Sign-In
Cart
Extinctions: How Life Survives, Adapts and Evolves
Paperback
BiologyEnvironmental StudiesNature Writing
Publisher Price: $16.95
ISBN13: 9780500298633
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Published: Jan 13 2026
Pages: 304
Weight: 0.75
Height: 0.90 Width: 5.10 Depth: 7.70
Language: English
Extinctions lays out the latest scientific understanding of mass extinction on our planet. Cutting--edge techniques across biology, chemistry, physics, and geology have transformed our understanding of the deep past, including the discovery of a previously unknown mass extinction. This compelling evidence, revealing a series of environmental crises resulting in the near collapse of life on Earth, illuminates our current dilemmas in exquisite detail.
Beginning with the oldest, paleontologist Michael J. Benton takes us through the big five die outs: the Late Ordovician, which set the evolution of the first animals on an entirely new course; the Late Devonian, apparently brought on by global warming; the cataclysmic End--Permian, also known as the Great Dying, which wiped out over 90 percent of all life on Earth; the newly discovered Carnian Pluvial Event; and the End-Cretaceous asteroid. He examines how global warming, acid rain, ocean acidification, erupting volcanoes, and meteorite impact have affected conditions on Earth, and how life survived, adapted, and evolved.
Benton's expert retelling of scientific breakthroughs in paleobiology is illustrated throughout with photographs of fossils and fieldwork, and artistic reconstructions of prehistoric environments. In Extinctions, readers will learn about the revolutionary new tools used to uncover ancient extinction events and processes in forensic detail. As today's climate scientists and political leaders grapple to understand these processes and our planet enters the sixth great extinction, these insights from the past may hold the key to survival.
3 different editions
Also available
Also in
Nature Writing
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paperback
The Story of Birds: A New History from Their Dinosaur Origins to the Present
Brusatte, Steve
Hardcover
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate--Discoveries from a Secret World
Wohlleben, Peter
Paperback
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Hardcover
To Catch a Fish: Essays on the Joy, Frustration, Curiosity, and Allure of Fishing
Kurlansky, Mark
Hardcover
The Fullness of Time: Marking the Day by Birdsong, Blooms, Shadows, and Stars
Haynes, Cathy
Hardcover
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
Nezhukumatathil, Aimee
Paperback
I Have This Thing for Flowers: Essays on the Roots of Relationships
Sawchyn, Alysia Li Ying
Hardcover
Exploring the Maine Woods - The Hardy Family Expedition to the Machias Lakes
Hardy Eckstorm, Fannie
Carbone, Tommy
Paperback
Outsider Animals: How the Creatures at the Margins of Our Lives Have the Most to Teach Us
Zuk, Marlene
Hardcover
Werner's Nomenclature of Colours: Adapted to Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Anatomy, and the Arts
Werner, Abraham Gottlob
Syme, Patrick
Hardcover
The Call of the Honeyguide: What Science Tells Us about How to Live Well with the Rest of Life
Dunn, Rob
Hardcover
The Whispers of Rock: The Stories That Stone Tells about Our World and Our Lives
Khatwa, Anjana
Hardcover
We Love You: An Optimistic Guide to Life on a Rock Floating Through Space
Sullivan, Thomas
Min, Andy
Hardcover
The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas, Revised Edition
Dennis, Jerry
Paperback
The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative
Williams, Florence
Paperback
Braiding Sweetgrass / Una Trenza de Hierba Sagrada: Sabiduría Indígena, Conocimiento Científico Y Las Enseñanzas de Las Plantas
Kimmerer, Robin Wall
Paperback
First Adirondackers: 12,000 Years of Indigenous Peoples in the Adirondack Uplands
Stager, Curt
Fadden, David Kanietakeron
Paperback
What Is Intelligence?: Lessons from AI about Evolution, Computing, and Minds
Aguera Y. Arcas, Blaise
Paperback
Werner's Nomenclature of Colours: Adapted to Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Anatomy, and the Arts
Syme, Patrick
Hardcover
Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science
Bergland, Renée
Paperback
The California Naturalist Handbook, Second Edition
Merenlender, Adina
Edelman, Deborah
De Nevers, Greg
Paperback
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments
Nezhukumatathil, Aimee
Hardcover
Bonefish Dreams: Stories, Facts, and Tips from Travels to the World's Best Destinations
Foster, Frank
Paperback
Radically Wild: True Tales of Adventure, Wilderness Survival, and Hard Lessons
Sunderwald, Scott
Paperback
House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest
Childs, Craig
Paperback
Fen, Bog and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis
Proulx, Annie
Paperback
Astonished by Beauty: A Field Guide to the Practice of Paying Attention
Fleischner, Thomas Lowe
Paperback
The Light Between Apple Trees: Rediscovering the Wild Through a Beloved American Fruit
Kumar, Priyanka
Hardcover
National Geographic Backyard Guide to Edible Wild Plants
Hernandez, Mimi Prunella
Wood Buzzard, Heather
Paperback
Permafrost Is an Archive: And Other Inheritances from the Alaska-Yukon Borderlands
Cook, Corinna
Paperback
Kinship Medicine: Cultivating Interdependence to Heal the Earth and Ourselves
Johnson, Wendy, MD MPH
Paperback
The Shortest History of Our Universe: The Unlikely Journey from the Big Bang to Us
Baker, David
Paperback
Plants That Kill: A Natural History of the World's Most Poisonous Plants
Dauncey, Elizabeth A.
Larsson, Sonny
Hardcover
The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America's National Parks
Williams, Terry Tempest
Paperback
Seabirds as Sentinels: Auklets, Puffins, Shearwaters, and the View from Destruction Island
Wagner, Eric
Hardcover
The Secret Knowledge of Water: Discovering the Essence of the American Desert
Childs, Craig
Paperback
In the Range of Fire and Ice: A Human and Natural History of Washington's Cascades
Williams, David B.
Hardcover
The Inner Life of Animals: Love, Grief, and Compassion--Surprising Observations of a Hidden World
Wohlleben, Peter
Paperback