This one is being caused by us, not only through climate change but through deforestation, habitat loss and fragmentation, overhunting, overfishing, and general carelessness and exploitation of the planet on which we and a rapidly decreasing number of other species live. Each has been caused by a different unique event. There have been five other extinction events so drastic and impactful, the most famous of which is the asteroid that killed not only the dinosaurs but a good 80% of species in existence at that time. This book is about the current extinction event we are living through now. When I’ve described The Sixth Extinction to people, they assume I’m talking about science fiction. This genre is my catnip, and if I could trade lives with any author on the planet, well, it would probably be Michael Palin, actually, but Elizabeth Kolbert and Mary Roach are close seconds. It hits my sweet spot exactly between natural history, science, environmentalism, and travel writing (freaking Kolbert got to go to, off the top of my head, Australia, Germany, France, Peru, Panama, Iceland, Scotland, and Italy for this book, and I’m pretty sure I’m forgetting some). This book is equal parts heartbreaking, infuriating, fascinating, and beautiful.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |