Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Henry Holt and Co. (2014), Edition: First Edition, Hardcover, 336 pages
Description
Over the last half billion years, there have been five major mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on Earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around the cataclysm is us. In this book the author tells us why and how human beings have altered life on the planet in a way no species has before. She provides a moving account of the disappearances of various species occurring all around us and traces the evolution of extinction as concept, from its first articulation by Georges Cuvier in revolutionary Paris up to Lyell and Darwin, and through the present day. The sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy, compelling us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member JBD1
An extremely good, if profoundly disturbing, popular account of the current ongoing mass extinction being caused, without any shadow of a doubt, by the actions and inactions of human beings. Kolbert explores the history of biological extinctions on earth and how those were seen and explained by
A difficult book to read, but one which I hope will find a wide audience, since its message of the key role human intervention has played in recent extinctions and will continue to play well into the future, is one which every person should understand.
Show More
Cuvier, Darwin, and others, but also recounts interviews and personal visits to particularly important sites on the front lines of today's battles against extinction. These include the Peruvian rainforest, where she looked for frogs, to the bat hibernacula of the Northeast where she witnessed the disturbing die-off of bat species. Kolbert ably explains the variety of ways in which humanity has changed the global environment, wreaking havoc on the planet's ecological balance and throwing many species off the cliff in the process. A difficult book to read, but one which I hope will find a wide audience, since its message of the key role human intervention has played in recent extinctions and will continue to play well into the future, is one which every person should understand.
Show Less
LibraryThing member preetalina
“Though it might be nice to imagine there once was a time when man lived in harmony with nature, it's not clear that he ever really did.” (p235)
I got The Sixth Extinction through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. It was a lucky pick because I hadn’t heard of the book or the author
This book is about the extinction crisis that’s currently ongoing and that is caused by humans. In Earth’s history, there have been five major extinction events, wherein mass die-offs of species occurred within a concentrated time frame, sharply reducing the planet’s biodiversity. We are currently in the middle of the sixth major extinction event and it kicked off practically when humans became humans.
This book chronicles the evidence that the sixth extinction is happening and it’s happening because of us. That’s the big difference in this extinction event versus all the ones in the past. This isn’t a cheery book. It’s sad and depressing, and it’s the truth.
Today, amphibians enjoy the dubious distinction of being the world's most endangered class of animals; it's been calculated that the group's extinction rate could be as much as forty-five thousand times higher than the background rate. But extinction rates among many other groups are approaching amphibian levels. It is estimated that one-third of all reef-building corals, a third of all freshwater mollusks, a third of sharks and rays, a quarter of all mammals, a fifth of all reptiles, and a sixth of all birds are headed toward oblivion. The losses are occurring all over: in the South Pacific and in the North Atlantic, in the Arctic and the Sahel, in lakes and on islands, on mountaintops and in valleys. If you know how to look, you can probably find signs of the current extinction event in your own backyard. (p17)
Kolbert takes us around the world, exploring the crisis in a sincere and sober way, but not without bits of subtle (and sometimes dark) humor strewn throughout. (You want to cry, but you try to laugh instead.)
Neanderthals were extremely similar to modern humans; probably they were our very closest relatives. And yet clearly they were not humans. Somewhere in our DNA must lie the key mutation (or, more probably, mutations) that set us apart — the mutations that make us the sort of creature that could wipe out its nearest relative, then dig up its bones and reassemble its genome. (p240)
I absolutely love the amount of information packed into this book. And it’s not just the subject that Kolbert is talking about at that moment, but even things that are mentioned somewhat in passing, like the fact that a real-life Jurassic Park can never happen.
Five hundred thousand years ago, the dinosaurs had been dead for about sixty-five million years, so the whole "Jurassic Park" fantasy is, sadly, just that. (p245)
Other things are covered in much more detail, of course, and I learned so much. And it’s never boring. She weaves it all together with her own experiences as she meets the scientists and goes on trips and expeditions with them. For example, I loved her vivid descriptions as she was crawling through the rainforest as night or especially her experience on One Tree Island at the tip of the Great Barrier Reef:
I glanced back in what I thought was the direction of the island, but there was no island, or land of any sort, to be seen. We rinsed out the sampling bottles, filled them, and started back. The darkness was, if anything, even more complete. The stars were so bright they appear to be straining out of the sky. For a brief moment I felt I understood what it must have been like for an explorer like Cook to arrive at such a place, at the edge of the known world. (p134)
She also manages to get in some (well-deserved) barbs at our species:
The way corals change the world – with huge construction projects spanning multiple generations — might be likened to the way that humans do, with this crucial difference. Instead of displacing other creatures, corals support them. (p130)
One of my favorite things about these kinds of books is learning about and getting to know the various scientists and researchers doing work around the world. This book is chockfull of them, and many are quite colorful characters.
Back on the trail, Silman hacked away with his machete, pausing every now and then to point out a new botanical oddity, like a shrub that steals water from its neighbors by sticking out needlelike roots. Silman talks about plants the way other people talk about movie stars. One tree he described to me as "charismatic." Others were "hilarious," "crazy," "neat," "clever," and "amazing." (p163)
They also help to highlight the issues facing many species around the world. For example, Zoo Atlanta herpetologist Joseph Mendelson has written, “…I sought a career in herpetology because I enjoy working with animals. I did not anticipate that it would come to resemble paleontology. (p17)
Womp womp. And if you’d like to be even more depressed:
The sun was out, but it had recently rained, and clusters of black and red and blue butterflies hovered over the puddles. Occasionally, a truck rumbled by, loaded down with logs. The butterflies couldn't scatter fast enough, so the road was littered with severed wings. p170
Is it all doom and gloom though? I would argue yes. And I think Kolbert agrees. She quotes the director of a conservation group in Alaska who told her, “People have to have hope. I have to have hope. It’s what keeps us going.” But, as Kolbert herself says:
To argue that the current extinction event could be averted if people just cared more and were willing to make more sacrifices is not wrong, exactly; still, it misses the point. It doesn't much matter whether people care or don't care. What matters is that people change the world. (p266)
I got The Sixth Extinction through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. It was a lucky pick because I hadn’t heard of the book or the author
Show More
before that, but the subject matter was right up my alley.This book is about the extinction crisis that’s currently ongoing and that is caused by humans. In Earth’s history, there have been five major extinction events, wherein mass die-offs of species occurred within a concentrated time frame, sharply reducing the planet’s biodiversity. We are currently in the middle of the sixth major extinction event and it kicked off practically when humans became humans.
This book chronicles the evidence that the sixth extinction is happening and it’s happening because of us. That’s the big difference in this extinction event versus all the ones in the past. This isn’t a cheery book. It’s sad and depressing, and it’s the truth.
Today, amphibians enjoy the dubious distinction of being the world's most endangered class of animals; it's been calculated that the group's extinction rate could be as much as forty-five thousand times higher than the background rate. But extinction rates among many other groups are approaching amphibian levels. It is estimated that one-third of all reef-building corals, a third of all freshwater mollusks, a third of sharks and rays, a quarter of all mammals, a fifth of all reptiles, and a sixth of all birds are headed toward oblivion. The losses are occurring all over: in the South Pacific and in the North Atlantic, in the Arctic and the Sahel, in lakes and on islands, on mountaintops and in valleys. If you know how to look, you can probably find signs of the current extinction event in your own backyard. (p17)
Kolbert takes us around the world, exploring the crisis in a sincere and sober way, but not without bits of subtle (and sometimes dark) humor strewn throughout. (You want to cry, but you try to laugh instead.)
Neanderthals were extremely similar to modern humans; probably they were our very closest relatives. And yet clearly they were not humans. Somewhere in our DNA must lie the key mutation (or, more probably, mutations) that set us apart — the mutations that make us the sort of creature that could wipe out its nearest relative, then dig up its bones and reassemble its genome. (p240)
I absolutely love the amount of information packed into this book. And it’s not just the subject that Kolbert is talking about at that moment, but even things that are mentioned somewhat in passing, like the fact that a real-life Jurassic Park can never happen.
Five hundred thousand years ago, the dinosaurs had been dead for about sixty-five million years, so the whole "Jurassic Park" fantasy is, sadly, just that. (p245)
Other things are covered in much more detail, of course, and I learned so much. And it’s never boring. She weaves it all together with her own experiences as she meets the scientists and goes on trips and expeditions with them. For example, I loved her vivid descriptions as she was crawling through the rainforest as night or especially her experience on One Tree Island at the tip of the Great Barrier Reef:
I glanced back in what I thought was the direction of the island, but there was no island, or land of any sort, to be seen. We rinsed out the sampling bottles, filled them, and started back. The darkness was, if anything, even more complete. The stars were so bright they appear to be straining out of the sky. For a brief moment I felt I understood what it must have been like for an explorer like Cook to arrive at such a place, at the edge of the known world. (p134)
She also manages to get in some (well-deserved) barbs at our species:
The way corals change the world – with huge construction projects spanning multiple generations — might be likened to the way that humans do, with this crucial difference. Instead of displacing other creatures, corals support them. (p130)
One of my favorite things about these kinds of books is learning about and getting to know the various scientists and researchers doing work around the world. This book is chockfull of them, and many are quite colorful characters.
Back on the trail, Silman hacked away with his machete, pausing every now and then to point out a new botanical oddity, like a shrub that steals water from its neighbors by sticking out needlelike roots. Silman talks about plants the way other people talk about movie stars. One tree he described to me as "charismatic." Others were "hilarious," "crazy," "neat," "clever," and "amazing." (p163)
They also help to highlight the issues facing many species around the world. For example, Zoo Atlanta herpetologist Joseph Mendelson has written, “…I sought a career in herpetology because I enjoy working with animals. I did not anticipate that it would come to resemble paleontology. (p17)
Womp womp. And if you’d like to be even more depressed:
The sun was out, but it had recently rained, and clusters of black and red and blue butterflies hovered over the puddles. Occasionally, a truck rumbled by, loaded down with logs. The butterflies couldn't scatter fast enough, so the road was littered with severed wings. p170
Is it all doom and gloom though? I would argue yes. And I think Kolbert agrees. She quotes the director of a conservation group in Alaska who told her, “People have to have hope. I have to have hope. It’s what keeps us going.” But, as Kolbert herself says:
To argue that the current extinction event could be averted if people just cared more and were willing to make more sacrifices is not wrong, exactly; still, it misses the point. It doesn't much matter whether people care or don't care. What matters is that people change the world. (p266)
Show Less
LibraryThing member Schmerguls
This book won the Pulitzer prize for nofiction in 2015 andis the 34th such winner I have read. 55 books have won that prize, so there are a lot of such winners I have not read. This is by a journalist who went to many places where things indicated a crisis is looming, and she reports on the things
Show More
she found and learned. The first major "extinction" was some 450 million years ago, the fifth was 50 million years ago, and we are facing the sixth now--the first one which will affect humans and also the first caused by the activities of humans. I found the book full of interesting and important information, but in an area of knowledge where I am such a novice that I am unqualified to opine whether she is right. But certainly what she has to say deserves to have attention paid to it. The Wikipedia article on the book outlines the discussion in each of the 13 chapters Show Less
LibraryThing member bragan
Scientists identify five great mass extinctions that have occurred throughout the history of life on Earth. We appear to now be in the middle of the sixth, this one caused by humans: as our species has grown, spread across the planet, and altered its environment, we have been responsible for the
Elizabeth Kolbert talks about the scientific history of our understanding of mass extinctions, and of the very idea of extinction itself (which was once dismissed as impossible), and about the science behind the current loss of species in a very clear, very readable way. She also takes readers with her as she travels to various places to see endangered species and habitats firsthand, and to talk to biologists who are on the ground studying them.
Kolbert never takes a histrionic, hand-wringing tone about the current state of affairs, but rather lets the facts -- and the people who are out there observing the facts -- speak for themselves. What they have to say is depressing, but it is also interesting and important.
Show More
disappearance of many species and the decline towards probable future extinction of many, many more, sometimes by direct and deliberate action (hunting to extinction, destruction of habitats for farmland), and sometimes by indirect and inadvertent ones (the increasing acidification of the oceans caused by rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, the accidental or misguided introduction of invasive species to new environments).Elizabeth Kolbert talks about the scientific history of our understanding of mass extinctions, and of the very idea of extinction itself (which was once dismissed as impossible), and about the science behind the current loss of species in a very clear, very readable way. She also takes readers with her as she travels to various places to see endangered species and habitats firsthand, and to talk to biologists who are on the ground studying them.
Kolbert never takes a histrionic, hand-wringing tone about the current state of affairs, but rather lets the facts -- and the people who are out there observing the facts -- speak for themselves. What they have to say is depressing, but it is also interesting and important.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Sharon.Flesher
Choosing a depressing book to read during the coldest week of the coldest winter of the past two decades perhaps was not a good idea, but the latest visit from the polar vortex gave me a good excuse to stay inside to finish Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction.
Kolbert isn't providing a
Even though I consider myself reasonably educated on ecological issues, before reading this book, I had a simplistic notion of the cause of the current species extinction. I believed it to be largely a result of human-induced climate change. But as Kolbert explains, the warming of the planet is merely accelerating a process that started when homo sapiens walked out of Africa some 100,000 years ago.
The rapidly-unfolding climate change brought about by the burning of fossils fuels is certainly a major factor driving species extinction, as it alters habitat, acidifies the oceans and changes the composition of the air we breathe. But other human activities also have a significant impact, including predation (hunting, poaching), habitat destruction, and global commerce that spreads invasive species.
Kolbert visits around the globe with scientists in several disciplines to describe their research and, sometimes, their near-hopeless efforts to save a disappearing species. These are interesting and admirable people, but probably not the sort with whom you'd want to spend much time on a gray winter day. Fortunately for Kolbert, most of her field visits occurred in the tropics, so at least that provided some relief to this depressing tale with her descriptions of the wonders and beauties of the endangered species she saw in the Amazon rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. But then, sadly, we are left to mourn for them, and for ourselves.
Despite the grim subject matter and the apocalyptic title, the author does not take an alarmist stance or issue a rallying cry to humans to mend our ways before it is too late. The tone here is more fatalistic, a sad witness to an inevitability rather than a call to action. Also, Kolbert makes clear that it's the diversity of life rather than life itself that's at stake, and we simply don't know yet whether the loss of diversity may threaten the species that caused it.
This book is an excellent piece of science journalism, well-written and researched, with an impressive bibliography. I recommend it, but if winter has already depressed you, wait until spring to read this.
Kolbert isn't providing a
Show More
newsflash; scientists have been telling us for many years that we are living in a period of species extinction not witnessed since the event at the end of the Cretaceous period that wiped out the dinosaurs, which fossil evidence indicates was the fifth time in the planet's history that the diversity of life cataclysmically contracted. Species are disappearing at an alarming and accelerating rate, and this time, the villain is one very successful "weedy" species, an invasive species like no other.Even though I consider myself reasonably educated on ecological issues, before reading this book, I had a simplistic notion of the cause of the current species extinction. I believed it to be largely a result of human-induced climate change. But as Kolbert explains, the warming of the planet is merely accelerating a process that started when homo sapiens walked out of Africa some 100,000 years ago.
The rapidly-unfolding climate change brought about by the burning of fossils fuels is certainly a major factor driving species extinction, as it alters habitat, acidifies the oceans and changes the composition of the air we breathe. But other human activities also have a significant impact, including predation (hunting, poaching), habitat destruction, and global commerce that spreads invasive species.
Kolbert visits around the globe with scientists in several disciplines to describe their research and, sometimes, their near-hopeless efforts to save a disappearing species. These are interesting and admirable people, but probably not the sort with whom you'd want to spend much time on a gray winter day. Fortunately for Kolbert, most of her field visits occurred in the tropics, so at least that provided some relief to this depressing tale with her descriptions of the wonders and beauties of the endangered species she saw in the Amazon rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef. But then, sadly, we are left to mourn for them, and for ourselves.
Despite the grim subject matter and the apocalyptic title, the author does not take an alarmist stance or issue a rallying cry to humans to mend our ways before it is too late. The tone here is more fatalistic, a sad witness to an inevitability rather than a call to action. Also, Kolbert makes clear that it's the diversity of life rather than life itself that's at stake, and we simply don't know yet whether the loss of diversity may threaten the species that caused it.
This book is an excellent piece of science journalism, well-written and researched, with an impressive bibliography. I recommend it, but if winter has already depressed you, wait until spring to read this.
Show Less
LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
This Pulitzer Prize winner reports on a mass extinction that is ongoing before our very eyes. Over the past 500 million years there have been five mass extinctions, when diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Kolbert's thesis is there's a sixth extinction going on now.
The book begins by going through the past 5 extinctions. Then the book "travels" the world to look at the myriad ways in which humans are causing this catastrophe--from acidification of the oceans to clear-cutting of forests to transferring invasive species around the globe (deliberately or inadvertently). Kolbert presents the facts without political rhetoric. Here are some of the facts I want to remember from this book:
--There's always a ongoing "background extinction rate" which is different than a "mass extinction," which is what is going on now. (A mass extinction is an event that eliminates a significant portion of the world's biota in a geologically insignificant amount of time.)
--Amphibians are the most endangered class of animals today, with an extinction rate 45,000 times the background rate.
--It is estimated that 1/3 of all corals, 1/3 of all sharks, 1/4 of all mammals, 1/5 of all reptiles, and 1/6 of all birds are headed for extinction.
--The temperature change estimated for the coming century is roughly the same as the temperature changes during past ice ages; however, the rate of change is at least ten times faster than in the past.
--During past eras of climate change, some species survived by "migrating" to a more amenable area of habitat or were otherwise able to adapt. Now, species will have to "migrate" or adapt ten times faster than in the past.
There is something called the "Species Area Relationship" (SAR), which posits that the larger the area you survey, the greater the number of species you will find. Using the SAR and the rate of temperature change these various estimates of extinction rates were made:
--Assuming all species are inert (so failure to adapt or migrate would mean that habitable area of a species would shrink): 1. If warming held to a minimum, between 22% and 31% if species would be extinct by 2050; 2. If warming was maximal, 38% to 52% of species would disappear.
--Assuming species were highly mobile/adaptable, with minimal warming 9%-13% would be extinct by 2050 and with maximal warming 21%-32% would be extinct.
Along the way Kolbert travels the world and visits with scientists of all specialties, including the scientists at the Great Barrier Reef, scientists studying tree migration in the Andes, caves in North America and jungles in Central America were bats and frogs respectively are dying in droves, and much, much more.
Highly recommended.
4 stars
Show More
However, this time the extinction is caused by us. The book begins by going through the past 5 extinctions. Then the book "travels" the world to look at the myriad ways in which humans are causing this catastrophe--from acidification of the oceans to clear-cutting of forests to transferring invasive species around the globe (deliberately or inadvertently). Kolbert presents the facts without political rhetoric. Here are some of the facts I want to remember from this book:
--There's always a ongoing "background extinction rate" which is different than a "mass extinction," which is what is going on now. (A mass extinction is an event that eliminates a significant portion of the world's biota in a geologically insignificant amount of time.)
--Amphibians are the most endangered class of animals today, with an extinction rate 45,000 times the background rate.
--It is estimated that 1/3 of all corals, 1/3 of all sharks, 1/4 of all mammals, 1/5 of all reptiles, and 1/6 of all birds are headed for extinction.
--The temperature change estimated for the coming century is roughly the same as the temperature changes during past ice ages; however, the rate of change is at least ten times faster than in the past.
--During past eras of climate change, some species survived by "migrating" to a more amenable area of habitat or were otherwise able to adapt. Now, species will have to "migrate" or adapt ten times faster than in the past.
There is something called the "Species Area Relationship" (SAR), which posits that the larger the area you survey, the greater the number of species you will find. Using the SAR and the rate of temperature change these various estimates of extinction rates were made:
--Assuming all species are inert (so failure to adapt or migrate would mean that habitable area of a species would shrink): 1. If warming held to a minimum, between 22% and 31% if species would be extinct by 2050; 2. If warming was maximal, 38% to 52% of species would disappear.
--Assuming species were highly mobile/adaptable, with minimal warming 9%-13% would be extinct by 2050 and with maximal warming 21%-32% would be extinct.
Along the way Kolbert travels the world and visits with scientists of all specialties, including the scientists at the Great Barrier Reef, scientists studying tree migration in the Andes, caves in North America and jungles in Central America were bats and frogs respectively are dying in droves, and much, much more.
Highly recommended.
4 stars
Show Less
LibraryThing member Castlelass
Non-fiction about the previous five mass extinctions of world history and the probability of a sixth extinction being precipitated by humans. Kolbert investigates biological and environmental factors contributing to this phenomenon. She analyzes the current research being conducted by scientists
This book covers a wide breadth of scientific disciplines, such as paleontology, anthropology, meteorology, geology, oceanography, and ecology. In addition to the expected analysis of climate change and deforestation, she covers the acidification of the oceans (something I had not heard before). Each chapter focuses on a different extinct or endangered species. I found myself rapidly turning to pages to learn more.
Highlights include the decline of the Neanderthal, ravages of invasive species, decreasing biodiversity, and perilous position of large mammals such as elephants, bears, and the big cats. It combines elements of scientific explanation, history, travelogue, and personal reflections. It is an intelligent and lively commentary that illuminates current issues and provides a warning.
It requires a keen interest in science and history, and if you are so inclined, this book is riveting. The historic ages of the earth are explained and what is known about the five previous extinctions. The history of scientific thought is traced, including Darwin’s (and Lyell’s and Wallace’s) theories and subsequent elaborations. It is a treasure trove of information and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well, as much as one can “enjoy” a book about extinction.
Show More
across the globe as well as evidence of past mass extinctions. She travels to these locations and describes her experiences. She reports on a variety of species, some of which are already extinct and others on the verge of being wiped out. She analyzes the reasons behind the extinctions, many of which can be traced to the actions of humans. This book covers a wide breadth of scientific disciplines, such as paleontology, anthropology, meteorology, geology, oceanography, and ecology. In addition to the expected analysis of climate change and deforestation, she covers the acidification of the oceans (something I had not heard before). Each chapter focuses on a different extinct or endangered species. I found myself rapidly turning to pages to learn more.
Highlights include the decline of the Neanderthal, ravages of invasive species, decreasing biodiversity, and perilous position of large mammals such as elephants, bears, and the big cats. It combines elements of scientific explanation, history, travelogue, and personal reflections. It is an intelligent and lively commentary that illuminates current issues and provides a warning.
It requires a keen interest in science and history, and if you are so inclined, this book is riveting. The historic ages of the earth are explained and what is known about the five previous extinctions. The history of scientific thought is traced, including Darwin’s (and Lyell’s and Wallace’s) theories and subsequent elaborations. It is a treasure trove of information and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well, as much as one can “enjoy” a book about extinction.
Show Less
LibraryThing member tnilsson
I greatly enjoyed Elizabeth Kolbert’s new book, The Sixth Extinction. Well, that’s not quite true. I greatly enjoyed Ms. Kolbert’s clear, intelligent, and often witty prose. And I enjoyed reading about the facts, events, and people she profiled in her book. But Ms. Kolbert’s interesting
Ms. Kolbert begins by surveying the five historic mass-extinctions we know of, and the scientists who led us to our knowledge of those events. Ms. Kolbert intersperses her discussions of historic events with discussions of facts discovered by a variety of modern scientists in fields of study ranging from fossils to frogs, rainforest plants, bats, and ocean acidity. Depressingly, though these scientists work in disparate fields, they all seem to have reached the conclusion from evidence in their fields that our world is undergoing a sixth mass-extinction event, one either entirely caused by, or at least exacerbated by, humans.
Though Ms. Kolbert establishes that mass-extinctions, even abrupt ones, have long been a natural part of our world, and that there is even fairly convincing evidence that humans have caused prior mass-extinctions on earth (ones we obviously survived), she also establishes that there is no guarantee that we will survive this one. Ms. Kolbert and the scientists she profiles believe that we are changing our world, its ecosystems, and its species at such an accelerated rate that nothing like it has been seen before. And since we still don’t understand all the ways in which we depend on the world’s plants and animals, we don’t know how the loss of any one ecosystem or any one species will ultimately impact our ability to survive.
But Ms. Kolbert’s book is not all doom and gloom. She also give us hope in pointing out that this sixth mass-extinction is also unique in that we are finally advanced enough to realize what we are doing before it is too late. And we can have the ability to stop what we may unknowingly have started or exacerbated. Though it’s already too late for some species, it doesn’t have to be too late for us or for the species that still remain. But that requires more people learning about what is going on and deciding to do their bit to help. I highly recommend Ms. Kolbert’s eye-opening and, yes, entertaining book as a good place to start.
Show More
writing, and the people she profiled, led me to the inexorable, but far from enjoyable, conclusion that we are in the midst of a sixth mass-extinction. And not just one for which we seem to be responsible, but one that we may not survive ourselves.Ms. Kolbert begins by surveying the five historic mass-extinctions we know of, and the scientists who led us to our knowledge of those events. Ms. Kolbert intersperses her discussions of historic events with discussions of facts discovered by a variety of modern scientists in fields of study ranging from fossils to frogs, rainforest plants, bats, and ocean acidity. Depressingly, though these scientists work in disparate fields, they all seem to have reached the conclusion from evidence in their fields that our world is undergoing a sixth mass-extinction event, one either entirely caused by, or at least exacerbated by, humans.
Though Ms. Kolbert establishes that mass-extinctions, even abrupt ones, have long been a natural part of our world, and that there is even fairly convincing evidence that humans have caused prior mass-extinctions on earth (ones we obviously survived), she also establishes that there is no guarantee that we will survive this one. Ms. Kolbert and the scientists she profiles believe that we are changing our world, its ecosystems, and its species at such an accelerated rate that nothing like it has been seen before. And since we still don’t understand all the ways in which we depend on the world’s plants and animals, we don’t know how the loss of any one ecosystem or any one species will ultimately impact our ability to survive.
But Ms. Kolbert’s book is not all doom and gloom. She also give us hope in pointing out that this sixth mass-extinction is also unique in that we are finally advanced enough to realize what we are doing before it is too late. And we can have the ability to stop what we may unknowingly have started or exacerbated. Though it’s already too late for some species, it doesn’t have to be too late for us or for the species that still remain. But that requires more people learning about what is going on and deciding to do their bit to help. I highly recommend Ms. Kolbert’s eye-opening and, yes, entertaining book as a good place to start.
Show Less
LibraryThing member msbaba
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert, is exactly what it’s title and subtitle implies. It is a natural history about an ongoing unnatural worldwide biological event: the sixth extinction. In the 4.5-billion-year history of planet earth, there have been five mass
At the present time, most scientists believe that we are in the process of a sixth mass extinction event. What is unnatural about this event is that we are causing it. This mass extinction is antropogenic in origin. It is ongoing. When it started and when it might end—and whether it ends with the demise of our own species—is under scientific discussion.
This book is not a popular literature review of the subject; rather, it is a work of stellar science journalism. Kolbert informs the reader about the subject through a series of stories. We become tag-alongs on an adventure journey of scientific curiosity.
Kolbert is an outstanding prize-winning science journalist. Her style of writing is clear, easy to understand, and thoroughly engaging. When you read one of her books, you are part of the process of uncovering the truth.
For this book, Elizabeth Kolbert traveled the world interviewing scientists, and often accompanying them on field research projects. In this manner, she manages to get a first-hand story angle on many of the most significant aspects of this immense and complex ongoing historical event. Even events of distant science history are related through some type of story that takes the reader on a present-day journey to discover what remains of the origins of these important, centuries- or many-decades-old discoveries.
In her own words, Kolbert explains that the book is divided into thirteen chapters. “Each tracks a species that’s in some way emblematic…The creatures in the early chapters are already gone, and this part of the book is mostly concerned with the great extinctions of the past and the twisting history of their discovery…The second part of the book takes place very much in the present—in the increasingly fragmented Amazon rain forest, on a fast-warming slope of the Andes, on the outer reaches of the Great Barrier Reef. I chose to go to these particular places for the usual journalistic reasons—because there was a research station there or because someone invited me to tag along on an expedition.”
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read it cover-to-cover with avid interest in a couple of days. I enjoyed tagging along with this journalist as she investigated this topic with a large range of scientists around the globe. Many times the book felt like a natural history adventure travelogue rather than a science book.
I already knew a great deal about the Sixth Extinction, but this book provided me with a structure within which to experience the whole of it and try to comprehend the enormity of what is happening. Because this book took the form of a journalistic inquiry and investigation, it seemed very personal. Thus the impact was perhaps greater than it would have been had I read a scientific literature overview.
I join with Scientific American in hoping that “this powerful, clear and important book” may not merely be “compared to Silent Spring” but that it might become “this era’s galvanizing text.”
Show More
extinction events and many smaller events. Each was triggered by some cataclysmic phenomenon; each lasted many millions of years; each ushered in a new geologic era; each left the earth’s biological diversity immensely impoverished yet ripe for another many-million-year expansion of enormous evolutionary change. At the present time, most scientists believe that we are in the process of a sixth mass extinction event. What is unnatural about this event is that we are causing it. This mass extinction is antropogenic in origin. It is ongoing. When it started and when it might end—and whether it ends with the demise of our own species—is under scientific discussion.
This book is not a popular literature review of the subject; rather, it is a work of stellar science journalism. Kolbert informs the reader about the subject through a series of stories. We become tag-alongs on an adventure journey of scientific curiosity.
Kolbert is an outstanding prize-winning science journalist. Her style of writing is clear, easy to understand, and thoroughly engaging. When you read one of her books, you are part of the process of uncovering the truth.
For this book, Elizabeth Kolbert traveled the world interviewing scientists, and often accompanying them on field research projects. In this manner, she manages to get a first-hand story angle on many of the most significant aspects of this immense and complex ongoing historical event. Even events of distant science history are related through some type of story that takes the reader on a present-day journey to discover what remains of the origins of these important, centuries- or many-decades-old discoveries.
In her own words, Kolbert explains that the book is divided into thirteen chapters. “Each tracks a species that’s in some way emblematic…The creatures in the early chapters are already gone, and this part of the book is mostly concerned with the great extinctions of the past and the twisting history of their discovery…The second part of the book takes place very much in the present—in the increasingly fragmented Amazon rain forest, on a fast-warming slope of the Andes, on the outer reaches of the Great Barrier Reef. I chose to go to these particular places for the usual journalistic reasons—because there was a research station there or because someone invited me to tag along on an expedition.”
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I read it cover-to-cover with avid interest in a couple of days. I enjoyed tagging along with this journalist as she investigated this topic with a large range of scientists around the globe. Many times the book felt like a natural history adventure travelogue rather than a science book.
I already knew a great deal about the Sixth Extinction, but this book provided me with a structure within which to experience the whole of it and try to comprehend the enormity of what is happening. Because this book took the form of a journalistic inquiry and investigation, it seemed very personal. Thus the impact was perhaps greater than it would have been had I read a scientific literature overview.
I join with Scientific American in hoping that “this powerful, clear and important book” may not merely be “compared to Silent Spring” but that it might become “this era’s galvanizing text.”
Show Less
LibraryThing member rivkat
Kolbert examines previous waves of extinction, Darwin’s thoughts on whether extinction could be sudden (no, which was apparently the consensus until the 1990s), and all the species we’re getting rid of in all sorts of ways, from frogs and bats dying from imported fungus to species that just
Show More
can’t adapt fast enough to climate change. It’s a depressing book. Show Less
LibraryThing member DavidEClapp
Kolbert provides anecdotes and examples of significant changes in life and life forms over the eons. The writing is crisp and the science behind the presentation is solid. The growth and demise of earthly organisms is so well documented that it has become merely a part of our daily life. Herring,
Show More
tuna, cod, most marine mammals, and hundreds of other species have declined during our lifetimes. The extinction and near extinctions of the passenger pigeon, Great auk and bison are all familiar tales. The book has the potential to be a gloomy predictive tome concluding with the end of humanity and a drastically changed earth - that may be what you think as you read, but the stories and writing are so good that you will remain interested and somewhat optimistic throughout (certainly entertained). As the author says (sort of) our decisions and environmental behavior is shaping the future of life on the planet. I feel that we are doing this without any thought and with almost no understanding of the impacts further on down the wandering evolutionary road. The idea of a sixth extinction seems is being chronicled, not predicted. Show Less
LibraryThing member themagiciansgirl
The Sixth Extinction tells the stories of a dozen different animal species. Some are ancient creatures already long gone, others are the more familiar frogs, birds and bats rapidly disappearing from our planet.
My son is a geologist. Scattered around my desk are the fossilized remains of trilobites
The strength of this book is that it personalizes the creatures of the earth and shows how truly delicate the balance of survival is. The chapter on bats was particularly moving. “Holy shit, there’s dead bats everywhere.” I would have liked to see a stronger ending, but overall this was a detailed and compelling view of the overwhelming power we humans have over the evolutionary process.
My son is a geologist. Scattered around my desk are the fossilized remains of trilobites
Show More
and ammonites. Mass extinctions are part of the geologic history, caused by changing weather, asteroid strikes or volcanoes. Normally there are about a million years between each extinction event. But the profound and rapid loss of species and habitat that is occurring now began only 100,000 years ago, when humans migrated from Africa. We humans are deep into the process of causing the next extinction.The strength of this book is that it personalizes the creatures of the earth and shows how truly delicate the balance of survival is. The chapter on bats was particularly moving. “Holy shit, there’s dead bats everywhere.” I would have liked to see a stronger ending, but overall this was a detailed and compelling view of the overwhelming power we humans have over the evolutionary process.
Show Less
LibraryThing member tarheel
The geologic record has recorded five major mass extinctions that have occurred over the course of the Earth’s history. Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction examines the growing body of evidence that we are in the midst of a sixth mass extinction due primarily to human interaction with the
The book is organized around an examination of thirteen animal species that have either gone extinct in the ancient past, more-recent past, or are currently becoming extinct right before our eyes today. The science is brought to life through the author’s travels across the world to visit the habitats of the extinct / threatened animals. Her interactions with the scientists and researchers are entertaining and sometimes humorous, but also educational and served to help the reader connect with the researchers and their work.
The book is well researched; Kolbert draws conclusions from multiple lines of evidence including examination of the fossil record, ongoing field studies of animal populations and habitat, and laboratory experiments. The review of data is well presented; Kolbert demonstrates a knack for explaining complex systems, such as changes in ocean acidification, with clarity and makes the subject understandable without dumbing down the science too much. The conclusions are startling, but are not present in an alarmist or shrill manner. Rather, they are rooted in empirical evidence and presented in a manner that proves thoughtful consideration and should prompt interest in the growing concerns with manmade climate change.
Show More
environment. The Sixth Extinction is an exceptional book and stands out from the growing herd of “general” science books covering climate change to its exceptional prose and Kolbert’s journalism and story-telling ability. The book is organized around an examination of thirteen animal species that have either gone extinct in the ancient past, more-recent past, or are currently becoming extinct right before our eyes today. The science is brought to life through the author’s travels across the world to visit the habitats of the extinct / threatened animals. Her interactions with the scientists and researchers are entertaining and sometimes humorous, but also educational and served to help the reader connect with the researchers and their work.
The book is well researched; Kolbert draws conclusions from multiple lines of evidence including examination of the fossil record, ongoing field studies of animal populations and habitat, and laboratory experiments. The review of data is well presented; Kolbert demonstrates a knack for explaining complex systems, such as changes in ocean acidification, with clarity and makes the subject understandable without dumbing down the science too much. The conclusions are startling, but are not present in an alarmist or shrill manner. Rather, they are rooted in empirical evidence and presented in a manner that proves thoughtful consideration and should prompt interest in the growing concerns with manmade climate change.
Show Less
LibraryThing member kcshankd
This is not a cheery book, but then these are not cheery times for the vast majority of Earth's biota. As you would expect by an author that is a staff writer for The New Yorker, the subject is well delivered.
It happens that this is the second book on the same subject I've read, both sharing the
Both detail a natural history of extinction, with the earlier book paying more attention to the previous extinction events. The book by Kolbert spends more time documenting the present crises. Both touch on Brazilian experiments with varying sizes of forest reserves, and the Simon/Ehrlich debates. The newer version includes chapters on the vanishing amphibians and bats of the Americas, which hadn't emerged in 1995.
There are three main arguments for preserving natural variety - ecological, economic, and moral. The ecological arguments boil down that humanity is dooming itself by depleting the natural reserves of the Earth, and that through some biological mechanism we'll all end up living out McCarthy's The Road or King's The Stand as the human population crashes.
The economic argument is more pragmatic - with thousands of species disappearing annually, we are throwing away potential medicines or green power sources that it would be to our great benefit to sort out and find before they are lost.
The moral argument is at the center of every WWF fundraising letter with pictures of various doomed megafauna - those pesky shoulds and oughts. The moral argument seems selfless but is essentially selfish - a wish to preserve, conservatively, the status quo.
We are indisputably living during the Earth's sixth extinction event, and causing it. Of course as a supremely comfortable first world inhabitant my best course of action is to buy less junk, burn less fuel, and all those always pertinent bromides. In the end though, I think the biological ending is unavoidable. We are living in a flat ecological world, as long as the planes keep flying. After our end, life will continue on without us, and speciation will recur once we pass, leaving our own KT boundary of plastic and monoculture pollen as a bleak monument.
It happens that this is the second book on the same subject I've read, both sharing the
Show More
same title. The other was by Richard Leakey from 1995. Things haven't improved. Both detail a natural history of extinction, with the earlier book paying more attention to the previous extinction events. The book by Kolbert spends more time documenting the present crises. Both touch on Brazilian experiments with varying sizes of forest reserves, and the Simon/Ehrlich debates. The newer version includes chapters on the vanishing amphibians and bats of the Americas, which hadn't emerged in 1995.
There are three main arguments for preserving natural variety - ecological, economic, and moral. The ecological arguments boil down that humanity is dooming itself by depleting the natural reserves of the Earth, and that through some biological mechanism we'll all end up living out McCarthy's The Road or King's The Stand as the human population crashes.
The economic argument is more pragmatic - with thousands of species disappearing annually, we are throwing away potential medicines or green power sources that it would be to our great benefit to sort out and find before they are lost.
The moral argument is at the center of every WWF fundraising letter with pictures of various doomed megafauna - those pesky shoulds and oughts. The moral argument seems selfless but is essentially selfish - a wish to preserve, conservatively, the status quo.
We are indisputably living during the Earth's sixth extinction event, and causing it. Of course as a supremely comfortable first world inhabitant my best course of action is to buy less junk, burn less fuel, and all those always pertinent bromides. In the end though, I think the biological ending is unavoidable. We are living in a flat ecological world, as long as the planes keep flying. After our end, life will continue on without us, and speciation will recur once we pass, leaving our own KT boundary of plastic and monoculture pollen as a bleak monument.
Show Less
LibraryThing member RChurch
The Sixth Extinction refers to five major species extinctions plus the current state of declining biological diversity. The author targets specific plants and animals either in serious decline or already extinct . The emphasis is on the historical angle from mastodons and the replacement of
Extinction is not something that only happened to dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous, but a consistent process occurring today.
The author explores many reasons for extinction, including loss of habitat, temperature changes, ocean acidification and man.
While climate change and resource depletion grab most of the headlines, the problem of declining biodiversity may be the area which will blindside us down the road. What will happen without bees or coral reefs ? I do not know but I am afraid to learn the answer.
In the final chapter, [hope is] The Thing With Feathers, the author is cautiously optimistic. Ironically, it will take humans to save those species that we have helped to destroy. Not a difficult read and highly recommended.
Show More
Neanderthals by Homo sapiens to the decline of bats with white-nose syndrome. Extinction is not something that only happened to dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous, but a consistent process occurring today.
The author explores many reasons for extinction, including loss of habitat, temperature changes, ocean acidification and man.
While climate change and resource depletion grab most of the headlines, the problem of declining biodiversity may be the area which will blindside us down the road. What will happen without bees or coral reefs ? I do not know but I am afraid to learn the answer.
In the final chapter, [hope is] The Thing With Feathers, the author is cautiously optimistic. Ironically, it will take humans to save those species that we have helped to destroy. Not a difficult read and highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Stbalbach
The Sixth Extinction offers some perspectives. This isn't a guilt trip, Elizabeth Kolbert makes no judgements or prescriptions for change. Rather she shows patterns of life over millions of years and how they are playing out today. It puts extinction into greater perspective by way of particular
Show More
animals going or gone extinct, the past "big 5" extinction events, stories about scientists and their discoveries. I sometimes felt misanthropic, and what observant person doesn't in this globalized age of homogenization when diversity is being eliminated not only in nature but culture. But Kolbert leaves us secure in the knowledge that nature will go on and do what it does regardless. It's all a matter of time and perspective. Show Less
LibraryThing member eduscapes
The Sixth Extinction is an engaging work of nonfiction focusing on the topic of extinction. Rather than speaking in generalities, Kolbert brings the concerns about extinction to the forefront through her hands-on experiences and examples.
I found the history of the study of extinction to be
I highly recommend this timely work. It’s easy-to-read and will appeal to anyone who wants to know more about the past, present, and future of extinction.
I found the history of the study of extinction to be
Show More
fascinating. Kolbert’s conversational writing style brings this interesting area of science alive for readers. I’d never really thought about the fact that there was a time when scholars didn’t really think about the concept of extinct creatures.I highly recommend this timely work. It’s easy-to-read and will appeal to anyone who wants to know more about the past, present, and future of extinction.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Jim_Sipe
A great book that did a good job of describing a very complex issue. I did not get the sense that the author was preaching, except for the last chapter.
LibraryThing member bowedbookshelf
Kolbert’s premise, that we are likely in the midst of the Sixth Period of a great extinction in the world’s history, is “a most awful yet interesting” idea, to quote Darwin out of context. Kolbert shares recent (in the past forty years) scientific discoveries, theories, and test results
What Kolbert has done here is to overlay a timeline transparency of extinctions over the history of the earth’s geologic record and mankind’s progress with which we are more commonly familiar. Kolbert is merely reporting in this book, not advocating, though the reader comes away with an awakened sense of attention and sense of the irony that man himself may be the instrument of his own destruction.
Kolbert is what could be called a “neocatastrophist.” She believes that the scientific record shows that conditions on earth change only very slowly, except when they don’t---“long periods of boredom interrupted by occasionally by panic. Though rare, these moments of panic are disproportionately important.” Her reportage brings her to the conclusion that we are in the midst of a great extinction and that in the future…far into the future, the geologic record will clearly show something extraordinary happened in the hundreds of thousands of years of human habitation. But it may be visible only to giant rats, the one species she concludes may be likely to survive and thrive.
While at first Kolbert shares current examples of species extinction happening right now, gradually she comes to zero in on probable cause: habitat modification caused by humans. She takes us through a riveting series of investigations scientists around the world are conducting to test how species adapt to changes in environment like carbon dioxide levels, for instance. Since continents are so well-travelled now, there are fewer areas uncontaminated by introduced species which may or may not be invasive or destructive to native species. Kolbert argues that man’s unparalleled and insatiable need to discover, innovate, and change his environment was like “bringing a gun to a knife fight.”
”To argue that the current extinction event could be averted if people just cared more and were willing to make more sacrifices is not wrong, exactly; still, it misses the point. It doesn’t much matter whether people care or don’t care. What matters is that people change the world.”That is not to say that we couldn’t slow the event down a little, at least for humans, if we began to pay attention at this point. “As soon as humans started using signs and symbols to represent the natural world, they pushed beyond the limits of that world.” We are just witnessing the outcomes now.
Kolbert writes “Though it may be nice to imagine there once was a time when man lived in harmony with nature, it’s not clear that he ever really did.” Perhaps American Indians with their roaming, nomadic habits, no fixed abode, and principles including commune with nature and not taking more than they needed to survive, may have been the last great environmentalists. They had a light footprint, didn’t they? Or am I completely wrong about that?
In the last couple of paragraphs, Kolbert points out that some scientists are seriously considering reengineering the atmosphere by scattering sulfates in the stratosphere to reflect sunlight back to space, or alternatively, to decamp to other planets. That, so far, is their best work. Perhaps if we just cut back on consumption, and left fossil fuels in the ground, we’d live long enough to figure out a better option.
Kolbert’s thesis ought to spark discussion, if nothing else. But we may also be witnessing the real-time devolution of our own species…no talk, no compromise. Get my gun.
Show More
which many of us may not have had a chance to follow with the diligence of a scientist. She is not a scientist but a journalist who has interviewed scientists, and her wonderful easy style makes it simple for us to understand.What Kolbert has done here is to overlay a timeline transparency of extinctions over the history of the earth’s geologic record and mankind’s progress with which we are more commonly familiar. Kolbert is merely reporting in this book, not advocating, though the reader comes away with an awakened sense of attention and sense of the irony that man himself may be the instrument of his own destruction.
Kolbert is what could be called a “neocatastrophist.” She believes that the scientific record shows that conditions on earth change only very slowly, except when they don’t---“long periods of boredom interrupted by occasionally by panic. Though rare, these moments of panic are disproportionately important.” Her reportage brings her to the conclusion that we are in the midst of a great extinction and that in the future…far into the future, the geologic record will clearly show something extraordinary happened in the hundreds of thousands of years of human habitation. But it may be visible only to giant rats, the one species she concludes may be likely to survive and thrive.
While at first Kolbert shares current examples of species extinction happening right now, gradually she comes to zero in on probable cause: habitat modification caused by humans. She takes us through a riveting series of investigations scientists around the world are conducting to test how species adapt to changes in environment like carbon dioxide levels, for instance. Since continents are so well-travelled now, there are fewer areas uncontaminated by introduced species which may or may not be invasive or destructive to native species. Kolbert argues that man’s unparalleled and insatiable need to discover, innovate, and change his environment was like “bringing a gun to a knife fight.”
”To argue that the current extinction event could be averted if people just cared more and were willing to make more sacrifices is not wrong, exactly; still, it misses the point. It doesn’t much matter whether people care or don’t care. What matters is that people change the world.”That is not to say that we couldn’t slow the event down a little, at least for humans, if we began to pay attention at this point. “As soon as humans started using signs and symbols to represent the natural world, they pushed beyond the limits of that world.” We are just witnessing the outcomes now.
Kolbert writes “Though it may be nice to imagine there once was a time when man lived in harmony with nature, it’s not clear that he ever really did.” Perhaps American Indians with their roaming, nomadic habits, no fixed abode, and principles including commune with nature and not taking more than they needed to survive, may have been the last great environmentalists. They had a light footprint, didn’t they? Or am I completely wrong about that?
In the last couple of paragraphs, Kolbert points out that some scientists are seriously considering reengineering the atmosphere by scattering sulfates in the stratosphere to reflect sunlight back to space, or alternatively, to decamp to other planets. That, so far, is their best work. Perhaps if we just cut back on consumption, and left fossil fuels in the ground, we’d live long enough to figure out a better option.
Kolbert’s thesis ought to spark discussion, if nothing else. But we may also be witnessing the real-time devolution of our own species…no talk, no compromise. Get my gun.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Jaylia3
It sounds strange to say I enjoyed reading this book about the increasingly profound and potentially devastating impact humans are having on our home planet, with an especial focus on the animals and plants who share Earth with us, but enjoy it I did. It’s a riveting topic, the history of our
One particular fact has really stuck with me--as human activity increasingly homogenizes the global environment by transporting plants and animals all over the planet biodiversity is increasing on the small scale, so that where you live is likely to have more species than it did formerly, but because invasive flora and fauna can wipe out native plants and animals global biodiversity is rapidly shrinking as the total number of species on the Earth continues to dwindle. And that’s the point of the title, The Sixth Extinction. There have been five periods of mass extinction on our planet and some scientists are finding evidence indicating that we may be on the cusp of or even in the midst of a sixth wave of mass die offs, this one caused by the activities of humans, a chilling realization.
Show More
world and our species, and Elizabeth Kolbert has the knack of writing about science so it retains all its natural fascination while still being accessible to laypeople. She takes the reader with her back in time and around the world as she accompanies researchers in places ranging from the Andes mountains to the Great Barrier Reef. One particular fact has really stuck with me--as human activity increasingly homogenizes the global environment by transporting plants and animals all over the planet biodiversity is increasing on the small scale, so that where you live is likely to have more species than it did formerly, but because invasive flora and fauna can wipe out native plants and animals global biodiversity is rapidly shrinking as the total number of species on the Earth continues to dwindle. And that’s the point of the title, The Sixth Extinction. There have been five periods of mass extinction on our planet and some scientists are finding evidence indicating that we may be on the cusp of or even in the midst of a sixth wave of mass die offs, this one caused by the activities of humans, a chilling realization.
Show Less
LibraryThing member adzebill
Excellent overview of both extinctions in deep time and the current one, giving climate change its due as well. Pretty approachable for a non-biologist I would say, engagingly written in magazine style.
LibraryThing member featherbear
Easy read. Effect similar to the TV series Cosmos. Living between catastrophes, while being part of the catastrophe. .
LibraryThing member lilnursesuhy
This was a very interesting book... I really enjoyed it especially the last two chapters.
** I received this book for free as part of a First-Reads promotion
** I received this book for free as part of a First-Reads promotion
LibraryThing member mreed61
I had less than two hours left in this book and I was determined to finish it today. I have been more excited about parts of this, up to and including holding my breath, and excited to see how it comes out than I have ever been reading a novel. Fiction? It pales by comparison.
The bat situation, in
Elizabeth is fair in every aspect, from what I was reading and what I recall from previous authors on the various anthropological, archaeological, paleontological and just plain human aspects. She's right. We don't know in full what is going to happen, because our Anthopocene era and pending Sixth Extinction falls on us, as humans, all the way around. It has been since the day we became homo sapiens. This isn't new, but it's going a lot faster than it was supposed to. Why? Because we are human.
New material saw daylight, and Elizabeth was extremely thorough. Some of this new material was about previous extinctions, and some of it brings into question just those things we thought we knew - and we didn't.
For a nerd like me, this was perfect reading material. For everyone else, it still is great reading, and I recommend it to everyone. Nothing about this is unreadable unless you just plain don't know how to read. I didn't find ANY of it boring at any point. If anything, I regretted that I had to put it down to go to work.
The bat situation, in
Show More
particular, made me cry. I don't cry.Elizabeth is fair in every aspect, from what I was reading and what I recall from previous authors on the various anthropological, archaeological, paleontological and just plain human aspects. She's right. We don't know in full what is going to happen, because our Anthopocene era and pending Sixth Extinction falls on us, as humans, all the way around. It has been since the day we became homo sapiens. This isn't new, but it's going a lot faster than it was supposed to. Why? Because we are human.
New material saw daylight, and Elizabeth was extremely thorough. Some of this new material was about previous extinctions, and some of it brings into question just those things we thought we knew - and we didn't.
For a nerd like me, this was perfect reading material. For everyone else, it still is great reading, and I recommend it to everyone. Nothing about this is unreadable unless you just plain don't know how to read. I didn't find ANY of it boring at any point. If anything, I regretted that I had to put it down to go to work.
Show Less
LibraryThing member btburt
Very well written, well researched, and sobering. I got a kick out of the description by some scientists characterizing humanity as a "weedy species" or as the most impactful invasive species in history. Anyone reading this book will have difficulty denying that human beings (whether through
Show More
climate change or other mechanisms, such as habitat destruction or plain old predation) are changing global ecosystems in dramatic and dangerous ways. Ms. Kolbert makes it clear that it's hard to predict exactly where the trends will lead... but it's painfully evident that complacency is not an option. Show Less
Awards
Pulitzer Prize (Winner — General Non-Fiction — 2015)
Kirkus Prize (Finalist — Nonfiction — 2014)
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Science & Technology — 2014)
National Book Critics Circle Award (Finalist — General Nonfiction — 2014)
The Economist Best Books (2014.1)
AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books (Finalist — 2015)
Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction (Finalist — Nonfiction — 2015)
CBC Bookie Awards (Nominee — 2015)
PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award (Shortlist — 2015)
Massachusetts Book Award (Must-Read (Longlist) — Nonfiction — 2015)
Wissensbuch des Jahres (2015)
Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism (Finalist — 2015)
Orion Book Award (Finalist — Nonfiction — 2015)
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Nonfiction — 2014)
NPR: Books We Love (2014)
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Nonfiction — 2014)
The New York Times Best Books of the Year (Nonfiction — 2014)
The Observer Book of the Year (Science — 2014)
Library Journal Top Ten Book (2014)
Notable Books List (2015)
Globe and Mail Top 100 Book (Nonfiction — 2014)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults (Selection — 2014)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2014
Physical description
336 p.; 9.55 inches
ISBN
0805092994 / 9780805092998