Reading Recommendation: The Sixth Extinction, by Elizabeth Kolbert

The Sixth Extinction CoverThis sharp, shocking book covers the anthropocene extinction. Kolbert neither flinches nor reprimands, which creates a very powerful read.  I read her “Field Notes form a Catastrophe” years ago (and heard her talk out here somewhere – maybe at Town Hall?) and that book helped to convince me that climate change is happening faster than any of our models suggest.  The sixth Extinction convinced me that extinctions are happening even faster than I thought, and helped me understand the varying nuances of the primary cause, which is, of course, us.

Kolbert gives us information she has been gathering in the field through a series of short and readable vignettes.  These stories are then surrounded and peppered with additional information, creating good readability.  I’m often a bit tired and stressed with all of the hats I wear, and it’s become rare for me to find non-fiction that keeps me flipping pages and reading “one more chapter.”

I highly recommend this book to my futurist and science fiction writing friends, as well a the animal lovers I know.  Or really, any humans.  🙂

2 thoughts on “Reading Recommendation: The Sixth Extinction, by Elizabeth Kolbert”

  1. , I agree strongly with him that the curernt market structures will suffer massive disruption as the market (and human civilisation generally) moves away from the curernt complex of arrangements. If history is any judge, most efforts will be directed toward disrupting innovation efforts which will serve to make the disruption effects even more severe than would be the case from a steady, piecemeal innovation process. The question then becomes, at what point does the disruption become indistinguishable from outright doom ?As for the podcast success, you’ve long since demonstrated your mastery of the medium through your brilliant handling of the Guest Selection Process. Why do I keep hearing the musical refrain, we won’t get burned again running through my brain?

Comments are closed.

newsletter

Sign Up


Scroll to Top