In two words; "we're fucked".
But the book uses a lot more words to give overviews of the many ways in which we are fucked, which isn't just limited to climate change itself, but many more ways including resource use, spreading of invasive species, the sudden collapse of ecosystems from the destruction of natural 'pillars' like coral reefs and rainforests, and many more. While the book does have a mildly optimistic coda it's only a couple of pages on restoration and environmentalism successes. It's a largely pessimistic book about a pessimistic subject.
Though inadvertently through the book an alternative picture emerges - one where the consciousness about evolution and extinction is only a couple of centuries old, and large scale environmentalist activism and regulation is only half a century old. A blink of an eye on the blink of an eye that's all of human history. If technology (even stone age tools that likely killed the megafauna) and incremental change can wreak such havoc unintentionally and undirected, it seems strangely confident to think the future is set in stone and unsalvageable. ( )

I enjoyed the book and Kolbert's dry sense of humor, but the premise of the book(that we are in the midst of a major extinction event) is not new. I was taught this over 30 years ago in biology class.I am glad that more people will become aware of the number of species we are losing everyday. If I could give ½ stars. I would rate this 3.5 stars. The ½ is because the message of the book is important. ( )

Fantastically informative read. ( )

Balancing preserving nature and being part of nature seems to be something we are no longer capable of, and hearing about all the rapid changes to biodiversity caused by humans in every corner of the globe makes me sad. We know that indigenous people lived as part of their natural world, but colonizers really did a number on the planet. We are living through a mass extinction. I thought it was interesting to hear how introducing invasive species is a big part of species loss, and that we are basically creating another super continent in terms of diversity. This is well researched, just a bummer. ( )

There were so many interesting and informative ideas in the Sixth Extinction, it would difficult to say which are the most important. Suffice to say, human activity throughout the world has potentially started an extinction event and how is as varied as the number of species that have been affected.

One that sticks out in my mind: a fungal disease, Geomyces destructans (white-nose), is devastating the bat populations of the northeast and mid-Atlantic US. It appears to have been brought from Europe, where it doesn't affect their bat populations. As near as they can tell, it may have been introduced in a commercial cavern that entertains tourists. Bat are very social and it didn't take long for the disease to gain a foothold. With bat populations being ravaged, consider the number of mosquitoes and other insect pests just waiting to annoy you.

Recommended for anyone interested in understanding our world and our effect on it. ( )