Gaia: a new look at life on earth (1st edition.)

'Gaia: A New Look At Life on Earth' may continue to divide opinion, but nobody can deny that the book offers a powerful insight into the creative thinking of its author, James E.

Lovelock. Published in 1979, it offered a radically new hypothesis: the Earth, Lovelock argued, is a living entity.

Together, the planet and all its separate living organisms form a single self-regulating body, sustaining life and helping it evolve through time.

Lovelock sees humans as no more special than other elements of the planet, railing against the once widely-held belief that the good of mankind is the only thing that matters.

Despite being seen as radical, and even idiotic on its publication, a version of Lovelock's viewpoint has found resonance in contemporary debates about the environment and climate, and has now broadly come to be accepted by modern thinkers.