INHERITORS OF THE EARTH: HOW NATURE IS THRIVING IN AN AGE OF EXTINCTION

Book ID/图书代码： 08136015B79206

English Summary/英文概要： It’s accepted wisdom today that human beings have irrevocably damaged the natural world. Throughout history we’ve introduced species and infectious diseases to foreign shores; hunted slow-moving (and slower-reproducing) mammals to extinction; and polluted previously pristine tracts of land. Now we are in the midst of the planet’s sixth mass extinction event – for which we are the main culprit.

Yet as distinguished ecologist Chris Thomas argues, this gloomy narrative obscures a more hopeful truth. In INHERITORS OF THE EARTH he tells the remarkable story of how nature is fighting back. He complicates the standard picture of today’s ecological reality, revealing that we are witnessing the first stages of a new mass acceleration of ecological and evolutionary diversity. He shows that urbanization and the mass cultivation of agriculture also created new places for enterprising animals and plants to live. Human modification of ecosystems has stimulated evolutionary change in virtually every population of every living species. Most remarkably, he shows, our actions may well have raised the rate at which new species are formed to the highest level ever in the history of our planet.

Drawing on the success stories of diverse species, from the chocolate-coloured comma butterfly in York to the scarlet-beaked, turkey-sized New Zealand takahe, Thomas overturns the accepted story of declining biodiversity on Earth. In so doing, he questions why we are so reluctant to embrace new forms of life, as well as why we see human activities as fundamentally unnatural. Ultimately, he suggests that if life on Earth can recover from the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs, it can survive the onslaughts, however violent, of a technological ape.

Combining a naturalist’s eye for wildlife with an ecologist’s wide lens, INHERITORS OF THE EARTH offers an authoritative account of the Anthropocene present and future, a challenge to conventional views of almost everything we do that relates to our interaction with the environment, and an illuminating re-examination of the relationship between humanity and the natural world.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 如今，普遍认为，人类对自然界造成了不可挽回的破坏。纵观历史，由于人类的活动，新的物种和传染性疾病带入了未开发的地区。人类不停捕杀哺乳类动物，导致其濒临灭绝，过去未开发的土地现已遭到污染。眼下，我们正面临星球第六大大规模灭绝事件——而这一切的罪魁祸首正是人类。

然而，著名生态学家 Chris Thomas认为，眼下糟糕的现状其实充满着希望。《地球继承者》一书中，作者讲述了大自然是如何反击的。他将目前的生态现状复杂化，揭露了我们正在目睹一场全新的大规模加速的生态和进化丰富性的第一阶段。作者认为，都市化和大规模农业养殖同时为动植物提供了新的栖息场所。人类对生态系统造成的改变刺激了进化变化。更为重要的是，作者指出，人类的行为可能会加速新物种形成的速率。

结合自然学家对野生动物的敏锐性以及生态学家的知识广度，《地球继承者》向读者展现了人类纪的现状与未来，挑战了传统的观点，重新审视了人类与大自然之间的关系。(LYR)

Awards/获奖情况：An immensely significant book. It is fluently written, carefully thought through, ruthlessly argued, neatly illustrated with case studies - and shockingly contrarian (Matt Ridley The Times (Book of the Week))

A decent and humane tale about the threat and promise of biodiversity change (James Lovelock, author of ’The Revenge of Gaia’ and ’A Rough Guide to the Future’)

The most interesting / challenging / surprising thing I’ve read about the natural world for years (James Rebanks, author of ’The Shepherd’s Life’)

A provocative book that challenges us to look positively at our human changes to the natural world and reimagine conservation in the Anthropocene (Gaia Vince, author of ’Adventures in the Anthropocene’)

Chris Thomas takes the million-year view of today’s human-dominated world. The result is a thoughtful, provocative, and improbably hopeful book (Elizabeth Kolbert, author of ’The Sixth Extinction’ and ’Field Notes from a Catastrophe’)

With a perspective that stretches many epochs into the past and forward to the year One Million A.D., Thomas reframes Earth’s current ecological upheaval as a time of great creation as well as great loss. Without minimizing or excusing the damage humans have done to the planet, Inheritors of the Earth opens our eyes to the splendid and fascinating ways nature is adapting and evolving to the world we have made. He urges us to take our cue from the majestic dynamism of nature and work with other species as they change and move, rather than fighting an impossible battle to freeze the planet in time. All change is not bad. I thought I was an optimist. Thomas is the real ecological optimist. (Emma Marris, author of ’Rambunctious Garden’)

With Inheritors of the Earth, Chris D. Thomas issues a challenge to the conventional view of nature in decline. He urges us to embrace the environmental changes we’ve set in motion, daring to suggest that human activities will ultimately increase the diversity of life on Earth. A timely and provocative read (Thor Hanson, author of ’The Triumph of Seeds’)

About the Author/作者介绍： Chris Thomas 是英国约克大学保护生物学教授。作为一名多产的作家，自2000起，他已经发表了210篇科学杂志文章，29篇书籍篇章，编辑了一本学术著作，并且撰写了20余篇期刊文章及其他科普文章。他的作品被引用超过26000次，使他成为世界上最具影响力的生态学家。他的研究著作曾刊登在《卫报》和《华士顿邮报》的首页。2012年，他入选“皇家协会”，并且是“皇家昆虫学协会”的长期会员，并于2011年荣获“气候变化研究类大奖”，2004年荣获“保护生物学大奖”，2001年荣获著名的“英国生态协会总统奖”勋章。

Chris Thomas is Professor of Conservation Biology at the University of York, UK. A prolific writer, he has published 210 scientific journal articles, 29 book chapters, edited one academic book, and has written around 20 magazine and other popular articles since 2000. His works have been cited more than 26,000 times, making him one of the world’s most influential ecologists, and his research has been covered on the front pages of the Guardian and Washington Post. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2012, is a long-standing Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society, and received Marsh Awards for Climate Change Research in 2011 and for Conservation Biology in 2004 and the prestigious British Ecological Society President’s Medal in 2001.

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