The Next Species, Michael Tennesen
The Next Species, Michael Tennesen
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The Next Species
The Future of Evolution in the Aftermath of Man

Author: Michael Tennesen

Narrator: Sean Runnette

Unabridged: 10 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/17/2015


Synopsis

While examining the history of our planet and actively exploring our present environment, science journalist Michael Tennesen describes what life on earth could look like after the next mass extinction.A growing number of scientists agree we are headed toward a mass extinction, perhaps in as little as three hundred years. There have already been five in the last 600 million years, including the Cretaceous extinction, during which an asteroid knocked out the dinosaurs. Though these events were initially destructive, they were also prime movers of evolutionary change in nature. And we can see some of the warning signs of another extinction event coming as our oceans lose both fish and oxygen. In The Next Species, Michael Tennesen questions what life might be like after it happens.Tennesen discusses the future of nature and whether humans will make it through the bottleneck of extinction. Without man, could the seas regenerate, returning to what they were before fishing vessels? Could life suddenly get very big as it did before the arrival of humans? And what if man survives the coming catastrophes but in reduced populations? Would those groups be isolated enough to become distinct species? Could the conquest of Mars lead to another form of human? Could we upload our minds into a computer and live in a virtual reality? Or could genetic engineering create a more intelligent and long-lived creature that might shun the rest of us? And how would we recognize the next humans? Are they with us now?Tennesen delves into the history of the planet and travels to rain forests, canyons, craters, and caves all over the world to explore the potential winners and losers of the next era of evolution. His predictions, based on reports and interviews with top scientists, have vital implications for life on earth today.

About Michael Tennesen

Michael Tennesen is a science writer who has written more than three hundred stories in such journals as Science, Audubon, Discover, Smithsonian, New Scientist, National Wildlife, Scientific American, and others. He was a Media Fellow at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, and a Writer in Residence at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York. He lives in the California desert near Joshua Tree National Park with his wife, his dog, and his tortoise.

About Sean Runnette

Sean Runnette, a multiple AudioFile Earphones Award winner, has produced several Audie Award-winning audiobooks. He is a member of the American Repertory Theater company and has toured internationally with Mabou Mines, an avant-garde theater company. Sean's television and film appearances include Two If by Sea, Copland, Sex and the City, Law & Order, Third Watch, and lots and lots of commercials, for which he apologizes.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Emma on August 15, 2015

The Next Species by Michael Tennesen is a decent book, well written, interesting and informative, but its title is rather misleading. Instead of educated guesses and wild and awesome speculation about what might be, after humanity has finally succeeded in wiping itsself out, the books main focus is o......more

Goodreads review by Bandit on August 20, 2015

Have you seen Kingman The Secret Service? If not, you should, it's tons of fun. Anyway, this book reads exactly like something that might have inspired Samuel L. Jackson's character in that movie to come up with his culling plan. Because the earth is doomed and humans are putting it into an early gr......more

Goodreads review by Maurynne on March 17, 2015

I wish everyone would read this book. It’s a well-researched popular science overview of the current climate picture and the history of mass extinctions on the planet. It’s a step above Discovery Channel or NatGeo television, but not so high a step that members of Congress, for instance, couldn’t un......more

Goodreads review by C on October 14, 2016

I'm not sure if "The Next Species" was the author's intended title or if the publisher insisted on it because that has little to do with the book. Most of the book is a rehash of all the current environmental problems we are facing or will be facing shortly, peppered with information natural history......more

Goodreads review by Lili on December 06, 2014

I recieved this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review: Reading about extinction level events is both humbling and daunting, and so sets the tone of this book. I am going to admit it straight up that reading this book was a chore, it started out really fascinating, covering the various mass ex......more


Quotes

“Science journalist Tennesen surveys the previous five mass extinctions that have shaped life on earth and examines some of the ways in which humans are destroying habitats and biodiversity today…Tennesen is at his best when addressing the urgent environmental problems of today, particularly in his engaging discussion of water usage in New York City and Las Vegas.” Publishers Weekly

“When an asteroid snuffed out three-fourths of the earth’s species of plants and animals sixty-five million years ago, no human eyes observed the catastrophe. Tennesen fears, however, that humans will witness the next great extinction event—precisely because we will have caused it…Simultaneously sobering and exhilarating, this wide-ranging survey of disasters highlights both life’s fragility and its metamorphosing persistence.” Booklist

“Science journalist Tennesen chronicles his interviews with scientists from around the world, delivering an engrossing history of life, the dismal changes wrought by man, and a forecast of life after the sixth mass extinction.” Kirkus Reviews