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4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
This book goes backward in time exploring different regions of the world at key points in history, illustrating how life and the environment have impacted each other and evolved together. It offers fascinating looks into ancient worlds and really underscores how basic parts of our modern world that I never thought to question are the results of millennia of changes. For example, grass didn’t exist when dinosaurs lived and evolved as part of a series of plant mutations millions of years ago that in turn led to a rise in grazing animals - so basic but so wild to imagine a world without grass. We truly have an amazing planet that we are all linked to, for better and for worse.
Great book but it helps to have a bit of a sciency background or interest. I would also have liked to have a few more pictures because it was sometimes hard for me to really picture the creatures the author described in my mind (I googled some of them while reading, but some more drawings would have been nice). Also, even though there is a farn on the book cover, this book is more about the animal than the plant or fungi kingdom. Actually, the parts about plants and fungi are very short, I would have liked to more about these organisms, but this is my personal liking :)
Permanence, an act of sacrifice
This book offers a fantastic journey back in time through extinct ecosystems, is written by a knowledgeable scientist, and still manages to address contemporary pressing issues like man-made climate change and the artificiality of anti-migration policies.
The book is a bit overwhelming at times and is perhaps best re-read over time for consolidation. I also hope they will make a documentary recreating these extinct ecosystems presented here. There's so much I learned, and so much I couldn't retain but would love to revisit (hence the reason I bought the book after I read it from the library). The book is a great example of how looking at the past can help us predict the future; how science that doesn't appear to have a direct application, may be the key to our survival. It is by looking at the past that paleobiologists, ecologists and climate scientists can address the uncertainty about the near- and long-term future of our planet, casting backwards to predict possible futures.
The book makes it clear that while massive scale extinctions are not new, a recovering ecosystem is not 'more of the same'. Life recovers and extinction is followed by diversification. That is, in its way, a comfort, but it is not the whole story. Recovery brings radical change, and often startlingly different worlds, into being, while also taking, at a minimum, tens of thousands of years. Recovery cannot replace what has been lost.
The epilogue is extremely well written and recognizes multiple problems thoughtfully, and with nuance. For example, it is absurd to hope we can return our planet to a pre-human state, and even attempting to do so will likely cause a lot of damage to those who contributed the least to global-warming . Nonetheless: In the face of environmental change, it is complacency that is deadly. The 'business as usual' approach, in which no changes are made to rates of ecosystem destruction or greenhouse gas emission, will generate climates no hominid has ever faced before. However, people who speak of unavoidable doom are equally unhelpful. In conservation, success and failure is not a binary choice.
I recently wrote a rant review against "Bewilderment" by Richard Powers, and I have to say here: read this book, not that. Read real scientists who present a plausible, frightening, but not catastrophized future. Listen to the nuances. When newspapers report that we have five years, or ten years, to stop climate change, these are not all-or-nothing deadlines. Making changes on time does not mean that everything will be as it was, and failing to do so does not mean annihilation. (...) The sooner and more strongly we act, the less comprehensive the damage will be. Whether we choose to act collectively (...) is up to us.
The book ends with some very inspiring words:
Change, eventually, is inevitable, but we can let the planet take its own time, as we allow the shifting sands of geological time to lead us gently into the worlds of tomorrow. Sacrifice, an act of permanence. Then, we too will live in hope.
This book offers a fantastic journey back in time through extinct ecosystems, is written by a knowledgeable scientist, and still manages to address contemporary pressing issues like man-made climate change and the artificiality of anti-migration policies.
The book is a bit overwhelming at times and is perhaps best re-read over time for consolidation. I also hope they will make a documentary recreating these extinct ecosystems presented here. There's so much I learned, and so much I couldn't retain but would love to revisit (hence the reason I bought the book after I read it from the library). The book is a great example of how looking at the past can help us predict the future; how science that doesn't appear to have a direct application, may be the key to our survival. It is by looking at the past that paleobiologists, ecologists and climate scientists can address the uncertainty about the near- and long-term future of our planet, casting backwards to predict possible futures.
The book makes it clear that while massive scale extinctions are not new, a recovering ecosystem is not 'more of the same'. Life recovers and extinction is followed by diversification. That is, in its way, a comfort, but it is not the whole story. Recovery brings radical change, and often startlingly different worlds, into being, while also taking, at a minimum, tens of thousands of years. Recovery cannot replace what has been lost.
The epilogue is extremely well written and recognizes multiple problems thoughtfully, and with nuance. For example, it is absurd to hope we can return our planet to a pre-human state, and even attempting to do so will likely cause a lot of damage to those who contributed the least to global-warming . Nonetheless: In the face of environmental change, it is complacency that is deadly. The 'business as usual' approach, in which no changes are made to rates of ecosystem destruction or greenhouse gas emission, will generate climates no hominid has ever faced before. However, people who speak of unavoidable doom are equally unhelpful. In conservation, success and failure is not a binary choice.
I recently wrote a rant review against "Bewilderment" by Richard Powers, and I have to say here: read this book, not that. Read real scientists who present a plausible, frightening, but not catastrophized future. Listen to the nuances. When newspapers report that we have five years, or ten years, to stop climate change, these are not all-or-nothing deadlines. Making changes on time does not mean that everything will be as it was, and failing to do so does not mean annihilation. (...) The sooner and more strongly we act, the less comprehensive the damage will be. Whether we choose to act collectively (...) is up to us.
The book ends with some very inspiring words:
Change, eventually, is inevitable, but we can let the planet take its own time, as we allow the shifting sands of geological time to lead us gently into the worlds of tomorrow. Sacrifice, an act of permanence. Then, we too will live in hope.
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
This book is very well written but I just had difficulty maintaining attention for when the text is almost entirely descriptive.
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Halliday’s prose is beautiful and the scientific backing is clear from his well-cited novel. Occasionally, the imagery left something to be desired and the pace could be slow. Nevertheless, Otherlands is an essential read that takes the reader through time in a way that is not just linear temporally, but also thematically. It’s a genius way to structure the book, and it’s powerfully ended with a nuanced yet forceful case for us to make the changes that are needed to preserve what remains of our ecosystem.
Took quite some time to get into this book, but then I was hooked. With such rich descriptions of times gone by, supported by references to the present, this book was engaging and interesting to read. The writing style was a good mix of scientific and human friendly, and I appreciated the accompanying images and quotes to begin each chapter.
challenging
informative
slow-paced