I read Gaia and Philosophy on a slow riverbed, contemplating this small but galactic book's suggestion that the entire planetary surface of Earth is a living, self-regulating force. The book proposes that ‘Earth’s complex thermodynamic system exhibits natural purpose, even a kind of mind.’ Plasmodial slime carries memory, further expanding the notion that our planet's autopoiesis is a self-reflexive and self making system. Within these pages the authors mention biochemical virtuosity and a kind of geological concert that seems to be at the heart of their philosophy that the Earth is a body in the form of a planet. While also deconstructing our human-centric approach to life, reminding us that we are but a single part of a huge ecosystem that comprises the Earth’s surface and despite our destructive tendencies, it will inevitably outlive and outshine our species. Margulis and Sagan leave us with a poetry only scientists can speak, saying that “Rather than looking at the cosmos as a place to colonise… We might look at it as a place to garden.”

REVIEW BY: Shannon May Powell.