The Many Lives of James Lovelock: Science, Secrets and Gaia Theory

(Hardback, Main)

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Based on over eighty hours of interviews with Lovelock and unprecedented access to his personal papers and scientific archive, Jonathan Watts has written a definitive and revelatory biography of a fascinating, sometimes contradictory man.

James Lovelock is best known as the father of Gaia Theory, the idea that life on Earth is a self-sustaining system in which organisms interact with their environments to maintain a habitable ecosystem.

Lovelock's life was a chronicle of twentieth-century science, and somehow he seemed to have a hand in much of it. During the Second World War he worked at the National Medical Research Institute, where his life-long interest in chemical tracing began. In the 1960s he worked at NASA. He worked for MI5 and MI6 during the Cold War. He was a science advisor to the oil giant Shell, who he warned as early as 1966 that fossil fuels were causing serious harm to the environment. He invented the technology that found the hole in the Ozone layer. And all of this shaped Gaia Theory - a theory that could not have been developed without the collaboration of two important women in his life. Drawing together the many influences which shaped his life and thinking, The Many Lives of James Lovelock is a unique biography of one of the most fascinating scientists of the modern age.

Reviews

A wonderful book. It captures the friend and mentor I knew. It also taught me a few things I didn't know about him -- TIM LENTON, Professor of Earth System Science at Exeter University
Jim Lovelock was always full of surprises - and wow, a few more pop up here! Watts's biography is deeply intimate, but also steps back to reveal how the personal details connect and build into Lovelock's huge influence on science and environmental thinking. A fascinating picture of an astonishing life -- RICHARD BETTS MBE, Chair in Climate Impacts, University of Exeter and Met Office Hadley Centre
Praise for When a Billion Chinese Jump: 'A stark warning of the dangers of pollution . . . This book is not simply an indictment of China's development path: it is a lesson for us all in the dangers of how we live * * Guardian * *
A fascinating, engaging and beautifully written book. It is a masterpiece -- GEORGE MONBIOT
A gripping peregrination and one rich with detail and informed insights. But this is far more than a series of adventure stories. This is also a book packed with information. Watts's research is painstakingly meticulous and crowded with detail. Above all, Watts's book is a damning indictment and a deeply disturbing piece of writing that should be on the reading list of anyone anxious about the future of this planet * * The Times * *
Gripping. Watts is perfectly qualified to assemble detail after extraordinary detail, to build a riveting picture of one of human history's most astonishing episodes. But the great virtue of When A Billion Chinese Jump is that voices are as prominent as facts. It is also in their words that Watts gives us an essential insight into why the Chinese growth explosion is likely to be uncontrollable * * Independent * *
Jonathan Watts has given us the most comprehensive investigation yet . . . [A] beautifully reported book. If you want to understand the century you're living in, this book is required reading * * Orion Magazine * *
Both hopeful and disturbing . . . Readers interested in global warming will appreciate the firsthand information about China, and Watts's travels are so extensive and China is changing so fast, some material is likely to be fresh and new even for Sinologists * * Publisher's Weekly * *

Author Bio

Jonathan Watts is a journalist based in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. He is global environment editor at the Guardian and founder of the Rainforest Journalism Fund and the Amazon-centred news website sumauma.com. He has won numerous environmental and science journalism awards and is the author of When a Billion Chinese Jump: How China Will Save the World - or Destroy It.

Twitter @jonathanwatts