28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A nice compilation. Timely, but somewhat disappointing, April 3, 1997
By A Customer
This review is from: The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Humankind (Paperback)
This 1995 book by Leakey and Lewin, although very well written, ultimately proved to be somewhat of a disappointment to me. It is not that I disagree with any particular thesis in the book, as much as that I've read it all elsewhere. Those well read in Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, or David Raup will find nothing new here; which is not to say that the message does not bear repeating to the world.
Leakey and Lewin observe that the current worldwide extinction rate of species equals that of various Mass Extinctions of geologic history. Their point is that we are experiencing, and will continue to experience a loss of bio-diversity that will have profound consequences for humanity. In order to establish this thesis, they give a brief review of the history of life on this planet, the rise of Darwinism, Uniformitarianism, and now Neo-Catastrophism. The extent and nature of past Mass Extinctions are examined, along with various theories as to their cause. They continue with a discussion on ecology and the current loss of species, bio-diversity, etc. Through the bulk of this book are scattered frequent refernces to the thinking of various authors, pro and con. One gets the creepy sensation that one is reading a college book report.
The sole chapter of original contribution by Leakey himself (i.e. not a paraphrase of what he has read elsewhere) is that of today's plight of the modern elephant. While not a matter of pressing concern to the average person, it is symptomatic of the problem at large which is (or should be!) of concern to us all.
This book thus serves as a compilation of alarm messages sounded by many others, and as such ought to serve a useful function. Leakey, who has had an active role in efforts to save the elephant, is exquisitely sensitive to the needs of expanding human population; but the book then breaks down in it's concluding pages by viewing the main problem to be that of ecology and species loss. It is that, of course, but the root causes and possible solutions are not simple. While the authors do note the exponential rise in human population, they choose not to discuss the obvious solution (birth control). Nor do they choose to dwell on the gloomy hopelessness of achieving a solution. We have achieved our success in large part by the efficiency with which we breed, and are (alas) slave to our evolutonary past. Unfortunately all the Goulds, Leakeys, and Lewins will not be persuasive enough to enable the uneducated masses to rise above the imperitives of their genes. But they can try, and this book is a grand attempt.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bye-bye Biodiversity, April 3, 2001
This review is from: The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Humankind (Paperback)
This is not a parting that man would ever wish. In fact, we could never utter these words; if the reality of the the demise of biodiversity were to occur, we would also be gone. The extirpation of mankind. Biological diversity is simply the wealth of the world's organisms - inclusive of genes, species, ecosystems - the web of life which supports us. Leakey shows how evolutionary biology and ecology have helped us understand important new facts - the extreme intricacies of ecosystems for example. Ironically, new knowledge coming at the same time that the rate of man made change on these systems is accelerating. Leakey argues that perhaps as much as 50% of known species will be driven to extinction within the next few decades. This is the sobering message of the book; we are headed towards an abrupt and massive loss of plants and animal life - the 'sixth extinction' of the books title. Leakey traces five previous 'extinction pulses' due to factors such as climatic change and asteroid impact; this one will be our doing.
A final note of interest for those who may wish to know the epistemology of the book. Leakey and co-author Roger Lewin are supporters of the concept of 'punctuated equilibrium' - a theory that sees evolution progressing in ways other than as a steady, linear process. An idea first espoused by paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. Gould and supporters of his theory have their critics, a notable one being Edward O Wilson. Academic rivalry and ideological disputes aside, there is no disagreement on the importance of biodersity and the source of the threat to it.
"Virtually all students of the extinction process agree that biological diversity is in the midst of it's sixth great crisis, this time precipitated entirely by man" (E.O.Wilson)
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
As relevant today as when it was written, August 11, 2009
This review is from: The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Humankind (Paperback)
Not wanting to taint my impressions as I read, I purposely avoided reading reviews of this book until I had finished. When I finally did read the reviews, I was very disappointed that no reviews of this interesting book had been posted for almost 2 years. What a shame. Richard Leakey is one of the world's most famous living scientists and led an amazing life. He gives just a hint of that life in the first chapter and you can read more on Wikipedia and news sources. I have even more respect for Leakey now then before I started the book, if for no other reason than he gives no indication of the substantial personal and political turmoil that he has endured but sticks to the job of discussing anthropogenic species extinction. The man lost both of his legs in a small plane crash in 1993 and sabotage was suspected due to his firm stand against elephant poaching as head of Kenya's Wildlife Conservation and Management Department But he never mentions this or uses his fame to demean his detractors. He just goes on with his career as a paleontologist, conservationist and politician, never whining about his fate. What a great man and role model!
Now, about the book. It is dated in some ways, as any book about conservation written 15 years ago will be, but the core of the book remains accurate and true--unfortunately things haven't changed much in that time. Amazon and a couple of reviewers have written decent overviews of the book and I see no need to summarize the book in detail but will make a few observations.
It is interesting to note that in 1995, the three major causes for species extinction were (1) hunting, trapping and other forms of direct, purposeful human exploitation; (2) the impact of invasive species, e.g., the extirpation of 90% of indigenous Hawaiian birds by man-introduced invaders; and, (3) habitat destruction. But no mention is made of the devastation of ecosystems by man-induced climate change, though it was no longer the elephant in the room even way back in the 90's. E.O. Wilson gave this topic some attention in his 1992 book, The Diversity Of Life, and discussed the greenhouse effect, coral bleaching and other related topics. Leakey references Wilson's book, but I doubt that he read it but merely perused it for selected material, such as the interesting species distribution graphic which he borrows from Wilson's book on page 115. I deducted one star from my rating of the book because of this serious omission.
Though Leakey takes a mild stand against sport hunting in later chapters, it would have been more consistent of him to acknowledge his abuse of animals in his youth. Though he doesn't acknowledge actually hunting animals himself, he does say that he led safaris and trapped animals in his teens and 20's. Since this is as bad as actually pulling the trigger, I thought that a small apology or explanation of this moral inconsistency was in order.
I especially liked the early chapters because I have an intensive interest in paleontology and he does a nice job on the topic. Another reviewer pointed out that all of this material has been covered in other books, but since I'm not a computer with a perfect memory, I like refreshing my knowledge with the viewpoints of numerous authors. Leakey does an excellent job explaining why the fossil record proves that man was an accident of history.
As another reviewer pointed out, Leakey was remiss in not digressing on the exponential rise in human population and the importance of birth control in developing nations, such as Kenya, where Leakey lives. In this regard, The Sixth Extinction is like many books in that they are a "call to arms" but present no solutions. It's a pity that he didn't digress a bit on solutions because he was good at that in his political posts in Kenya. His solutions were so effective that he lost both legs because of them.
I would love to see this book updated--would buy it in a heartbeat. In that revision, it would be interesting to read what he has to say about the impact of climate change on Kenyan species. Now, climate change is probably worse than Leakey's top three reasons for species extinction because it is the one that we have the least control over. Scientists say that if we reduced our carbon footprint to zero today, the effects of the high amount of CO2 that man has already emitted into the atmosphere will continue to adversely effect existing ecosystems for at least 1000 years.
His other books are good too. Check out the Making Of Mankind (out of print) and The Origin Of Humankind.
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