Catastrophic Thinking: Extinction and the Value of Diversity from Darwin to the Anthropocene

by David Sepkoski

We live in an age in which we are repeatedly reminded—by scientists, by the media, by popular culture—of the looming threat of mass extinction. We’re told that human activity is currently producing a sixth mass extinction, perhaps of even greater magnitude than the five previous geological catastrophes that drastically altered life on Earth. Indeed, there is a very real concern that the human species may itself be poised to go the way of the dinosaurs, victims of the most recent mass extinction some 65 million years ago.
 
How we interpret the causes and consequences of extinction and their ensuing moral imperatives is deeply embedded in the cultural values of any given historical moment. And, as David Sepkoski reveals, the history of scientific ideas about extinction over the past two hundred years—as both a past and a current process—is implicated in major changes in the way Western society has approached biological and cultural diversity. It seems self-evident to most of us that diverse ecosystems and societies are intrinsically valuable, but the current fascination with diversity is a relatively recent phenomenon. In fact, the way we value diversity depends crucially on our sense that it is precarious—that it is something actively threatened, and that its loss could have profound consequences. In Catastrophic Thinking, Sepkoski uncovers how and why we learned to value diversity as a precious resource at the same time as we learned to think catastrophically about extinction.

Genres: Science, Nature, History, Nonfiction, Climate Change, Ecology, Environment

360 pages, Hardcover

First published May 11, 2020

About the author

David Sepkoski is the Thomas M. Siebel Chair in the History of Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of several books, most recently Rereading the Fossil Record: The Growth of Paleobiology as an Evolutionary Discipline.

Reviews

[Mahmoud Hamed · Rating 3 out of 5]

الكتاب عبارة عن عرض لقضايا الانقراض والتنوع البيولوجي، عرضًا تاريخيا في ظل نظرية الاطراد uniformitarianism أو النظرية الكارثية catastrophism بين عالمي الجيولوجيا لايل وكوفيه إلي علماء اليوم، وكيف أثرت قضايا الانقراض والتنوع البيولوجي في المجتمع العلمي وحتي في المجتمع العام.
لا يحتوي الكتاب علي التفاصيل العلمية للانقراض ولكن أحسن سيبكوسكي اختيار المواضيع، منها الشتاء النووي كتفكير كارثي للانقراض، ومفهوم الأنثروبوسين وكيف أصبح مؤثرا اجتماعيا علي الرغم من عدم أخذه في الاعتبار استراتغرافيًا، ولكن حقا ما صدمني هو تأثير البشر الكبير للغاية في تسريع وتيرة الانقراض والحد من تنوع الأنواع، ما لم يحدث مثله سابقا في العمود الجيولوجي.
الترجمة من جيدة إلي جيدة جدا، لكن خاب أملي قليلا حيث لم أجد المتعة العلمية التي أتوقعها.

[Peter Tillman]

An interesting review at Science: https://blogs.sciencemag.org/books/20...
Excerpt: "Sepkoski argues that the increase in diversity discourse that began in the 1980s was linked to the discovery that sudden extinction events, such as the one at the Cretaceous–Tertiary boundary more than 60 million years ago, could drastically reduce the number of species on Earth. In such a scenario, the normal rules of natural selection do not apply. Entire taxa could disappear within a short period of time through no fault of their own. Paleontologists thus reimagined life on Earth as precarious, and they recognized mass extinctions in the fossil record as the cause of sudden drops in diversity."

I doubt I will actually read this one. But it surely merits more than one review! Which is worth your time to read, even if, like me, you decide not to read the book.

[The Inquisitive Biologist · Rating 5 out of 5]

A superbly written history of science that bristles with fascinating insights, Catastrophic Thinking charts our changing understanding of extinction. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2021...

[Ahmed ِAbdel Gawad · Rating 3 out of 5]

اذا كنت تبحث عن التفاصيل العلمية عن الانقراض فلا انصحك بهذا الكتاب.. يمكنك في هذه الحالة الرجوع الي الكتاب الاكثر من رائع الانقراض السادس لاليزابيث كولبرت، والذي سبق ترجمته ضمن سلسلة عالم المعرفة.. كتاب التفكير الكارثي يعرض فقط تاريخ الانقراض كفكرة وليس كموضوع.. الكتاب يحكي عن كيفية عرض فكرة الانقراض والصراع بين العلماء في فرض نظريتاهم وكذلك الظروف السياسية والاقتصادية التي كان لها تأثير كبير على عرض نظريات الانقراض ومدي تقبلها من المجتمع العلمي والمجتمع المدني.. لذلك كجيولوجي لم استفد كثيرا للأسف

[Liam Heneghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ll have a fuller review later I suspect: Catastrophic Thinking: Extinction and the Value of Diversity from Darwin to the Anthropocene (2020), by David Sepkoski. A compelling and meticulous read. It reminds the reader that the scientific concerns of our day (indeed of any day) are manifested in the cultural products of that age (in novels, films, TV shows and so on) but that reciprocally scientists are, of course, creatures of their times. We live in anxious, fretful times so it’s not surprising that those sciences that deliberate most closely on humanity’s future should be inflected with this spirit. Catastrophic climate change, apocalyptic losses of species provide exemplary case studies. Sepkoski’s book concentrates on the latter problem though he does not ignore the former. For all of that the book is not written to dispel concerns: we are indeed hemorrhaging species, and climate change is impacting lives and economic systems. Those of us who have read the literature on pandemics before and during the era of COVID-19 know now, in very intimate ways, how catastrophes are predicted and then how they unfold. Rather, Sepkoski’s book is a very detailed (and highly enjoyable—in a suitably grim fashion) inspection of the way in which those scientific issues—especially those that get the most policy attention—are framed within a culture. Excellent volume.

[Marwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

من المحتمل أن سوء الترجمة جعلت منه غير مفيد وغير مفهوم

[Christopher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sepkoski writes about how the idea of extinction informs our thoughts about biodiversity. This is about our fiction and fears. He suggests that our concept of biodiversity is the product of the 200-hundred-year entanglement of scientific and popularized notions of extinction and that more diversity is better. We see this in both in the scientific and social spheres. The conclusion is that our ideas about extinction and biodiversity are nuanced and intermingled.

[Nabeel · Rating 4 out of 5]

الترجمة العربية متعبة، وسبكها ضعيف.

يتناول الكتاب معضلة الانقراض التي استوقفت علماء الأحافير والتطور والبيولوجيا، ويعرض تأريخاً جميلاً لتطور التفكير به من شريعة للطبيعة تنال حتى الجماعات البشرية عند التصادم الحضاري فيما بينها، إلى التفسيرات الكوراثية لاختفاء الأنواع، وصولاً إلى اكتشاف
أهمية التنوع البيولوجي أولاً ولاحقاً انعكاس هذه الفهم على التنوع الثقافي وضرورته في ديمومة الحضارة والحياة على هذا الكواكب..

[Cori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda meh... i wanted more science and a greater diversity of scientific perspectives here; this book felt less based in scientific findings and more on historical interpretation than i was hoping for; i didn't really learn much that was new....

[Khaled · Rating 1 out of 5]

ممكن يكون حظي وحش في الترجمة العربي

[Haitham Shater · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب بيفسر الاتجاه العالمي للتنوع وتقبل الاخر والتعددية بعلم الاحافير .. حاجة في منتهي الجمال والله

[Tania Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for my course - a bit dry in some places, relying on snippets of quotes. Far too many end notes - does anyone bother flipping all the way back for those?

[Chance Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read x2!