A review by tashadandelion
The Once and Future World: Finding Wilderness in the Nature We've Made by J.B. MacKinnon

4.0

This book was recommended by Linda Nagata, a science fiction writer whose opinion I respect highly, so I picked it up and finally gave it a whirl. I must admit: I was hoping for more "future" in the author's discussion of our natural world. While the writing itself is beautiful and chock-full of fascinating facts (I had never come upon the concept of ecological amnesia before, but it makes total sense; I never knew that Polynesian swimmers knew to punch a shark on the snout to make it go away; I had no idea tortoises expressed joy), the text is largely an elegiac litany of lost species of animals. It's almost too sad to go on reading. But I did read it to the end, because the very least I owe this planet is my acknowledgement of humanity's role in this sixth extinction event we're all experiencing in slow motion. There is some discussion of rewilding, the attempt to re-introduce endangered species to their native habitat and bring that habitat back to some pre-human equilibrium now lost. It seems to me that humanity's voracious need (want?) of natural resources will always be at odds with most other animals' habitats and the ecology as a whole, until some environmental singularity decides the 12th round for us all. Not a comforting thought, but a rational one. For anyone looking for environmentalist non-fiction, this should be on your shelf.