Life Under Glass

This book was particularly fascinating to me as we had just visited the site in Arizona. I was somewhat disappointed that there was not more information on the personalities,, relationships and individual reactions and interactions of the persons in the experiment. I realize that they agreed not to publish that information, but from the standpoint of a mental health professional, I would have been most interested in that aspect of the project.

This is a detailed though rather one-sided description of the grandest terrarium experiment in history. It is a hopeful, upbeat, seemingly complete and satisfying account of daily life inside Biosphere 2. Color photos show the the facility's interior and exterior, not to mention the smiling crew of eight, both in their normal work clothes and the "Star Trek" uniforms they wore for publicity photos. The book articulately describes the hopes that drove Biosphere 2, how it was built, and some of the challenges the crew faced during their 2-year closure. But the book is not complete. It was written by two of the four crew members who were loyal to project co-founder John Allen. The division between the loyalists and the remaining four became significant during the oxygen crisis they experienced three months into the experiment. By many accounts, communication between the two factions has been strained to nonexistent ever since. Hopefully a forthcoming book, The Human Experiment: My Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2, by Jane Poynter (from the other faction) will shed some light on this. The press and scientific community have been hard on the entire project, especially the pro-Allen faction. I would have liked to read something about this conflict from their point of view. But Life Under Glass dodges it entirely, opting instead to present an informative if somewhat sanitized read.

Having first read "Biosphere 2: The Human Experiment" by John Allen, I came away with the technical side of its workings with only a brief look at the actual participants themselves and the going-on inside the 'dome. I searched out this book to gain a more personal aspect as to what it was like to live in isolation from the outside world with several other great scientists and have to deal with the fact that your very survival inside this pseudo-spaceship would depend utterly upon fragile human relationships and teamwork. The author is very good at describing a typical workday inside B2 and also describes the many personalities, quirks and eccentricities that made the people around her all so human. This is a book about the PEOPLE and not just a focus on the technology, and that's exactly what I found to be most interesting. What B2 fan hasn't wondered if they themselves could have managed inside for a year if given the chance? After reading this book, I realized I didn't have the "right stuff" to be a biosperian and probably would have been banging on the airlock to get out after a week. If you want to know what it was like to live in there, then read it from the people who lived it..the authors themselves. Very enlightening and recommended.

I have always been interested in the functioning of small closed ecosystems. Biosphere2 has been the largest and longest-running example of one that actually included humans! A mixture of nature and technology, the concept behind the Biosphere2's original experiment is fascinating: whether humans can survive and thrive in a sealed enclosure while producing no waste, and recycling everything including air and water. Despite the eventual fate of this facility (it is now run as an open system lab by the U. of Columbia), the original experiment remains valuable as an idealistic example of what is possible in how we choose to live life on Earth. The book is well written and delves into every issue faced by the Biospherians in their two-year voyage from mundane everyday work (and partying) to the basics of the science of a closed ecosystem (carbon cycles, depleted oxygen, etc.). However, I found it a bit too self-promoting. Published by the "Biosphere Press", the book is also an effort to sell the Biosphere's concept without delving too much into the difficulties of its appplication. Regardless, I wish a similar project (perhaps modified and improved based on lessons learned) was continued on a permanent basis.

An excellent inside view of what it was like for 8 people to live inside the Biosphere 2 for two years. This book sparked my interest in leading a healthier life, and in trying to live with as little impact on the Earth as possible. When you consider what terrible impact any outside toxins (e.g. pesticides) would have had inside Biosphere 2, you have to wonder what effects the toxins are having on us, out here in Biosphere 1 (Earth). Definitely a well-written book; a good read; very compelling.