Customer Reviews

Extinction

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While I think that paleobiologist Michael Boulter is certainly correct in his assertion that we are going to go extinct, as all creatures eventually do, I don't think we will go the way of the mammoth or the giant sloth or the Neanderthal. Our exit may very well be totally unique. We may go the way of the dinosaur, of course, our world obliterated by a cosmic catastrophe, or we may blow ourselves up, and then watch the survivors die out in the ruins. But more likely we will pass away quietly as our culture transforms us from what we are now to creatures that are partly the result of genetic engineering and partly the result of mechanical ingenuity, until one day we may notice that we are so different from the humans of the past as to be an entirely different species.

But Boulter is not concerned here with cultural evolution. He is looking at the biological evolution of life on earth primarily through the fossil record and in particular through Fossil Record 2, a huge database that he has studied extensively. His theme, despite the book's title, is the diversity of life, the radiation of living groups, etc., and how an understanding of that diversity through an analysis of the fossil record can shed light on the evolutionary process. He analyzes the growth of life's diversity after the major catastrophic events in the earth's history and plots curves and comes to the conclusion that biodiversity is an example of exponential growth, and that the phenomenon of evolution is another example of a self-organized system (such as sand piles and the weather) driven by "power laws and pink noise." (p. 125)

Some of the interesting conclusions that Boulter comes to along the way to forecasting our extinction is that we probably did do in the Neanderthal. (He lists "selfishness" as one of our distinctive traits that the Neanderthal apparently didn't have enough of.) And yes, we wiped out the major fauna of North America within a thousand years or so of our arrival from across the Bering Strait. In fact, we are now living through a period of mass-extinctions, in particular of large mammals, and we are a major factor in those extinctions.

My problem with this book is that it is sometimes hard to follow Boulter's argument since he is not as direct as he might be. Then again it may be that I need to read more carefully! At any rate, the fact that biodiversity follows an exponential curve until it hits a catastrophic event is certainly one of his points. And that evolution is an example of a self-organizing system like that of a sand pile, and behaves in similar ways with large changes occurring less often than small changes, etc., is another. Do "groups of animal and plant Families follow clear rules in their origin, expansion, peak diversification and eventual extinction?" is a question he asks. (p. 124) His answer is yes, and the pattern can be traced. He adds that "extinctions are an essential stimulus to the evolutionary process." (p. 183)

The "new idea" (as he terms it, p. 182) that mass-extinctions come from "within" as a feature of self-organization does not seem convincing to me, although it is certainly intriguing and worthy of further study. He writes: "So modern man is kicking the sand pile and causing a severe avalanche that only started to crash down at the end of the last ice age...the fundamental cause continues: human aggression. The first phase was our killing other mammal species...then through human history our killing of one another."

But is it only a temporary irony that today there are more humans on this planet than ever before?

Aggressive we are. And we kill each other with an amazing abandonment, but have such actions led us toward extinction? The evidence is all to the contrary mainly because our reproductive abilities and our ability to exploit planetary resources outweigh our murderous tendencies. And besides the cause of at least some of the great mass extinctions of the past (huge meteorites) clearly came from without.

Boulter sees small animals inheriting the earth after we are gone. He notes (p. 193) that "insects and birds are still at the early stage of high diversification." What this means is that a group of animals that is continuing to diversify (continuing to grow in the number of species) will be safe from extinction until the diversification slows. This is a nice scientific understanding, but what it says to me is that a successful body and behavioral style (e.g., a Family or order or some other classification of organisms) is less likely to go extinct than a less successful one. One might say, QED.

He speculates (his terminology, page 176) that "our system is in free fall, out of control." We won't need "nuclear weapons," he posits, "or the inventions of science fiction writers." We are "doing very well...just with our use of fossil fuels." Exactly what he has in mind here is not entirely clear. Does he mean that we will pollute ourselves to death?

Elsewhere he writes about global warming, caused in part by our burning of fossil fuels, but advises that fluctuations in temperature are common, and that for much of the history of life on this planet it was hotter than it is now, and that, in fact, for 250 million years from before the P-Tr mass-extinctions until the Miocene there was no frost on earth. (p. 113) Furthermore, "between AD 900 and 1300 cattle were farmed in Greenland and the French tried to embargo English wine." (p. 122)

In short, this is not a text for the causal reader. It is dense, and in places, technical. But what Boulter has to say is worth the effort.

Contrarily to the publisher's description, this book is not an alarmist and chilling vision of the end of the human race (also, the p. has it wrong: the extinction event that took place 65 millions years ago is perfectly explained - the meteor; it's the one that dates back to 245 millions years ago whose cause is unclear.)

In this book, Boulter touches upon the increasing complexity of the world (a big object hitting the earth started it all, by crooking the planet's axe... and therefore giving us seasons). He also explain the patterns of evolution and extinction one can deduce from the study of fossils (and help our understanding by, among other things, explaining with lifelike descriptions how one would feel in such a warm world with lots of CO2 as the earth was back then). He then presents the different theories of evolution from Darwin to Gould's Punctuated equilibrium and to the theory he favors : power law in a self-organized system.

A self-organized system is like a pile of sand whose shifting grains within the structure causes lots of small avalanche and a few big ones. The earth is a self-organized systems like these piles of sand and throughout history, avalanches (most caused by internal changes and some by external changes) causes species to disappears or adjust. Even in the best of case, a specie cannot lasts forever; its pattern of rapid evolution and diversification and slow extinction follows the spindle curve of a power law, unless there is an external intervention. Humans are just such an external intervention, and not a recent one either. Since the beginning of human history, we could not help but change the dynamics of the worlds around us, from big-games hunts to Industrialization. As a result, the slow extinction curves of many species has taken a faster downward curve... as well as bringing the next ice age much closer.

Nothing in "Evolution" goes for sensationalism or wild theories. Everything is well-documented and lots of graphs illustrates Boulter's explication. Although this is no light reading, it is not a book for expert I think. Also, and I don't know if in feeling this I'm strange or not, this book gave me... well... hope. Because whatever happens, the earth will survive, and something else will happen or evolve on it... and I really wonder what.

Paleobiolgist Boulter utilizes several academic disciplines to discuss the history and causes of mass extinction events. He uses such events as the basis for his argument that the natural systems controlling the earth are in a constant state of balance and equalibrium. Humans, particularly since the dawn of industrial societies are effecting the natural system earth to such an extent that the planet must respond. The natural system will adjust itself to maintain this equalibrium.

The scope of Boulter's book is impressive. He combines numerous scientific fields and principles (paleobiology, geology, ecology, physics, biology and evolution, computer modeling, and chaos theory just to name a few) to created an integrated, mostly coherent scientific treatise. Using this integrated approach, Boulter describes in detail all previous mass extinction events. He explains that planet earth is a complex, self-stabilizing natural system, and mass-extinctions are one of the ways the system maintains equalibrium. Despite the scope of his suject, Boulter manages to make his argument concisely (about 220 pages).

After explaining how the system functions for the first 2/3 of "Extinction", Boulter takes the natural step of discussing how the system will respond to human activities. He focuses on the last century since significant human disruption began with the industrial revolution in the early 1900s. He explains how human activities related to pollution and climate change are becoming progressively more disruptive, and explains how he thinks earth will respond. Ultimately, the system will maintain it's equalibrium, regardless of how the individual components are effected (or destroyed).

While Boulter's argument seems generally well reasoned, I agree with the previous reviewer that it's sometime difficult for the reader (me at least) to connect all the diffuse elements of his scientific argument. Readers with a strong background in natural science will likely find the book fascinating, but many (myself included) will find some aspects of "Extinction" somewhat technical. There were many instances where I had to re-read previous sections in order to understand his complex, multi-faceted explanations. Additionally, Boulter doesn't really seem to consider if humans have altered how the system operates. Has human technology and food production made it possible for the system to be disrupted or become more flexible than previously? He doesn't really discuss this issue, but perhaps this argument is petty and irrelevant to the larger issues raised.

Despite it's potential difficulties for readers with limited knowledge of natural science, the scope and importance of "Extinction" make it fascinating for anyone intereted in the future of humanity and life on this planet. It's difficult to dispute his conclusion that the system (earth) will maintain itself at the expense of one of it's components: the planet will survive, but ultimately humans will not.

Extinction: Evolution and the End of Man, Is a well-written book by Michael Boulter. The Columbia University Press published it in 2002. This book takes you on an exciting journey through some of the Earth's most fascinating extinctions. Boulter spends the majority of the book showing similarities and differences between the Earth during these extinctions, as well as the present day. He asks the question; are humans sending our World down a deadly path that it will be unable to rebound from? I would recommend this book to anyone who is open to new ideas, and won't get depressed over the idea that we may be extremely close to our own extinction

This book is great for those who love science. It suggests the idea that man is closer to extinction than we know. Boulters team is discovering fossils from the dinosaurs and relating them to todays time period and has found relationships between the two which in turn may suggests that our time is close.

An excellent set of materials, which has really generated a lot of thought on my part. Some of the other reviewers summarize it excellently and I have little to add except a plea for a return to the art of effective editing. This book reads like a great draft from a subject matter expert BEFORE a good editor/sub-editor has done their job. So the narrative of ideas is far less coherent than it quite easily could be. Also, given the focus suggested by the title, there is too little on the subject of the last stage of the argument: human extinction. That was what grabbed me to buy the book and I felt somewhat let down by his failure to align the time scales of geological time and human historical time which is critical to understanding the practical implications of his argument. He seemed to have run out of steam, and again a good editor would have sent him scurrying back to flesh out the last chapter or two. So great work author; must try harder: editor.

I enjoyed this book as an extra to previous books I had read on evolution, especially Richard Fortey's 'Life'. Mr Boulter details the effects of continental drift in the evolution of species in a much more regarding manner than many other writers. And the book does detail an analytical method that suggests not only that evolution and change are inevitable, but also so is extinction. Inevitably it will come to humankind in its turn - or will it? Perhaps evolution will cause change rather than extinction just as it is now believed many dinosaurs - rather than dying out - changed to become birds. So the message of the book is not necessarily gloomy even though it does talk of the 'end of Man'.

First off, let me point out that the author, Michael Boulter, likes what he does and you can feel his enjoyment through the book as he explains, in great detail, about evolution and extinction, what it is, how it comes about and how scientists have tried to understand it. So when it comes to explaining just how long mankind may, or may not, live you can't help but believe him. You've followed his logic, his examples, his stories from the first chapter to the last. You trust him, even when you sometimes get lost a little, you end up following him thru the maze of data. So when he gets to the point where you realize that he is going to be laying bad news on you, you can't help but believe him. It's like St. Nick telling you that you're pet is going to be hit by a car. Jolly St. Nick wouldn't lie to you, so it must be true.
Whether the answers to mankind's fate in the final chapter is true or not, it is a interesting book, with lots of ideas to chew on. And websites to visit too!

I rather expected an opinionated editorial type of book. Instead what you get is a lot (perhaps more than you want to) of the science of geology. Put another way, it requires more attention than I expected. I am gratified to have the feeling that I know a lot more of the science behind how evolution works. Too many books of this genure are just opinionated scolding essays on how we're all going to perish. At least after reading this book, I have a better grasp of why--and how.

With all my respect towards Mr. Boulter, who I can see has endeavoured to write an interesting book, I think it is not accomplished.

The main idea about the way the life-extinction cycle can be put in mathematical models etc. is very interesting and I think Mr. Boulten would have done better had he stuck to that. Instead he goes around hitting too much around the bush, going into pseudo-literary anecdotes and offering glimpses of ideas which are necessary to understand his message (for non experts, as I am) and that should be right, but you cannot do all these things in two hundreds pages without it becoming a mess (or you can, but perhaps it requires some sort of talent that Mr. boulter seems to lack).

I very much coincide with another reviewer that suggested the book be cut down to half its extension.

And the title is a bit misleading, though it is probably the editors to blame for that.

And a word to the sexist language complaining reviewer: respect towards women is something else than a reductionist approach to language. Extreme attitudes will only lead to preposterous and hypocondrical language like repeating 'men and women' instead of simply 'men' a thousand times in a book. It's not in here that this battle has to be fought.