FUTURE OF LIFE

One of the world's most important scientists in his personal and timely book assesses the precarious state of our environment, examining the mass extinctions occurring in our time in a literal even poetic recounting that is readily accessible to lay readers. He spells out a specific plan to save our world while there is still time in a vision which is economically sound. Our world is far richer than previously conceived, yet so ravaged by human activity that half its species could be gone by the end of the present century. These two contrasting themes - unexpected magnificence and underestimated peril - have originated during the past two decades of research. Destruction of natural habitats, the rampant spread of invasive species, pollution, uncontrolled population growth and overharvesting are the main threats to our natural world. Represented in artworks of endangered and extinct species and races include the hawksbill sea turtle, giant kangaroo rat, golden toad, dwarf wedge muscle, Indian knob mountainbalm, valley elderberry longhorn beetle, striped adobe lily, white sedge, and the San Francisco fork-tailed damselfly among them. The book is both a moving description of the world's astonishing animals and plants and a guidebook for the protection of all its species, including our own. Remainder mark 229 page paperback.