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Simon & Schuster
March 2015
On Sale: March 17, 2015
ISBN: 1451677510
EAN: 9781451677515
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
While examining the history of our planet and actively
exploring our present environment, science journalist
Michael Tennesen describes what life on earth could look
like after the next mass extinction. A growing number of scientists agree we are headed toward a
mass extinction, perhaps in as little as 300 years. Already
there have been five mass extinctions in the last 600
million years, including the Cretaceous Extinction, during
which an asteroid knocked out the dinosaurs. Though these
events were initially destructive, they were also prime
movers of evolutionary change in nature. And we can see some
of the warning signs of another extinction event coming, as
our oceans lose both fish and oxygen. In The Next Species,
Michael Tennesen questions what life might be like after it
happens. Tennesen discusses the future of nature and whether humans
will make it through the bottleneck of extinction. Without
man, could the seas regenerate to what they were before
fishing vessels? Could life suddenly get very big as it did
before the arrival of humans? And what if man survives the
coming catastrophes, but in reduced populations? Would those
groups be isolated enough to become distinct species? Could
the conquest of Mars lead to another form of human? Could we
upload our minds into a computer and live in a virtual
reality? Or could genetic engineering create a more
intelligent and long-lived creature that might shun the rest
of us? And how would we recognize the next humans? Are they
with us now? Tennesen delves into the history of the planet and travels
to rainforests, canyons, craters, and caves all over the
world to explore the potential winners and losers of the
next era of evolution. His predictions, based on reports and
interviews with top scientists, have vital implications for
life on earth today.
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