Extinction Studies: Stories of Time, Death, and Generations

by Deborah Bird Rose (Editor), Thom van Dooren (Editor), Matthew Chrulew (Editor)

Extinction Studies asks what extinction focuses on the entangled ecological and social dimensions of extinction, exploring the ways in which extinction catastrophically interrupts life-giving processes of time, death, and generations. The volume opens up important philosophical questions about our place in, and obligations to, a more-than-human world. Drawing on fieldwork, philosophy, literature, history, and a range of other perspectives, each of the chapters in this book tells a unique extinction story that explores what extinction is, what it means, why it matters--and to whom.

Genres: Nonfiction, Environment

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 2017

Reviews

[Always Pouting · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book contains six separate pieces of writing on extinction, excluding the forward and concluding passages. I was expecting the book to be more scientific but the book is an attempt to bring humanism into the study of extinction. Most of the writing is much more philosophical than scientific and deals with what extinction is and the stories that go along with it. While the book is very well written I'm not sure how many of the ideas I agree with. I don't think there's actually that much ambiguity with extinction and that we need to discuss it so closely and semantically. I also think the connotations it tries to create with extinction didn't stick, I just feel that extinction isn't really emotional for me so for most of the book I was just detached and a little skeptical about people's lamentations in the book.

[Michael Mclendon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was provided by Netgallery in exchange for my honest review.
Truly awful. Perhaps my feelings are influenced by my background (biologist) or my misconceptions of what I was about to read but I can only hope that all copies of this work remain electronic - it isn't worth the environmental damage to commit it paper. A horrible mishmash of philosophy and bad, bad poetry. If you're looking to inform yourself on the subject, Wikipedia will serve you better. If you've done some reading in this direction and are seeking something more in depth might I recommend Niles Eldredge or David M. Raup. I simply can't imagine someone working their way through this tome other than the poor, poor students that will be suffering through the classes of the authors where I'm sure it will be required reading. You have my sympathies.

[Margaryta · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and insightful anthology on extinction, though a bit heavy for a non science individual such as myself. I personally enjoyed the first chapter on the Okami the most, as it was the only one that really tried to capture extinction in a way that wasn't the straightforward amalgamation and presentation of scientific facts and data, though the introduction stressed otherwise. The latter proved to be the most unhelpful part of the book, in fact, due to its rather wide sweeping of the topic, and the constant repetition and rewording of things it already said. Nonetheless, I learned about some animals I hadn't heard of before, and there were numerous details that were both informative and insightful to consider in the context of where we go from here as a society.

[gnarlyhiker · Rating 3 out of 5]

good luck

[Piyali Mukherjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philosophical Context in the time of Extinction

This collection of essays provide a lot to think through the place of (and contextualizing of) human ethics, philosophy and ecological place in the Anthropocene. What's interesting is that not all of these essays are about tragedy, but some are in fact about how we continue to move forward with the species we share as we preserve ecological and cultural ties to each of them.

Some of the essays are really slowed down but Michelle Bastian's essay on the interspecies knots of time will probably stay with me forever. It is to see the growth and demise of leatherback turtles through a reconceptualizing of time. Time not as an insensate ticking objecting, uniformly measured, but time as measured in the presence of interactions, encounters and events. Similarly, the essay on the Golden Lion Tamarin (and how the biopolitical determines which species get saved and how) raised the question around the ethical place of zoos and what their responsibilities to the wild are.