their somber fates can help us learn how to save the other birds that are in jeopardy.Because birdwatchers and others are showing increased interest in the tropical birds that survive in Hawaii and Puerto Rico, the book includes separate sections on imperiled and extinct birds of those areas. Hawaii is of special importance: because it has seen so many extinctions just in the years since Cook's arrival, it provides a laboratory for studying the impact of civilization on birds in the wild.< ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

ok book
This is just an ok book,I was disappointed in it as I expected more information, the book kind of overdoes it on tropical birds, but, of course this is probably where most of the birds in jeopardy are.There is an extinct bird section that I think should have more info and be more conclusive,the artwork is ok,but not outstanding, I think this book should cost a little bit less for what you get, but there are not a lot of good books on this subject that are as affordable as this,so the choices are limited. ... Read more

Product Description
from cover:Population control or race to oblivion? ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Time Magazine 100 worst books of century honoree
I was required to read this pap in high school. I'm astonished this book could even be in print. It is the height of hubris of a tenured professor. I wonder if those people giving it a positive review are bothered by every prediction being wrong or even know who Malthus was. It is a sad indictment of our educational institutions that they fail to teach students to acually think. Instead they regurgitate disproven ideas by the likes of Malthus, Keynes and Ehrlich. I recall seeing a Time Magazine list of the worst books of the 20th century and this book made it.

In 1980 economist Julian Simons made a $1000 bet with Ehrlich. They picked precious metals and Ehlich bet in 10 years the price would go up vs down. At the end of 10 years Ehrlich wrote a check for more than $400 which the victor promptly framed and hung on his wall. Of course being tenured Ehrlich need not be right. Today he is an oracle for anthropogenic global warming, another discredited whacky idea. Read this book if you want to experience an intellectual moron or have read everything from Stephen King and like cheesy horror. In closing, it was a really lousy thing for my duluded teacher to have me under a cloud of dread for years. Had she instead directed me to read Malthus it would have been easy to see he was historically wrong. Paul Erlich has made a career of being wrong and scaring people. This book is a bad joke!

Time for a Kindle Version
A seminal Work, circa 1971, still current and relevant.Should be a Kindle offering.

We paid attention and got another 40 years
With global warming making the cracking sound of ice melting at both poles,
it seems that even if we stave off starvation and scare resources,
our behavior is going to catch up with us.
No more technical fixes like ?:
1) improved oil exploration and well use
2) super-grains
3) more efficient light bulbs
The attacking on the SST airplane in this book was really unnecessary?The limits to Growth is another book from this era that talked about the same sort of problems.
There has lately been a rice price panic: it appears that
the doomsday clock is still ticking strongly.
He might have improved this by making it less of a dumbed down
"popular" book and more graphs and equations for populations
and biological competition, but he at least covered what needed to be covered.

Ray
Sorry, Mr Gallagher,I disagree with your review of The Population Bomb, which I find to be a useful book.

It is my opinion that if the US had continued topursue the policies ofconservation and alternative energy of the 1970s (engendered by the OPEC gas shortage) in this country (and other industrialized states)
that the world would be much better off while dealing with the starvation, disease, and war that Malthus predicted as controlling the world's population, and that we are encountering in the 21st century.

Personally, I see your review as shortsighted.

Hopefully, our govt and other industrialized states will return to the conservation and alternative fuel policies of the 70s (emphasizing oil shale, coal, wind, solar and water created energy--ethanol IMO is just a short term artificial solution to the fuel supply that takes food away from the starving masses)

Population limiting programs like in China, would be beneficial to 3rd world countries and the ability of world supply to meet world demand. (The population of industrialized nations has already been voluntarily limited).

The Population Bomb is a Dud
I read the Population Bomb when it first came out, and believed it.Paul Ehrlich envisioned a horrific future with mass starvation of millions, if not billions of people by 1995.As we now know, Ehrlich was a Malthusian of the worst order, and almost single-handedly gave environmentalists a bad name.He is the epitome of an alarmist who has significantly harmed the ability of reasonable environmentalists to be taken seriously (The Boy Who Cried Wolf Syndrome).I'm sure Dr. Ehrlich meant well, but boy, was he wrong.This book should rest in peace, never to be read again.Or, perhaps it could be read as a lesson learned in how to avoid making extremist statements that make you and your colleagues look stupid. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

The Machinery of Nature
I used this book as one in a comparison of ecological books for different user populations. It is such a great read, due to author's amazing skills and knowledge on the subjects plus writing skills.The reader can learn ecological principles without even realizing it! However, the interest needs to still be there. And it may not be a substitute for a class room text book.

Hurry, Hurry- Read All About It!
The Machinery of Nature is for those who are interested in environmental management, its politics, development and business side OR for those who just want to read something.This book is full of information about the world around us and how everything, from abiotic to biotic, functions together.Paul Ehrlich really made me realize how much I want to protect our precious environment, in which life depends on, from wasteful resources.Ehrlich states in this book, "Each individual organism is constructed so that it can grow and reproduce in a given set of environmental conditions.If it finds itself outside the boundaries of that set of conditions, its chemical life processes grind to a halt.Too much cold or too little water will often take plants or animals beyond the limits of survival" (20).Human influence on the earth's environment has become a matter of public concern to most people because everyday we are losing a species from what humans do, even the little things, such as flick a cigarette bud out the window, or toss a gum wrapper in the bushes.Clean water resources and habitat quality are essential for the health of all living organisms.So let's not take this world for granted.My closing comment regarding this book to everyone is READ IT, LIVE IT, AND LEARN!

Hurry Hurry, Read All About It!
The Machinery of Nature is for those who are interested in environmental management, its politics, development and business side OR for those who just want to read something.This book is full of information about the world around us and how everything, from abiotic to biotic, functions together.Paul Ehrlich really made me realize how much I want to protect our precious environment, in which life depends on, from wasteful resources.Ehrlich states in this book, "Each individual organism is constructed so that it can grow and reproduce in a given set of environmental conditions.If it finds itself outside the boundaries of that set of conditions, its chemical life processes grind to a halt.Too much cold or too little water will often take plants or animals beyond the limits of survival" (20).Human influence on the earth's environment has become a matter of public concern to most people because everyday we are losing a species from what humans do, even the little things, such as flick a cigarette bud out the window, or toss a gum wrapper in the bushes.Clean water resources and habitat quality are essential for the health of all living organisms.So let's not take this world for granted.My closing comment regarding this book to everyone is READ IT, LIVE IT, AND LEARN!

The Machinery of Nature
This book is well-explained about the "machinery" of nature. The writer, Paul R. Ehrlich strongly insist that it is significant for us to understand how nature works to us human beings today. He issued many principles of physiological ecology, that how the relationship works with us and our surroundings. He mentioned why population sizes change and how . He gave us many detailed knowledge of examples of how nature goes in this world. He observed carefully toward each sex in the society, and defined who tend to live in a appropriate place, and how they live together. And at the end, the writer expound why we should upkeep our own life support system that maintain our ecosystem exology. I found out this book is very useful general study about our ilving system in Nature. And, Ehrlich is really concern at our natural environment.

The Machinery of Nature
This book is well-explained about the "machinery" of nature. The writer, Paul R. Ehrlich strongly insist that it is significant for us to understand how nature works to us human beings today. He issued many principles of physiological ecology, that how the relationship works with us and our surroundings. He mentioned why population sizes change and how . He gave us many detailed knowledge of examples of how nature goes in this world. He observed carefully toward each sex in the society, and defined who tend to live in a appropriate place, and how they live together. And at the end, the writer expound why we should upkeep our own life support system that maintain our ecosystem exology. I found out this book is very useful general study about our ilving system in Nature. And, Ehrlich is really concern at our natural environment. ... Read more

Product Description
America's most eminent environmental scientists describe what is needed to repair the Earth. "An important book that could serve to get society back on track in dealing with our serious environmental problems."--Science Books & Films. The Ehrlichs co-wrote The Population Explosion. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Yet again, Ehrlich got it wrong
About every eight years, Paul Ehrlich issues a prediction of disaster.And about a decade later, we learn he was wrong.

In his 1968 book "The Population Bomb", he predicted that the world would be unable to feed itself by the end of the century (yes, that century that ended over a year ago).Billions would die of starvation, and the world population would drop to a fraction of its 1968 value.

In 1976, his book "The End of Affluence" predicted that the world economy would crash "within a decade", resulting in a "North America unable to even feed itself".

In 1984, his book "The Cold and Dark: The World After Nuclear War" stated that, unless a unilateral nuclear disarmament pact was implemented, nuclear war was inevitable.He also failed to forsee the collapse of the Soviet Union, arguing that American nuclear policy would result in an increasing repressive and centralized Soviet economy.

This is just the most recent case.He's probably due for another book right about now, and his fans will forget the past when reading it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Book was in good condition
Book was in relatively good condition considering the year in which it got published.
All the pages were intact, including all the illustrations. ... Read more