The Earth, James Lovelock proposes, behaves as if it were a superorganism, made up from all the living things and from their material environment. When he first sketched out his brilliant Gaia theory in the 1970s, people around the world embraced it; within a short time Gaia has moved from the margins of scientific research to the mainstream. James Lovelock argues that such things as the level of oxygen, the formation of clouds, and the saltiness of the oceans may all be controlled by interacting physical, chemical, and biological processes. He believes that "the self-regulation of climate and chemical composition is a process that emerges from the tightly coupled evolution of rocks, air, and ocean - in addition to that of organisms. Such interlocking self-regulation, while rarely optimal - consider the cold and hot places of the earth, the wet and the dry - nevertheless keeps the Earth a fit place for life." The New York Times Book Review has called his arguments in favor of Gaia "plausible and above all illuminating." Now, in an updated paperback edition, fully revised, the author amplifies his account of how Gaia works with descriptions of new fields of research that have been opened by this pathbreaking concept.

詹姆斯·拉伍洛克，是一个有主见的科学家、发明家和作家。他1974年成为英国皇家学会的成员，1990年获得由荷兰皇家艺术与科学学院颁发的第一届阿姆斯特丹奖环境奖。他的发明之一是电子俘获探测器，这对于环境意识的发展非常重要。因为它揭示了无处不在的农药残留。他还和NASA合作展开研究，他的一些发明还被用于行星探测的项目。

译者简介：肖显静，中国社会科学院哲学研究所教授，博士生导师，中国社会科学院科学技术与社会研究中心主任。研究方向为科学哲学（生态学哲学）、科学技术与社会（科学技术与环境论）。

范祥东，南京大学哲学系博士研究生，南京师范大学中北学院两课教研室讲师。主要研究方向为科学技术哲学（环境哲学）。