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Life on a Little-Known Planet: Dispatches from a Changing World
A landmark collection of Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Kolbert's most important pieces about climate change and the natural world
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
"To be a well-informed citizen of Planet Earth," Rolling Stone has advised, "you need to read Elizabeth Kolbert." From her National Magazine Award-winning series The Climate of Man to her Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Sixth Extinction, Kolbert’s work has shaped the way we think about the environment in the twenty-first century. Collected in Life on a Little-Known Planet are her most influential and thought-provoking essays.
An intrepid reporter and a skillful translator of scientific idees, Kolbert expertly captures the wonders of nature and paints vivid portraits of the researchers and concerned citizens working to preserve them. She takes readers all around the globe, from an island in Denmark that’s succeeded in going carbon neutral, to a community in Florida that voted to give rights to waterways, to the Greenland ice sheet, which is melting in a way that has implications for everyone. We meet a biologist who believes we can talk to whales, an entomologist racing to find rare caterpillars before they disappear, and a climatologist who’s considered the "father of global warming," amongst other scientists at the forefront of environmental protection.
The threats to our planet that Kolbert has devoted so much of her career to exposing have only grown more serious. Now is the time to deepen our understanding of the world we are in danger of losing.
A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
"To be a well-informed citizen of Planet Earth," Rolling Stone has advised, "you need to read Elizabeth Kolbert." From her National Magazine Award-winning series The Climate of Man to her Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Sixth Extinction, Kolbert’s work has shaped the way we think about the environment in the twenty-first century. Collected in Life on a Little-Known Planet are her most influential and thought-provoking essays.
An intrepid reporter and a skillful translator of scientific idees, Kolbert expertly captures the wonders of nature and paints vivid portraits of the researchers and concerned citizens working to preserve them. She takes readers all around the globe, from an island in Denmark that’s succeeded in going carbon neutral, to a community in Florida that voted to give rights to waterways, to the Greenland ice sheet, which is melting in a way that has implications for everyone. We meet a biologist who believes we can talk to whales, an entomologist racing to find rare caterpillars before they disappear, and a climatologist who’s considered the "father of global warming," amongst other scientists at the forefront of environmental protection.
The threats to our planet that Kolbert has devoted so much of her career to exposing have only grown more serious. Now is the time to deepen our understanding of the world we are in danger of losing.
419 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 4, 2025
79 people are currently reading
8338 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Kolbert
32 books2,292 followersElizabeth Kolbert is a staff writer at The New Yorker. She is the author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change and The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. She lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts, with her husband and children.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
December 2, 2025
Kolbert is a great writer on environmental issues. Her prose is crystal clear and her passion is contagious. Like all good journalists, she puts eyewitness boots on the ground. That's admirable for a cerebral 60+ woman.
This book, however, is outdated, or, more generously, it's historical. Its a collection of Kolbert's articles, published mostly in the New Yorker, since 2005. But since the 2015 articles, Miami has still been flooding and Greenland has still been melting. 10 years is a long period for climate policies and catastrophes (think Guadalupe River) to evolve but there is no status update here.
The articles from 2023 and later are fascinating. Will AI get us talking to the animals? Will natural entities, such as streams, get legal rights? Oh I do hope so!
This book, however, is outdated, or, more generously, it's historical. Its a collection of Kolbert's articles, published mostly in the New Yorker, since 2005. But since the 2015 articles, Miami has still been flooding and Greenland has still been melting. 10 years is a long period for climate policies and catastrophes (think Guadalupe River) to evolve but there is no status update here.
The articles from 2023 and later are fascinating. Will AI get us talking to the animals? Will natural entities, such as streams, get legal rights? Oh I do hope so!
November 23, 2025
Another Great Read
Kolbert is one of the greatest reporters of climate change. Every time I read one of her books, I am left wanting to know more. Whether it's species extinction, ecosystem collapse, CO2 emissions, rising seas......you learn that everything is connected and if no one is going to do anything to change the outcome, there will be no future. I highly recommend this book to any skeptics out there, and also to the deniers of climate change. Saying that something won't happen enough times will not make it true.
Kolbert is one of the greatest reporters of climate change. Every time I read one of her books, I am left wanting to know more. Whether it's species extinction, ecosystem collapse, CO2 emissions, rising seas......you learn that everything is connected and if no one is going to do anything to change the outcome, there will be no future. I highly recommend this book to any skeptics out there, and also to the deniers of climate change. Saying that something won't happen enough times will not make it true.
November 24, 2025
A collection of her essays on the natural world-focused on climate change. Her writing is accessible and interesting. I could listen to this numerous times and still keep learning. I was struck by how one person can make such a difference like David Wagner and caterpillars and Sam Wasser and DNA in scat.
November 11, 2025
Are you interested about the plant that you’re living on? This was a deep and interesting dive into our changing planet. Where are the bee’s going? Why are lakes shrinking? Should the natural world have rights? All questions answered in this book.
I don’t recommend it as light reading or before bed as it’s more intense and something that I definitely needed to process as I read. Take your time it’s worth the read! This is a book that examines the impact that people have had on the planet and what we need to focus on.
I don’t recommend it as light reading or before bed as it’s more intense and something that I definitely needed to process as I read. Take your time it’s worth the read! This is a book that examines the impact that people have had on the planet and what we need to focus on.
November 13, 2025
Kolbert, the Pulitzer Prize winning author, has gathered for her readers 17 celebratory articles from the last 20 years of her writing career, to highlight and inspire others working for a better climate today and tomorrow.
With devastating climate events happening daily around the world, articles on issues from ten years or over, may seem out-dated to some readers. The lesson here, however, is to acknowledge the journey towards climate action, that sometimes has happened slowly and other times has been revolutionary in nature. Many of the essays draw our focus towards solutions and how the impact of an individual’s work on conserving, communicating, rewilding and protecting our precious world and ecosystems, can motivate and inspire local communities to work together.
Kolbert reminds her readers that, ‘We live in an extraordinary time’ and that the alarming pace of climate decline we witness in the modern world, is a rare occurrence in the planet’s history and one which we are in danger of pushing past a point of no return. ‘But over the last four billion years, only very rarely has change rushed along at the pace it is moving today.’ Rising global carbon emissions and the resulting need for decarbonisation can become political footballs, which can delay helpful technologies which may play a part such as carbon dioxide removal initiatives. Kolbert is quick to note the challenges that need to be surmounted before any of these programmes could be feasible at large scale and suggests instead that these efforts may simply be a distraction from the need to turn the curve of global emissions back down to the steady and stable levels of the past.
Kolbert notes, ‘The amount of CO₂ in the air now is probably greater than it’s been at any time since the mid- Pliocene, three and a half million years ago, when there was a lot less ice at the poles and sea levels were sixty feet higher.’
‘Life on a Little- Known Planet’ is not by any means, a ‘doomist’ text. Instead, it profiles dedicatedindividuals, including more famous names like James Hansen and Christiana Figueres, one of the architects of the Paris Agreement, along with their experiences and expert views.
It also focuses on the efforts of individuals around the world, who have a strong sense of place and connection with their environments. The moral and legal question of whether the natural world should have rights, is evaluated by Kolbert and is found to exist throughout human history. ‘From a certain point of view, granting nature a say isn’t radical or new at all. For most of history, people saw themselves as dependent on their surroundings, and “rivers, trees and land” enjoyed the last word.’
Witnessing how both our local and global environments are changing, transforming and collapsing, reminds us of what we are in danger of losing. Writers like Kolbert have been sounding the climate alarm for over 20 years now and this is brought into sharp relief when we read her prescient articles dating back to 2005.
When languages die out; when ecosystems die out; when insect colonies die out; we are not just in danger of losing connections, species and interconnected worlds- which we are still touching the surface of- no, instead, we are in danger of losing ourselves and our relationship with our world. How we respond to the climate crisis as the defining challenge of our times, means that we have to move beyond words, treaties and pledges. We need a response which is rooted in gratitude.
The Earth is not a capitalist commodity.
It is our home.
With devastating climate events happening daily around the world, articles on issues from ten years or over, may seem out-dated to some readers. The lesson here, however, is to acknowledge the journey towards climate action, that sometimes has happened slowly and other times has been revolutionary in nature. Many of the essays draw our focus towards solutions and how the impact of an individual’s work on conserving, communicating, rewilding and protecting our precious world and ecosystems, can motivate and inspire local communities to work together.
Kolbert reminds her readers that, ‘We live in an extraordinary time’ and that the alarming pace of climate decline we witness in the modern world, is a rare occurrence in the planet’s history and one which we are in danger of pushing past a point of no return. ‘But over the last four billion years, only very rarely has change rushed along at the pace it is moving today.’ Rising global carbon emissions and the resulting need for decarbonisation can become political footballs, which can delay helpful technologies which may play a part such as carbon dioxide removal initiatives. Kolbert is quick to note the challenges that need to be surmounted before any of these programmes could be feasible at large scale and suggests instead that these efforts may simply be a distraction from the need to turn the curve of global emissions back down to the steady and stable levels of the past.
Kolbert notes, ‘The amount of CO₂ in the air now is probably greater than it’s been at any time since the mid- Pliocene, three and a half million years ago, when there was a lot less ice at the poles and sea levels were sixty feet higher.’
‘Life on a Little- Known Planet’ is not by any means, a ‘doomist’ text. Instead, it profiles dedicatedindividuals, including more famous names like James Hansen and Christiana Figueres, one of the architects of the Paris Agreement, along with their experiences and expert views.
It also focuses on the efforts of individuals around the world, who have a strong sense of place and connection with their environments. The moral and legal question of whether the natural world should have rights, is evaluated by Kolbert and is found to exist throughout human history. ‘From a certain point of view, granting nature a say isn’t radical or new at all. For most of history, people saw themselves as dependent on their surroundings, and “rivers, trees and land” enjoyed the last word.’
Witnessing how both our local and global environments are changing, transforming and collapsing, reminds us of what we are in danger of losing. Writers like Kolbert have been sounding the climate alarm for over 20 years now and this is brought into sharp relief when we read her prescient articles dating back to 2005.
When languages die out; when ecosystems die out; when insect colonies die out; we are not just in danger of losing connections, species and interconnected worlds- which we are still touching the surface of- no, instead, we are in danger of losing ourselves and our relationship with our world. How we respond to the climate crisis as the defining challenge of our times, means that we have to move beyond words, treaties and pledges. We need a response which is rooted in gratitude.
The Earth is not a capitalist commodity.
It is our home.
December 24, 2025
4++
Life on a Little-known Planet is a collection of articles on a wide variety of environmental issues written by Elizabeth Kolbert over the course of 20 years. As such, which ones a reader likes best will probably vary, but I am confident that anyone with an interest in nature and the environment will find plenty of information, entertainment, and serious food for thought.
My attention was grabbed immediately by the Introduction, which talked about quolls, ferocious creatures that look a bit like spotted ferrets and are doing serious predation in Australia. Probably my favorite piece was “TESTING THE WATERS Should the Natural World Have Rights?” Should Lake Mary Jane in Florida be able to sue to prevent development from destroying nineteen hundred acres of wetlands, pine flatlands, and cypress forests? Some others I especially liked were “THE LOST CANYON Drought is Shrinking Lake Powell, Revealing a Hidden Eden”, which was highly informative and also very entertaining. Lake Powell features the Rincon Floating Restroom, which Kolbert says “had to be one of the world’s most scenic toilets.” I confess I was captivated simply by the title of one of my other favorites, “KILLING MRS TIGGLY-WINKLE New Zealand Town Tries to Rid Itself of Invasive Species”. It was a wonderful article that made me feel empathy for both sides! It seems that no one can write a book these days without including Artificial Intelligence, but “TALK TO ME Can Artificial Intelligence Allow Us to Speak to Other Species?”, about the Cetacean Translation Initiative (CETI) to “talk” to whales, was certainly a creative initiative! I assure you, though, that all of the pieces had interesting topics and worthwhile information!
The only thing that could have made the book better would be some illustrations to help me envision the regions discussed.
WARNING: This is one of those books that made me keep wanting to stop frequently to share the latest tidbit or idea with my long-suffering husband, so if you share my tendencies you might want to read in a separate room. I DO plan to recommend he read it himself, though.
I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley and Crown Books.
Life on a Little-known Planet is a collection of articles on a wide variety of environmental issues written by Elizabeth Kolbert over the course of 20 years. As such, which ones a reader likes best will probably vary, but I am confident that anyone with an interest in nature and the environment will find plenty of information, entertainment, and serious food for thought.
My attention was grabbed immediately by the Introduction, which talked about quolls, ferocious creatures that look a bit like spotted ferrets and are doing serious predation in Australia. Probably my favorite piece was “TESTING THE WATERS Should the Natural World Have Rights?” Should Lake Mary Jane in Florida be able to sue to prevent development from destroying nineteen hundred acres of wetlands, pine flatlands, and cypress forests? Some others I especially liked were “THE LOST CANYON Drought is Shrinking Lake Powell, Revealing a Hidden Eden”, which was highly informative and also very entertaining. Lake Powell features the Rincon Floating Restroom, which Kolbert says “had to be one of the world’s most scenic toilets.” I confess I was captivated simply by the title of one of my other favorites, “KILLING MRS TIGGLY-WINKLE New Zealand Town Tries to Rid Itself of Invasive Species”. It was a wonderful article that made me feel empathy for both sides! It seems that no one can write a book these days without including Artificial Intelligence, but “TALK TO ME Can Artificial Intelligence Allow Us to Speak to Other Species?”, about the Cetacean Translation Initiative (CETI) to “talk” to whales, was certainly a creative initiative! I assure you, though, that all of the pieces had interesting topics and worthwhile information!
The only thing that could have made the book better would be some illustrations to help me envision the regions discussed.
WARNING: This is one of those books that made me keep wanting to stop frequently to share the latest tidbit or idea with my long-suffering husband, so if you share my tendencies you might want to read in a separate room. I DO plan to recommend he read it himself, though.
I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley and Crown Books.
December 24, 2025
Mixed feelings on this. for one, Elizabeth Kolbert is an incredibly talented writer and journalist; but this collection of essays/articles bugged me for a few reasons. 5 stars for the content but 1 star for the context and the way it was presented.
Each chapter in this book is an essay/article Kolbert originally published elsewhere (most of them, the New Yorker). The originally published dates of each article are stated at the END of the chapter. This information is VERY relevant to this text because the essays are on various topics within climate change; thus the timing of the research and writing is absolutely paramount to the context for the piece itself. For example, in a chapter about Greenland, sea ice melt and sea level rise is discussed at length, but we find out at the end of the chapter that it was originally published YEARS ago so the information presented isn't up to date or accurate anymore. This was a relevant issue for every. single. chapter. Another example: a profile on one of the architects of the Paris Agreement with no mention of the actual agreement because it was about her work beforehand.
I appreciate that in many chapters there’s an update after the essay to give more current context, but they were typically very short and that doesn’t change the confusing and misleading setup and content of the book.
If you’re going to publish outdated research and information, dates should be upfront so the reader can have that context while they read; NOT after so they have to mentally correct so much of the information they learned. I get that in a physical copy of the book one can easily flip between pages to check the dates, but in an audiobook it’s more of a hassle.
It’s frustrating as this is likely a product of authors and editors not thinking about audiobook readers when formatting the text. i hate to say that halfway through the book it felt like a waste of time reading it because of all the out of date and frequently lacking context information. Also, the audiobook narrator pronounced a couple things wrong which always bugs me.
Kolbert is journalist so she doesn't draw many personal conclusions from her work as a focus of the text instead prioritizing reporting information. However, I do think a few of the topics addressed in these essays could have benefitted from some additional counterargument context and/or sources.
Reading this sadly felt like a waste of time. If I had known the proper context (i.e. a subtitle like "essays originally published in the New Yorker between 2005 and 2022") I would not have read it. Again, Kolbert is an amazing writer and researcher and I love her work, but this text really frustrated me.
Each chapter in this book is an essay/article Kolbert originally published elsewhere (most of them, the New Yorker). The originally published dates of each article are stated at the END of the chapter. This information is VERY relevant to this text because the essays are on various topics within climate change; thus the timing of the research and writing is absolutely paramount to the context for the piece itself. For example, in a chapter about Greenland, sea ice melt and sea level rise is discussed at length, but we find out at the end of the chapter that it was originally published YEARS ago so the information presented isn't up to date or accurate anymore. This was a relevant issue for every. single. chapter. Another example: a profile on one of the architects of the Paris Agreement with no mention of the actual agreement because it was about her work beforehand.
I appreciate that in many chapters there’s an update after the essay to give more current context, but they were typically very short and that doesn’t change the confusing and misleading setup and content of the book.
If you’re going to publish outdated research and information, dates should be upfront so the reader can have that context while they read; NOT after so they have to mentally correct so much of the information they learned. I get that in a physical copy of the book one can easily flip between pages to check the dates, but in an audiobook it’s more of a hassle.
It’s frustrating as this is likely a product of authors and editors not thinking about audiobook readers when formatting the text. i hate to say that halfway through the book it felt like a waste of time reading it because of all the out of date and frequently lacking context information. Also, the audiobook narrator pronounced a couple things wrong which always bugs me.
Kolbert is journalist so she doesn't draw many personal conclusions from her work as a focus of the text instead prioritizing reporting information. However, I do think a few of the topics addressed in these essays could have benefitted from some additional counterargument context and/or sources.
Reading this sadly felt like a waste of time. If I had known the proper context (i.e. a subtitle like "essays originally published in the New Yorker between 2005 and 2022") I would not have read it. Again, Kolbert is an amazing writer and researcher and I love her work, but this text really frustrated me.
December 12, 2025
Overall Book Rating: 3.0 stars
I struggled with this book; between the current state of the world and the doomed-feeling conclusion of the book, it was hard to enjoy this book. It wasn't easy to read; the message is important; however, I have a feeling the people who most need the message won't be reading it.
This book is a collection of articles from The New Yorker that have been collected from the past few decades, with short updates after the articles. So a lot of it is pretty outdated, with the exception of the updates, which I found frustrating. Overall, a quite meh read.
Narrator Rating: 4.0 stars
The narrator was excellent for a non-fiction book, and made it a bit less blah.
Read if you're in the mood for something: adventurous, challenging, emotional, informative, reflective, sad, & medium-paced
Content Warnings
I struggled with this book; between the current state of the world and the doomed-feeling conclusion of the book, it was hard to enjoy this book. It wasn't easy to read; the message is important; however, I have a feeling the people who most need the message won't be reading it.
This book is a collection of articles from The New Yorker that have been collected from the past few decades, with short updates after the articles. So a lot of it is pretty outdated, with the exception of the updates, which I found frustrating. Overall, a quite meh read.
Narrator Rating: 4.0 stars
The narrator was excellent for a non-fiction book, and made it a bit less blah.
Read if you're in the mood for something: adventurous, challenging, emotional, informative, reflective, sad, & medium-paced
Content Warnings
December 15, 2025
A collection of articles about the world we live in. Most of the articles were originally published, sometimes quite a few years ago, in The New Yorker. Kolbert’s writing is so captivating that portions of many of the articles were still familiar to me. New Zealand’s attempts to eliminate invasive non-native mammals. The collapse of bee colonies. Lake Powell shrunken by drought. A dog trained to sniff out whale poop. At the end of the book I was left wanting more; ideally, more of the same but more recent updates.
November 26, 2025
Your writing feels like it was meant to be drawn. The flow, the framing, the way you capture emotion, it’s the kind of storytelling that breathes in pictures.
I'm a commissioned artist and work on comic and webtoon adaptations. Your story had that instant spark of imagery that is meant for a visual adaptation.
I'd love to connect through Instagram (@eve_verse_) or Discord (bennett_lol) if you’d like to explore that.
December 3, 2025
Great compilation of the articles that she wrote for the New Yorker and other magazines. Quite intense to read altogether, as there is some hope among the doom and gloom of how we’ve done such a phenomenal job of destroying this planet.
December 17, 2025
exceptionally researched and touchingly human. somehow manages to cover a plethora of topics across the globe, all carrying staggering impacts, while still conveying intimacy in each subject and person depicted.
December 21, 2025
Essays published over time gathered to make this book about climate change and energy consumption. I’ve enjoyed her other works, especially The Sixth Extinction, more. But this was still a good read.
November 4, 2025
Inspiring book. Strongly recommend.
November 16, 2025
An excellent compilation of essays about our world, and how the impacts of climate change have touched humans across the globe, as well as other creatures and geography we share it with
November 22, 2025
Great read both educational and informative.
November 24, 2025
Wow. If you have any interest in the world around us, you should read this book. Excellent and accessible writing about the parts of nature that most of us don't think about on a daily basis.
November 24, 2025
Fab, she’s remarkable.
Read
November 29, 2025I think I need to try the print/e-version over the audio book.
December 4, 2025
An essential read for our era of accelerating global warming, climate change, habitat loss, and species extinction.
December 9, 2025
It's interesting and eye-opening. The author does an excellent job explaining the issues.
December 9, 2025
Elizabeth Kolbert is the best climate and environment writer, and she's also a staff writer for The New Yorker. So, of course, this is an excellent book.
December 15, 2025
3.75 stars.
December 15, 2025
Extraordinary book. If you think climate change is not happening right now, this is the book to read. We are in deep trouble and decisions are being made today that will accelerate the disaster.
December 18, 2025
My AudioFile review:
LIFE ON A LITTLE-KNOWN PLANET
Dispatches from a Changing World
by Elizabeth Kolbert | Read by Rebecca Lowman
Contemporary Culture • 12.5 hrs. • Unabridged • © 2025
Rebecca Lowman's measured rhythm and inviting tone perfectly transform these 17 long-form essays into an engrossing listening experience. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Elizabeth Kolbert focuses on the environmental devastation wrought upon Earth by human activity, particularly our use of fossil fuels. Kolbert imparts a sense of amazement at the aspects of our "little-known planet" that are yet to be explored and highlights the work of those engaged in these endeavors. Kolbert's travels with many of those she profiles make their stories more personal and immediate. Lowman's unhurried, immersive performance enhances this thought-provoking look at what is happening to our planet. S.G. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2025]
Trade Ed. • Random House Audio • 2025
DD ISBN 9798217165919 $23.00
Library Ed. • Books on Tape • 2025
DD ISBN 9798217166565 $85.00
LIFE ON A LITTLE-KNOWN PLANET
Dispatches from a Changing World
by Elizabeth Kolbert | Read by Rebecca Lowman
Contemporary Culture • 12.5 hrs. • Unabridged • © 2025
Rebecca Lowman's measured rhythm and inviting tone perfectly transform these 17 long-form essays into an engrossing listening experience. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Elizabeth Kolbert focuses on the environmental devastation wrought upon Earth by human activity, particularly our use of fossil fuels. Kolbert imparts a sense of amazement at the aspects of our "little-known planet" that are yet to be explored and highlights the work of those engaged in these endeavors. Kolbert's travels with many of those she profiles make their stories more personal and immediate. Lowman's unhurried, immersive performance enhances this thought-provoking look at what is happening to our planet. S.G. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2025]
Trade Ed. • Random House Audio • 2025
DD ISBN 9798217165919 $23.00
Library Ed. • Books on Tape • 2025
DD ISBN 9798217166565 $85.00
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews