Cataclysms

To an extent undreamed of by any other species, the human race has changed this planet forever. In Cataclysms, Laurent Testot surveys the long history of human influence on Earth and finds that mass extinctions, deforestation, global warming, ocean acidification, unchecked pollution, and endless violence have been only some of the costs of human innovation and progress. Testot's approach, however, while sweeping, is light and approachable, telling the story-sometimes rambunctious, sometimes appalling-ofhow a glorified monkey transformed its own environment beyond all recognition. We can see in this telling our own contemporary concerns with the state and fate of the planet, but Testot imparts a fresh appreciation of the depth, scope, and force of the history behind them--