The Darwin College Lecture Series was inaugurated in 1986 to provide a range of public lectures on topics of general interest. The first series was entitled Origins and it considered subjects such as the origin of the universe, the origin of man, and the origin of language. The present volume contains the second series which was delivered in Cambridge in 1987, under the original title ‘Man and the Environment’. We are grateful to Richard Grove, Christopher Viney and Jamie Whyte for their help in organising this second series.

The contributors to each series have been selected from a wide range of disciplines to allow a broad look at the topic. Although the contributors are acknowledged specialists in their fields, the lectures are aimed at nonspecialist readers.