When the Tao of Physics was first published in 1975, few people knew its author, the Austrian-born physicist Fritjof Capra. That would quickly change. What began as Capra’s passion project to explore the connection between Eastern mysticism and Western science became a global phenomenon. The book sold millions of copies and has been translated into 23 languages.

Fritjof Capra has gone on be a trailblazing thinker and writer about systems theory, deep ecology and Green Politics. He is the author or co-author of about a dozen books, a number of which have been international bestsellers. The main focus of his writing and activism has been to help build sustainable communities. He founding director of the Center for Ecoliteracy in Berkeley, California, which advances education for sustainability.

Capra, who is now 82 years old and lives in Berkeley, has just published a new book, Patterns of Connection: Essential Essays from Five Decades.

Capra that he is “both hopeful and concerned” about the current state of the world.

“I see the coronavirus as a biological response of Gaia, our living planet, to the ecological and social emergency that humanity has brought upon itself,” says Capra. “We need to restore ecosystems to re-establish the balance that we’ve destroyed.”