Excellent book by John McPhee on the general topic of your last paragraph: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77.The_Control_of_Nature http://www.goodreads.com

Excellent book by John McPhee on the general topic of your last paragraph: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77.The_Control_of_Nature http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77.The_Control_of_Nature