The book before you is entitled Ecology, community, and lifestyle. It is not a direct translation of Arne Naess' 1976 work, økologi, samfunn, og livsstil, but rather a new work in English, based on the Norwegian, with many sections revised and rewritten by Professor Naess and myself, in an attempt to clarify the original work as well as bring it up to date.

But this is not as straightforward as it might sound. The project involved cornering Professor Naess in between his numerous intercontinental travels, then escaping the problems of busy Oslo to various mountain retreats scattered throughout the country. As the student, I then questioned the professor on the original manuscript, he responded, and together we reworked the manuscript to make it flow smoothly in English and in the 1980s. After being thwarted by blizzards, breaking a ski or two, locking ourselves out of the wood supply by mistake, we finally emerged with the manuscript in its final form.

But even now there is much more we would like to add! In a developing field like ecophilosophy, there can only be an introduction, not a conclusive summary. So we apologise to those who feel key issues may have been left out, and we also apologise to our editors for trying to work too much in. At Cambridge University Press, Dr Robin Pellew, Susan Sternberg, Alan Crowden, and Peter Jackson have all been especially understanding. Daniel Rothenberg provided insightful criticism of the introduction.