Reconstructing Earth is a manifesto for a new science and a new policy, Earth Systems Engineering and Management. Allenby calls for a recognition of the inseparability of technological and natural systems, and a holistic, data-driven, and self-reflective approach towards their management. Narrow environmentalism, focused mainly on protecting single species or habitats against human encroachment and restoring nature to a pristine prehuman state, is impossible. Rather, we need engagement, recognizing the complexity and value-driven challenges associated with managing earth systems at global levels.

In format, this work is a collection of columns from Green Business Letter, organized thematically with some connecting frontsmatter for each chapter. This means that the big ideas are mainly in the gaps, and that certain points are repeated a bit too often, but also that the book is interesting and readable. The annotated bibliographies that close each chapter are invaluable. Reconstructing Earth has added at least two dozen books to my Amazon queue.

((Disclosure: I'm somehow affiliated with Allenby in an academic sense. Agent provocateur, maybe?))