Out of the earth : civilization and the life of the soil / Daniel Hillel.

Author
Hillel, Daniel [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Εdition
First paperback printing.
Published/​Created
  • Berkeley : University of California Press, 1992.
  • ©1991
Description
x, 321 pages, 20 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
ReCAP - Remote StorageS591 .H62 1992 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Summary note
    "As the crucible of life, the source and final resting place of everything that grows, soil inspires reverence not only in the peasant who derives his daily bread from it, but also in the scientist who contemplates its meaning as the place where life and death meet and exchange vital energies. Out of the Earth is the culmination of the author's long career in conservation. This history of man's use and misuse of soil and water combines a description of the complex inner processes that form soil with a lyrical assertion of its powers and significance."--Publisher's description.
    Notes
    Originally published: New York : Free Press ; Toronto : Collier Macmillan Canada ; New York : Maxwell Macmillan International, c1991.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (p. 301-310) and index.
    Contents
    • Prologue
    • Man's role on God's earth
    • The fertile substrate
    • The vital fluid
    • The dynamic cycle
    • The primary producers
    • The tenuous balance
    • Human origins
    • The agricultural transformation
    • Early farming in the Near East
    • Silt and salt in Mesopotamia
    • The gifts of the Nile
    • Husbandry of the rain-fed uplands
    • The desert rejoiced
    • Tapping the underground waters
    • Farming the wetlands of Mesoamerica
    • The advent of chemical fertilizers
    • Saline seeps in Australia and North America
    • The promise and peril of irrigation
    • Accelerated erosion
    • The "sorrow of China"
    • Deforesting the Earth
    • Man-made deserts
    • The plight of Africa
    • Endangered wetlands
    • Sweet water and bitter
    • Water management in Israel
    • Abusing the living filter
    • A global accounting
    • A case for conditional optimism.
    Other title(s)
    Civilization and the life of the soil
    ISBN
    • 0520080807 ((alk. paper))
    • 9780520080805 ((alk. paper))
    LCCN
    92010461
    OCLC
    25546106
    Statement on language in description
    Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage. Read more...
    Other views
    Staff view

    Supplementary Information