The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

This review in The Guardian by Caspar Henderson does a wonderful job of contextualizing (literarily) and summarizing the Pulitzer Prize-winning (2015, General Non-fiction) piece of science writing by Elizabeth Kolbert--better than I could ever do. There have been five major extinctions in the history of planet earth and Kolbert documents the evidence that bolsters the assertion that human beings are the cause of the sixth. A major extinction is an "an event in which a significant proportion of life is eliminated in a geologically insignificant amount of time" (see The Guardian) whether the cause is a catastrophic event like the asteroid which wiped out 75% of the planet's life forms in a matter of weeks or the human-caused acidification of the oceans, deforestation, and warming of the atmosphere in the last few decades.
Kolbert travels to numerous places around the world to observe and question those scientists doing work in the study of various animal and plant extinctions today, thus offering the reader a rigorous and first hand look at the extent of damage caused and the irreversible effects of our rapidly burgeoning, increasingly mobile population. She provides an overview of history in the big sense--beyond human habitation--to put this in perspective. Which makes the rapid rate of extinctions occurring today, at one and the same time just another cycle in the big picture, and also a tragic tale of loss and destruction that will inevitably lead to a very different world in the near future.
She reports; she does not lecture or advise for she does not see that as her role. Often compelling, sometimes an effort, it is a sobering read but well worth the effort. Several online interviews with Kolbert are available including this one in the NYTimes.

The Visitors

I am woefully behind on posting books that I have read, but need to get this one back to the library pronto so will start here. This is the BBC (Biblioholics Book Club) selection for December by Sally Beauman (journalist and author of Rebecca's Tale). It is a historical novel for the most part, although part of it is also set in more contemporary times. The major historical focus of the book is the period around the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1923. Just prior to that, our narrator, Lucy, is taken as a young girl to Egypt by a governess, following the death of her mother. She herself is still recovering from the typhoid fever that was fatal to her mother. There she meets Frances, daughter of the American archaeologist Herbert Winlock, and, though somewhat younger than Lucy, the girls form a deep friendship that lasts until Frances's untimely death in her early 20's from TB.
This is a very detailed and gritty portrayal of the major players working in the Valley of the Kings in that decade, notably Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon from England and the archaeologsits from the Met in New York. There were rumors of some shady activities surrounding the opening of Tut's tomb and these were later borne out by documentary evidence in letters and diaries.
The other significant settings and events are a few chapters detailing the death of Frances who disappeared from Lucy's life for a couple of years while she was secreted away in Saranac Lake, NY, a haven for those suffering from TB. The cold clean air was thought to be restorative and shortly before she dies, she contacts Lucy and asks her to come. People hid the fact that someone had TB since it was contagious and carried social stigma. Lucy was able to reconnect with her friend for her few last weeks.
Then there is the contemporary setting of Lucy's house in London, where she is recalling all these events at the prompting of Mr. Fong, who is making a documentary about the discovery of Tut's tomb. Lucy is now in her 90's. She is still friends with one other woman she met as a girl in Egypt, Rose. Rose's younger brother Peter briefly became Lucy's lover at the beginning of WWII before he he was killed, and their baby died. So there are a lot of ghosts in Lucy's life.
The settings are colorfully portrayed and Beauman has scoured historical documents to make the historical people and events as accurate as possible. However, I find Lucy to be a less than compelling character and the book felt slow at times. Nevertheless, I learned a lot--about the discovery of Tut's tomb and the role of Lake Saranac--and that is always satisfying.
See this somewhat more cogent and pointed review in The Guardian or this one from Kirkus.