The Sixth Extinction: Uncovering the Impact of Human Activity on Nature

Mr. Stripey: Interesting book on various historical and current ideas about biodiversity and extinction. Each chapter takes a different theme/topic and set of examples. The author spends time looking at the history of ideas on extinction, interviewing present-day scientists, visiting scientific sites, adding some human interest themes, and so on. It's mainly journalistic in character, however there are some good references at the end if you want to dig further.

United States on Nov 25, 2023

Daniel Jones: A really interesting perspective on the ups and downs of life on earth. Step bye step the book examines the evidence for each of the elements of the climate crisis and summarises the challenges ahead. Worth reading.

United Kingdom on Sep 03, 2023

Dominika: Starannie i ładnie wydane.

Poland on May 13, 2023

Carlos Sanchez GonzalezCarlos Sanchez Gonzalez: Me encanto, que explica las distintas extinciones que ya sufrido las especies a detalle y como llegamos a esa conclusion. Sometimes, difficult words, but all good.

Mexico on Nov 17, 2022

Santi: Gran libro-resumen sobre la gran crisis ecológica que vivimos en el planeta desde la explosión poblacional de H.sapiens. Tremendamente duro, pero a la vez apasionante. Un chute de realismo, nada mágico, una patada a nuestra especie conformista y alienada. En mi caso acabé el libro pensando "joder, hagamos algo para parar esto!". Pero también hay riesgo de acabar pensando que ya no hay nada que hacer para salvarnos...

Spain on Jun 26, 2018

Karthick S: I grew up in a Sub Urban area with lot of vegetation around. As I grew up, the place was just being swallowed up by more and more houses. One of the hassles of vegetation was that we used to get lot of uninvited guests to our home - weird insects, bats, worms and scary Snakes. One of the key lessons I was taught as a kid was what to do to protect myself from Snakes. I vividly remember a few six foot long venomous Vipers that we spotted in home. Today, the area has completely become an Urban jungle. Snakes have disappeared with more houses. We are happy with the fact that we need not worry about those snakes. But what has happened to those snakes? How has the loss of habitat affected them? What about other harmless insects and bats? A few endemic species could have disappeared. All because of us - Human Beings. This book, 'The Sixth Extinction' is exactly about this. How Human Beings are causing the sixth major extinction event of the world and how it is happening right in front of our eyes.

I was looking for a book in the last minute before my flight. I randomly came across this book on Amazon and decided to give it a shot. One thing I worried was that the book would turn...

India on Nov 01, 2017

Richard Reese (author of Understanding Sustainability): The Sixth Extinction

I didn’t rush to read Elizabeth Kolbert’s book, The Sixth Extinction, because I imagined it would be a gloomy expose on the unfortunate consequences of way too much half-baked cleverness — and it was. But it’s also a fascinating story about the long saga of life on Earth, and the unclever antics of the latest primate species. It’s an outstanding book.

We have soared away into a fantasy world, where godlike humans spend their lives creating brilliant miracles. But when observed in a 450 million year timeframe, from this moment when a new mass extinction is gathering momentum, the wonders of progress and technological innovation lose their shine. Kolbert rips off our virtual reality headsets, and serves us powerful medicine, a feast of provocative news.

Today, the frog people are not feeling lucky. They have lived on this sweet planet for 400 million years, but many are now dying, because of a fungus called Bd. This fungus can live happily in the forest on its own, without an amphibian host, so endangered frogs rescued by scientists cannot be returned to the wild. The crisis began when humans transported frogs that carried the...

United States on Jun 21, 2015

Ashutosh S. Jogalekar: Elizabeth Kolbert combines the sharp observational powers of a field biologist with the literary skill of a seasoned and thoughtful writer. In her previous book “Notes from a Field Catastrophe”, she travelled to far-flung parts of the globe to dig up stories on the deleterious effects of climate change. In her latest book she combines similar reporting from around the world with chapters from the history of science to bring us a noteworthy account of one of the most spectacular and important stories of biology and history – mass extinctions. There have been five documented big extinctions in history, with the most popular one being the death of the dinosaurs that was memorably caused by a meteorite. However we are probably now in the throes of a sixth extinction, and as Kolbert documents, at least parts of it are being caused by human beings’ destructive tendencies and our unquenchable thirst for natural resources. The concern for extinctions is not merely a discussion for the drawing rooms of bleeding-heart environmentalists; as a chemist, I am well-aware that about half of all drugs on the market are derived from natural sources. Every time we kill off another marine...

United States on Feb 26, 2014