Overview
How long do humans have left on Earth? Using cutting-edge science that revolutionises our understanding of evolution, Michael Boulter explains how we may be closer to our own extinction than we imagined.Sixty-five million years ago the dinosaurs were destroyed in a mass extinction event that could not have been predicted. Out of the devastation, new life developed and the world regained its natural equilibrium. Until now. Scientists, employing radically new perspectives on the science of life, are beginning to uncover signs of a similar event on the horizon. The end of man.Michael Boulter reveals extraordinary new insights that scientists are only now beginning to understand about the past, the rise and fall of species and the nature of life.‘Extinction’ is an immaculately researched introduction into the new developments in the science of life as well as a chilling account of the effects that humans have had on the planet. The world will adapt and survive – humanity will not.‘Extinction’ raises some radical insights into our view of the world: Nature is in a balance, in which all parts interact and create harmony. This harmony is organised from the inside – it is a self-organising system. In a self-organising system the whole is more important than its parts. One method of this system is extinction – if the system is disrupted it will do what it has to correct itself.Editorials
Southeastern Review
This is an intriguing book that pulls together current understandings of biodiversity, paleobiology, and climatology to present a sobering... And hopeful... Picture of what the future may hold.
Time Magazines Literary Supplement
Engagingly argued... Boulter predicts that among mammals it is the ecologically adaptable and undemanding that shall inherit the earth: the rats, the bats, the voles. Personally, I hope that the lemurs make it as well.Los Angeles Times -
Boulter writes with clarity and verve about findings, theses and models from a wide variety of fields.... Perhaps this book, like a splash of cold water, will help wake us up.
The Historian -
It is packed with juicy anecdotes about fossils, evolution, and geological strata...The real attention-getting theme is the author's proposal that the human species will shortly go extinct...This is a fascinating thesis, not to say one that arouses alarm.
Times Literary Supplement
Engagingly argued... Boulter predicts that among mammals it is the ecologically adaptable and undemanding that shall inherit the earth: the rats, the bats, the voles. Personally, I hope that the lemurs make it as well.
Los Angeles Times
Boulter writes with clarity and verve about findings, theses and models from a wide variety of fields.... Perhaps this book, like a splash of cold water, will help wake us up.— Merle Rubin
The Independent
Boulter has an intriguing tale to tell.... It is indeed a story worth telling, and a book worth reading.
The Historian
It is packed with juicy anecdotes about fossils, evolution, and geological strata...The real attention-getting theme is the author's proposal that the human species will shortly go extinct...This is a fascinating thesis, not to say one that arouses alarm.— Michael R. Rose