&i;`Ehrlich takes us on a sort of personal odyssey, telling how he absorbed writings of other ecological gurus, while working out, through field trial and laboratory experiment, certain intricacies of the science. High science, presented with anecdotal lightness of touch. Read Ehrlich, and you find out why ecology is fun. Then press the book on your local politician, so that he can discover how a food chain is more than just a line of supermarkets - and a whole lot more important to the welfare of humans.'&o; Norman Myers, BBC Wildlife