The Sixth Extinction: A Scary, Revelatory Read

In the history of the world (as far as we know) there have been five major extinctions, with smaller extinctions peppered throughout. Elizabeth Kolbert’s new book, The Sixth Extinction, explores not only evidence of these past die outs, but telltale signs of a future extinction— one spurred by humans.

In Dideon-esque prose, Kolbert makes her compelling argument using a series of anecdotes illustrating a major thesis: that humans are destroying ecosystems and species around the planet leading to large scale extinction that is only getting worse. She not only explains how we’re causing this catastrophic change and why it matters, but gives an eloquent look into a future where species are forced to cull, if not go entirely extinct.

Starting with Georges Cuvier and moving through Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin, Kolbert gives her readers a solid foundation for understanding extinctions past, present, and future. She further reinforces that “future” part with eerie anecdotes. Early on she describes the extinction of the Great Auk, a penguinish bird that stood just over two feet and was prized for its meat, feathers, and oil. The last two Great Auks were documented to have been living on a little island called Eldey near Iceland, nursing an egg not yet hatched. Kolbert’s telling of the ensuing slaughter reads like an episode of The Twilight Zone: “On catching sight of the humans, the birds tried to run but were too slow. Within minutes the Icelanders had captured the birds and strangled them. The egg, they saw, had been cracked, presumably in the course of the chase, so they left it behind.” Left behind was one species’ last attempt at existence, a chilling scene that may increasingly be commonplace if Kolbert’s book is any indication.

But overkilling is far from the only factor in this potential sixth extinction. Climate change, ocean acidification, deforestation, and the transport of species from one area of the world to another are all included in Kolbert’s list. All of these actions culminate in this conclusion: the world is changing faster than species can evolve or adapt, and that is leading to their fall-off. It’s a scary prospect that Kolbert delivers without being alarmist, in a highly readable account. If you’re interested in apocalyptic scenarios (or, you know, care about what happens to the planet in the next fifty years) this should definitely be the next book on your list.