Trends in Ecology and Evolution 10:299-300 (July, 1995)

"...the title of Huston's book Biological Diversity does not accurately reflect its content or the author's goal - 'to explain the regulation of species diversity and why the number of co-occurring species varies under different conditions.' This disconnection between the title and text is evident throughout the book, starting in the table of contents: 'biological diversity' appears twice,'species diversity' a dozen times.

In the last chapter, Huston goes astray with a short and entirely too superficial analysis of the connections among low agricultural productivity, low primary productivity in natural systems, and high species diversity in plants and low trophic levels. ...This logic exemplifies precisely why a narrow focus on maintaining biodiversity (read, species diversity) is detrimental to the long-term interests of humans. ... Saving species-rich tropical forest and mediterranean lands...on the grounds that this goal does not conflict with economic goals, will not keep the Earth habitable for human societies."

James Karr, University of Washington