Full name: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Author: Elizabeth Kolbert Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Science, Non Fiction, Award winners, History Purchase/reserch links: Amazon Goodreads OpenLibrary eBooks.com LibraryThing ISBNs: 9780805092998 0805092994

Over the last half-billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us. In prose that is at once frank, entertaining, and deeply informed, The New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert tells us why and how human beings have altered life on the planet in a way no species has before. Interweaving research in half a dozen disciplines, descriptions of the fascinating species that have already been lost, and the history of extinction as a concept, Kolbert provides a moving and comprehensive account of the disappearances occurring before our very eyes. She shows that 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. Similar books: The Song of the Dodo by David Quammen The Future of Life by Edward O. Wilson The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen The Story of More by Hope Jahren In Search of Nature by Edward O. Wilson The World Without Us by Alan Weisman Falter by Bill McKibben The Code Book by Simon Singh The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin Cod by Mark Kurlansky Salt by Mark Kurlansky The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough Hackers by Steven Levy The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan The Cracking Code Book by Simon Singh The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston The Information by James Gleick