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danarama's review
4.0
Creative nonfiction about natural history. Thrilling, engaging and very well-written but also grim and heartbreaking. Basically whatever ecosystem man moves into, he disrupts it and drives species to extinction. This is a modern thing either, it goes back to the megafauna of the Paleolithic.
The author tries to go out on an optimistic note, making a case for "rewilding" the planet but you aren't left very hopeful. The main obstacle being convincing modern city dwellers that nature and wild spaces have value and overcoming change blindness. Every generation tends to see the current state of nature as normal and has trouble understanding what was and what could be.
Recommended for anyone interested in conservation, nature, or animals in general.
The author tries to go out on an optimistic note, making a case for "rewilding" the planet but you aren't left very hopeful. The main obstacle being convincing modern city dwellers that nature and wild spaces have value and overcoming change blindness. Every generation tends to see the current state of nature as normal and has trouble understanding what was and what could be.
Recommended for anyone interested in conservation, nature, or animals in general.
biblioholicbeth's review
4.0
Realistically, I *know* that we have changed our world. Animals are dying/becoming extinct at an ever-increasing pace, global warming is drastically changing what we have come to know as the norm...and I have often wondered how so many people can be so blind to the reality that is out there. In this book, we have the answer.
I find it both reassuring and terribly frightening that people can be so blind to their past, and willing to continue being blind, that there is actually a name for it. The idea that humans get used to the status quo, but then their descendents get used to a different (and often lesser) one, explains so much of the denial of reality of so many.
'The Once and Future World' is a great read, maybe even a must-read for many. It's written in clear language, and it's an interesting look into the very human nature that can both destroy and save the planet as we know it. We all have a choice to know our past in order to save the future - will you take up that challenge?
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I find it both reassuring and terribly frightening that people can be so blind to their past, and willing to continue being blind, that there is actually a name for it. The idea that humans get used to the status quo, but then their descendents get used to a different (and often lesser) one, explains so much of the denial of reality of so many.
'The Once and Future World' is a great read, maybe even a must-read for many. It's written in clear language, and it's an interesting look into the very human nature that can both destroy and save the planet as we know it. We all have a choice to know our past in order to save the future - will you take up that challenge?
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