The End of Evolution

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The first great mass extinction 250 million years ago, called the First Event, destroyed 90% of life on earth. The Second Event, 65 million years ago, wiped out 50% of all species, including the dinosaurs. Ward ( In Search of Nautilus ) asserts that the Third Event is well underway, having begun at the end of the last Ice Age. And the culprit this time is no asteroid but Homo sapiens. Seeking clues to the past events, Ward takes us to the Karoo Desert in South Africa, where the best record of land-animal evolution has been preserved. He inspects outcrops in the Caucasus Mountains of Soviet Georgia and searches for dinosaur fossils in Montana. Ward chronicles historic extinctions in Hawaii, the Philippine Sea, the Columbia River and Madagascar, and notes recent paleontological discoveries in China. This remarkably lucid presentation of a complex subject is reminiscent of Stephen Jay Gould's books. Illustrations. (June)

Library Journal

Ward (On Methuselah's Trail: Living Fossils and the Great Extinctions, LJ 9/15/91) continues his exploration of the history of life and death on Earth. He focuses on two episodes of major extinctions in Earth's past, contending that humanity is now causing a third ``mass extinction.'' His evidence, derived from his research at the University of Washington, is comprehensive and convincing. Ward examines current scientific ideas on evolution and extinction in nontechnical terms. Though his thesis is clear-sometimes overwhelmingly so-interesting, if tangential, digressions occasionally mar the story's flow. Still, Ward's narrative and conversational style is highly readable and helps the text remain rather hopeful. Recommended as a thought-provoking look at the history and future of life on Earth.-Jeanne Davidson, Augustana Coll. Lib., Rock Island, Ill.

From The Critics

See Focus on p.1906.

Booknews

Author/scientist Ward (On Methuselah's Trail) takes a stand on the controversy over whether or not increased extinction of species is currently taking place and what the net result of current conditions might be. He asserts that such increased extinction is indeed taking place, has been since the dawn of the Ice Age about 2.5 million years ago, and will ultimately result in a third mass extinction, followed by repopulation with a largely new suite of creatures. He writes for a general audience. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Donna Seaman

When scientists, nature writers, environmentalists, sages, and poets attempt to describe nature, they use words such as "interdependent" and "interwoven." Nature is a web, or a mosaic. Such adjectives and metaphors are based on our still-evolving vision of the earth as a living organism of which we are as much a part as an oak, eagle, or elephant, however toxic and destructive our behavior and habits. This set of outstanding books considers various aspects of our interaction with our world, from creation myths to pollution, herbal medicine to politics "Family of Earth and Sky" is an excellent multicultural anthology of nature stories. Editors Elder, who also coedited the invaluable "Norton Book of Nature Writing" (1990), and Wong have selected tales from cultures as far-flung as the Navajos in the southwestern U.S. and the Masai in Kenya, the Quechua in Guatemala and the Aeta in the Philippines, as well as from communities in India, Paraguay, and Korea. They have organized these stories not geographically, but thematically: origins, animal tales and transformations, tricksters, and tales to live by. In our era of baffling complexity and environmental crisis, these tales affirm our membership in the natural world and remind us that our destruction of life on earth is self-destruction In "The Way of the Earth", McLuhan also provides her readers with a stimulating selection of multicultural texts, but she places her examples within an extensive analysis of how six cultures interpret their spiritual connection to the earth. In a seamless union of thoughtful commentary and dazzling excerpts, McLuhan elucidates the beliefs of Australia's Aborigines, the people of Japan, Greece, and Africa, North American Indians, and the Kogi of Colombia. Her emphasis is on the common threads shared by these diverse and magnificent traditions. At the core of each tradition, she discovered a firm belief in the intrinsic value of the natural world and a vital vision of the earth as mother, healer, and teacher Every recent book about rain forests decries their destruction and attempts to quantify their value. The key word is "biodiversity", and in "Earthly Goods", Joyce does a masterly job not only of defining biodiversity, but of describing exactly how it impacts upon our lives. Rain forests generate countless plants that heal physical and spiritual ailments and are home to people who have developed deep knowledge of the properties, preparations, and applications of these medicinals. Certain passionate outsiders, explorer-scientists, perceived the importance of this wealth and created the discipline we now call ethnobotany. Joyce's account of the history of ethnobotany includes animated profiles of remarkable plant-hunters he calls green knights, such as Richard Gill, Richard Evans Schultes, Rosita Arvigo, Michael Balick, and Daniel Janzen. He also chronicles the discovery of such plant-based pharmaceuticals as aspirin, digitalis, quinine, steroids, oral contraceptives, and taxol. Joyce shifts his attention from the majesty and the mystery of the rain forest to the pharmaceutical industry, where science, ethics, and the profit motive interact to fuel wasteful controversies. It all boils down to this: we must commercialize rain forests to preserve them An interest in modes of thought is at the heart of Marshall's "Nature's Web", an analysis of our place on earth. Like McLuhan (see above), Marshall examines a number of diverse traditions, but rather than consider them in depth and offer excerpts of key texts, he provides his readers with succinct summations of how nature is defined in Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Judeo-Christian tradition, Christianity, Islam, and the beliefs of North American Indians as well as the religions of ancient Egypt, early Greece, the Romans, and the Celts (one of the liveliest sections). This is all in preparation for his main theme, the evolution of Western science and our shift from perceiving nature as sacred and expressing gratitude for its bounty, to a posture of dominance and the habit of exploitation. Marshall's survey is a useful philosophy primer, since he ably condenses the demanding work of such influential thinkers as Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Hegel, and Darwin. He traces the spiraling process that has brought us back to a more respectful and holistic view of nature in the form of environmental ethics and deep ecology, a perspective essential to halting the damage we're doing to our planet "Scarcity and Abundance?" provides a useful point-counterpoint on environmental issues. It contains the proceedings of what can be dubbed an archetypal debate held at Columbia University in October 1992 between Myers, a renowned environmentalist, and Simon, an economist and determined critic of the environmental movement. Each author wrote a pre-debate statement and a post-debate wrap-up. These statements are found here, flanking the complete transcript of the discussion itself, enabling readers to follow each author's reasoning throughout this dynamic process. This open-ended format encourages readers to act as jury members, deciding for themselves which author-debater presents the most persuasive case. Specific topics include population growth, biodiversity, mass extinctions, urban sprawl, pollution, and our relationship to nature "The New York Times Book of Science Literacy" pulls together a set of environmentally focused pieces by 28 "New York Times" contributors. The result is premier coverage of the hard facts and slippery controversies associated with the pollution of earth, water, and air in places as distant and different as Eastern Europe and Patagonia; endangered species as diverse as butterflies and songbirds, rhinos and manatees; and the gap between ecological issues of the First and Third Worlds. In the section Courting Disaster, 19 articles analyze how 19 international sitesrivers, cities, forests, seas, and islandshave been turned into toxic dumps. Another section focuses on the use and abuse of various types of forests, while other selections elucidate economic factors and describe some successful efforts at habitat restoration. An excellent overview of environmental issues Extinctions are paleontologist Ward's forte. In "On Methuselah's Trail: Living Fossils and the Great Extinctions" (1991), he examined species that survived circumstances others succumbed to; in "The End of Evolution", he analyzes the catalysts for what experts characterize as the three events, or three mass extinctions. Most of us are familiar with theories about the second event, the annihilation of the dinosaurs, but Ward's account of the first event contains fresh and challenging information, while his evidence for the commencement of the third event is nothing short of alarming. Ward presents convincing testimony in support of the belief that this great extinction is in full swing even as we read. As Ward describes the obvious depletion of species in the tropics, where life should be at its peak in terms of diversity and density, as well as the worrisome results of fieldwork in other locales, we begin to comprehend the fact that our species can be a force every bit as destructive as a colliding meteor. Ward theorizes that the current mass extinction began 2.5 million years ago at the dawn of the Ice Age when global climate change and the rise of "Homo sapiens" converged. Naturally, blaming ourselves for a mass extinction is bound to be controversial. Ward patiently articulates all sides of the debate but is frank about his preference for believing that our behavior influences life on earth. At least that's something we can change.