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A Natural History of the Future: What the Laws of Biology Tell Us about the Destiny of the Human Species - Paperback | Diverse Reads

A Natural History of the Future: What the Laws of Biology Tell Us about the Destiny of the Human Species

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“An arresting vision of this relentless natural world” (New York Times) by a leading ecologist, who urges us to heed nature’s iron laws 

Our species has amassed unprecedented knowledge of nature, which we have tried to use to seize control of life and bend the planet to our will. In  A Natural History of the Future, biologist Rob Dunn argues that such efforts are futile. We may see ourselves as life’s overlords, but we are instead at its mercy. In the evolution of antibiotic resistance, the power of natural selection to create biodiversity, and even the surprising life of the London Underground, Dunn finds laws of life that no human activity can annul. When we create artificial islands of crops, dump toxic waste, or build communities, we provide new materials for old laws to shape. Life’s future flourishing is not in question. Ours is. 

As ambitious as Edward O. Wilson’s Sociobiology and as timely as Elizabeth Kolbert’s The Sixth Extinction, A Natural History of the Future sets a new standard for understanding the diversity and destiny of life itself. 

ISBN-13: 9781541603127

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Basic Books

Publication Date: 11-01-2022

Pages: 320

Product Dimensions: 5.40(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.90(d)

Rob Dunn is Reynolds Professor in the Department of Applied Ecology at North Carolina State University and in the Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics at the University of Copenhagen. He is also the author of seven books. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Blindsided By Life 15

Chapter 2 Urban Galapagos 37

Chapter 3 The Inadvertent Ark 61

Chapter 4 The Last Escape 75

Chapter 5 The Human Niche 103

Chapter 6 The Intelligence of Crows 123

Chapter 7 Embracing Diversity to Balance Risk 149

Chapter 8 The Law of Dependence 171

Chapter 9 Humpty-Dumpty and the Robotic Sex Bees 191

Chapter 10 Living with Evolution 209

Chapter 11 Not the End of Nature 233

Conclusion No Longer Among the Living 249

Notes 269

Index 289