The Sixth Extinction

A sobering assessment of the mass extinction event now underway in the Anthropocene, and the systems collapse that is sure to occur as a result of this devastating loss of biodiversity. Ironically, this assessment of the current rate of extinction is likely to already be outdated even though it was published only a few years ago. However, while presenting a solid overall summary, the author does not seem committed to pointing out exactly why this is occurring beyond the already-established mechanism of anthropogenic global warming, and several passages in the book, including 1) the author's raving about the delicacy of kangaroo meat and 2) casually mentioning a pig, an animal at least as intelligent as a dog, being brought to a research station and placed in a tiny cage for the sole purpose of being barbecued, shows that the author herself does not seem to have fully internalized the lessons she would have us learn from 1) the tragic exploitation of the great auk (an example she herself gives earlier in the book), or 2) why humans should cease viewing nonhuman animals as resources that exist simply for our use. One gets the impression that the author views our effect on the planet as simply a result of human nature and not of human systems that we have the ability to consciously change, though as she points out with the prehistoric extinctions of megafauna within generations of humans' arrival in a region, human nature may well be the cause.

A sobering and, to be honest, scary book about the possible (probable?) coming "sixth extinction", following 5 previous catastrophic extinctions, this time by human hands. In each chapter, Kolbert (who actually lives in my state), tells the story of previous "extinctions" or the one that seems imminent. The last chapter, entitled The Thing With Feathers, discusses one of the last `alalā, an Hawaiian crow and how we have a choice to make. She doesn't sound very optimistic and, to be honest, I am even more pessimistic these days than she is, which brought a tear to me eye a few times reading this chapter.

Speaking of tears, I think the saddest chapter was the one called The New Pangea, which describes the sad plight of a local to me animal, Myotis lucifugus, or little brown bat. They are dying by the millions due to "white nose syndrome", an example of an "invasive" carried about by modern technology, finding a host that isn't ready to deal with it. While European bats seemed to have found an equilibrium with the bacteria, it kills the North American bats, although oddly, no one is really sure why it kills them. This chapter also describes other disastrous immigrants, like fungus that killed all the local chestnuts, or the snake in Guam that decimated the bird species and 2 of the three mammal species there.

More stunning was the chapter on the coral reefs. I drove my wife batty (pardon the pun!) by reading all the incredible statistics about reefs she tosses out. And just how terrible the plight of the corals is currently. It seems to be almost too late to do anything any more, a depressing thought. While we have snorkled at the Great Barrier Reef, I would surely love it if my kids and my kids' kids could as well.

An amazing book that is just breathtaking in its breadth and, to be honest, sadness. Glad I read it, but I am getting depressed all over again thinking about it. She ends with this quote:

Obviously, the fate of our own species concerns us disproportionately. But at the risk of sounding anti-human—some of my best friends are humans!—I will say that it is not, in the end, what’s most worth attending to. Right now, in the amazing moment that to us counts as the present, we are deciding, without quite meaning to, which evolutionary pathways will remain open and which will forever be closed. No other creature has ever managed this, and it will, unfortunately, be our most enduring legacy.

This book tells the story of some groups of plants and animals from different locations around the world that have either become extinct or are at risk. It explains how this is caused by humans in several ways, which are acting together to give rates of extinction that are higher than just adding the the individual effects.
I wouldn't have finished this except I was reading for a book club. I found the writing annoying at times. This book could have used a good editor. There are too many sentences (which were all through the book) with asides in parentheses, too many irrelevant "facts" such as the closing time of the cafeteria at the museum that the author is visiting.
There are also annoyances such as temperatures in degrees. Which kind? Celsius? Probably not, the author is American.
On the other hand, there are some interesting stories that show how some kinds of researchers do their work, and many of the facts about the species we are losing, and the probably causes, are accompanied with some ecology theory so that the reader can better understand the reasons.
I expected the ending to sum things up and have some kind of call to action, but it seemed to just end with a shrug. "Maybe humans will survive, maybe we won't and it's a pity we will leave such and awful legacy".

The Sixth Extinction is a collection of short studies of a particular species or ecosystem, and what is happening to it now. The net effect is a whole that is larger than the sum of its parts. Set against the backdrop of the first few chapters, which describe the causes and results of history's first 5 major extinction events (one of which killed off the dinosaurs), the author convincingly makes the case, based on well-researched data, that we are now experiencing the 6th major extinction event, the cause is us, and it began back when modern humans first evolved and began hunting the now-extinct Ice Age megafauna. But this isn't a dry, scientific study -- it's aimed at a layperson audience and is written as anecdotes about the author's travels to visit each species or ecosystem about which she writes. There are interesting characters and stories at each stop. Highly recommended for anyone, not just science enthusiasts.