Madhav Gadgil’s career arc represents almost the natural history of post-independence India. His biography, A Walk Up The Hill, Living With People and Nature (Allen Lane, Rs 999), tells the story of a country trying to combine economic development with the protection of forests, mangroves, rivers, mountains, rivers and wildlife. This memoir also focuses on the details of the institutional structure in independent India. Gadgil brings a distinctly human touch to the sustainability issue and makes a compelling case for solving environmental crises. At times, Gadgil criticizes peers for their insensitivity to the plight of the disadvantaged and their excessive focus on technical means. At the same time, India’s leading biologist sees hope in the ground movement in several parts of the country.
The Earth Transformed: A History by Peter Frankopan (Bloomsbury, Rs 899) is a fascinating account of how history is affected by nature (Source: Amazon.in)
Peter Frankopan’s The World Changed: The Untold History (Bloomsbury, Rs 899) is an inspiring story of how history is affected by nature. It is also pre-climate change history. If the Earth had not warmed about 12,000 years ago, the agricultural revolution, which allowed for stable living and created the conditions for the rise and fall of cities and empires, would not have happened. This 700-page book shows how human history is inextricably linked with nature. It shows that episodes in history that are often seen in sociopolitical terms – the persecution of the Jews in Europe, for example – have different ecological connections. Today’s climate crisis makes The Earth Transformed more resonant. Frankpan rightly puts it: “Reconstructing human and natural history is not just a practical task; it is very important if we want to understand the world around us correctly”.
These are some of the questions explored by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Venki Ramakrishnan in Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and The Quest for Immortality (Hodder & Stoughton, Rs 699). (Source: Amazon.in)
In modern times, especially in recent years, there has been an increase in aging research that cannot be separated from the growing field of anti-aging. But what about the necessary biological purposes of death? What are the social and moral costs of trying to live forever? These are some of the questions explored by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Venki Ramakrishnan in Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and The Quest for Immortality (Hodder & Stoughton, Rs 699). A mixture of biology, social history, anthropology and philosophy, the book goes into such diverse areas as the decay of the structure of cells, human ways of dealing with death and the quest for immortality. Ramakrishnan’s greatest strength lies in making complex stories accessible. He also expresses a warning: “Living a long time can rob our lives of urgency and purpose, the desire to make each day useful.”
In the Battle Below; Lithium Copper and the War to Strengthen Our Lives (Signal Pr, Rs 799), Reuters reporter Ernest Scheyder documents the conflicts between industry, society, national governments and civil society groups (Source: Amazon.in)
The global demand for clean energy and the creation of resources for the digital economy have fueled the search for precious minerals such as lithium and copper. These are essential materials for electric vehicles, cell phones, solar panels and many other things. Ironically, the mining of the structures of the so-called green economy is inherently harmless. In the Battle Below; Lithium Copper and the Battle to Power Our Lives (Signal Pr, Rs 799), Reuters reporter Ernest Scheyder documents the conflicts between industry, society, national governments and civil society groups that have accompanied the global search for “new fuel”. Scheyder, who has previously reported on this conflict, gives the reader a fascinating account of the underbelly of the new green economy.
kaushik.dasgupta@expressindia.com
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