A Rough Ride to the Future is a Lovelock book which discusses humanity’s role in maintaining the Earth during this period of extensive climate change. As usual his writing is framed within his Gaia theory and is designed to provoke discussion.
Positive reception
As with other Lovelock works, he puts arguments on climate change forward in prose that both laymen and scientists can understand. A Rough Ride to the Future also strikes a gentler tone than many of his previous materials, which gives an impression of hope despite the book’s title.
Critical reception
Perhaps due to the brilliance of many of his previous works, the main criticism that can be applied to A Rough Ride to the Future is that it does not build substantially from his previous titles, such as The Revenge of Gaia. Lovelock’s independence as a scientist is reflected within his writing as some claims within the book would appear to be unsupported. However this is likely to be intended to stimulate debate within climate science rather than being accepted as wrote fact.
Author(s): James Lovelock
Publisher: The Overlook Press, Peter Mayer Publishers, Inc., New York
Year: 2014
Language: English
Pages: 128
Copyright......Page 3
Dedication......Page 4
Epigraph......Page 5
Contents......Page 6
List of Illustrations......Page 7
Acknowledgements......Page 8
Introduction......Page 9
1 What This Book Is About......Page 10
2 The Lone Practice of Science......Page 21
3 How Invention Accelerated Evolution......Page 36
4 Gaia and Its Consequences......Page 55
5 Climate Science......Page 61
6 Can We Stop Climate Change?......Page 72
7 The Evolution of the City......Page 77
8 Myths of Environmentalism, and Their Consequences......Page 84
9 Human Nature and Tribalism......Page 95
10 So What Was It All About?......Page 102
Appendix: Transcriptions of letters from W. D. Hamilton and J. Maynard Smith......Page 112
Further Reading......Page 114
Index......Page 116
About the Author......Page 127
