With Rachel Carson, Lynn Margulis and Donna Haraway, Charlotte Kerner portrays three remarkable thinkers who were far ahead of their time and whose ideas are still highly relevant today.
The marine biologist Carson (1907 – 1964) is best known for her stirring book “Silent Spring”. She is considered a pioneer of the modern ecology movement and a pioneer of science journalism. Margulis (1938 – 2011) developed the endosymbiont theory as a microbiologist and thereby pointed out the importance of symbioses as a driving force of evolution. And Haraway (* 1944) was a molecular biologist with a philosophical perspective who was already researching the border areas between humans, nature and machines long before AI was on everyone’s lips.
What all three have in common is the conviction that humans are not the pinnacle of creation, but merely a piece of the puzzle in a larger whole that must be kept in balance. The author also places the biographies of the Americans in a broader context. In fictional passages, Carson, Margulis and Haraway comment on each other’s ideas. This trick, which is unusual for a non-fiction book, creates interesting cross-connections. There are also links to other pioneering thinkers such as the science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin and the poet Emily Dickinson.
In general, this multi-layered, unconventionally narrated book is more than just a triple biography. Using the three protagonists, Kerner also addresses the difficulties that women in the academic world have had to contend with in the past and in some cases still have today. The fact that Carson, Margulis and Haraway always unwaveringly pursued their ideas and convictions despite all the resistance from male colleagues and rigid institutions only underlines the exceptional status of the trio even more – also in feminist terms.
Thus, despite some theory-heavy passages, “We are Volcanoes” is a valuable and thought-provoking work that not only looks at the past, but also at present and future challenges. Christoph Walter
Charlotte Kerner
We are Volcanoes – The eco-visionaries: Rachel Carson, Lynn Margulis, Donna Haraway
Westend, 232 pp., € 24,-
ISBN 978-3-86489-442-8