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subdue_provide75's review
The "biological" laws were more about ecology, and not that enlightening, at least to me? How and where animals will migrate as a result of climate change is interesting, but I was hoping for something bigger?
cayleighgb's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
Really great reflection, author is very engaging while remaining informative.
refvemma's review
4.0
This book was extremely interesting!!! I saw Dunn speak at a local event, since he’s a professor at NC State. The way he talks about ecology is so interesting to me, I think because I learned ecology from relatively dry textbooks and from teaching APES. This book described principles we know from the past and applied them to the future in a way that feels unique and refreshing. The idea that we need to sort of get biology on our side when thinking about the future is a cool way to approach modern ecology. If I were still teaching APES I think I’d use this book!!
vladco's review
4.0
Learned a lot from this. Pairs well with: I Contain Multitudes, The Uninhabitable Earth, Braiding Sweetgrass, Appleseed, the Sixth Extinction, etc. Basically, isn’t redundant with lots of other climate nonfiction or fiction, which I appreciated, as the marginal utility of additional reading in this genre does go down over time.
socraticgadfly's review
4.0
A nice, lighthearted romp through the possible future of homo sapiens, as well as the rest of life on Planet Earth, primarily in the light of climate change, and with a nice riff on the whole idea of "a natural history of ..." books.
Dunn notes that evolution in less-than-stable ecological niches favored brained animals. He cites corvids vs migratory shorebirds as one example, then looks at humans.
He also notes that, contra Linnaeus the Swede, that zoological and botanical diversity is greatest in the tropics, namely rain forest like climates, especially at the edges of the tropics.
He applies this pair of observations to climate change and ... the natural history of the future.
For humans, he notes an academic friend of his has predictions of what US cities will be like in 60 years with either moderate 4.5F warming or high 8.5 F. It's fun to check, but also of limited value, as rainfall patterns in different parts of the US and world and their changes with climate change are less certain. For instance, will Dallas be more like San Antonio or more like Corpus Christi in the future. It's still uncertain where the dividing line between wetter and drier futures will be in the US.
One good part of this book is that, contra the likes of Bill McKibben, he notes that climate change, to the degree it affects humans and some of their domesticates, won't wreck nature in general. The cockroaches, stereotypically radiation-resistant in Opus, will still be here. So will the army ants, termites, etc.
That said, this is an overview type book; there's not a lot of depth.
Dunn notes that evolution in less-than-stable ecological niches favored brained animals. He cites corvids vs migratory shorebirds as one example, then looks at humans.
He also notes that, contra Linnaeus the Swede, that zoological and botanical diversity is greatest in the tropics, namely rain forest like climates, especially at the edges of the tropics.
He applies this pair of observations to climate change and ... the natural history of the future.
For humans, he notes an academic friend of his has predictions of what US cities will be like in 60 years with either moderate 4.5F warming or high 8.5 F. It's fun to check, but also of limited value, as rainfall patterns in different parts of the US and world and their changes with climate change are less certain. For instance, will Dallas be more like San Antonio or more like Corpus Christi in the future. It's still uncertain where the dividing line between wetter and drier futures will be in the US.
One good part of this book is that, contra the likes of Bill McKibben, he notes that climate change, to the degree it affects humans and some of their domesticates, won't wreck nature in general. The cockroaches, stereotypically radiation-resistant in Opus, will still be here. So will the army ants, termites, etc.
That said, this is an overview type book; there's not a lot of depth.