[ Your Name ] would like to inform you about this article on Complexity Digest 2002.38 - 18 http://comdig.unam.mx/index.php?id_issue=2002.38#8085 23-Sep-2002 [ Your Message ] Biology On The Global Scale,, Nature Book Review Excerpts: No object in the Solar System is more enigmatic than our own familiar planet. (...) most stunning of all, there is abundant life - a biosphere. We feel that these remarkable attributes are intimately connected, but are poorly informed about these relations and by what principles the system evolved. Earth dynamics, in particular the role of life, is hot stuff at present, Earth system science and geobiology being examples of new disciplines specifically concerned with this problem. So Vaclav Smil's overview of what we know about the biosphere is timely. Biology On The Global Scale, Peter Westbroek, Nature 419, 113 - 114 (2002); doi:10.1038/419113a Review of: The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and Change, by Vaclav Smil, MIT Press: 2002. 360 pp. You can discuss this article on Articles Forum http://comdig.unam.mx/topic.php?id_article=8085