From Eros to Gaia

Migration to other planets as a means to ensure human survival . . . The storage of garbage and nuclear wastes in outer space . . . An international reforestation program to restore climatic equilibrium. These are some of the proposals set forth by Dyson ( Disturbing the Universe ) in a challenging collection of essays, lectures and reviews spanning six decades. Urging the abolition of sea-launched cruise missiles, Dyson credits Russian leaders with sincerity in their desire for drastic disarmament. He pens cautionary tales illustrating the human frailties of scientists, and condemns as ``bad scientifically'' the Supercolliding Superconductor, a proposed $8 billion machine for high-energy physics research. In a sketch written at the age of nine, he depicts an astronomer tracking Eros, a minor planet that revolves 180 million miles from the Sun. Along with articles on quantum field theory and the mystery of unaccounted-for carbon in the biosphere, there are tributes to Richard Feynman and Paul Dirac, a travel sketch on Armenia and Dyson's proposed 60-year program for space science, including manned missions to Mars. (July)