In Man's Nature and Nature's Man, Lee R. Dice tells of the interrelationship of man in his communities, of his plant and animal associates, and of how they act one upon the other. He describes the laws that govern their rise and decline, and the regulatory mechanisms set up by nature and by man himself that promote human progress. He deals with the dynamics of human populations, and with the philosophical and moral bases of human communities. Finally, he casts his eye upon the prospects before us. "A series of well-regulated world communities," he writes, "is not likely to be constructed soon nor without tremendous effort and travail. Nevertheless, the evolutionary trend is in that direction. Selfishness, ignorance, and bigotry may delay the discovery and application of these principles. But no force will be able to prevent the evolution of world communities which will continually advance toward ever higher levels of culture. If effective efforts are made to discover and apply the natural laws that affect human affairs, the time required can be greatly shortened. Our future is in our own hands."

Lee R. Dice, Director of the Institute of Human Biology and Professor of Zoology at the University of Michigan, has devoted many years to the study of ecology and its relation to other branches of biology. In Natural Communities he describes the more important methods and concepts of the subject in order to give the reader a better understanding of the importance of ecologic communities to the world of life.