In Gaia Wakes, Dr. McDougal does what an academic ought to do – synthesize information from various fields of study to draw the exciting conclusion that the Earth could be, in fact, a living organism on the verge of evolving its own consciousness (Gaiacephalos - or Earth-brain) and that humans have been active stewards of this process all along. Many examples from the natural sciences, ancient civilizations, political movements, and economic growth in various parts of the world - at different points in time - are given to defend his hypothesis, with the occasional humorous jab at Gaia's human adversaries to give us reprieve from the topic's seriousness. Despite this being a bit heavy to get through for someone outside of everyday academia, and while some of the policy recommendations are not entirely original, it contains enough illustrative material to make its case. Overall, the book allows us a more optimistic and well-researched perspective on environmentalism from an economist, which trumps the sensationalism and fearmongering by most climate activists. We may not know what this could mean for humanity in the end, but it is amazing to see what progress we’ve made so far.

Thank you to NetGalley, Agenda Publishing, and Dr. McDougal for the opportunity to read this academic treasure in advance!

McDougal's take is fresh and hopeful. In this scientific, but accessible book, McDougal gives us many hopeful insights from various disciplines about the future of the Earth and human life.
I felt a surge of inspiration after reading this book.

An interesting book and concept, I struggled a bit reading this however, and I think the audience for this is more academic. Also, the watermark kept making it hard to actually read some of the text, so that definitely took away from my ease of understanding. 3.25/5