Overview
Six billion people live on earth, but we share the planet with trillions of other life-forms, ranging from bacteria to whales. They make up life's infrastructure and are in effect the underpinnings of human existence. The internationally acclaimed Life Counts shows why we must preserve this biodiversity: if we don't, scientists predict, the earth may lose the ability to support its inhabitants within the next fifty years. Through breathtaking color illustrations and lively narration, readers learn that each animal on earth — whose numbers are greater than our galaxy's stars — as well as each plant and each microbe, plays a role essential to the life of the planet and, in surprising ways, human economies and health. How can we protect these living things and hence our world? The authors weigh scientist's and international governments' best ideas. Life Counts: A Worldwide Balance Sheet, winner of the 2000 Scientific Book of the Year award in Germany and recipient of a Distinctive Merit award from the Art Directors Clubs of both New York and Germany, is part of the larger Life Counts Project, designed to raise awareness across the globe of the importance of the world's biodiversity.Synopsis
Six billion people live on earth, but we share the planet with trillions of other life-forms, ranging from bacteria to whales. They make up life's infrastructure and are in effect the underpinnings of human existence. The internationally acclaimed Life Counts shows why we must preserve this biodiversity: if we don't, scientists predict, the earth may lose the ability to support its inhabitants within the next fifty years. Through breathtaking color illustrations and lively narration, readers learn that each animal on earth — whose numbers are greater than our galaxy's stars — as well as each plant and each microbe, plays a role essential to the life of the planet and, in surprising ways, human economies and health. How can we protect these living things and hence our world? The authors weigh scientist's and international governments' best ideas. Life Counts: A Worldwide Balance Sheet, winner of the 2000 Scientific Book of the Year award in Germany and recipient of a Distinctive Merit award from the Art Directors Clubs of both New York and Germany, is part of the larger Life Counts Project, designed to raise awareness across the globe of the importance of the world's biodiversity.
Library Journal
Did you know that outside of the tropics there are 34 kinds of parasites that feed exclusively on humans? Or that humans are responsible for the extinction of over 600 species in a mere 450 years? Written by a team of science journalists and laid out by a noted visual designer, this volume immediately draws in readers with a series of attractively illustrated, two-page spreads graphically representing numbers and the latest research, gathered with the assistance of the World Conservation Monitoring Center. These factoids about our planet's biodiversity are not just isolated sound bites but are put into context with articles that discuss such issues as cataloging species and extinction concerns. This book is written for a general audience and, along with Global Biodiversity (the companion book for specialists to Life Counts), is part of the "Life Counts Project," which aims to raise awareness of global biodiversity. Highly recommended for middle and high school libraries, as well as public libraries and academic libraries with a large undergraduate science collection. [Named Scientific Book of the Year 2000 in Germany, this book was also given a Distinctive Merit award from the Art Directors' Clubs of New York and Germany. Ed.] Marianne Stowell Bracke, Univ. of Arizona Lib., Tucson Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.