Choice Review

An interesting book with an eclectic orientation containing a brief history (since the mid-19th century) of a somewhat neglected field--ecological energetics. This volume will have relevance for environmental sociology, human geography, or perhaps ecological economics. Martinez-Alier attempts to demonstrate that the study of energy flows can be a useful unifying principle in ecological analysis; he does not successfully devise a methodic reconciliation between "social energetics" and Marxian or neoclassical economics. The authors whom Martinez-Alier considers are mainly physical or natural scientists, with a few notable exceptions such as natural resource economists Jevons, Gray, and Hotelling. Broadly, two significant developments in the mid-19th century influenced the subject: formulation of the second law of thermodynamics and extension of Darwin's theory into the social arena. It was this latter influence that divided the theorists into social Darwinists and antisocial Darwinists. The author supports the latter. He reflects on the energy crisis of the early 1970s, but without adequate references and recognition of important English sources in both Marxian and neoclassical traditions. Nevertheless, this book is useful for interdisciplinary studies of both energy and ecology. Suitable for undergraduate and graduate students, and certainly a good addition to college libraries. -C. Bina, Providence College