WINNER OF THE 2015 PULITZER PRIZE FOR GENERAL NON-FICTION A major book about the future of the world, blending natural history, field reporting and the history of ideas and into a powerful account of the mass extinction happening today
Elizabeth Kolbert was a New York Times reporter for fourteen years until she became a staff writer at the New Yorker in 1999. She is the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: A Frontline Report on Climate Change. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and children. @ElizKolbert
A distinctive and eloquent voice of conscience ... In her timely,
meticulously researched and well-written book, Kolbert combines
scientific analysis and personal narratives to explain it to us.
The result is a clear and comprehensive history of earth’s previous
mass extinctions ... “People change the world,” Kolbert writes, and
vividly presents the science and history of the current crisis. Her
extensive travels in researching this book, and her insightful
treatment of both the history and the science all combine to make
The Sixth Extinction an invaluable contribution to our
understanding of present circumstances, just as the paradigm shift
she calls for is sorely needed
*Al Gore, New York Times*
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 A More Perfect
Heaven*
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*
Well-composed snapshots of history, theory and observation that
will fascinate, enlighten and appal many readers
*Guardian*
Compelling ... It is a disquieting tale, related with rigour and
restraint by Kolbert
*Observer*
Passionate ... This is the big story of our age. We are living
through the historically rare elimination of vast numbers of
species. And for the first time, it is our fault ... Uplifting
prose about the wonders of nature. But the overwhelming message of
this book is as clear as that of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in
1962. We humans have become a geological force in our own right –
and, unless we act, the consequences will be devastating
*Sunday Times*
It is oddly pleasurable to read Elizabeth’s Kolbert’s new book,
which offers a ramble through mass extinctions, present and past
... A wonderful chapter covers the North Atlantic’s once-abundant,
flightless great auks ... Wisely, Ms Kolbert refuses to end on an
optimistic note
*Economist*
While plants and animals can evolve to cope with a hotter world,
that will take far too long for humans ... That is ultimately what
makes this engaging study scary
*Scotland on Sunday*
The scariest paperback of the year
*Guardian*
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