From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry…

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Elizabeth Kolbert

Start date: September 1, 2014

Finish date: September 30, 2014

Discussion: Book Club 2014

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 24 topics — 696 comments total

Book Club 2014

March 2014 - Epigenetics Revolution
By Betsy , co-mod · 13 posts · 147 views

last updated Nov 06, 2019 03:45AM

September 2014 - Sixth Extinction
By Betsy , co-mod · 62 posts · 168 views

last updated Jan 06, 2016 01:48AM

showing 10 of 10 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jul 31, 2014 aPriL does feral sometimes rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, science, non-fiction

'The Sixth Extinction' by Elizabeth Kolbert is written in the tone of an engaging magazine article for the general reader. It tells the stories about several geological locations that are important to the history of evolution and extinction.

The author personally visits and describes sites around the world - islands, forests, oceans, caves, museums - some of which take a lot of effort and discomfort to reach. Each site is where an 'eureka!' moment occurred for a scientist. These particular disco ...more

33 likes · Like · see review

Jan 26, 2015 Charlene rated it liked it

Shelves: evolution, general-science, ecology, biology

Extremely important book. I felt like the author could have grabbed my attention more than she did. I also think there were important points that could have been made that were not.Perhaps a challenge for another author with similar interests? There were some great sections, namely her discussions of the carbon levels in the sea and air, Neanderthals, and human's role in the extinction of other species (especially large species). I wanted a little something more from her discussions of Cuvier (i ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Feb 15, 2014 Jimmy rated it really liked it

Shelves: environment

Only a decade ago, golden frogs were everywhere in Panama. Now they are going extinct along with all other amphibians. They are the canaries in the coal mine because they live on land and water. They are the most endangered class of animal. Surviving golden frogs are captured and put in a "frog hotel."

Extinction emerged as a scientific concept thanks to the efforts of one man: Nicolas-Frederick (Georges) Cuvier. Cuvier started with the mastodon and then worked his way up to four species. He kne Only a decade ago, golden frogs were everywhere in Panama. Now they are going extinct along with all other amphibians. They are the canaries in the coal mine because they live on land and water. They are the most endangered class of animal. Surviving golden frogs are captured and put in a "frog hotel."

Extinction emerged as a scientific concept thanks to the efforts of one man: Nicolas-Frederick (Georges) Cuvier. Cuvier started with the mastodon and then worked his way up to four species. He knew there must be others. By 1800, he had 23 extinct species. By 1812: 49.

Chapter 3 deals with "human caused extinctions" like the great auk and Charles Island tortoises. Darwin, to his credit, saw no distinction between humans and other species. If only humans today could realize that. The destruction of other species means the eventual destruction of our species.

In the late 1970s, a geologist named Walter Alvarez discovered the first traces of a giant asteroid at the end of the Cretaceous Period. His father Luis Alvarez noticed the element iridium, very rare on earth at a certain point there. There were huge amounts at the end of the Cretaceous. Their ideas were reviled by many paleontologists. A crater was eventually found of Yucatan: the Chicxulub Crater. This book could just as easily been written by a scaly biped rather than a hairy one if a different event occurred.

When students are shown a deck of cards with oddities like a red six of spades, they get confused when the cards go by rapidly. They may call the red six of spades a six of hearts. Thomas Kuhn, the most influential historian of science, found that story fascinating. A "paradigm shift" will occur when someone finally calls that card a red six of spades. Then scientists work in a different world after the shift.

The Dutch chemist Paul Crutzen coined the word "Anthropocene" to describe this time because humans are affecting the world to such an advanced degree, in fact enough to destroy it. We have transformed almost half the land surface. Most of the world's rivers have been dammed or diverted. Fertilizer factories produce more nitrogen than all terrestrial ecosystems. Fisheries remove more than one third of all life produced by the ocean coasts. Humans use more than half of the earth's fresh water. And, of course, climate change.

Carbon dioxide in the air is now over 400 parts per million. Higher than the last 800,000 years. Probably higher than the last several million years. We also add carbon to the oceans. Its pH is dropping. It is far more acidic now and will continue to grow because of human activity. This is not in doubt, no matter what fools say. By 2100, we will have a pH 7.8. Ecosystems will crash. The prestigious journal Oceanography predicted the Anthropocene to be one of the most "cataclysmic events in the history of our planet."

Our coral reefs are dying now. Causes: acidification, overfishing, agricultural runoff, deforestration, dynamite fishing, and more than all, climate change.

It's quite possible that by the end of this century, CO2 levels could reach a level not seen since the Eocene, some 50 million years ago.

If we assume, very conservatively, that there are two million species in the tropical rainforests, this means that something like 5,000 species are being lost every year. Fourteen every day, one every 100 minutes.

Islands can be on land too. So life at the top of a mountain is like on an island. As the snow caps disappear, the life forms don't have a way out. A great book about this that I have read is David Quammen's The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction.

By moving species around the world, we have created what is known now as the New Pangea. In effect, the world is now one supercontinent. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 06, 2017 Vineet rated it liked it

The central theme and argument of this book is that we are in the middle of an extinction and may soon be forcing mass extinction. The author debuts this extinction as the ‘sixth extinction’ and contends that this is due to change in our environment and is primarily caused by humans.
The author briefly discusses the causes and affects of the last mass extinctions and provides various kinds of evidence of extinct species in order to convince readers of the future extinction.
Although I am convince ...more

Like · see review

Sep 08, 2015 Eric Bingham rated it really liked it

This was a very interesting, very readable, and very eye-opening look into the mass extinction that is happening right now (aka the sixth extinction). This book looks at some specific organisms that are near extinction, while also making note of the numerous organisms that have already gone extinct due to human activity. It's a far bigger number than you might think! ...more

Like · see review