http://www.ncreview.com/ 807-391 http://www.ncreview.com/sustainability/the-fishbowl-principle-building-the-ark-for-the-21st-century Humanity is hurtling toward further isolation culturally, even as over-population has brought the world to a tipping point. The Authors of THE FISHBOWL PRINCIPLE, Bruce Gendelman, Robert B. Miller, and David Taus, would have you also believe there is a cause and effect relationship between over-population and greater individual isolation. The 363-page book lays out the history of human development through the lens of evolution. Much of the book is spent laying the foundation of how the authors see the evolutionary process; not as humankind as the apex, but as part of a continuum of gene carriers, and the responsibility that comes with that. Firstly, the authors compare modern times with the biblical account of the Great Flood. As “Noah’s environmental ethic” (pg.94) was to include all animals, etc. in the salvation of the world, so humans must include the preservation and continuation of all species as well as our own – for the good of all. Further, most if not all conflict is a direct result of this survival of the species. The authors assert that although we cannot be faulted for short term thinking (we are driven to it), we must think of our neighbor’s well-being as if it were our own. The book finishes well with a call to action: to see our neighbors, both locally and globally (and their interests) as our own, to look beyond our biologically ingrained thinking and to see the survival of all things in the world as the ultimate survival of ourselves. The book was not a difficult read. Almost any adult level reader and most teenagers could take the information as presented quite easily. Much of the first part of the book is devoted to describing Evolution from the Big Bang to the Present, but that is so the authors may continue to use the foundation as a “springboard” to discuss everything from religion to government and overpopulation to environment. Even with having to spend so much time in what amounts to remedial physical science, the message that our world deserves our attention, even beyond our limited field of vision, is a call worth hearing. ]]> Fri, 09 Apr 2010 21:55:57 -0700