Top-shelf writers deliver urgent and compelling calls for dramatic change.
Diverse perspectives on the fate of the Earth.
Since the mid-1980s the New Yorker has offered incisive writing on climate change, with essays by Bill McKibben, Elizabeth Kolbert (the magazine’s “leading voice on the environment”), Eric Klinenberg, Ian Frazier, Kathryn Schulz, and many others. In an informative, stimulating collection, Remnick and Finder have gathered 22 pieces that contribute, he hopes, “to a shared sense of urgency—and to a shared spirit of change.” Kolbert writes of her discovery “that large and sophisticated cultures have already been undone by climate change,” a disturbing precedent at a time when much damage to the environment cannot be undone. “Because of the slow pace of deep-ocean circulation and the long life of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” she notes, “it is impossible to reverse the acidification that has already taken place. Nor is it possible to prevent still more from occurring.” On land and in the sea, mass extinctions are probable: “By the end of this century as many as half of earth’s species will be gone.” From an island off northwestern Antarctica, Fen Montaigne reports that of 900 breeding pairs of Adélie penguins recorded in 1974, only 11 adults and 7 chicks remain, a situation caused by “the effects of the rapid warming on the formation of sea ice, on the phytoplankton and Antarctic krill that depend on the sea ice,” and on the birds “that rely on the sea ice and the krill.” David Owen makes a case for the “environmental benignity” of densely populated cities. Although many people assume that rural areas are more environmentally sound, Owen reveals that “spreading people out increases the damage they do to the environment, while making the problems harder to see and to address.” As Michael Specter notes, assessing the environmental, social, and economic consequences of one’s choices—what to eat, where to live, how to travel—is complicated.
Top-shelf writers deliver urgent and compelling calls for dramatic change.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-301754-2
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Ecco/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 22, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
A comprehensive, fact-packed examination of the deep's largest denizens, tracing the patterns that connect mythology, biology, and the human imagination. Marine illustrator Ellis (Men and Whales, 1991) starts with the legends and teases out their kernels of fact, drawing on material from medieval bestiaries to cutting-edge scientific discoveries. Sailors ogling mermaids from afar were really staring at manatees, he concludes; the biblical Leviathan was probably the whale (which would be overhunted in later times). The scores of people who have reported sightings of giant sea serpents certainly saw something, Ellis believes, probably a red- crested ribbon fish or the arm of a giant squid basking near the surface. He moves his discussion a step further than simple myth debunking, however, by showing how these creatures have been remythologized in the contemporary consciousness. The whale, once a commodity, is now a symbol, its image adorning T-shirts and its song analyzed for signs of an intelligence greater than our own. Hollywood's special effects have introduced sharks and giant squid as diabolical forces carefully plotting to wreak havoc on the human race. No matter how many Latin names are bestowed on these animals, the author asserts, their evasiveness will continue to ensure their status as ``monsters.'' Ellis has included a hefty dose of marine biology, especially regarding squid and octopus, and his technical writing deflates much of the excitement his subject can provide; titillation has been banished in favor of analysis. The title promises entertainment, but the book might actually be more useful as a reference text—the attention to detail (sightings, strandings, anatomy) is exhaustive, sometimes excessively so. Still, a handful of mysteries are allowed to remain mysterious. Intelligent and often provocative writing, but devotees of Ripley's Believe It or Not will find these sea monsters a bit too tame for their taste. (120 b&w photographs and drawings, not seen)
Pub Date: Nov. 14, 1994
ISBN: 0-679-40639-5
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1994
Experienced sailors and landlubbers alike will find Sofrin’s work a pleasure to read.
A memoir of the voyage of a replica warship from Rhode Island to California.
In his debut book, Sofrin recounts his 2002 journey from Newport, Rhode Island, to San Diego, California, aboard a replica of an 18th-century English Royal Navy frigate named Rose. The ship had been purchased by Twentieth Century Fox to be used in the making of the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, based on the Aubrey-Maturin series of novels by Patrick O’Brian. At the time, Sofrin was 21, with few job prospects, but he had recently spent time sailing a boat in Europe. With some hesitation, he accepted the position in Newport, working to help prepare the ship to make the trip. Later, he was asked to join the crew as a deckhand and carpenter for the passage as well as to stay on to assist with the movie. “I had assumed that I’d be spending most of a single day on Rose, doing a bunch of dirty work that nobody else wanted to do,” writes the author. “Instead, I had just been offered a paid crew position to sail from Newport to California to make a movie.” Sofrin vividly describes the motley crew and diligently chronicles their charted course through the Panama Canal and on to various locations in Mexico before docking in San Diego. They departed Newport in January and soon began encountering problems, including electrical fires, water leaks, massive waves, and gale force winds, which had them fearing they would have to abandon ship. Forced to reevaluate “how to handle adversity,” Sofrin realized that “the only way out was through.” With an enthralling style, Sofrin recounts these events as well as the personality dynamics that developed aboard the ship. Throughout, the author also discusses historic and modern aspects of sailing and accompanies his narrative with technical drawings and photographs.
Experienced sailors and landlubbers alike will find Sofrin’s work a pleasure to read.Pub Date: April 18, 2023
ISBN: 9781419767067
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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