The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Humankind
by Richard E. Leakey, Roger Lewin
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There have been five great extinctions in the long history of life on earth, the most recent 65 million years ago, when all dinosaur species perished in an astonishingly brief period of time. Each of these great extinctions was unimaginably catastrophic - at least 65 percent of all species living vanished in a geological instant; in the Permian extinction, nearly 95 percent of all species were obliterated. The agency for these extinctions, the why, is hotly debated - sudden climate change, show more asteroids, evolutionary inadequacy - but the patterns are remarkably consistent. Now, as Leakey and Lewin show with inarguable logic based on irrefutable scientific evidence, the sixth great extinction is underway. And this time the cause is beyond dispute: By the lowest estimate, thirty thousand species are wiped out by human agency every year - a rate that matches the patterns of the other five great extinctions with frightening exactitude. As the authors show, such dramatic and overwhelming extinction threatens the entire complex fabric of life on earth, including the species at fault, Homo sapiens. Unless we come to realize the devastating consequence of our rapacious behavior, we will follow the mastodon, the great auk, the carrier pigeon, and our other victims into the oblivion of extinction. show lessTags
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Surprisingly entertaining book that discusses the evolution of the world itself, breaking it down by areas and locations, proving that species have a natural tendency to come and go and suggesting that it isn't only the humans who are responsible. That doesn't mean we can simply do what we want though, there is plenty of evidence inside these pages that proves that although nature also destroys habitats and makes drastic changes in order to continue life in all its various forms, so do we. And we are much more unbalanced about doing it.
Far from being a lecture on how to change our lives in order to save everything, this book sees the balance needed in keeping knowledge expanding and understanding what must be done to preserve both a show more species and the natural way of maintaining life around us. After reading this book I found myself highly reminded about the things we as humans do to the world around us, but I saw it in a slightly different light. Very interesting read that has brought on several discussions among friends. show less
Far from being a lecture on how to change our lives in order to save everything, this book sees the balance needed in keeping knowledge expanding and understanding what must be done to preserve both a show more species and the natural way of maintaining life around us. After reading this book I found myself highly reminded about the things we as humans do to the world around us, but I saw it in a slightly different light. Very interesting read that has brought on several discussions among friends. show less
Written in 1995, this book was unbelievably ahead of its time. Leaky explains how life started and evolved on earth, how natural events wiped the slate almost clean 5 times in the past, the most recent being 65 million years ago when the dinosaurs were wiped out, and how we're in the midst of a sixth extinction event caused by human activity.
Leakey is a paleo-anthropologist and has been Director of the kenya Wildlife Service. After describing the previous five mass extinctions caused by natural disasters he sets out his fers for an impending sixth, caused this time by mankind.
shelved in HT Green Library - by Reception - Monograph Library (R)
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Extinct Animals
22 works; 1 member
Author Information
25+ Works 3,709 Members
23+ Works 3,679 Members
Roger Lewin is an associate of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University.
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Classifications
- Genres
- Science & Nature, Nonfiction, Anthropology, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 304.2 — Society, government, & culture Social sciences, sociology & anthropology Factors affecting social behavior Human ecology
- LCC
- GF75 .L425 — Geography, Anthropology and Recreation Human ecology. Anthropogeography Human ecology. Anthropogeography Human influences on the environment
- BISAC
Statistics
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- 325
- Popularity
- 97,804
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.79)
- Languages
- 5 — English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 13
- ASINs
- 2
