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An Unnatural History
Henry Holt and Co.
February 2014
On Sale: February 11, 2014
336 pages
ISBN: 0805092994
EAN: 9780805092998
Kindle: B00EGJE4G2
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
A major book about the future of the world, blending intellectual and natural history and field reporting into a powerful account of the mass extinction unfolding before our eyes Over the last half a 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 The Sixth Extinction, two-time winner of the National Magazine Award and New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert draws on the work of scores of researchers in half a dozen disciplines, accompanying many of them into the field: geologists who study deep ocean cores, botanists who follow the tree line as it climbs up the Andes, marine biologists who dive off the Great Barrier Reef. She introduces us to a dozen species, some already gone, others facing extinction, including the Panamian golden frog, staghorn coral, the great auk, and the Sumatran rhino. Through these stories, Kolbert provides a moving account of the disappearances occurring all around us and traces the evolution of extinction as concept, from its first articulation by Georges Cuvier in revolutionary Paris up through the present day. The sixth extinction is likely to be mankind's most lasting legacy; as Kolbert observes, it compels us to rethink the fundamental question of what it means to be human.
 Media BuzzTavis Smiley - June 2, 2014
Tavis Smiley - March 19, 2014
On Point - February 18, 2014
Fresh Air - NPR - February 12, 2014
All Things Considered - February 11, 2014
Daily Show with Jon Stewart - February 11, 2014
CBS This Morning - February 10, 2014
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