Wilson, Edward O. 1929–

(Edward Osborne Wilson, Jr.)

PERSONAL: Born June 10, 1929, in Birmingham, AL; son of Edward O., Sr. (an accountant) and Inez (Freeman) Wilson; married Irene Kelley, October 30, 1955; children: Catherine Irene. Education: University of Alabama, B.S., 1949, M.S., 1950; Harvard University, Ph. D., 1955.

ADDRESSES: Office—Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138.

CAREER: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, assistant professor of biology, 1956–58, associate professor of zoology, 1958–64, professor of zoology, 1964–76, Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science, 1976–94, Pellegrino Professor, 1994–97, then Pellegrino University Professor Emeritus and research professor, beginning 1997, curator in entomology at Museum of Comparative Zoology, 1972–97, then honorary curator, 1997–; writer. Member of selection committee, J.S. Guggenheim Foundation, 1982–89. Trustee of Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, 1976–80. Member of board of directors, World Wildlife Fund, 1983–94, Organization for Tropical Studies, 1984–, New York Botanical Gardens, 1991–, American Museum of Natural History, 1992–, American Academy of Liberal Education, 1993–, and Conservation International, 1997–.

MEMBER: World Wildlife Fund (member of advisory council, 1977–), Deutsche Akademie Naturforsch (fellow), Society for the Study of Evolution, British Ecological Society (honorary life member), Royal Society (London, England), Finnish Academy of Science and Letters, Russian Academy of Natural Science, Royal Society of Science (Uppsala), American Philosophical Society (fellow), American Genetics Association (honorary life member), National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences (fellow), Entomological Society of America (honorary life member), Zoological Society of London (honorary life member), Netherlands Society of Entomology (honorary life member), Academy of Humanism (honorary life member).

AWARDS, HONORS: Cleveland Award, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1969; Mercer Award, Ecological Society of America, 1971; Founders Memorial Award, Entomological Society of America, 1972; Distinguished Service Award, American Institute of Biological Sciences, 1976; National Medal of Science, 1977; Leidy Medal, Academy of Natural Sciences, 1979; Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction, 1979, for On Human Nature, and 1991 for Ants; Sesquicentennial Medal, University of Alabama, 1981; Distinguished Humanist Award, American Humanist Association, 1982; Tyler Ecology Prize, 1984; Richard M. Weaver Award for Scholarly Letters, Ingersoll Foundation, 1989; Crafoord Prize, Royal Swedish Academy, 1990; Prix d'Institute de la Vie (Paris), 1990; Revelle Medal, 1990; Gold Medal, Worldwide Fund for Nature, 1990; National Wildlife Association Award and Sir Peter Kent Conservation Prize, both 1991, both for The Diversity of Life; Hawkins Award, Outstanding Professional or Reference Work, American Publishers Association, 1991, for The Ants; National Wildlife Federation Achievement Award, 1992; Wildlife Society Book Award, 1993, for The Diversity of Life; Shaw Medal, Missouri Botanical Garden, 1993; International Prize in Biology, Japanese government, 1993; Eminent Ecologist Award, Ecological Society of America, 1994; Distinguished Achievement Award, Educational Press Association of America, 1994; 1994 Award for Increasing the Public Understanding of Science, Council of Scientific Society Presidents, 1994; AAAS Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994; David Ingalls Award for Excellence, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1995; Audubon Medal, Audubon Society, 1995; John Hay Award, Orion Society, 1995; Los Angeles Times Book Prize for science and technology, and Benjamin Franklin Award, Publishers Marketing Association, both 1995, both for Naturalist; Phi Beta Kappa Prize, and Science, and Science Book of the Year (Germany), both 1995, both for Journey to the Ants; Certificate of Distinction, Council of the XX International Congress of Entomology, 1996; first recipient, Edward Osborne Wilson Naturalist Award, American Society of Naturalists, 1997; William Procter Prize for Scientific Achievement, Sigma Xi, 1997; Benjamin Franklin Medal, American Philosophical Society, 1998; Deutsche Umweltstiftung prize, 1998, for The Diversity of Life; Clarence Cason Award, University of Alabama, 1999; Humanist of the Year citation, American Humanist Association, 1999; King Faisal International Prize for Science, 2000; Kistler Prize, Foundation for the Future, 2000; J.C. Phillips Memorial Medal, World Conservation Union, 2000; recipient of numerous other awards and honorary degrees.

WRITINGS:

(With R.H. MacArthur) The Theory of Island Biogeography, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1967, with a new preface by the author, 2001.

(With Robert W. Taylor) The Ants of Polynesia, Hawaii Museum Department of Entomology (Honolulu, HI), 1967.

The Insect Societies, Belknap Press (Cambridge, MA), 1971.

(With W.H. Bossert) A Primer of Population Biology, Sinauer Associates (Sunderland, MA), 1971.

(Coauthor) Life on Earth, Sinauer Associates (Sunder-land, MA), 1973, 2nd edition 1978.

(Author of introduction) Ecology, Evolution and Population Biology: Readings from Scientific American, Freeman (London, England), 1974.

Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, Belknap Press (Cambridge, MA), 1975, 25th anniversary edition, 2000.

(Author of introduction, with Thomas Eisner) Animal Behavior: Readings from Scientific American, Freeman (London, England), 1975.

(Author of introduction, with Thomas Eisner) The Insects: Readings from Scientific American, Freeman (London, England), 1977.

(Coauthor) Life: Cells, Organisms, Populations, Sinauer Associates (Sunderland, MA), 1977.

(With George F. Oster) Caste and Ecology in Social Insects, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1978.

On Human Nature, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1978, with new preface, 2004.

(With Charles J. Lumsden) Genes, Mind, and Culture: The Coevolutionary Process, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1981.

(With Charles J. Lumsden) Promethean Fire: Reflections on the Origin of the Mind, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1983.

Biophilia: The Human Bond to Other Species, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 1984.

(Editor) Biodiversity, National Academy Press (Washington, DC), 1988.

(With Bert Holldobler) The Ants, (Cambridge, MA Press), 1990.

Success and Dominance in Ecosystems: The Case of the Social Insects, Ecology Institute (Luhe, Germany), 1990.

The Diversity of Life, Belknap Press (Cambridge, MA), 1992, new edition, W.W. Norton (New York), 1999.

(Editor, with Stephen R. Kellert) The Biophilia Hypothesis, Island Press (Washington, DC), 1993.

(With Bert Holldobler) Journey to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration, (Cambridge, MA), 1994.

Naturalist (autobiography), Island Press (Washington, DC), 1994, illustrated by Laura Simonds South-worth, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1995.

In Search of Nature, Island Press (Washington, DC), 1996.

(Editor, with others) Biodiversity II: Understanding and Protecting Our Biological Resources, Joseph Henry (Washington, DC), 1997.

Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, Knopf (New York, NY), 1998.

Biological Diversity: The Oldest Human Heritage, New York State Museum (Albany, NY), 1999.

(With Dan L. Perlman) Conserving Earth's Biodiversity with E.O. Wilson (CD-ROM), Island Press (Washington, DC), 2000.

Pheidole in the New World: A Dominant, Hyperdiverse Ant Genus, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 2001.

The Future of Life, Knopf (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor of over 350 articles to scientific and popular journals. Coeditor, Theoretical Population Biology, 1971–74, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 1975–98, and Psyche, 1958–.

ADAPTATIONS: The Ants was adapted as the model for SimAnt, a computer game created by Maxis Company, 1991.

SIDELIGHTS: Prior to 1975, Edward O. Wilson was primarily known as one of America's foremost experts on the insect world, his specialty being the study of ants and their social behavior. As a noted professor of entomology at Harvard University, Wilson produced several books on insect culture and physiology before becoming, as Peter Gwynne described him in Newsweek, "one of the most visible and articulate spokesmen for sociobiology, the controversial scientific discipline whose purpose is to examine the biological bases of behavior." The author of two Pulitzer Prize-winning works of nonfiction and the recipient of the National Medal of Science, Wilson has become, in the words of Los Angeles Times Book Review critic Jonathan Weiner, "one of the preeminent evolutionary biologists of our time." In 1996 Time magazine named him one of the twenty-five most influential contemporary Americans, and John Simmons, in The Scientific 100, ranked him among the one hundred most influential scientists of all time.

Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, which Wilson published in 1975, is considered a groundbreaking book. The first detailed study of the emerging science of sociobiology, it catapulted its author to both fame and controversy. The most debated tenet of sociobiology is that all human behavior is genetically based, or, as Wilson once put it, that "genes hold culture on a leash." This position aroused heated debate in both the scientific and cultural communities. Some of its critics, questioning Wilson's methodology, dismissed his work as "so-so biology," while others have gone so far as to label sociobiology "dangerously racist," according to Time, because "the new science would give comfort to the supporters of psychologist Arthur Jensen, a leading proponent of another controversial theory: that racial differences in IQs have a genetic basis." Many critics questioned Wilson's biological explanation of such social behaviors as altruism and religious activity, and accused him and other sociobiologists of advocating the idea of eugenics, the so-called "purifying" of races by genetic control of breeding.

Despite such controversy, many scholars perceived Sociobiology to be a work of exceptional relevance and importance. While the Humanist published an article by Nathaniel S. Lehrman decrying sociobiology as "Wilson's Fallacy," the magazine went on to name Wilson its 1982 Distinguished Humanist and, in 1999, Humanist of the Year. "Many challenges have been made to Wilson's sociobiology, particularly as it applies to humans," explained Frederick Edwords on the American Humanist Web site, "but it seems that many of the challenges are railings at some of Wilson's conclusions—not his evidence or reasons. Wilson has linked humans and human behavior more closely to the genes than many people feel comfortable with. He has compared human social structure to animal societies. He has found selfish roots in altruistic behavior." Edwords went on to say that "because many of Wilson's carefully arrived at conclusions have seemed to burst a few bubbles, or have seemed to threaten a few ideals, Wilson has been persecuted to some extent. But he has stood by his ideas, stood firm on his facts."

In a New York Review of Books review of Sociobiology, C.H. Waddington cited Wilson's "extraordinarily ambitious aim" in outlining the synthesis, and added that the biologist "has been astoundingly successful in achieving [that aim]. This book will undoubtedly be for many years to come a major source of information about all aspects of our knowledge of social behavior in animals…. It has also some of the clearest discussions yet written about the recent advances in general population biology and demography." New York Times Book Review critic John Pfeiffer noted that Wilson "falters somewhat in presenting the human story" of sociobiology in his book, and that the author "can also be faulted for his vision of the future." But Pfeiffer concluded that Sociobiology "may be regarded as an evolutionary event in itself, announcing for all who can hear that we are on the verge of breakthroughs in the effort to understand our place in the scheme of things."

Decades after the initial publication of Sociobiology controversy continued to rage. Some scientists criticized the book as reductionist; others denounced it on political grounds. At a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1978, a woman doused Wilson with a pitcher of cold water as protestors shouted "Wilson, you're all wet!" Others picketed Wilson's lectures, urged their peers to disrupt his classes, and published lengthy denunciations of what they perceived to be his racist, sexist, and classist views. Yet, as Michael Ruse put it in Reason in 1999, "A work that offended so many had to be saying something right." By the time Sociobiology was reissued in its twenty-fifth-anniversary edition, its thesis had become the foundation for much new behavioral research and new discoveries, especially in DNA research, had lent credence to Wilson's argument. As Ken Ringle noted in the Washington Post in 1998, "Today sociobiology is not only an accepted branch of science but one of its driving forces. The Animal Behavior Association in the 1980s voted Wilson's once-controversial work the most important such book ever."

Wilson continued to explore the synthesis of ideas in his 1978 book, On Human Nature, which he describes as "not a work of science," but rather "a work about science, and about how far the natural sciences can penetrate into human behavior before they will be transformed into something new." On Human Nature "takes up in a philosophical way where Sociobiology left off," observed William McPherson in a Washington Post Book World review. "It is a vastly ambitious attempt to bring the 'two cultures' of science and the humanities together." As with the earlier book, some of Wilson's hypotheses in On Human Nature met with skepticism from the scientific community. Colin Beer, writing in the New York Times Book Review, pointed to a passage from the work which reveals Wilson's prediction that a "durable foundation for peace" might be found by creating "a confusion of cross-finding loyalties to prevent the formation of the kinds of group loyalties that give rise to aggressive behavior." Beer responded that "it is doubtful whether this solution, in itself, would be sufficient to make human aggression, in all its forms, a thing of the past. But the argument that [the author] uses here is typical of his tactics throughout most of the book: it is quietly persuasive rather than belligerently coercive, and it appeals to plausible possibility rather than logical necessity. At least to readers of good will, most of the conclusions will seem reasonable interpretations of the evidence—so much so that many may be left wondering what all the fuss has been about."

Wilson's "most grandiose and least appealing scheme is to replace conventional religion with a mythology based on scientific materialism and incorporating a more objectively chosen value system," noted Nicholas Wade in New Republic. "Gee-whiz wonders from the scientific textbooks—evolution, the Big Bang and so forth—would replace religious awe and the sense of the sacred. This false touch makes the reader wonder if Wilson here hasn't slipped too far afield." However, Wade concluded that On Human Nature "is a splendid departure from the dead-hand canons of the scientific 'literature.' Clarity, precision and boldness distinguish Wilson's attempt to complete the Darwinian revolution. He is dealing with matters that lie mostly beyond the reach of present scientific methods, and perhaps for that reason has chosen to present his ideas in a way that makes them accessible to the public at large as well as to his scientific peers." And despite the controversy surrounding its subject matter, On Human Nature was awarded the 1979 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction. Wilson told the Washington Post's Megan Rosenfeld that the honor is "an affirmation that this is an important new area of thought. It's not necessarily a certification that I'm right, but an affirmation that this is an important thing we should be talking about."

In 1981 Wilson and theoretical physicist Charles J. Lumsden collaborated on Genes, Mind, and Culture: The Coevolutionary Process. Extending the theory of sociobiology, the two scientists described what they labeled the "gene-culture coevolution," a process by which human genetic makeup "helps guide and create culture, while culture in turn operates directly on the genes," according to Harper's reviewers James L. Gould and Carol Grant Gould. Two years later Wilson and Lumsden produced Promethean Fire: Reflections on the Origin of the Mind, a layperson's book on the subject.

One example of the authors' gene-culture theory can be seen in their detailed study of the incest taboo, included in Promethean Fire. According to Wilson and Lumsden, the incest taboo, historically considered a cultural phenomenon, has actually been genetically programmed into humans as a reaction against the mentally and physically deformed offspring that incestuous unions can produce. Thus, the cultural taboo against familial sexual relations is an outgrowth of the genetic rule. "The authors also point out how easily (and in some cases even spontaneously) certain deep, long-lasting phobias appear [to such ancient terrors as snakes, spiders, and thunderstorms, for instance], while determined attempts on the part of parents to instill fear of the real threats of modern-day life (electrical outlets, knives, and busy streets) rarely succeed, at least at the phobia level," noted the Harper's critics. "Surely this argues for a type of genetic programming that could have a role in culture."

Sociologist Howard Kaye, reviewing Promethean Fire for Commentary, found fault with the authors' conclusions: "Although Lumsden and Wilson view their theory as orthodox science, certain questionable assumptions about mind and culture and an extreme reductionism mar their thought and inflate their claims…. Observers of men in society have always known that no human culture, not even our own, is a supermarket of discrete and competing cultural products—row upon row of hymns, gods, cuisines, clothing styles, styles of life—to which each individual is uniformly exposed, and from which he selects according to genetically prescribed preferences and abhorrences," Kaye contended. "Rather, each culture has done the shopping for us, circumscribing the chaos of possibility and ordering our choices to make our lives possible and meaningful…. Only an a-priori reductionism could lead one to conclude that all human choices and tendencies [are] governed by epigenetic rules." However, James and Carol Gould maintained that "Sociobiology is rapidly unraveling many of the mysteries of animal societies. In doing so, it will give us invaluable insights into why we humans organize ourselves as we do, act as we do, perhaps even think as we do. To the extent that this sort of armchair speculation, bolstered by anthropological anecdote and mathematical calculation of probabilities, can encourage new ways of looking at our own evolution and the genetic constraints on our behavior, Lumsden and Wilson have done a service in making their theories accessible to the thinking public in Promethean Fire."

In 1992's The Diversity of Life, Wilson explores the meaning of an offshoot of ecology known as biodiversity—the underlying relationships existing between all life forms that result in the creation and perpetuation of healthy virgin ecosystems. Praising Wilson for his "elegant and ingratiating literary style," Washington Post Book World critic T.H. Watkins hailed The Diversity of Life as "a book that will enlighten the uninformed, correct the misinformed and serve as a beacon of lucidity in the wilderness." Beginning with the discussion of what he terms the "fundamental unit" species—or, in reference to its unique DNA code, a "living genetic library"—Wilson goes on to discuss the elaborate system of checks and balances that functions within the processes of evolution, adaptation, colonization, reproduction, migration, and transmogrification. Cautioning readers about the devastating ecological consequences of humankind's continued destruction of such sensitive ecosystems, Wilson devotes the second section of his book to conservation: humans' moral dilemma as it relates to the stewardship of life on earth. "If there is danger in the human trajectory," he warns, "it is not so much in the survival of our own species as in the fulfillment of the ultimate irony of organic evolution: that in the instant of achieving self-understanding through the mind of man, life has doomed its most beautiful creations. And thus humanity closes its door on its past."

Wilson considers The Ants, his second Pulitzer prize winner, to be his "magnum opus," not only because the book itself weighed seven and a half pounds, but because it brings together for the first time all the knowledge and widely scattered information now known about ants. Working with fellow myrmecologist and Harvard faculty member Bert Holldobler, Wilson organizes a monumental amount of information about everything from ant evolution and history to ant communication and social structures. Journey to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration, published four years later, once again united Wilson and Holldobler. A layperson's introduction to the amazing variation existing within the ant kingdom, Journey also provides a revealing look at the motivations of those who have devoted their lives to the study of these surprisingly social creatures.

Wilson's attraction to biology, evolution, and ecology grew from his fascination, as a young boy, with the natural wonders surrounding the many places were he and his family lived, from the rural Alabama countryside to Washington, DC, where Wilson discovered the treasures contained in both the National Zoo and the Smithsonian Institution. The scientist's biophilia—what he describes as "the innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes"—is the subject of several books, including Biophilia: The Human Bond to Other Species, and Naturalist.

"No one can doubt [that Wilson] is powerfully drawn to other creatures, but he wants to make some larger points: human attraction to other living things is innate, and this natural affinity should serve as the philosophical basis for a new conservation ethic," assessed New York Times Book Review critic Sarah Boxer, in her review of Biophilia. While Wilson's "attempt to promote conservation is noble and appealing," Boxer contended that he "loses the thread of his main argument" when he "flits from a reverie about time scales to a reminiscence about his work in biogeography."

Psychology Today writer Wray Herbert cited a specific example of Wilson's biophilic notions. Pointing to "an appreciation of the 'savanna gestalt,'" Herbert explained that "early humans evolved on the African savannas, presumably because tree-studded open land overlooking water offered the optimal environment for survival; this predisposition became ingrained, Wilson argues [in Biophilia], and today is reflected in our esthetics [in designs like] malls, gardens and cemeteries." "It's hard not to like this little book … and it's hard not to like Wilson after having read it," concluded Herbert, adding that Biophilia "is a very personal statement. Mixing bits of autobiography with meditations on nature, he has put together a poetic rather than a scientific argument; he offers biophilia as an article of faith, making only a half-hearted effort to prove it for what he calls his 'determined critics.'"

"What happened, what we think happened in distant memory, is built around a small collection of dominating images," Wilson wrote in Naturalist, a personal memoir of his own evolution from young boy to biologist. The only child of an alcoholic father, the biologist eventually attended military school, channeling his developing intellect, self-discipline, reverence for single-mindedness of purpose, and interest in nature into a passion for the study of insects. "Wilson emerges not only as a gifted scientist, but also as a likable, passionate, eloquent person," noted Jared Diamond, reviewing Naturalist in the New York Review of Books. William Howarth had equal praise for the work in the Washing-ton Post Book World: "What distinguishes Wilson's story is its handsome prose, honed by years of practice into a concise and sly discourse. Among literary scientists, no one since Rachel Carson has more effectively joined humble detail to a grand vision of life processes and structures." Unlike Wilson's previous works, Naturalist is illuminating on a personal as well as an instructional level. "It is still possible to realize the romantic ideal of exploration that many of us harbor in childhood, and then abandon as impractical," Diamond added. "By explaining how Wilson realized that ideal, his book helps us to understand one of the brighter trajectories in twentieth-century intellectual life."

"Wilson's critics want certain things—like beauty and morality—kept mysterious," wrote Herbert, of the negative response to some of Wilson's more controversial theories; "they are angered by what they perceive as a reductionist view of human culture. And like Darwin, Wilson has tendered an idea that is shocking in its simplicity, which if correct will demand a basic revision of what it is to be human." Wilson's fascination with synthesis—a unifying relationship among seemingly disparate things—found what many critics considered its most ambitious articulation in Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge. As its subtitle indicates, the 1998 book argues for the necessity of seeing all knowledge, from all disciplines, as part of one coherent scientific system. And as with Sociobiology, the book stimulated much controversy.

Tzvetan Todorov, in the New Republic, attacked the book on several levels. He found its argument lacking in unity, its philosophical understanding incorrect, and its central argument wrong. Todorov objected to the idea of any unifying system, stating that "Surely [any attempt to remedy overspecialization in the sciences] does not mean that all boundaries must be erased. Surely the nature of knowledge differs with the object of knowledge." Finding fault with almost every major point in Consilience and making a direct allusion to Adolph Hitler's use of Social Darwinism in Nazi Germany, Todorov emphasized that "it is even less desirable to seek to unite knowledge and action," and added that "what is original in Wilson's book is indefensible, and what is true in it is banal."

Other criticism of the book, however, was less hostile. Among the most common of the complaints against Consilience was that the book oversimplifies complex matters. Physicist Jeremy Bernstein, writing in Commentary, noted that the reductionist laws of hard sciences doubtless made it "irresistible to apply the lessons thereby learned to, essentially, everything … [Wilson] genuinely feels that once we know enough about physics, chemistry, and biology, there will be nothing on earth we cannot explain." John Dupre, in Science, wrote that "the central thesis of the book is vague, the arguments presented generally difficult to discern, and many of the opinions expressed are quite eccentric." Daniel J. Kevles, in the New York Times Book Review, suggested that much of Wilson's argument is "overstated," but concluded that Consilience "is an evangelic book, an arresting exposition of Wilson's religion of science and a kind of sermon—forceful in delivery if shaky in substance—intended to assist in the reform of the world."

Despite such criticisms, however, Consilience received much extravagant praise. Psychologist Steven Pinker lauded it, in a Slate review, as an "excellent" work that "provides superb overviews of Western intellectual history and of the current state of understanding in many academic disciplines." Freeman Dyson, writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, hailed the work as "a major contribution to philosophy" and the articulation of a "great and noble vision, portrayed with eloquence and passion." "The questions that the book raises are important," Dyson noted, "whether Wilson's answers turn out to be right or not." Though Humanist reviewer Michael Werner admitted that Consilience "reaches too far at times," he deemed it "audacious, prophetic, and bound to become a recurrent touchstone to test intellectual progress in the twenty-first century." Werner concluded that, though imperfect, Consilience is a book "of wide scholarship, wisdom, and hope, whose overreaching is easily overlooked as a courageous testament of one who tests how close to the sun he can fly."

Wilson looks to the health of the planet in The Future of Life, and posits that conservation of all resources is the only way to avoid apocalyptic extinction. Humankind has been selfish in its appropriation of more than its share of natural resources, and has thus disturbed the ecological balance. The biologist maintains that environmental destruction is a consequence of mankind's greed, and Kevin Shapiro, in his review of The Future of Life, noted that "Recorded history has been an unmitigated disaster for the biosphere, and it will continue to be … so long as our quest for material comfort and security takes precedence over our sense of kinship with the natural world." In a review of the book, a Science News contributor wrote that "Wilson makes an impassioned and compelling plea for saving species while giving a balanced account of the current state of affairs…. He focuses on solutions that can provide economic prosperity for all people, especially those that have to rely on our most fragile ecosystems in order to sustain themselves."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Barlow, Connie, editor, From Gaia to Selfish Genes: Selected Writings in the Life Sciences, MIT (Cambridge, MA), 1991.

Contemporary Authors Autobiography Series, Volume 16, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1985.

Segerstrale, Ullica, Defenders of the Truth: The Battle for Science in the Sociobiology Debate and Beyond, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2000.

Simmons, John, The Scientific 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Scientists, Past and Present, Kensington Publishing Corporation, Citadel Press (New York, NY), 1996.

Wright, Robert, Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information, Times Books (New York, NY), 1988.

PERIODICALS

American Scholar, summer, 1998, p. 143.

Atlantic, March, 1998.

Audubon, January-February, 1996, p. 92; November-December, 1998, p. 90; November, 1999, p. 64.

Bioscience, June, 1999, p. 487; October, 2000, Brian Shmaefsky review of Conserving Earth's Biodiversity, p. 920; November, 2003, Fred Powledge, "Island Biogeography Lasting Impact," p. 1032.

Boston Globe, April 11, 1991, p. 29; September 15, 1992, p. 1; October 9, 1994; November 6, 1994, p. B20.

Business Week, April 20, 1998, p. 15.

Christian Century, November 4, 1998, p. 1027.

Christian Science Monitor, May 29, 1990, p. 13; October 22, 1992, p. 11; December 5, 1994, p. 13.

Commentary, October, 1983; June, 1998, p. 62; April, 2002, review of The Future of Life, p. 65.

Commonweal, July 17, 1998, p. 23.

Discover, March 1996, p. 66.

Economist, July 11, 1998, p. S15.

Forbes, September 21, 1998, p. 110.

Harper's, June, 1983.

Humanist, July-August, 1981; September-October, 1982; March, 1999, p. 44.

Insight on the News, June 8, 1998, p. 42.

Journal of the American Medical Association, October 28, 1998, p. 1455.

London Review of Books, April 22, 1993, p. 20; July 20, 1995, pp. 26-27; October 29, 1998.

Los Angeles Times, August 12, 1988, p. V4; October 16, 1994, p. E2.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, December 17, 1984; September 5, 1993, p. 7; October 23, 1994, p. 4; December 10, 1995.

National Review, May 4, 1998, p. 49; June 19, 2000.

New England Journal of Medicine, July 16, 1998.

New Republic, November 11, 1983; April 27, 1998, p. 29.

New Scientist, August 22, 1998.

Newsweek, October 16, 1978; June 22, 1998, p. 59, p. 61.

New York Review of Books, August 7, 1975; October 12, 1978; November 5, 1992, pp. 3-6; January 12, 1995, pp. 16-19; April 23, 1998, pp. 14-17.

New York Times, December 18, 1978; September 21, 1989; August 20, 1991, p. C1; September 22, 1992, p. C4; October 1, 1992, p. C17.

New York Times Book Review, July 27, 1975; October 18, 1981; November 26, 1981; April 24, 1983; October 7, 1984; July 29, 1990, p. 6; October 4, 1992, p. 1; October 16, 1994, pp. 15-17; April 26, 1998.

New York Times Magazine, May 30, 1993, p. 24.

Omni, February, 1979.

OnEarth, fall, 2002, Philip Connors review of The Future of Life, p. 39.

Psychology Today, November, 1984; September-October, 1998, p. 50.

Quarterly Review of Biology, June, 2003, Michael Simon review of The Future of Life, p. 208.

Reason, August-September 1998, p. 79; December 1999, p. 20.

Saturday Night, September, 1983.

Science, January 10, 1997, p. 175; May 29, 1998, p. 1395; October, 2000, Brian Shmaefsky review of Conserving Earth's Biodiversity, p. 920; April 4, 2003, T.R. Schultz review of Pheidole in the New World, p. 57.

Science News, April 27, 2003, review of The Future of Life, p. 271.

Scientific American, June, 1998, p. 97.

Skeptical Inquirer, July-August, 1998, p. 47.

Time, June 17, 1996, p. 72; August 1, 1977; June 17, 1996; April 20, 1998, p. 15; April 26, 2000, p. 54.

Times Literary Supplement, August 13, 1993, pp. 5-6.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), November 5, 1978; March 16, 1990; November 25, 1992, p. 3; December 18, 1994, p. 6.

Utne Reader, July-August, 1998, p. 95.

Washington Post, May 4, 1979; April 10, 1991, p. B1; June 11, 1998.

Washington Post Book World, October 8, 1978; October 1978; March 25, 1990, p. 4; September 27, 1992, pp. 1, 13; December 12, 1993, p. 8; October 1994, p. 4.

ONLINE

Actionbioscience.org, http://www.actionbioscience.org/ (August 8, 2004), "Speciation and Biodiversity: A Interview with Edward O. Wilson."

American Humanist Web site, http://www.americanhumanist.org/ (August 8, 2004).

Slate, http://www.slate.com/ (March 31, 1998).