by Elizabeth Kolbert
This book does a great job showing how mankind has effected the Earth and it’s environmental ecosystems, not just in the modern era but for thousands of years. Everything the author discusses is well documented or shown to be very well researched hypotheses.There have been five mass extinction event...
Each chapter was interesting enough and would have made a nice magazine article. As a book, it didn't work to well. The book was rather superficial and lacked detail. I get the impression that the author thinks humans are evil and responsible for every extinction since humans became a species. A...
What I thought:The Sixth ExtinctionThe Panamanian Golden Frogs are the focus of the chapter. However, the chapter is about the extinction of a large number of amphibians. Just made me sad as reading about extinctions always does.The Mastodon's MolarsFascinating story about an anatomist drawing concl...
This is a very interesting examination of how human activities lead to the extinction of other species. However, I knocked it down half a star from 4, which was my rating before the last two chapters. In one, she blames modern humans for the extinction of neanderthals, on what I would call inad...
I really enjoyed this book and it was quite easy to read. It is really a series of vignettes about different organisms that are either recently extinct or about to go extinct, and the scientists who study them. The author made me feel as if these creatures were friends that are slowly (or quickly ...
Both fascinating and sad when you realize that we are actually living through and extinction level event, the only thing is that this is not some sudden dramatic occurrence but a slow inexorable pushing out of animals into unfamiliar environments that they don't always have the means to survive.
If you have any doubt whatsoever about the vast and pernicious effect humans are having on our world's environment, then you need to read this book.
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 world ...
I think this is the first time I have ever read a book, at least a non-ridiculous non-fiction book, and thought "I could have written this!" Most of the books and studies quoted or mentioned I have read and/or written about myself previously. This is disappointing because 1)I could have written it (...
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