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The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History , Kolbert, Elizabeth
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A book that has been read but is in good condition. Very minimal damage to the cover including scuff marks, but no holes or tears. The dust jacket for hard covers may not be included. Binding has minimal wear. The majority of pages are undamaged with minimal creasing or tearing, minimal pencil underlining of text, no highlighting of text, no writing in margins. No missing pages.
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Located in: Imperial, Missouri, United States
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eBay item number:396814049673
Item specifics
- Condition
- ISBN
- 9780805092998
About this product
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Holt & Company, Henry
ISBN-10
0805092994
ISBN-13
9780805092998
eBay Product ID (ePID)
166738948
Product Key Features
Book Title
Sixth Extinction : an Unnatural History
Number of Pages
336 Pages
Language
English
Publication Year
2014
Topic
Natural Disasters, Life Sciences / Evolution, Natural History, Ecology, Life Sciences / Biology
Illustrator
Yes
Genre
Nature, Science
Format
Hardcover
Dimensions
Item Height
1.3 in
Item Weight
20.2 Oz
Item Length
9.6 in
Item Width
6.5 in
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
2013-028683
Reviews
[Kolbert] grounds her stories in rigorous science and memorable characters past and present, building a case that a mass extinction is underway, whether we want to admit it or not., Elizabeth Kolbert's cautionary tale, The Sixth Extinction , offers us a cogent overview of a harrowing biological challenge. The reporting is exceptional, the contextualizing exemplary. Kolbert stands at the forefront of what it means to be a socially responsible American writer today., Throughout her extensive and passionately collected research, Kolbert offers a highly readable, enlightening report on the global and historical impact of humans... a highly significant eye-opener rich in facts and enjoyment., "Rendered with rare, resolute, and resounding clarity, Kolbert's compelling and enlightening report forthrightly addresses the most significant topic of our lives." - Booklist (starred review)"An epic, riveting story of our species that reads like a scientific thriller-only more terrifying because it is real. Like Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction is destined to become one of the most important and defining books of our time." -David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z "I tore through Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction with a mix of awe and terror. Her long view of extinction excited my joy in life's diversity -- even as she made me aware how many species are currently at risk." -Dava Sobel, author of Longitude and Galileo's Daughter "With her usual lucid and lovely prose, Elizabeth Kolbert lays out the sad and gripping facts of our moment on earth: that we've become a geological force, driving vast swaths of creation over the brink. A remarkable addition to the literature of our haunted epoch." -Bill McKibben, author Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist "Elizabeth Kolbert's cautionary tale, The Sixth Extinction , offers us a cogent overview of a harrowing biological challenge. The reporting is exceptional, the contextualizing exemplary. Kolbert stands at the forefront of what it means to be a socially responsible American writer today."-Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams "The sixth mass extinction is the biggest story on Earth, period, and Elizabeth Kolbert tells it with imagination, rigor, deep reporting, and a capacious curiosity about all the wondrous creatures and ecosystems that exist, or have existed, on our planet. The result is an important book full of love and loss." -David Quammen, author of The Song of the Dodo and Spillover, The sixth mass extinction is the biggest story on Earth, period, and Elizabeth Kolbert tells it with imagination, rigor, deep reporting, and a capacious curiosity about all the wondrous creatures and ecosystems that exist, or have existed, on our planet. The result is an important book full of love and loss., [Kolbert] makes a page-turner out of even the most sober and scientifically demanding aspects of extinction. Combining a lucid, steady, understated style with some enviable reporting adventures... she produces a book that is both serious-minded and invites exclamation points into its margins., Praise for Field Notes from a Catastrophe "A small miracle of concision . . . Offer(s) the clearest view yet of the biggest catastrophe we have ever faced."- Los Angeles Times "Sober, detailed, and alarming without being alarmist."- Newsweek "Gripping, well-written . . . Kolbert never editorializes, but her message comes through all the louder for her restraint."- The Seattle Times "Important . . . Precise and measured . . . Lets readers connect the dots to form a frightening (and still avoidable) vision of our future."- Entertainment Weekly, "Kolbert accomplishes an amazing feat in her latest book, which superbly blends the depressing facts associated with rampant species extinctions and impending ecosystem collapse with stellar writing to produce a text that is accessible, witty, scientifically accurate, and impossible to put down."- Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Rendered with rare, resolute, and resounding clarity, Kolbert's compelling and enlightening report forthrightly addresses the most significant topic of our lives." - Booklist (starred review)"An epic, riveting story of our species that reads like a scientific thriller-only more terrifying because it is real. Like Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction is destined to become one of the most important and defining books of our time." -David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z "I tore through Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction with a mix of awe and terror. Her long view of extinction excited my joy in life's diversity -- even as she made me aware how many species are currently at risk." -Dava Sobel, author of Longitude and Galileo's Daughter "With her usual lucid and lovely prose, Elizabeth Kolbert lays out the sad and gripping facts of our moment on earth: that we've become a geological force, driving vast swaths of creation over the brink. A remarkable addition to the literature of our haunted epoch." -Bill McKibben, author Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist "Elizabeth Kolbert's cautionary tale, The Sixth Extinction , offers us a cogent overview of a harrowing biological challenge. The reporting is exceptional, the contextualizing exemplary. Kolbert stands at the forefront of what it means to be a socially responsible American writer today."-Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams "The sixth mass extinction is the biggest story on Earth, period, and Elizabeth Kolbert tells it with imagination, rigor, deep reporting, and a capacious curiosity about all the wondrous creatures and ecosystems that exist, or have existed, on our planet. The result is an important book full of love and loss." -David Quammen, author of The Song of the Dodo and Spillover "Elizabeth Kolbert writes with an aching beauty of the impact of our species on all the other forms of life known in this cold universe. The perspective is at once awe-inspiring, humbling and deeply necessary." -T.C. Boyle, author of San Miguel, With her usual lucid and lovely prose, Elizabeth Kolbert lays out the sad and gripping facts of our moment on earth: that we've become a geological force, driving vast swaths of creation over the brink. A remarkable addition to the literature of our haunted epoch., Powerful . . . Kolbert expertly traces the 'twisting' intellectual history of how we've come to understand the concept of extinction, and more recently, how we've come to recognize our role in it. . . An invaluable contribution to our understanding of present circumstances., Kolbert accomplishes an amazing feat in her latest book, which superbly blends the depressing facts associated with rampant species extinctions and impending ecosystem collapse with stellar writing to produce a text that is accessible, witty, scientifically accurate, and impossible to put down., [An] excellent new book... The Sixth Extinction is the kind of book that helps us recognize the actual planet we live upon., Riveting... It is not possible to overstate the importance of Kolbert's book. Her prose is lucid, accessible and even entertaining as she reveals the dark theater playing out on our globe., Your view of the world will be fundamentally changed... Kolbert is an astute observer, excellent explainer and superb synthesizer, and even manages to find humor in her subject matter., "Powerful . . . Kolbert expertly traces the 'twisting' intellectual history of how we've come to understand the concept of extinction, and more recently, how we've come to recognize our role in it. . . An invaluable contribution to our understanding of present circumstances."-Al Gore, The New York Times Book Review "Arresting . . . Ms. Kolbert shows in these pages that she can write with elegiac poetry about the vanishing creatures of this planet, but the real power of her book resides in the hard science and historical context she delivers here, documenting the mounting losses that human beings are leaving in their wake." - The New York Times "Throughout her extensive and passionately collected research, Kolbert offers a highly readable, enlightening report on the global and historical impact of humans... a highly significant eye-opener rich in facts and enjoyment." - Kirkus (starred review) "The factoids Kolbert tosses off about nature's incredible variety-a frog that carries eggs in its stomach and gives birth through its mouth, a wood stork that cools off by defecating on its own legs-makes it heartbreakingly clear, without any heavy-handed sermonizing from the author, just how much we lose when an animal goes extinct. In the same way, her intrepid reporting from far-off places-Panama, Iceland, Italy, Scotland, Peru, the Amazonian rain forest of Brazil, and the remote one tree Island, off the coast of Australia-gives us a sense of the earth's vastness and beauty." - Bookforum "Kolbert accomplishes an amazing feat in her latest book, which superbly blends the depressing facts associated with rampant species extinctions and impending ecosystem collapse with stellar writing to produce a text that is accessible, witty, scientifically accurate, and impossible to put down."- Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Rendered with rare, resolute, and resounding clarity, Kolbert's compelling and enlightening report forthrightly addresses the most significant topic of our lives." - Booklist (starred review)"An epic, riveting story of our species that reads like a scientific thriller-only more terrifying because it is real. Like Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction is destined to become one of the most important and defining books of our time." -David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z "I tore through Elizabeth Kolbert''s The Sixth Extinction with a mix of awe and terror. Her long view of extinction excited my joy in life''s diversity -- even as she made me aware how many species are currently at risk." -Dava Sobel, author of Longitude and Galileo's Daughter "With her usual lucid and lovely prose, Elizabeth Kolbert lays out the sad and gripping facts of our moment on earth: that we''ve become a geological force, driving vast swaths of creation over the brink. A remarkable addition to the literature of our haunted epoch." -Bill McKibben, author Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist "Elizabeth Kolbert''s cautionary tale, The Sixth Extinction , offers us a cogent overview of a harrowing biological challenge. The reporting is exceptional, the contextualizing exemplary. Kolbert stands at the forefront of what it means to be a socially responsible American writer today."-Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams "The sixth mass extinction is the biggest story on Earth, period, and Elizabeth Kolbert tells it with imagination, rigor, deep reporting, and a capacious curiosity about all the wondrous creatures and ecosystems that exist, or have existed, on our planet. The result is an important book full of love and loss." -David Quammen, author of The Song of the Dodo and Spillover "Elizabeth Kolbert writes with an aching beauty of the impact of our species on all the other forms of life known in this cold universe. The perspective is at once awe-inspiring, humbling and deeply necessary." -T.C. Boyle, author of San Miguel, The factoids Kolbert tosses off about nature's incredible variety--a frog that carries eggs in its stomach and gives birth through its mouth, a wood stork that cools off by defecating on its own legs--makes it heartbreakingly clear, without any heavy-handed sermonizing from the author, just how much we lose when an animal goes extinct. In the same way, her intrepid reporting from far-off places--Panama, Iceland, Italy, Scotland, Peru, the Amazonian rain forest of Brazil, and the remote one tree Island, off the coast of Australia--gives us a sense of the earth's vastness and beauty., I tore through Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction with a mix of awe and terror. Her long view of extinction excited my joy in life's diversity -- even as she made me aware how many species are currently at risk., Thorough and fascinating . . . Kolbert is an economical and deft explainer of the technical, and about as intrepid a reporter as they come . . . Her reporting is meticulous., An epic, riveting story of our species that reads like a scientific thriller--only more terrifying because it is real. Like Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction is destined to become one of the most important and defining books of our time., Arresting . . . Ms. Kolbert shows in these pages that she can write with elegiac poetry about the vanishing creatures of this planet, but the real power of her book resides in the hard science and historical context she delivers here, documenting the mounting losses that human beings are leaving in their wake., What's exceptional about Kolbert's writing is the combination of scientific rigor and wry humor that keeps you turning the pages., Rendered with rare, resolute, and resounding clarity, Kolbert's compelling and enlightening report forthrightly addresses the most significant topic of our lives., "The sixth mass extinction is the biggest story on Earth, period, and Elizabeth Kolbert tells it with imagination, rigor, deep reporting, and a capacious curiosity about all the wondrous creatures and ecosystems that exist, or have existed, on our planet. The result is an important book full of love and loss." -David Quammen, author of The Song of the Dodo and Spillover "Elizabeth Kolbert's cautionary tale, The Sixth Extinction , offers us a cogent overview of a harrowing biological challenge. The reporting is exceptional, the contextualizing exemplary. Kolbert stands at the forefront of what it means to be a socially responsible American writer today."-Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams "With her usual lucid and lovely prose, Elizabeth Kolbert lays out the sad and gripping facts of our moment on earth: that we've become a geological force, driving vast swaths of creation over the brink. A remarkable addition to the literature of our haunted epoch." -Bill McKibben, author Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist "I tore through Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction with a mix of awe and terror. Her long view of extinction excited my joy in life's diversity -- even as she made me aware how many species are currently at risk." -Dava Sobel, author of Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, Elizabeth Kolbert writes with an aching beauty of the impact of our species on all the other forms of life known in this cold universe. The perspective is at once awe-inspiring, humbling and deeply necessary., "With her usual lucid and lovely prose, Elizabeth Kolbert lays out the sad and gripping facts of our moment on earth: that we've become a geological force, driving vast swaths of creation over the brink. A remarkable addition to the literature of our haunted epoch." --Bill McKibben, author Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist "Elizabeth Kolbert's cautionary tale, The Sixth Extinction , offers us a cogent overview of a harrowing biological challenge. The reporting is exceptional, the contextualizing exemplary. Kolbert stands at the forefront of what it means to be a socially responsible American writer today."-Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams, Surprisingly breezy, entirely engrossing, and frequently entertaining... Kolbert is a masterful, thought-provoking reporter., "Throughout her extensive and passionately collected research, Kolbert offers a highly readable, enlightening report on the global and historical impact of humans... a highly significant eye-opener rich in facts and enjoyment." - Kirkus (starred review) "The factoids Kolbert tosses off about nature's incredible variety-a frog that carries eggs in its stomach and gives birth through its mouth, a wood stork that cools off by defecating on its own legs-makes it heartbreakingly clear, without any heavy-handed sermonizing from the author, just how much we lose when an animal goes extinct. In the same way, her intrepid reporting from far-off places-Panama, Iceland, Italy, Scotland, Peru, the Amazonian rain forest of Brazil, and the remote one tree Island, off the coast of Australia-gives us a sense of the earth's vastness and beauty." - Bookforum "Kolbert accomplishes an amazing feat in her latest book, which superbly blends the depressing facts associated with rampant species extinctions and impending ecosystem collapse with stellar writing to produce a text that is accessible, witty, scientifically accurate, and impossible to put down."- Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Rendered with rare, resolute, and resounding clarity, Kolbert's compelling and enlightening report forthrightly addresses the most significant topic of our lives." - Booklist (starred review)"An epic, riveting story of our species that reads like a scientific thriller-only more terrifying because it is real. Like Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction is destined to become one of the most important and defining books of our time." -David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z "I tore through Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction with a mix of awe and terror. Her long view of extinction excited my joy in life's diversity -- even as she made me aware how many species are currently at risk." -Dava Sobel, author of Longitude and Galileo's Daughter "With her usual lucid and lovely prose, Elizabeth Kolbert lays out the sad and gripping facts of our moment on earth: that we've become a geological force, driving vast swaths of creation over the brink. A remarkable addition to the literature of our haunted epoch." -Bill McKibben, author Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist "Elizabeth Kolbert's cautionary tale, The Sixth Extinction , offers us a cogent overview of a harrowing biological challenge. The reporting is exceptional, the contextualizing exemplary. Kolbert stands at the forefront of what it means to be a socially responsible American writer today."-Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams "The sixth mass extinction is the biggest story on Earth, period, and Elizabeth Kolbert tells it with imagination, rigor, deep reporting, and a capacious curiosity about all the wondrous creatures and ecosystems that exist, or have existed, on our planet. The result is an important book full of love and loss." -David Quammen, author of The Song of the Dodo and Spillover "Elizabeth Kolbert writes with an aching beauty of the impact of our species on all the other forms of life known in this cold universe. The perspective is at once awe-inspiring, humbling and deeply necessary." -T.C. Boyle, author of San Miguel
Dewey Edition
23
TitleLeading
The
Dewey Decimal
576.8/4
Table Of Content
Author's Note xi? Prologue 1? I: The Sixth Extinction 4? II: The Mastodon's Molars 23? III: The Original Penguin 47 ? IV: The Luck of the Ammonites 70? V: Welcome to the Anthropocene 92? VI: The Sea Around Us 111? VII: Dropping Acid 125? VIII: The Forest and the Trees 148? IX: Islands on Dry Land 173? X: The New Pangaea 193? XI: The Rhino Gets an Ultrasound 217? XII: The Madness Gene 236? XIII: The Thing with Feathers 259?? Acknowledgments 273? Notes 277? Selected Bibliography 293? Photo/Illustration Credits 305? Index 307
Synopsis
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST 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.
LC Classification Number
QE721.2.E97K65 2014
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- k***l (417)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchaseClean book quick shipper
- r***c (683)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchaseFast shipping
- y***a (2108)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchase👍