A COSMIC CONUNDRUM—This astonishing book follows our ascendancy from just another hominin on the open African savannah to the alpha hegemon on Earth today endangering its entire future. Along the way, humans methodically outwitted their competition with phenomenal efficiency and indifference, to emerge in the modern 21st century as the linchpin of a major mass extinction of countless other lifeforms cohabiting their planet with them. The shredding of our fragile ecosphere by massive prolif...

A COSMIC CONUNDRUM—This astonishing book follows our ascendancy from just another hominin on the open African savannah to the alpha hegemon on Earth today endangering its entire future. Along the way, humans methodically outwitted their competition with phenomenal efficiency and indifference, to emerge in the modern 21st century as the linchpin of a major mass extinction of countless other lifeforms cohabiting their planet with them. The shredding of our fragile ecosphere by massive prolif...

A COSMIC CONUNDRUM—This astonishing book follows our ascendancy from just another hominin on the open African savannah to the alpha hegemon on Earth today endangering its entire future. Along the way, humans methodically outwitted their competition with phenomenal efficiency and indifference, to emerge in the modern 21st century as the linchpin of a major mass extinction of countless other lifeforms cohabiting their planet with them. The shredding of our fragile ecosphere by massive prolif...

A COSMIC CONUNDRUM—This astonishing book follows our ascendancy from just another hominin on the open African savannah to the alpha hegemon on Earth today endangering its entire future. Along the way, humans methodically outwitted their competition with phenomenal efficiency and indifference, to emerge in the modern 21st century as the linchpin of a major mass extinction of countless other lifeforms cohabiting their planet with them. The shredding of our fragile ecosphere by massive prolif...

A COSMIC CONUNDRUM—This astonishing book follows our ascendancy from just another hominin on the open African savannah to the alpha hegemon on Earth today endangering its entire future. Along the way, humans methodically outwitted their competition with phenomenal efficiency and indifference, to emerge in the modern 21st century as the linchpin of a major mass extinction of countless other lifeforms cohabiting their planet with them. The shredding of our fragile ecosphere by massive prolif...

Like Guns, Germs, and Steel, a work of breathtaking sweep and originality that reinterprets the human story.Although we usually think of technology as something unique to modern times, our ancestors began to create the first technologies millions of years ago in the form of prehistoric tools and weapons. Over time, eight key technologies gradually freed us from the limitations of our animal origins.The fabrication of weapons, the mastery of fire, a...

While everything appears to be collapsing around us – ecodamage, genetic engineering, virulent diseases, the end of cheap oil, water shortages, global famine, wars – we can still do something about it and create a world that will work for us and for our children’s children. The inspiration for Leonardo DiCaprio’s feature documentary movie The Eleventh Hour and soon to be released HBO special Ice on Fire, Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight details what is happening to...

"This exciting saga crosses space and time to illustrate how humans, born of stardust, were shaped—and how they in turn shaped the world we know today." — Publishers WeeklyThis book offers "world history on a grand scale"—pulling back for a wider view and putting the relatively brief time span of human history in context. After all, our five thousand years of recorded civilization account for only about one millionth of the lifetime of our planet ( Kir...

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • A revolutionary new history that reveals how climate change has dramatically shaped the development—and demise—of civilizations across time*The ebook edition now includes endnotes. Anyone who purchased the book previously can re-download this updated edition and access the notes.*Global warming is one of the greatest dangers mankind faces today. Even as temperatures increase, sea levels rise, an...

From the internationally acclaimed scientist, explorer, and conservationist comes an awe-inspiring account of earth's evolution.Beginning at the moment of creation with the Big Bang, Here on Earth explores the evolution of Earth from a galactic cloud of dust and gas to a planet with a metallic core and early signs of life within a billion years of being created. In a compelling narrative, Flannery describes the formation of the Earth's crust and atmosphere...

The author of the internationally #1 bestselling The Weather Makers returns with a powerful new book about the fate of the planet. We stand at a crossroads, where comprehension of our place in nature—of our true abilities and of our history—is supremely important. We have formed a global civilization of unprecedented might, driven forward by the power of our minds—a civilization which is transforming our Earth. We are masters of technology, and of comprehension, but it’s what we b...

Eloquent, practical and wise, this book by one of the world’s most important scientists—and two time Pulitzer Prize winner—should be read and studied by anyone concerned with the fate of the natural world. It "makes one thing clear ... we know what we do, and we have a choice" (The New York Times Book Review).E.O. Wilson assesses the precarious state of our environment, examining the mass extinctions occurring in our time and the natural treasures we are a...