A Darwinian Survival Guide: Hope for the Twenty-First Century

by Daniel R. Brooks, Salvatore J. Agosta

How humanity brought about the climate crisis by departing from its evolutionary trajectory 15,000 years ago—and how we can use evolutionary principles to save ourselves from the worst outcomes.

Despite efforts to sustain civilization, humanity faces existential threats from overpopulation, globalized trade and travel, urbanization, and global climate change. In A Darwinian Survival Guide , Daniel Brooks and Salvatore Agosta offer a novel—and hopeful—perspective on how to meet these tremendous challenges by changing the discourse from sustainability to survival. Darwinian evolution, the world’s only theory of survival, is the means by which the biosphere has persisted and renewed itself following past environmental perturbations, and it has never failed, they explain. Even in the aftermath of mass extinctions, enough survivors remain with the potential to produce a new diversified biosphere.

Drawing on their expertise as field biologists, Brooks and Agosta trace the evolutionary path from the early days of humans through the Late Pleistocene and the beginning of the Anthropocene all the way to the Great Acceleration of technological humanity around 1950, demonstrating how our creative capacities have allowed humanity to survive. However, constant conflict without resolution has made the Anthropocene not only unsustainable, but unsurvivable. Guided by the four laws of biotics, the authors explain how humanity should interact with the rest of the biosphere and with each other in accordance with Darwinian principles. They reveal a middle ground between apocalypse and utopia, with two alter our behavior now at great expense and extend civilization or fail to act and rebuild in accordance with those same principles. If we take the latter, then our immediate goal ought to focus on preserving as many of humanity’s positive achievements—from high technology to high art—as possible to shorten the time needed to rebuild.

Genres: Nonfiction, Environment, Science

360 pages, Hardcover

Published February 6, 2024

Reviews

[Arsen Lazursky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm giving this a five just because of the importance of the issues raised and a relatively clear path forward that the authors suggest. The writing itself is often repetitive and sometimes biased, yet maybe this is what is needed to drive the point home, so I'm okay with that.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought I would enjoy a book like this, about the impending decline of human civilization and how we should face it. And it was even written by biologists, using a deep time evolutionary perspective to analyze our past and project this into the future. Unfortunately the execution was poor in this case, and it turned out to be an overly draggy and rambling book with arguably too much, I wouldn't say irrelevant content, but too detailed background history about evolution and our history as a species. In fact, only the last three chapters detailed what the authors propose we should be doing about our predicament - a concatenation of tipping points that should arrive around the middle of this century. Here they painted in broad strokes, advocating for a mass return to the land/rural areas and intentionally depopulating our vulnerable urban centers, creating a network of towns based around circular economies. While I see how this could maybe work in selected countries/regions - namely those with currently large hinterlands i.e. large nations like the U.S., Russia, China etc., it would be challenging to say the least in already highly densely settled places like India and Java to name two. The authors did not name a single real life location throughout the book for this strategy, and so their pleas end up being highly conceptual instead of practical.

The other major contention I had was their attitude towards conservation of wildlife, alleging essentially that, over time life finds a way (to quote from a famous movie) as evidenced by the recovery of life post mass extinction events in Earth's history. Well and good, but our current sixth human induced one is at an unprecedented SPEED such that biological evolution likely will not have the time to adapt/evolve or even recover in any appreciable form for a very long time.

Overall underwhelming and messily written.

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was exactly what I hoped it would be, as I believe no book as a standalone can address the coming problems for humanity and the planet Earth.

It paints a very coherent picture of humans and ultimately Homo sapiens and how they have interacted with the world around them. Highlighted are the wins and losses along the way, ending with Homo sapiens and our current situation as a species. The authors’ focus is not on pointing out blame but, prudently, engaging in solutions.

I did find the discussion of nature conservancy to be philosophical as well as scientific. Any idea that is put forth regarding survival and conservancy can never encompass the entire planet, nor solve all problems. The approach to conservancy I found refreshing and believe has merit and would love to see the world put more into practice. This however does not mean all other ideas or more solutions are not needed parallel to these measures.

The history portion of the book is the most important to me, as it allows the reader to start forming some of their own opinions as the book moves along. Regarding the solution portion of the book, it was very broad in some areas and potentially narrow in others. The broad areas are what I found useful, as a talking/action point for the future. The narrow solutions I couldn’t find myself 100% in agreement with but they still are frameworks to begin dissecting.

The tone of the book is what sells it to me. No extremes are found in the suggestions, the history, or the future that is being discussed. More of this type of approach should attract readers and humans who avoid climate change discussion or thought. The authors are giving a scientific-based opinion on the future, but are not fear-mongering or trying to convince anyone. They are simply laying out a plan they believe is better than the current path we are on.

[Luis Cuesta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway. "Darwinian Survival Guide" begins with a brief description of the evolution of biology on Earth, and what is known about the evolution of Homo sapiens. Then, the development of human society, along with many of its failings, is outlined. The ways in which species evolve and survive through environmental changes is described as a prelude to proposing ways in which Homo sapiens can also survive the coming climate extremes and their consequences.
The authors, biologists Daniel R. Brooks and Salvatore J. Agosta, emphasize the idea that to survive climate change, humans must migrate away from threatened cities and abandon grow-at-all-costs economies, revitalizing rural areas and building moderate, localized economies. These enthusiastic proposals only touch on implications for national boundaries, division of labor, health care, transportation, and other institutions.
What I like the most about their essay is that "A Darwinian Survival Guide" tackles the complexities of climate change with creativity, optimism, and vision.

[Bill T. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book struck me as a good idea that I hoped would an important topic insightfully and intelligently, but, after reading 12 of 14 chapters, I couldn't stand to continue. The prose is wordy, jargon-filled, and repetitive. The sentences are excessively long, approaching the convoluted compound-complex atrocities more typically seen in corporate press releases. The explanations and arguments were invariably abstract. All in all, my attempt to read this book has been a tedious multi-day slog. Chapter 12 is the first chapter to make actual recommendations, and it boils down to "everyone should move to the town their families lived in in back in the '30s" (OK, maybe that's an exaggeration, but not by much).

[Don Meredith · Rating 2 out of 5]

This an incredibly dense book. Although it makes a good case for how human beings might survive the inevitable societal collapse as a result of climate change and overpopulation, the message is marred by the extremely detailed descriptions of humanity's past and constant repetition of facts that I'm sure turnoff a lot of readers before they get too far into the book. As a retired field biologist, I stuck it out and learned some things in the process. But I found myself having to re-read sentences to understand what was being said. Unfortunately, this is a book for academics, not for the people who will be making the decisions about our future as a species.

[Valeria]

Despite global warnings about environmental changes, human beings persist in maintaining their current behavioral style of growth. A devastating effect on human survival is the most likely outcome. This book brings evolutionary biology from the bookshelves of the traditionalist view to the spotlight of a new era of renewed consciousness about the Darwinian meaning of the evolution and survival of life on Earth.
The book reveals us alternative approaches to changing the status quo and suggests a collective behavioral change based on the nature of the organism (including humankind).

[Carol Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the premise of this book, but the way the material is delivered reminds me of desperate college students trying to stretch their word count. This is not going to be easily accessible to readers on a broad scale, especially those who start nodding off during extra clauses, and it's such a shame. The premise is SO good. Maybe Brooks and Agosta can put together a sequel for dummies.

[Jeffrey Seeds · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very technical sometimes, and assumes a knowledge of biology and anthropology and history that most people probably don't have. But the book is important, as it tries to break the current pattern of thinking about climate change and the trajectory of our species. I recommend reading it even if it is a chore at certain points. In the end the insight is well worth the work.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last chapter was an excellent overview but the majority of the book felt entirely too thorough, as if all of history needed to be retold to give weight to their points.

[Alan Eyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helped improve my understanding of Darwinian evolution, but its recommendations for navigating accelerating climate change seem unlikely to happen in time to help.

[mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

a reading group choice, a lot of discussion came from this book, well recommended for the ideas set forth about accepting and working with our natural world, this book had a lot of merit.