Naturally: Tread Softly on the Planet - Paperback

by Vikram Soni (Author)

'[Vikram Soni] has for many years been a leader in the fight against the destruction of the natural environment in his home country, India, and elsewhere throughout the planet. In this book he describes some of the exquisite balances which nature has evolved in the course of Earth's four billion-year history, and makes an eloquent plea for a kind of technology much more respectful and symbiotic with them than what we have today.'

--Antony J. Leggett, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics, 2003

'This book presents a refreshingly sane and practical path for humanity to carve out a modus vivendi with nature and design a future that is fulfilling for all and destructive for none.'

--Ashok Khosla, Former President, International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN); President, The Club of Rome

With a Foreword by Daniel Goleman, bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence

Naturally: Tread Softly on the Planet is a survival guide for life on Earth. It is about what we are and how we got here, about what we have been doing and where do we go from here.

Naturally articulates a living scheme based on the way nature works without any waste. It sets the direction by placing human interventions in the matrix of life on Earth and looks for enlightened solutions on the ground that are not injurious to our world.

Drawing examples from far and near, it gathers wisdom to walk in symbiosis with the planet.

Combining research with engaging anecdotes, Naturally is an accessible and essential book on a subject that is urgently relevant.

Author Biography

Vikram Soni has been UGC Professor of Physics at the National Physical Laboratory and at the Centre for Theoretical Physics at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He is presently an Emeritus Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

He was educated at the University of Delhi and the University of California, Santa Barbara, US. He has taught at universities in the UK, the US and Europe, besides India. He has worked mainly in high energy physics and astrophysics. Alongside, seeing the tragic shrinking of India's rich forest cover, he has worked quietly for conservation. In physics, he has made seminal contributions to the understanding of phenomena ranging from the nucleon to neutron stars and from the matter-antimatter puzzle to evolutionary networks. More significantly, he has produced a body of work in public-interest science that deals with non-invasive 'preserve and use' solutions to contemporary problems, particularly water problems. This work has been published in various prestigious science journals. Acting on his convictions, he has also worked tirelessly to protect living natural resources, both with the courts and government. The Aravalli Biodiversity Park in Delhi exists thanks to these efforts. The protection and moratorium on building on the floodplain of River Yamuna followed from the novel natural water storage scheme proposed by Soni and his co-workers.