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The Human Age: The World Shaped By Us
by
Award-winning nature writer Diane Ackerman confronts the fact that the human race is now the single dominant force of change on the planet. Humans have "subdued 75 per cent of the land surface, concocted a wizardry of industrial and medical marvels, strung lights all across the darkness." We now collect the DNA of vanishing species in a "frozen ark," equip orangutans with
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Hardcover, 344 pages
Published
September 10th 2014
by W. W. Norton Company
(first published September 9th 2014)
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Narrated by Barbara Caruso who also narrated Sue Hubbell's books Broadsides from the Other Orders: A Book of Bugs & Waiting for Aphrodite: Journeys into the Time Before Bones. This book is very much in the same vein, often almost poetic yet filled with facts & interesting tidbits.
The Good:
I really liked how she frames our current age in the eyes of a researcher from the future studying what is left behind after a geologic age or two. What fossils will we leave? What strange chemicals & materials ...more
The Good:
I really liked how she frames our current age in the eyes of a researcher from the future studying what is left behind after a geologic age or two. What fossils will we leave? What strange chemicals & materials ...more
Ehhh... more like 2.5 stars. The writing was bad - journalistic at times, downright cringe-worthy at others (something about a father's voice "so husky it could haul a sled" eeuuurrrgggh). The tone was reverential, upbeat and hopeful in the face of discussions of mass extinctions and the price the planet will pay for our time on earth. And some of the details were just... made up. Like she read human features in the faces of sheep that had human cells in their organs. I would bet a lot of money
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Five stars because it deserves 4.5... and everyone should read it, and almost everyone will enjoy and/or learn something from it. For those people who are still heedless of their impact on Mother Nature, some of the interlinked essays will, I hope, serve as prod. For those people who despair, many of the essays give hope that our inventiveness will enable us to live better within our biosphere.
Yes, as others have mentioned, Ackerman covers a lot of ground. It's a survey - there's a list of books ...more
Yes, as others have mentioned, Ackerman covers a lot of ground. It's a survey - there's a list of books ...more
Welcome to the Anthropocene Era
Apes playing with iPads, Japanese tourists visiting industrial sites, the great black marble that is the earth ringed with lights at night: all these are manifestations of the Anthropocene Era, the era in which man is the dominant force shaping the world.
The book is a series of stories each in a separate chapter ranging from nature to technology to the human body. I found each chapter well written, almost poetic. Whether you agree with her position that the way ma ...more
Apes playing with iPads, Japanese tourists visiting industrial sites, the great black marble that is the earth ringed with lights at night: all these are manifestations of the Anthropocene Era, the era in which man is the dominant force shaping the world.
The book is a series of stories each in a separate chapter ranging from nature to technology to the human body. I found each chapter well written, almost poetic. Whether you agree with her position that the way ma ...more
I got a proof copy of this from Bookbridgr, so I'm not sure how many of the issues are going to be dealt with before the completed book is rolled out. There were still a lot of errors at this stage -- a bit where some words were struck out, problems with punctuation, etc. I think the purple prose will be there to stay, though; the writing isn't terrible, but it's rather overloaded, and I'm not keen on Ackerman's flights of imagination. It's one thing to imagine the trace we're leaving on the ear
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I think the author tried to cram too many subjects into the book. With a title like that, admittedly it's a lot of ground to cover. I thought it would be mainly about how we have altered the physical landscape and ecosystems of the Earth, but it also went into how the latest technologies have reshaped our definition of being human beings ala cybernetics and robotics and 3D printed organs and body parts. Chapters on invasive species, climate change and mass extinction were expected, but there wer
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It seems like I should have really liked this book, but I ended up not quite finishing it. It covers some very interesting topics about how human beings have shaped, and continue to shape, the world we live in, and it is very optimistic about how we can use our cleverness to solve the problems that our own cleverness has caused. Ackerman covers some very cool projects and technologies.
But I think that was one of my problems with the book: it covers SO much, and necessarily just at the surface l ...more
But I think that was one of my problems with the book: it covers SO much, and necessarily just at the surface l ...more
Using her wonderfully poetic language, Ackerman takes a long look at the impact we have on our earth. Calling this epoch of geological history Anthropocene, or the Human Age, she presents world-wide examples of how we are trying to mitigate the effects of humans on all aspects of our planet. She examines, among other things, changes in animal habitats and migrations, the warming of our climate, the changing oceans and the constant battle to supplant fossil fuels with other energy resources. Some
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Wonderful look at all the things that make us what we are, and the effect we have on the planet. A series of essays that are lyrically and beautifully written, making us think, alternately depressing and inspiring.
Jul 16, 2014
Niknik
rated it
really liked it
Recommended to Niknik by:
Won thru Goodreads Giveaway
Shelves:
non-fiction,
first-read-giveaway-wins
»I received this book for free in a Goodreads First Read Giveaway«
At first, I wasn't aware that this was going to be a non-fiction read or that Diane Ackerman is usually a science writer (I was only aware of her fictional book, "The Zookeeper's Wife"). However, this book turned out to be absolutely fascinating!
The book covers the ability we, Homo Sapiens, have to vastly change our world through technology and exponentially advancing know-how. While it addresses the obvious negative effects we ha ...more
At first, I wasn't aware that this was going to be a non-fiction read or that Diane Ackerman is usually a science writer (I was only aware of her fictional book, "The Zookeeper's Wife"). However, this book turned out to be absolutely fascinating!
The book covers the ability we, Homo Sapiens, have to vastly change our world through technology and exponentially advancing know-how. While it addresses the obvious negative effects we ha ...more
This book really is amazing. I've read many of her books and learned a lot from each one. Here she points out how humans have shaped the entire planet beginning with planting crops and domesticating animals instead of merely hunting and gathering. The Industrial Revolution had a huge impact which continues to this day. Good and bad are profiled---not only climate change as the results of the petroleum industries but the amazing innovations humans are developing, like saving seeds and animal DNA,
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It's hard to believe it's been 25 years since I read A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman. In her latest work The Human Age she talks about how much we have changed and shaped the world in just a short period of time. The change has indeed been vast and continues to accelerate. But one thing that hasn't changed is how wonderful Ackerman writes. I simply can not think of another author who waxes so poetic while writing about science. With each page I'm enthralled by both the beauty a
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I'm not sure it's fair to say i 'read' this book. I certainly skimmed it. Well, as much as i could while rolling my eyes constantly at the malicious abuse of the english language. I'd never seen purple prose in non-fiction before (well, excluding biographies), so i guess i can tick that off the Bucket List.
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Fascinating account of what it means to live in the anthropocene and our changing relationship with nature. Thoroughly researched and informed by the latest scientific and medical literature, it I also beautifully (even poetically) written. At a point where we are in danger of giving in to despair because of climate change and our horrendous burden on the planet's ecosystem, it offers plenty of food for thought and some degree of hope. Human ingenuity will be our salvation.
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A perfect tonic to books like The Sixth Extinction, this is an intriguing and inspiring look at how some of the world’s brightest minds are working to mitigate the negative impacts we have had on the environment and improve human life through technology. Part 1 is the weakest – most of us are already all too aware of how we’ve trashed nature – but the book gets stronger as it goes on. My favorite chapters were the last five, about 3D printing, bionic body parts and human–animal hybrids created f
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A lovely and lyrical, if not at times overwrought and overly-romanticized, look at humanity and the roles we play in the world around us, and just how deeply it can affect us in return. A highly literary book of science essays, strange as it may seem, especially to uninitiated.
It hurts to admit it, but Ackerman's poetic waxing gets tiresome at points throughout the book, which could have benefited from some more scientific references, facts and/or figures. Half of what she writes sounds like exa ...more
It hurts to admit it, but Ackerman's poetic waxing gets tiresome at points throughout the book, which could have benefited from some more scientific references, facts and/or figures. Half of what she writes sounds like exa ...more
It's kind of a Readers' Digest collection of everything humans do to tinker with the earth. I haven't read the last couple chapters because I just don't want to be finished with it. Here's a few paragraphs I liked: "A warmer world won't be terrible for everyone, and it's bound to inspire new technologies and good surprises, not just tragedy." "Tuvalu, a country in the South Pacific has begun evacuating it's people to New Zealand and the president of Kiribati an island nation of 32 atolls sprinkl
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Informative and beautifully written, Diane Ackerman's newest work The Human Age describes many of the dumb things we as humans have done to harm our planet. But even better, it spends much more time expounding on really awesome things we as humans have done to stop or reverse that harm. The old adage "You get more flies with honey than vinegar" comes to mind as I reflect on the way Ackerman artfully approached this topic. Her descriptions of many recent innovations humans have made to help Mothe
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One of the most enjoyable non-fiction books I have read this year. Ackerman combines her broad thoughts on how humans have adapted to and changed the environment with vivid poetic prose. Ackerman is immensely talented at describing scientific knowledge in an engaging and easy to comprehend fashion. Ackerman outlines in this book that humans mastered nature in the Industrial Age and now in the Anthropocene era we must be dedicated to solving the problems we brought on from industrialization - enc
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Maybe we don’t need another book telling us how we as a species are having untold effects on the planet. Climate change, animal extinction, oceanic pollution, energy issues - we face severe challenges but Ackerman is an optimist (and a poet besides). She explores innovative solutions that showcase our resourcefulness as a species and is cautiously optimistic about our ability to solve some of the very problems we’ve created. Like other books of it’s ilk, she can only offer fleeting glimpses of o
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I found this book fascinating, both for Ackerman's take on what has come to be called the Anthropocene and for the many examples she gives of people making strides to mitigate our abuse of the planet. In some ways I would have liked fewer examples and more exploration of them, but as an overview of our impact on our earthship it is thought provoking. And as a nudge for all of us to consider how we can be part of the solution to our environmental ills, it is an important book.
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I had to return this book before I finished reading it, but I probably would have abandoned it anyway. Her observations on our modern world are hardly insightful. She mostly just states what to most of us who pay attention would deem to be obvious. Pretty dull stuff.
Oct 14, 2014
David Melbie
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
Earth
Recommended to David by:
Library pick
This book is wonderful and I loved it! Humanity happens!
Reads like a collection of essays rather than a sustained narrative but interesting and lively with some intriguing ideas of how to fix the world's current predicament.
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Full of perspective. This is my first Ackerman book, and I'm addicted. She is remarkable. She has the ability to talk about big issues in an approachable, almost lighthearted way.
The Human Age takes a step back and takes a look at the Anthropocene age (a term some experts use, notably Paul Crutzen to refer to the current geological age) and the ascent of human file over the planet. Ackerman examines our humble origins and the thresholds of discovery we have yet to cross. She is honest about our ...more
The Human Age takes a step back and takes a look at the Anthropocene age (a term some experts use, notably Paul Crutzen to refer to the current geological age) and the ascent of human file over the planet. Ackerman examines our humble origins and the thresholds of discovery we have yet to cross. She is honest about our ...more
Q:
We not only bespangle the night, we broadloom the day. (c)
We not only bespangle the night, we broadloom the day. (c)
Even though this felt like a collection of linked essays, there was a nice balance between apocalyptic dread at the damage humans have caused the planet during our brief existence and palpable hope at the efforts of many said humans to undo said damage. Of course, Ms. Ackerman’s writing is beautiful and her curiosity infectious. From vertical gardens to emotional robots, there’s enough awe here to interest just about anyone. Also, her recommended reading list at the end of the book is outstandin
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Quite an extraordinary book. The writing is poetic and the ideas provocative. The book really pushes you to ask new kinds of questions about our role on the planet, the not-so-thin line separating nature and not nature. Plus there are so many fascinating projects profiled in the book. I relished every page.
Most of what I have read here, I have read elsewhere. If this were my first book on the topic, I would have given it four stars.
I wish I could give half stars. Three feels a bit too harsh, four feels a bit too generous. Diane Ackerman is an excellent writer. The problem here is perhaps the book is almost more concerned with being a colorfully written than dealing with the content at hand. And there is surely some good content, if a bit unorganized. Most of the chapters here skirt the edge of current science so as to more appropriately be titled "Science Now" (admittedly that's not a terribly creative title). It doesn't d
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Diane Ackerman has been the finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction in addition to many other awards and recognitions for her work, which include the bestsellers The Zookeeper’s Wife and A Natural History of the Senses.
The Zookeeper’s Wife, a little known true story of WWII, became a New York Times bestseller, and received the Orion Book Award, which honored it as, "a groundbreaking work o ...more
The Zookeeper’s Wife, a little known true story of WWII, became a New York Times bestseller, and received the Orion Book Award, which honored it as, "a groundbreaking work o ...more
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