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Summary: A stunningly erudite, beautifully written ecohistory
Review: A stunningly erudite, beautifully written "ecohistory"; an account of Western man's relationship, aesthetic as well as practical, with nature. In the course of developing a persuasive argument for an original theory of living with the rest of the world, Eisenberg covers a lot of ground - Persian gardens, courtly love, Biblical history, the discovery of the New World - and clearly has read just about everything on his subject (and many others). Chances are, you will emerge with some provocative ideas and information you could not have easily obtained elsewhere. Although it seems dauntingly long at first, the persevering reader will find that the Ecology of Eden doesn't feellong in the reading;Eisenberg's prose is a pleasure and his careful structuring ensures that the argument is clear. If you have time to read only one book on the environment this year or next, make it The Ecology of Eden.
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Summary: cerebral and linguistic roughage with tasty nuggets
Review: I read the whole book including the footnotes, the biological information was -to me- original and a number of ideas I found very plausible, tapping into my interest in symbiosis, why humans can't be separated from 'wilderness' and the interpretation of nature by other cultures. Some of it is hard going, the words Evans decorates his prose with requires a dictionary on hand...a large one and not just for scientific jargon. I found the mythology parts padded and overly convoluted but that is my bias, and the extrapolation of human interaction in future a weak point, though I really liked how Evan takes an idea -held belief, fleshes it out, then examines where this fail in practice or can not widely. Human population reduction was something I think he explored inadequatley, dismissing something which IMHO is inevitable. I think every town planner and ecologist should read this book or at least browse a bookmarked group reference copy, the references alone are worth an institutional copy. Even if you don't agree with the ideas put forward, it will take your mind into some novel directions
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Summary: A book too big for some readers?
Review: I read with disbelief some of the reviews, because I thought this book a work of genius - one of the very few that bridge the gulf between a scientifc and an arts view of history. My impression is that one reviewer is a fundamentalist Christian and that the others are mostly narrow scientists unfamiliar with ideas about myth and metaphor. Each seems to slate the book because it is not written from the standpoint of the reviewer's specialist interest. My own problem with the book was the many Americanisms and analogies from baseball and other sports about which I am too narrow to be informed, but I am not willing to knock off even half a star for that. I have made it my top recommendation for students of human ecology.
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Summary: This book is totally missing the point!
Review: I think this book is totally missing the point. I think that the author has no clue about what he is talking about. Information is plentiful, but that is all, there is no insight as to how the information fit together. I could go on... but I think I have made my point
Rating: 
Summary: OUTSIDE Magazine (May 1998 issue)
Review: In this intellectual grab-bag of a book, Eisenberg proves to be one of those all-too-rare literary creatures: a serious environmental thinker who is also a sprightly entertainer and a born raconteur. He winningly riffs his way across centuries of history and broad swaths of science, tracing how our notions of "a time or place of perfect harmony between humans and nature" have both inspired hopeful nostalgia and collided with reality. To Eisenberg, Eden represents not just a theological construct -- the home of Adam and Eve before the Fall -- but also the idea of once-sacred wilderness. Such paradisiacal retreats aren't merely figments of our imaginations, but places that for millenia have reflected "waves of human-led change and the myths by which humans have made sense of them." He maintains, for example, that the Genesis story of Adam and Eve's expulsion from the Garden may have its roots in the decline of agriculture in ancient Mesopotamia. Big-think theories aside, Eisenberg has a gift for memorable facts ("An acre of good topsoil may house 11 tons of insects, nematodes, fungi, and microbes") and for finding fresh ways to frame environmental arguments. He writes of a centuries-old Cabalist theory which contends that "in order to create the world, God had to draw himself inward -- to take a step back, as it were," a strategy in "self-retraction" that Eisenberg urges us to emulate. Though his attempt to act as referee for the embattled factions of contemporary environmentalism -- earth-centric Deep Ecologists on one hand and technocratic "Planet Managers" on the other -- sometimes comes off as Pollyannaish, the book makes up for it with fascinating digressions on climate change, the natural history of epidemics and plagues, and "biomimesis" (technology learning from nature). In the end, to be human is to wander outside Eden in the world of culture, but "what we can do is stand in a right relation to Eden." It'! s both a prescription and a warning: "The blade that whirls at the gates of Eden is not our enemy," Eisenberg concludes. "If we try to get around it, we end up trampling either Eden or our own humanity."
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Summary: BOOKLIST, 4/15/98
Review: The concept of a lost paradise, of a time when humans lived in perfect harmony with nature, shapes the mythology of nearly every culture. Eisenberg, steeped in classical literature, philosophy, and biology, explores the origins and implications of this myth in a broadly rooted yet gorgeously precise narrative that ranges from biblical interpretation to musings on wilderness, agriculture, bacteria, chaos theory, and music. He postulates two poles of existence: The Mountain, or life without human interference, and the Tower, civilization, and then considers everything in between, from Arcadia, an idealized realm containing the best of both worlds, to gardens of all kinds, and the poisoned, paved, and franchised lands that were, not so long ago, the American frontier. Eisenberg offers dazzling explanations for nature's crazy diversity and pitch toward chaos, explains why we were never meant to live in Eden, and then declares jazz to be the best model for our living in harmony with the rest of life. We must learn to swing, Eisenberg tells us in this breathtakingly versatile and sagacious performance, to let nature take its course and wait our turn to solo.
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Summary: Bull
Review: This book contains not one verifiable fact. It insulted My inteligence. I would spend the money on food for children. People will make up any facts to deny God.
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Summary: Hightly recommended
Review: This book is not your typical "ecology book". It provides a different way of looking at things.
It is clear the author has done quite a bit of research, and has synthesized his findings into a well written book.
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Summary: interesting but not always true
Review: This is an interesting book in many respecsts. It combines a vast amount of information without real evidence to connect the facts. In amny cases the book is simply not true. Eisenberg uses metaphors which are not true. For example he says that one species installed another in its gut for nutrition. It may have happened accidentally through evolution but I don't believe any creature installed another on purpose. Where is evolution. There are several examples of this sort.Eisenberg states that the human race dominates and that the bacteria(for example) have lost "market share" He should read Lewis Thomas "The Fragile Species" who makes a case (with data) that the human race is simply a small offshoot of a small branch of evolution and that the bacteria and other groups by sheer weight and numbers far outclass the human race and have survived far longer.
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Summary: An ecological road map for the new millenium.
Review: This is the essential book for understanding the next wave of environmental consciousness. Eisenberg is a gifted writer and an engaging guide on a journey that takes us from paradises lost to the ecology of bioengineering. This is THE book you need to read to comprehend where we are, have been, and need to go in our relationship with this planet.
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