The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert is an eye-opening look at the impact humans have had and continue to have on Earth. The 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner for nonfiction, The Sixth Extinction begins by chronicling a history of the world in which five prior mass extinctions have occurred, either by climate change or by catastrophe. Notable scientists she discusses include Georges Cuvier and Charles Darwin. The sixth extinction, occurring in the current day, may turn out to be one of the more devastating to Earth's organisms, and it is the discussion of this that makes up the greater part of this text. Traveling around the globe, Kolbert visited several locations and spoke with dozens of scientists over the course of a few years while compiling the information for this book. Each scientist she spoke to gave evidence for a mass extinction as something already in progress. Exploring everything from worldwide amphibian endangerment to coral reefs to non-human apes, Kolbert builds the case and questions what will become of humans in the end. Meant to be a wake-up call to all homo sapiens, The Sixth Extinction is sobering in nature, yet shows the hard work and dedication of those of us who do work to preserve what is left of the endangered species of all Earthly organisms. A very necessary read for any homo sapien. 319 pp.