A review by debr
Second Nature: Scenes from a World Remade by Nathaniel Rich

3.0

Well full disclosure- I did not in fact finish this book. I read the first two parts. The stories are very fascinating. Even as someone who works in this space I hadn’t heard of some of the issues he introduced. But i simply got too frustrated with his sensational presentation which felt click-baity in parts, was underwhelming in its synthesis and reflection, and at times felt like he did not have the data to come to some of his conclusions but rather just made some really big assumptions about how a community or public acted or felt on an issue. These shortcuts frankly felt lazy, and for a book engaging in such incredibly serious topics it feels really lacking in scholarship.