Extinction - Michael Boulter

How long have humans left on Earth? Using cutting edge science that revolutionises our understanding of evolution, Michael Boulter explains how we may be closer to our own extinction than we imagined.

Sixty-five million years ago the dinosaurs were destroyed in a mass extinction event that could not have been predicted. Out of the devastation, new life developed and the world regained its natural equilibrium. Until now. Scientists, employing radically new perspectives on the science of life, are beginning to uncover signs of similar event on the horizon. The end of man.

Through the story of the last sixty-five million years, Michael Boulter reveals extraordinary new insights that scientists are only now beginning to understand about the past, the rise and fall of species and the nature of life.

EXTINCTION is an immaculately researched introduction into the new developments in the science of life as well as a chilling account of the effects that humans have had on the planet. The world will adapt and survive -humanity will not.

EXTINCTION raises some radical insights into the our view of the world:
Nature is in a balance, in which all parts interact and create harmony - this harmony is organised from the inside - it is a self-organising system
In a self-organising system the whole is more important than its parts.
One method of this system is extinction - if the system is disrupted it will do what it has to correct itself.

Michael Boutler is the Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of East London. He is the head of a team analysing Fossil Record 2 the largest database of information on extinct animals and plants. He has written numerous articles on how we understand evolutionary change. For twenty years he has been Secretary and Editor for the International Organisation of Palaeobiology. He lives with his family in North London.

`Boulter's marvellous meditation on the role of extinction in natural history.' Scotsman

'Mike Boulter's book explores new ways of looking at extinctions. He is a pioneer and shows how new methods allow us to understand major crises of the past and how they relate to the current problems. This is a whirlwind of a book.' Michael Benton, Professor of Vertebrate Palaeontology, University of Bristol

' Boulter has an intriguing tale to tell .It is indeed a story worth telling, and a book worth reading.' John Gribbin, Independent