"An arresting vision of this relentless natural world"--New York
Times Book Review
A leading ecologist argues that if humankind is to survive on a fragile
planet, we must understand and obey its iron laws
Our species has amassed unprecedented knowledge of nature, which we have
tried to use to seize control of life and bend the planet to our will.
In A Natural History of the Future, biologist Rob Dunn argues that
such efforts are futile. We may see ourselves as life's overlords, but
we are instead at its mercy. In the evolution of antibiotic resistance,
the power of natural selection to create biodiversity, and even the
surprising life of the London Underground, Dunn finds laws of life that
no human activity can annul. When we create artificial islands of crops,
dump toxic waste, or build communities, we provide new materials for old
laws to shape. Life's future flourishing is not in question. Ours is.
As ambitious as Edward Wilson's Sociobiology and as timely as
Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction, A Natural History of the
Future sets a new standard for understanding the diversity and destiny
of life itself.