Product Description
Two fundamentally different business models of capitalism are operating in the business world today. One is self-destructive and increasingly corrupt. The other is emergent, flourishing, and inspirational. The author explains the differences between the two and reveals the extraordinary results of the more successful model. Profit for Life draws on nearly forty years of research on the empirical connections between stewardship and profitability.
Customer Reviews:
Review of Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels by Joseph H. Bragdon.......2007-04-08
Profit for Life shatters the old paradigm that success in business means sucking the life from people and natural resources by viewing both as dispensable commodities. By showing us how success in business--including big business--goes hand-in-hand with respect for human and natural communities, Bragdon frees us from the wrenching misconception that profit and citizenship represent a kind of zero-sum game.
Bragdon unites head and heart in one of the most uplifting books I have ever read. Profit for Life offers hope with a firm footing. I recommend Profit for Life to anyone with an interest in business management, strategic investment, or corporate citizenship.
Daniel D. Dutcher, J.D., Ph.D.
Project Director
The Clean Energy Group
Montpelier, Vermont
Book Review for Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels.......2007-01-31
Book Review for Profit for Life: How Capitalism Excels
by Ann McGee-Cooper
How do you measure the value of servant leadership in business? How can we know it works? These have been two of the most frequently asked questions in our consulting practice over the past 30 years.
In Profit for Life, Jay Bragdon provides us with some compelling answers. He does this by setting aside much of the linear cause-and-effect thinking that drives business these days, and adopts a more rounded, holistic approach that gives us deeper insight into the firm.
The book is based on the experiences of 60 companies - Bragdon's "learning lab" - that broadly represent the industry/sector diversity of the world economy. Throughout the text he describes 16 of these pioneering companies, called the Focus Group. The distinguishing feature of all these firms is their effort to mimic living systems - in the ways they organize, manage and add value. This mental model is radically different from the traditional one that views the firm as a money making machine.
Although it may seem counter intuitive, the living system approach yields vastly superior results than the traditional one. For example, the average equity return of learning lab companies was nearly double the S&P 500 over the past decade; and their excess performance continues as this review is written. Bragdon expects such premium returns will diminish over time as the more effective methods of the living system model become copied and enter the mainstream. Nevertheless, these results are a strong affirmation of the milieu in which servant leadership normally operates.
Servant leadership, to Bragdon, is all about relationships. He says "relational equity" is the foundation on which companies build financial equity. When companies care about people and the things people care about, Employees become inspired and their inspiration cascades into everything they do, including their relationships with customers, suppliers and other key stakeholders.
The raison d'etre of these servant-led firms is value creation - value that permeates all relationships. Companies that excel at such value creation pursue a strategy Bragdon calls "living asset stewardship" (LAS). The fundamental premise of LAS is: Profit arises from life, and must therefore serve life if it is to be sustainable.
To understand the strategic value of living asset stewardship, Bragdon makes a critical distinction between living assets (people and Nature) and non-living capital assets (buildings, equipment and financial reserves). We see this in three contexts. First, people are closely bonded to Nature - genetically, physically and spiritually - in ways that capital assets are not. Second, living assets are the source of non-living capital assets. And third, because living assets are inherently creative and emergent, their value grows over time rather than depreciating as capital assets do.
The operating leverage in the learning lab and the 16 Focus Group companies resides in the human heart rather than in mechanistic financial gearing. This is supported by the fact that they generate consistently higher returns on equity while carrying substantially lower debt ratios.
Although traditionally managed companies have been adopting some stewardship practices in the past decade, Bragdon finds their approach differs fundamentally from those in his study. In the mechanistic view of these firms, stewardship is an add-on that is subservient to their drive for profit. By contrast, in companies that have adopted the living system model, LAS is deeply woven into the value creation process - reflecting the fact that they see themselves as "living" and therefore integral to, rather than separate from, Nature and society.
Profit for Life builds on the brilliant work of Arie deGeus, former coordinator of Group Planning at Royal Dutch/Shell, and Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson. DeGeus' classic, The Living Company, noted that long-lived companies had a collective consciousness, were sensitive to their environments, tried to work in harmony with the world around them, and strove to leave a legacy to future generations. Wilson tells us this collective consciousness is an expression of humanity's deep affinity for life, which he calls "biophilia," and that our biophilic instincts have evolved over thousands of generations of natural selection.
In my work as a teacher of servant leadership, I would highlight the paradigm shift Bragdon describes. The mission of leaders in LAS organizations is to serve and grow their people because that is the source of the firm's liveliness and capacity for growth. As Robert K. Greenleaf said: "The first order of business is to build a group of people who, under the influence of the institution, grow taller and become healthier, stronger and more autonomous." That seminal quote is used twice in the book to describe the power and generative capacity of LAS.
I highly recommend this book and will be using it regularly in our practice.
Ann McGee-Cooper, Ed.D., Business Consultant & Executive coach
in the field of Servant Leadership & growing Learning Organization.
Ann McGee-Cooper & Associates, Inc.
An Extraordinary Book: A Must Read.......2006-11-26
I intend to recommend Profit for Life to all my current MBA students. Next fall I am team teaching an MBA core course that combines Operations Management and Managerial Accounting. I intend to make the case that your book should be required reading and part of the course.
I became familiar with the work of W. Edwards Deming in 1990 and attended one of his four day seminars a year later. I also began to follow Peter Senge's work and later read Margaret Wheatley's book, Leadership and the New Science. Tom Johnson's book, Profit Beyond Measure, has been required reading in my Advanced Managerial Accounting elective at the MBA level.
Bragdon's book has brought the ideas, theories, and concepts discussed by these individuals together for me in a way that I could not have imagined. More importantly, he has not only taken their ideas to the next level, but done it in a way that provides a tangible blue print for how to change our current style of command and control management with its focus on profit maximization to a LAS Theory of Management.
The use of the sixteen focus companies from the LAMP INDEX and the author's ability ability to clearly show the distinctions in their style of management from the traditional management models that continue to be taught in almost all business schools, and the success these companies have achieved not just financially, gives those of us hoping to change management education and core business curriculums a new hope.
Thank you for such an outstanding book.
Joseph F. Castellano
Professor, Department of Accounting
University of Dayton Business School
Excellent, highly readable information.......2006-11-18
This is not one of those lightweight business books that repeats its Chapter 1 message over and over. It's chock full of research-based information that anyone involved in the sustainability movement should have. The publisher is Peter Senge's non-profit, so if you're familiar with his excellent work over the years, this would make a great addition to your library. The author's passion for his subject is obvious from page one.
Book Description
Seventeen years ago, when she adopted a neglected, orphaned thirty-year-old parrot named Tiko, the internationally renowned ornithologist Joanna Burger entered one of the most complex relationships of her life. Sullen and hostile when he entered Dr. Burger’s home, Tiko gradually warmed up, courting her during mating season, nursing her vigilantly through a bout with Lyme disease, and for a while even fighting her husband for her attentions. In time theirs was a relationship of deep mutual trust.
The Parrot Who Owns Me is Joanna and Tiko’s story, as well as the story of the science of birds, and of parrots in particular. Woven into the narrative are insights and fascinating revelations from Dr. Burger’s work—not only about parrots, but also about what it means to be human.
Customer Reviews:
great, if you want to kill your parrot.......2007-05-04
This woman is misleading thousands of readers as to what's acceptable in terms of rearing a parrot. She very often endangers her bird, everything from feeding it a poor diet to letting it chew on furniture (most have stains and sealants that can be toxic). I also see a lot of people voting these bad reviews down, which is fine, but realize that just because she "loved" her bird doesn't mean she did the right things for him. She sure left her other parrots in a rut fast enough.
A love story.......2007-02-16
I purchased this book several years ago for my bird club. Everyone who has read it adores it. Being bird owners and lovers we can understand what this person has gone through with her beloved parrot. We know that many parrots empathize with their caretakers. We also know that birds will most likely bond with one person, and heaven help the other person if they get in the middle.
I don't know of one person who read this book that didn't get teary eyed when she was sick in bed and the parrot groomed her hair on the pillow. It's a close feeling when your bird sits on your shoulder and preens itself and you at the same time.
I need to read this book again....and again. It's lovely...get one and read it. You'll enjoy it.
Can you say Dysfunctional?.......2007-01-05
This woman is an ornithologist and "behavior expert" on parrots. Yet she indulges in the worst possible parrot husbandry. Letting the bird attack her husband when he's trying to be intimate in their bedroom? Letting the bird lunge at her family/friends when they try to open the fridge? Indulging in and encouraging mate behavior? No wonder I had never heard of her among the respected avian academic and behaviorist community (Barbara Heidenreich, Dr Susan Friedman, Steve Martin). Do yourself a favor and read one of their books, not this self-indulgent, narcissistic memoir where Dr Burger seems intent on showing the readers how exclusive her bond is with Tiko (even to her husbands' detriment), and how vitally important she is to the bird. I wonder if she'd even WANT this bird to live a balanced life and have close relationships with other people? (I think not). Frankly, I think she should do some behavioral studies on herself and her own self-serving motivations.
Parrot People Will Understand.......2006-11-14
This was a lovely book. As a "bird person" who is the companion of an Umbrella Cockatoo, I could really identify with Dr. Burger and what she was going through Tico and her other birds. I highly recommend this book for anyone who knows or has an interest in parrots.
Bird Behavior.......2006-04-05
Bird behavior is the author's area of expertise and interest so it is not surprising that she allows her adopted friend great leeway in discovering his place in her home. People who believe birds can be "trained" out of natural inclinations are fooling themselves. After twenty-five years with parrots, I related well to the author's story of her trials and tribulations with a bird who was set in his ways, displaced from the life he had long known, and seaching for a new way of living in a strange environment. Indeed, when I adopted a teenaged red-lored amazon on her fourth (or fifth) home, I found the wisdom of this book invaluable in reassuring me that I would find a modus vivendi with this new addition to my household. One of the author's points is that birds (like people) are individuals and that humans cannot turn them into anything else. Her wisdom and humanity shine through this work, and I wish I could find dozens more like it to read.
Average customer rating:
- visionary life
- Still Relevant Today
- Biophilia Defined
- Biophilia
|
Biophilia
Edward O. Wilson
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Wildlife
| Animals
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Conservation
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Outdoors & Nature Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Science Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Outdoors & Nature
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Science
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Biophilia Hypothesis (A Shearwater Book)
-
On Human Nature
-
The Diversity of Life
-
The Future of Life
-
Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge
ASIN: 0674074424 |
Book Description
View a video on Professor Wilson entitled "On the Relation of Science and the Humanities"
Customer Reviews:
visionary life.......2004-02-19
a brilliantly well-researched, enriching, and enlightening work that will transform the way you view and re-shape the world.
E.O. Wilson writes with great flair and passion; not to mention much authority.
Still Relevant Today.......2004-01-05
Edward Wilson is an entomologist. He studies insects. It's significant that he can write a book that can appeal to so many readers, given the obscure public perception of insects and arthropods.
I expected this book to be an onslaught of scientific explanations and studies, but this was clearly not the case. Wilson writes about his worldly field biology travels with such rich, sensory language. It's actually fun to read.
In no section of the book does he thoroughly or methodically explain the construct of biophilia in a textbook fashion. Instead, he writes his very personal memoirs and takes us through rain forests and other areas teeming with tropical life. For readers familiar with Neil Gaiman's Sandman, Wilson writes as if "Biophilia" were one of the Endless, who are anthropomorphic personifications of ideas and states of human consciousness. In biophilia, Wilson writes a story (his own) that is INTENSELY biophilia THEMED, while not necessarily about biophilia explicitly.
Edward Wilson is a two time pulitzer prize winner, and a great writer at that. You'll be surprised how readable yet informative and entertaining this book is.
Biophilia Defined.......2003-02-07
"The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper."
- Eden Phillpotts
Wilson crafted this book about the "love of life" for a wide-ranging audience. Biophilia begins in journalistic style recounting Wilson's various expeditions to the Amazon river basin in search of elusive species of ants. He describes the scenes in the forest with appeal to all five senses, making it easy to mentally accompany with Wilson upon his tropical trips. The adventurous feel in the opening chapters allows Wilson to demonstrate biophilia instead of describing it. It becomes obvious that biophilia is a major force affecting the way humans react to living organisms. Wilson describes biophilia as the "innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes."
In the middle of Biophilia, Wilson sorts out different time divisions, arguing that the way you organize time creates biases. Wilson holds that most humans divided time according to their own evolution. Humans are not the only species that matter. Bacteria, fungi, protoctists, and plants have been around far longer than Homo sapiens, and humans depend on these other kingdoms for survival. This argument allows Wilson to build a platform from which to apply his notion of biophilia.
Wilson alludes to a "conservation ethic" throughout the first half of the book of which he makes his readers aware in later chapters of Biophilia. Wilson's term "conservation ethic" describes what humans need to do because of biophilia. Clear evidence shows that humans depend on other living organisms for survival. Wilson argues that humans need to care for natural resources if we want to remain alive. He uses this book as strong evidence to form global awareness of biophilia and the conservation consequences it warrants.
Wilson closes this book by recapping his intense accounts of the explorations of untamed nature in the Amazon river basin. He mentally leads the reader through forests with clear descriptions of the thousands of organisms he encountered.
The interspersed chapters of his adventures through nature were welcome surprises to his technical arguments in favor of biophilia. Wilson's enthusiasm for other living organisms is contagious, and his enthusiasm makes this book both entertaining and applicable.
Biophilia.......2002-09-01
Biophilia written by Edward O. Wilson is a book about the conserative ethic and moral reasoning, bringing a new perspective on mans place within the richness of species diversity. Biophilia as defined by the author as the innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes. Arguing that the essence of our humanity... the expansive freedom the mind seeks... is inextricably linked with the green enclaves of this planet.
This book covers a wide expanse in both time and scope, from the microscopic and across time... exploring life's varying time scales. I found this book to be wriiten on a personal level bringing the reader into confidence and like a father or grandfather showing us the marvels of nature first hand. I'm sure that was his intent, to reawaken us, to show how man is intergrated and plays an intergral part in the natural affinity of life on the planet, explaining that biophilia is central to the evolution of the human mind.
We go from rain forests in Brazil, to handfulls of soil, explore the bird of paradise, and study the Huron Peninsula of New Guinea. Through all of this we acquire a greater appreciation for life and the intricate symbiosis that interplays on our human equilibrium.
The book has excellent illustrative text that brings a unique vividness to the author's excellent writing. This is a book that takes the reader on a rich educational look... a serious look... at nature and all of the intergral parts as interplayed in life. Man whether he likes it or not, is tied to this planet and its life force.
Amazon.com
Why is it that most of us find baby animals irresistibly cute? Why do so many people fear even the sight of snakes? What prompts us to feed birds, to allow cats to roam around the house at will, to admire the lines of dogs and horses? Stephen Kellert and Edward Wilson, the prolific Harvard biologist, gather essays by various hands on these and other questions, and the result is a fascinating glimpse into our relations with other animals. Humans, Wilson writes, have an innate (or at least extremely ancient) connection to the natural world, and our continued divorce from it has led to the loss of not only "a vast intellectual legacy born of intimacy" with nature but also our very sanity. There is much to ponder in this timely book.
Book Description
"Biophilia" is the term coined by Edward O. Wilson to describe what he believes is our innate affinity for the natural world. In his landmark book Biophilia, he examined how our tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes might be a biologically based need, integral to our development as individuals and as a species. That idea has caught the imagination of diverse thinkers.
The Biophilia Hypothesis brings together the views of some of the most creative scientists of our time, each attempting to amplify and refine the concept of biophilia. The variety of perspectives - psychological, biological, cultural, symbolic, and aesthetic - frame the theoretical issues by presenting empirical evidence that supports or refutes the hypothesis. Numerous examples illustrate the idea that biophilia and its converse, biophobia, have a genetic component:
- fear, and even full-blown phobias of snakes and spiders are quick to develop with very little negative reinforcement, while more threatening modern artifacts - knives, guns, automobiles - rarely elicit such a response
- people find trees that are climbable and have a broad, umbrella-like canopy more attractive than trees without these characteristics
- people would rather look at water, green vegetation, or flowers than built structures of glass and concrete
The biophilia hypothesis, if substantiated, provides a powerful argument for the conservation of biological diversity. More important, it implies serious consequences for our well-being as society becomes further estranged from the natural world. Relentless environmental destruction could have a significant impact on our quality of life, not just materially but psychologically and even spiritually.
Customer Reviews:
an able collection that needs updating.......2007-08-10
This book contains writings and research from several fields, their experts trying to confirm the hypothesis that human beings are naturally drawn to various manifestations of the natural world ("biophilia"). This hypothesis is important not because it can start a new religion or redeem the world, but because it balances more pessimistic views of human nature with the idea that we have a natural psychological connection to our fellow creatures. This in turn implies that we harm our own psyches to the extent we push other beings out of existence.
Don't expect any end-stage science from this book. The editors make it clear up front that these are tentative, exploratory, and sometimes speculative investigations. The amount of biophilia research funding remains quite small compared to environmental research on how to market things or brainwash customers. The studies herein go up to the 1990s, so it's time for another collection.
A chapter that puzzled me was written by Dorion Sagan and Lynn Margulis to argue that appeals to save the planet are grandiose. Granted; Joanna Macy has been making the point for decades that we are PART of the planet, not sitting high above it. At best we can participate in its self-healing from what humans have done to it. But the authors go beyond this to normalize what we have done to it, even suggesting that we could be making way for the next evolutionary experiment of Gaia. I hate to use the hard word "misanthropic," but dismissing global warming and mass extinctions with the suggestion that "the decline in species diversity may be balanced by an increase in technological diversity" is astounding. It is quite a contrast to the growing numbers of people who feel the pain of those disappearances and declines with agonizing urgency and sorrow. I'm concerned that it also supports the very passivity and hopelessness that deprive the public sphere of so much pro-environmental energy directed toward appreciating and encouraging Earth's self-healing complexity: a very different idealism from the heroic posture of the world-shaper.
Wonderful reading.......2001-10-03
This was recommended by a scientist-science teacher-friend and I was simply blown away by the implications. If this theory is correct, then it explains the human descent into madness brought on by increased development without thought.
Difficult but important.......1999-07-05
Human beings are deeply psychologically attached to nature and the sooner we realize that, the better off we'll be. Why are houseplants so popular? Why do so many children's books feature animals as main characters? Why do more Americans visit zoos than sporting events? Why are so many of us worried about rainforests we'll never see firsthand? Unlike the previous two reviewers, I hold that our ties with nature are deep and ancient. We can bury them under concrete but WE CAN'T CUT THEM. As a last word: most of the really happy people I know have a deep relationship with nature or something from nature, such as a pet.
This book is more postmodernism jibberish.......1999-05-29
In Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectual's Abuse of Science, postmodernists are taken to task for distorting physics and math through poetic license that says nothing and means nothing. Edward O. Wilson likewise has criticized postmodernists for their attacks on science and Western knowledge, and now we have the evolutionists stooping to the same distortions of logic and clear thinking in pursuit of personal agendas to resurrect a new religion of nature. In the book The Biophilia Hypothesis (henceforth BioHyp) we can clearly delineate between the evolutionary observations of our past and what it should mean to us today. This book merges evolutionary knowledge of our environment for survival, with an ethic of deep ecology that is as befuddling and lacking in coherence as anything I have previously seen written by those who claim to be on the side of neo-Darwinist empiricism. But we should all recognize that it is easy, even for true empiricists, to slip into quasi-religious cults even while appearing to embrace the principles of science. Since this book does not have any coherence, aside from making some rather bland connection between how humans interact with nature which I accept but fail to see as profound, I will take a few of the most egregiously inept statements in the book to pull the rug out from under their proposed paradigm.
This book tries to equate affiliation with nature with the essence of a good life that has meaning. Granted, many aspects of human nature go into the make-up of our beings, including: the need to create, observe nature, have sex, accumulate and show off our amassed wealth, dominance over others, athleticism, gathering and enjoying food, AND competition with other human groups including warfare and genocide. Yes, along with a love of nature humans also have a blood lust that these authors all know exists but fail to address in this book. Another quasi-religious group of scientists could easily conjure up a new natural paradigm based on warfare (perhaps like the Spartans) and be equally content with a new culture based on love of animals but hatred of other humans (perhaps the genophilia hypothesis?).
"The biophilia hypothesis necessarily involves a number of challenging, indeed daunting, assertions. Among these is the suggestion that the human inclination to affiliate with life and lifelike process is: 1) Inherent (that is, biologically based); 2) Part of our species' evolutionary heritage; 3) Associated with human competitive advantage and genetic fitness; 4) Likely to increase the possibility for achieving individual meaning and personal fulfillment; and 5) The self-interested basis for a human ethic of care and conservation of nature, most especially the diversity of life." [20]
Assertions 1,2 and 3 I have no problem with, they are simple evolutionary statements. However I take strong issue with 4 and 5. Lets rephrase 4: "[T]he inclination to affiliate with life . . . is [l]ikely to increase the possibility for achieving individual meaning and personal fulfillment." Let us merely rephrase it to read, "The inclination for humans to commit genocide is likely to increase the possibility for achieving individual meaning and personal fulfillment." I contend that genocide and group cohesiveness are in fact far more powerful emotions than our need of love for nature. And yet we have been able to subdue this emotion quite nicely by introducing incentives in cultures to forego blood-letting for other more valuable past times. Likewise, BioHyp may improve our urban environment by paying more attention to planting trees and providing for some bird sanctuaries, but I would contend that the average urban dweller is far more impacted by daily road rage than they are sensitive to the number of animals and fauna they observe on their journey to work. That is, hostility to other humans who may have offended me carry a much greater burden on my temperament than seeing a squirrel climb up the tree as I walk to my garage.
Assertion 5 above, in order to be true, must show that an extreme caring and conservation for nature, one that must reduce the average material wealth of humans while also reducing the number of humans, is of real benefit to humans: that is, it is a good in itself, to all humans! Does this hold for those who will not be born? For those who will die on the way to the emergency room because we have reverted back to bicycles or horse and buggies? Don't get me wrong. I am not an egalitarian that thinks "banning guns to save just one child is reason enough to give up our constitutional rights." Its just that no group or philosophy can make the above statement to simplistically and universally alter our national or humans agenda. They are calling for a ecological Jihad that is not warranted. Our culture cannot be cut from whole cloth based on such simplistic assertions. They are made up of a myriad of compromises and constraints that do not fall easily into any one fundamental of human nature as espoused in BioHyp.
Sorry, but the authors got it all backwards.......1998-10-09
The great biologist Edward O. Wilson noted that human beings seem to have some constants in what they like in the natural world. Everybody likes the landscape they grew up in, but there appears to be a surprising consensus, at least among men, in favor of landscape with these features: grassy parklands with intermittent trees, water, high points providing vistas across a complex landscape, and the ability to see but not be seen. Researchers believe that this represents an inborn affinity toward the superb hunting grounds in which humans evolved in East Africa. From this work, Wilson announced the existence of biophilia, the innate human love of nature, and asserted that this means we should Save the Rainforests (home to most of the species of Wilson's beloved ants).
As much as I admire Wilson, I have to point out that his political argument is absolutely not supported by this research, which demonstrates not that humans like all forms of nature but that they have strong opinions about which landscapes they prefer. Reread the description of the consensus pleasurable landscape: does it remind you of anything that modern humans all around the world spend billions upon? Yup, what we males really have an innate affinity for are golf courses. In fact, we probably have an innate aversion toward rainforests, with their snakes, bugs, and lack of sunlight. Humans have largely avoided rainforests throughout our history, and today rainforests are much more popular on the Upper West Side of Manhattan than in the Amazon.
None of this implies that we shouldn't Save The Rainforests
Average customer rating:
- "Kinship" a good read but not complete
|
Kinship to Mastery: Biophilia In Human Evolution And Development
Stephen R. Kellert
Manufacturer: Island Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
| Adolescent Psychology
| Applied Psychology
| By Topic
| Child Psychology
| Clinical Psychology
| Cognitive
| Counseling
| Creativity & Genius
| Developmental Psychology
| Education & Training
| Ethnopsychology
| Experimental Psychology
| Forensic Psychology
| General
| History
| Hypnosis
| Industrial Psychology
| Logotherapy
| Medicine & Psychology
| Mental Illness
| Movements
| Neuropsychology
| Occupational & Organizational
| Pathologies
| Personality
| Philosophy of Psychology
| Physical Illness & Psychiatry
| Physiological Aspects
| Psychiatry
| Psychoanalysis
| Psychobiology
| Psychopharmacology
| Psychosomatic Medicine
| Psychotherapy, TA & NLP
| Reference
| Research
| Sexuality
| Social Psychology & Interactions
| Statistics
| Suicide
| Testing & Measurement
Physical
| Anthropology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ecology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Environmental Science
| Earth Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Conservation
| Environment
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Ecology
| Environment
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Conservation
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Reference
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Ecology
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Environmental Science
| Earth Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Biophilia Hypothesis (A Shearwater Book)
-
Biophilia
-
The Psychology of Environmental Problems
-
The Human Relationship with Nature: Development and Culture
-
Building for Life: Designing and Understanding the Human-Nature Connection
ASIN: 1559633735 |
Amazon.com
Do human beings have an innate, biologically-based attraction to nature? According to Stephen R. Kellert, author of Kinship to Mastery, "biophilia" is a distinct possibility. Certainly humankind's relationship with the physical world has long been evident in our dependence on nature for the tools of survival--everything from clothing to fossil fuel--but is there also a deeper, less obvious role that nature plays in our lives? Kellert posits that our abilities to emotionally bond, to create, imagine, or even simply recognize our existence as purposeful all stem from our relationships with the world around us.
And if our physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being depends on the natural world, then the environment's degradation could have more disastrous effects than we realize. With Kinship to Mastery, Stephen Kellert presents yet another element in the ongoing debate over conservation, growth, and the environment; this is a book well worth reading.
Book Description
Kinship to Mastery is a fascinating and accessible exploration of the notion of biophilia -- the idea that humans, having evolved with the rest of creation, possess a biologically based attraction to nature and exhibit an innate affinity for life and lifelike processes. Stephen R. Kellert sets forth the idea that people exhibit different expressions of biophilia in different contexts, and demonstrates how our quality of life in the largest sense is dependent upon the richness of our connections with nature.
While the natural world provides us with material necessities -- food, clothing, medicine, clean air, pure water -- it just as importantly plays a key role in other aspects of our lives, including intellectual capacity, emotional bonding, aesthetic attraction, creativity, imagination, and even the recognition of a just and purposeful existence. As Kellert explains, each expression of biophilia shows how our physical, material, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual well-being is to a great extent dependent on our relationships with the natural world that surrounds us.
Kinship to Mastery is a thought-provoking examination of a concept that, while not widely known, has a significant and direct effect on the lives of people everywhere. Because the full expression of biophilia is integral to our overall health, our ongoing destruction of the environment could have far more serious consequences than many people think. In a readable and compelling style, Kellert describes and explains the concept of biophilia, and demonstrates to a general audience the wide-ranging implications of environmental degradation.
Kinship to Mastery continues the exploration of biophilia begun with Edward O. Wilson's landmark book Biophilia (Harvard University Press, 1984) and followed by The Biophilia Hypothesis (Island Press, 1993), co-edited by Wilson and Kellert, which brought together some of the most creative scientists of our time to explore Wilson's theory in depth.
Customer Reviews:
"Kinship" a good read but not complete.......1997-07-26
"Biophilia" is a term used to describe the innate human affinity to nature. This book provides a fairly exhaustive exploration into this concept. Notable observations include that of nature as a metaphor, an abstract, freeform world to apply meaning to and derive meaning from. He makes a good case for natural settings as critical to our mental and physical well being.
Unfortunately the core notion of biophilia is fuzzy at best, not scientifically studied at all-one could make a case that this is all just talk. Furthermore the book barely delves into biophobia at all, despite it being a certain characteristic of our ancestors. Still, I give this book an 8.
Average customer rating:
- Excellent Read
- There is a heart beating inside this space suit.
- Fun fantasy/sci-fi/adventure novel
|
Biophilia
Manufacturer: BookSurge Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Adventure
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1419619845
Release Date: 2005-12-30 |
Book Description
It is 2015. America is fighting two long and boring wars, its troops spread thin across the world. Terrorists have bombed several city blocks in lower Manhattan. The environment is kaput. Everybody hates the government. Worse, Americans have officially run out of gas. This would all have been a terrible bother for car fanatic Imogen Parks, if it hadn't been for Planet Nagy. Thrown through a wormhole onto another planet by a freak terrorist attack, Imogen discovers a world with illimitable energy sources, superb space ships designed by Alien Squids, and - best of all - Talking Animals who need her help.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Read.......2006-03-22
This book is a great read! The heroine is a strong, likeable character and the plot moves along swiftly captivating your attention. You will not want to put it down!
There is a heart beating inside this space suit........2006-01-24
Don't be put off by the involved plot summary. This novel is an absorbing video game with a love story in it. By "video game" I mean lots of action and nobody you care about gets killed. By "love story" I mean touching, not syrupy.
The heroine is a cheeky kid sister type, funny but prickly. The guy has everything -- looks, money and brains - except a sense of purpose. What they both need is love. They are far too proud to admit it, even during intergalactic combat.
The talking animals they help on the Planet Nagy are trustworthy, brave and affectingly serious. The heroine sends a Polar Bear off to battle: "I thought of the wild Arctic wastes that he used to live in, how he would spend the winters trudging through tundras, starving and alone. I gave him a hug and he was very surprised. `It's called a hug,' I said. `We do it to people we like.'. . . He had a funny kind of look, which was the closest Bears come to smiling."
The writing is compact and vigorous ("I saw the entire lake breathe and sigh in huge waves of violent pink as the flamingoes took off . . .") A parable? I hope not. The writer's intent is to dazzle. Love is the only serious subject, and it's handled with great tact.
In the beginning, the heroine/narrator tries too hard to sound like a paid-up member of the "This sucks" generation. But she turns out to be a heroine after all.
Fun fantasy/sci-fi/adventure novel.......2006-01-21
Set in the not-too-distant future, Biophilia is the story of two humans (the narrator and her former college friend) who find their way to an alien world and become entangled in a violent struggle there. It moves along quickly, with excellent battle scenes, entertaining dialogue, and (thankfully) no more technical detail than is necessary for the reader to understand what's happening. Poon's style is light and hip, like her main character. I have a suspicion that it's all an allegory, but if so, I can't put my finger on the meaning. It's certainly a fun ride even without another layer of significance.
Average customer rating:
|
Bibliography of Human Animal Relations
Manufacturer: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Bibliographies & Indexes
| Publishing & Books
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Living on the Land
| Ecology
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
| Architecture
| Hunting & Fishing
General
| Ecology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0819149586 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from World Watch, published by Worldwatch Institute on July 1, 1994. The length of the article is 1237 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Biophilia Hypothesis. (book reviews)
Author: Edward C. Wolf
Publication:
World Watch (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 1994
Publisher: Worldwatch Institute
Volume: v7
Issue: n4
Page: p37(2)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Antioch Review, published by Antioch Review, Inc. on March 22, 1994. The length of the article is 396 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Biophilia Hypothesis.(Brief Article)
Author: Dorothea Bedigian
Publication:
The Antioch Review (Refereed)
Date: March 22, 1994
Publisher: Antioch Review, Inc.
Volume: v52
Issue: n2
Page: p361(1)
Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Books:
- Psychoanalytic Diagnosis: Understanding Personality Structure in the Clinical Process
- Psychology and Alchemy (Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Volume 12)
- Psychology of the Future: Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research (Suny Series in Transpersonal and Humanistic Psychology)
- Public Speaking: An Audience-Centered Approach (6th Edition) (MySpeechLab Series)
- Regression Methods in Biostatistics: Linear, Logistic, Survival, and Repeated Measures Models (Statistics for Biology and Health)
- Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches (2nd Edition)
- Schaum's Outline of Biology
- Science And Human Behavior
- Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA): Concepts, Technology, and Design (The Prentice Hall Service-Oriented Computing Series from Thomas Erl)
- Social Psychology
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- History: Fiction or Science
- Barcelona the Great Enchantress
- The Thunder Tree: Lessons from an Urban Wildland
- The Origin of the Species
- Where We Live: Photographs of America from the Berman Collection
- Blood Diamonds
- An American Place: Celebrating the Flavors of America
- Diaries 1946-1949: Caves of Ice & Midway on the Waves
- The Vanguard Landscapes and Gardens of Martha Schwartz
- Grants for Environmental Protection and Animal Welfare, 2002-2003: Covers Grants to the U.S. and Abr
Learning for Sustainability
Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges
The World Cafe: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter
The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization
The Triple Bottom Line: How Today's Best-Run Companies Are Achieving Economic, Social and Environmental Success -- and How You Can Too
