Dreaming the biosphere : the theater of all possibilities /

In Dreaming the Biosphere, science writer Reider thoroughly discusses the results of her countless interviews with individuals who played leading and subordinate roles in this vast experiment with technology, ecology, and humanity as the 20th century drew to a close. The author encountered cooperative as well as uncooperative interviewees and excels at bringing them all to life--some reluctantly, others willingly. She passionately and honestly tells their stories in a dramatic yet eloquent writing style that scientists, sociologists, engineers, teachers, and spiritualists--in short, any critical-thinking person with a hunger for making the world a better place to live--will enjoy. Surprisingly, the Biospherians, who were at a crossroads between environmental concern and spiritual consciousness, did not incorporate the foundational basis of Western culture into their social interactions. This foundation has been reviewed by R. Nash in Wilderness and the American Mind (4th ed., 2001) and many others, including W. T. Johnson in his article "The Bible on Environmental Conservation," published in the Electronic Green Journal in 2000. Inspiring, yet sad, this book will prompt countless hours of discussion and debate as the drama of people and the planet continues. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels of academic, general, and professional readers. T. Johnson Prescott Valley Public Library

*Starred Review* Heralded as a grand scientific experiment in the early 1990s, Biosphere 2 fell out of favor and was relegated to pseudoscience at best and man's folly at worst. Reider's impeccably researched analysis of the project and the people intimately involved in it begins decades before with a group of disaffected intellectuals and artists who sought to change the world and mend the rift between humans and nature. The wandering troupe in the Theater of All Possibilities managed to develop serious agricultural projects around the world while performing plays as an integral part of their business plan. Thanks to the wealth of one member, they were able to harness their vision and gain the support of the scientific community in constructing a self-contained biosphere to mimic life on earth and collect data for future planetary colonization. Reider sees Biosphere 2's complicated success and failure as far more than a clash of science and myth or data and personality. She writes a fable of epic dreams burdened by superegos and drama that could not be contained. Riveting, surprising, and in the end devastatingly human, this is a saga for the ages.--Mondor, Colleen Copyright 2009 Booklist