Book

Fire : nature and culture

Pyne, Stephen J., 1949-

Overview

\"Fire has been an integral feature of our planet for over 400 million years. It has defined human culture from the beginning; it is something without which we cannot survive. For while fire is among the most destructive forces on earth, it has equally tremendous powers of cleansing renewal and controlled energy. In this book the author delivers a masterclass history of fire and its use by humanity, explaining how fire has always been at the core of how people have made their world habitable, whether hunting, foraging, farming, herding or urbanizing, and of course in managing nature reserves. Fire was deployed in the bast by aboriginal communities, and early agricultural societies began to control and contain fire and fuel. But our mastery of the science and art of fire has not given us absolute power: fire disasters have altered the course of history, and unexpected fires that begin as the result of other disasters can have shocking efffects. In addition, wildfires are a crucial component of natural regeneration. The past 200 years has also seen the growth of a massive new role of combustibles in the form of fossil biomass: 'people burn fuels from the geological past and release their effluents into the geological future. The present they overload with noxious emissions and greenhouse gases.' New combustion practices have radically changed the world's ecological balance.

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Subject: Fire. / Combustion. / Fires in art. / Fires History. / Fires Mythology. / Fires Social aspects. / Wildfires. / Forest fires. / Fire ecology.
• ISBN: 9781780230467, 178023046X

Item info:

1 item available

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Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
GN416.P96 2012	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE