The Nature of the Future

Under a White Sky

Can we save the natural world in time?

Important, necessary, urgent and phenomenally interesting

A meticulously researched and deftly crafted work of journalism that explores some of the biggest challenges of our age

A superb and honest reflection of our extraordinary time

One of the great science journalists, Kolbert has for many years been an essential voice, a reporter from the front lines of the environmental crisis... Important, necessary, urgent and phenomenally interesting... Beautifully and insistently, Kolbert shows us that it is time to think radically about the ways we manage the environment; time to work with what we have, using the knowledge we have, with our eyes fully open to the realities of where we are

Kolbert's prose is peppered with...mordant observations, which bring out the humanity (or animality) in her subjects

Under a White Sky... exhibits Kolbert's sculptor-like skill for making climate change feel tangible, happening before our eyes and beneath our fingers

To be a well-informed citizen of Planet Earth, you need to read Elizabeth Kolbert. . . . It's a tribute to Kolbert's skills as a storyteller that she transforms the quest to deal with the climate crisis into a darkly comic tale of human hubris and imagination that could either end in flames or in a new vision of Paradise

Riveting... inspiring... the premier chronicler of humanity's thoughtless destruction of our habitat

This intimate natural history is both a sober assessment of the ecosystems we have harmed and an exciting description of some of the discoveries that could help undo that damage

Brilliantly executed and urgently necessary

A master elucidator, Kolbert is gratifyingly direct as she assesses our predicament between a rock and a hard place, creating a clarion and invaluable 'book about people trying to solve problems created by people trying to solve problems

Every paragraph of Kolbert's books has a mountain of reading and reporting behind it....  Urgent, absolutely necessary reading as a portrait of our devastated planet

A tale not of magic-bullet remedies where maybe this time things will be different when we intervene in nature, but rather of deploying a panoply of strategies big and small in hopes that there is still time to make a difference and atone for our past. A sobering and realistic look at humankind's perhaps misplaced faith that technology can work with nature to produce a more liveable planet

A terrific look at humanity's impact on the Earth (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

A wonderful book (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

This is the big story of our age (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

Well-composed snapshots of history, theory and observation that will fascinate, enlighten and appal many readers (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

A distinctive and eloquent voice of conscience... timely, meticulously researched and well-written (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

Compelling (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

Remarkable (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

Read this book (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

Elizabeth Kolbert's cautionary tale, The Sixth Extinction, offers us a cogent overview of a harrowing biological challenge. The reporting is exceptional, the contextualizing exemplary (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams and Horizon

The Sixth Mass Extinction is the biggest story on Earth, period, and Elizabeth Kolbert tells it with imagination, rigor, deep reporting, and a capacious curiosity about all the wondrous creatures and ecosystems that exist, or have existed, on our planet. The result is an important book full of love and loss (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

David Quammen, author of The Song of the Dodo and Spillover

In Under a White Sky...Elizabeth Kolbert...[combines] curiosity with an acerbic wit to explore humanity's obsession with controlling nature... Kolbert's skill is in presenting compelling stories from the Anthropocene and letting us judge for ourselves

The author of the international bestseller The Sixth Extinction returns to humanity's transformative impact on the environment, now asking: after doing so much damage, can we change nature, this time to save it? 
 
Meet the biologists trying to save the world's rarest fish; the engineers who are turning carbon emissions to stone; the researchers trying to develop a 'super coral'; and the physicists contemplating shooting tiny diamonds into the stratosphere to cool the earth. 
 
Elizabeth Kolbert is one of the most important writers on the environment. Here she investigates the immense challenges humanity faces as we scramble to reverse, in a matter of decades, the effects we've had on the natural world and asks - can we save the natural world in time? 
 
'Important, necessary, urgent' Helen MacDonald 
'Meticulously researched and deftly crafted' Guardian

Elizabeth Kolbert

An intimate portrait of the natural world ... With clear-eyed urgency and a measure of tenderness, Kolbert chronicles the lives of people trying to hold on to what's slipping away

Kolbert’s writing is serious but adroit [with] just enough wry humour. The necessity of fitting huge subjects into 20 clear pages suits her style. Each essay is pacy, with energising turns ... Kolbert [is] a necessary voice on the environment

Kolbert is one of our most important and lucid voices on climate change, and she’s been ringing the bell for longer than most. This book ... will be essential

Elizabeth Kolbert's writing illuminates the world's complexities in vivid colour. No one contextualises the natural world better than she does, and no one is able to describe its many facets better than her

Harriet Rix, author of The Genius of Trees

No one rivals Kolbert’s ability to write deeply, empathetically and engagingly about mankind’s relationship with the physical world ... She brings curiosity and persistence to the most important issues facing humankind

Chris Goodall, author of What We Need to Do Now

There is surely no better way to understand our changing world than through the uniquely engaging perspectives provided by Elizabeth Kolbert. Joining her on this round-the-world voyage to some of the most incredible places on Earth is a treat ... Immensely sobering yet also inspiring

Kolbert, in her clean, precise prose, asks us ... to be curious, to pay attention, and not look away from the imperilled beauty of our planet ... The book works well as a primer for the guiding issues and ideas that comprise 21st-century environmentalism ... Kolbert has a knack for elucidating abstract concepts - sea level rise, de-extinction, genetic engineering, invasive species - by locating them in particular places and people

Kolbert gracefully balances a realistic awareness of losses brought about by human activity -particularly by the use of fossil fuels - with a sense of wonder at just how much there is still to learn about this ‘little-known planet’ and admiration for those who quixotically explore and attempt to heal it. ... Despair and hope dance together [in these] thought-provoking speculations about a world on the edge of violent change

Kolbert brings every creature, place, person, fact, and issue to scintillating life in these deft, engaging, lucid, and thought-provoking dispatches covering 20 years of her world travels during epic planetary changes. ... Kolbert resolutely and brilliantly alerts us to how little we know about our precious planet, how much harm we do, and how we must and can do better

There is a great deal that humanity doesn’t know about how the world works, and expanding that knowledge may turn out to be crucial ... Life on a Little-known Planet is a worthwhile and convenient collection from one of the best-known writers on climate change and the environment

Life on a Little-known Planet is a master class in how to write about our changing world

Kolbert has radically informed the way modern audiences understand climate change, and her newest collection is no exception, zooming into stories of hope, activism, and innovation across the globe

PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH KOLBERT'S PREVIOUS BOOKS 
 
One of the great science journalists, Kolbert has for many years been an essential voice, a reporter from the front lines of the environmental crisis ... Important, necessary, urgent and phenomenally interesting

A terrific look at humanity's impact on the Earth

[Kolbert is] the premier chronicler of humanity's thoughtless destruction of our habitat

To be a well-informed citizen of Planet Earth, you need to read Elizabeth Kolbert … It’s a tribute to Kolbert’s skills as a storyteller that she transforms the quest to deal with the climate crisis into a darkly comic take of human hubris and imagination that could either end in flames or in a new vision of paradise

Kolbert's reporting is, as always, skilful and subtle

Kolbert’s beat is examining the impact of humans on the environment, and she does it better than basically everyone

What’s exceptional about Kolbert’s writing is the combination of scientific rigour and wry humour that keeps you turning the pages

Kolbert [has a] sculptor-like skill for making climate change feel tangible, happening before our eyes and beneath our fingers

Kolbert is a masterful, thought-provoking reporter

Dispatches from a Changing World

Urgent and inspiring lessons from the frontlines of the climate catastrophe – by one of our most important and influential environmental writers. 
 
From Greenland’s melting ice sheets to New Zealand’s protected mountaintops, we join Kolbert on the road as she travels to the places most dramatically affected by climate change – revealing a world which is both dangerously fragile and remarkably resilient. 
 
We encounter newly discovered species and meet the last surviving members of others, witness the power of rewilding up close and are reminded of the abounding wonders of our natural world. Along the way we also meet countless brilliant individuals who are steering us towards a better future: scientists harnessing AI to commune with whales; activists successfully lobbying for the rights of nature; and ordinary people making extraordinary moves, such as the Samsø islanders leading completely carbon-neutral lives. 
 
The natural world is changing profoundly, and the threats to our planet are only growing more serious. Now is the time to deepen our understanding of this incredible world we are in danger of losing – and to act, while we still can.

Elizabeth Kolbert

Praise for Life on a Little-Known Planet

An intimate portrait of the natural world ... With clear-eyed urgency and a measure of tenderness, Kolbert chronicles the lives of people trying to hold on to what's slipping away

Kolbert’s writing is serious but adroit [with] just enough wry humour. The necessity of fitting huge subjects into 20 clear pages suits her style. Each essay is pacy, with energising turns ... Kolbert [is] a necessa ...

Kolbert is one of our most important and lucid voices on climate change, and she’s been ringing the bell for longer than most. This book ... will be essential

An intimate portrait of the natural world ... With clear-eyed urgency and a measure of tenderness, Kolbert chronicles the lives of people trying to hold on to what's slipping away

Kolbert’s writing is serious but adroit [with] just enough wry humour. The necessity of fitting huge subjects into 20 clear pages suits her style. Each essay is pacy, with energising turns ... Kolbert [is] a necessa ...

Kolbert is one of our most important and lucid voices on climate change, and she’s been ringing the bell for longer than most. This book ... will be essential

An intimate portrait of the natural world ... With clear-eyed urgency and a measure of tenderness, Kolbert chronicles the lives of people trying to hold on to what's slipping away

Kolbert’s writing is serious but adroit [with] just enough wry humour. The necessity of fitting huge subjects into 20 clear pages suits her style. Each essay is pacy, with energising turns ... Kolbert [is] a necessa ...

Kolbert is one of our most important and lucid voices on climate change, and she’s been ringing the bell for longer than most. This book ... will be essential

Books by Elizabeth Kolbert

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