The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions

Peter Brannen is an extremely gifted science writer in the tradition of the venerable Richard Dawkins and much wittier than Stephen J. Gould. He provides here an excellent overview of our current thinking on prehistoric mass extinction events.The basic concepts (such as the carbon cycle) are well explained, down to the appropriate level of detail: there really is no need to descend into astrophysical details and try to explain why the early Sun was faint, and the many scientific uncertainties and counterviews are highlighted. More importantly the author presents all this with a 'helicopter view', never losing sight of the whole, something professional scientists (like myself) struggle with mightily when communicating their findings. He also includes lots of funny anecdotes, making this just a terrific page-turner. The whole story reads like a thriller where few of the protagonists die peacefully of old age and evidence against the suspects and what weapons they used is well explained, and which all ends well with us triumphant humans appearing in the final chapter to enjoy the show. If you think that great writers only write novels, do read this book instead. It is quite US-centered, with Americans even appropriating the cause for the first extinction with the rise of the Appalachians, but it all fits the intrigue.What I came away with is that only the earliest mass extinction- the one that ended the Devonian- is believed to have occurred directly by climate change (cooling). Life has since evolved to become much more robust, occupying a bewildering variety of niches and able to weather a wide range of climates- merely laughing at the 'recent' Ice Ages. Subsequent extinctions after that Devonian event required more sudden perturbations, like volcanoes and meteorites, and the wild CO2 swings that accompanied these just made things worse. I especially like the view that a large meteorite initiated the extinction of almost all dinosaurs (read the book if you still believe that all dinosaurs went away), but that this also caused Earth's magma to slosh around, helping a hotspot to pierce through India, which was just moving over it.Now where things get tricky is that this book is written in an era of heated debate over anthropogenic CO2, but that is not what the book is primarily about. What few fail to appreciate is that today's greenhouse gases are likely to greatly affect human civilization, but much less so all other life forms. So saying that the Paris agreement attempts to 'save the Planet' is therefore somewhat misleading. Coastal areas will disappear, but places like Canada and Siberia will much better support agriculture to feed us (which the FAO says should increase productivity threefold this century). Yet of course there is the ominous risk of hitting 'tipping points', so count me in as a climate worrier. Still, I would be much more concerned about an immediate return to the next Ice Age (again, this possibility is well discussed in the book). Also, we won't be pushing CO2 levels to the 30,000 ppm or so seen in the past (todays counter just passed 400). A massive extinction event is in fact ongoing (though not as bad as previous ones), but we are causing that by habitat destruction (appropriating Earth's surface for agriculture and building cities)- changing our climate has not much to do with it. I suspect Mother Nature is just waiting for us humans to go away to resume business as usual- from Her perspective, humanity's demise (through global warming or otherwise) is actually a boon for The Planet.Like I said, all this is a subtle discussion, and this book provides an excellent, well informed and well explained background to this. What is somewhat surprising is that human overpopulation, the elephant in the room, is not discussed. There is just no way Planet Earth can both maintain its biodiversity and 10 billion people, and this is a delicate discussion omitted from this book.

This book is a well done telling of the story of Earth's five great extinctions. In each case, a large majority of species (including plants, land life, sea life, and life in flight) disappeared. In most cases, ironic given today's climate debate, carbon imbalance was the problem. And even the Cretaceous extinction, recently thought to have been brought about by an object from space crashing into the Yucatan area, may have interacted with contemporaneous volcanic eruptions in India.The heart of this book is a detailed examination of life in various periods. The climax of each was an extinction event. These are the five: End-Ordovician, Late Devonian, End-Permian, End-Triassic, and End-Cretaceous. Each period is well described, as we see dominant forms evolve as well as all manner of life. Then, the climax of an extinction event that could destroy 90% of all life.Then, the author describes the slow recovery of life and new forms coming into dominance. The most recent extinction event, of course, resulted in the death of most dinosaurs (birds are dinosaurs, theropods related to T. Rex and raptors, so we have today a bridge of life back to the age of the dinosaurs). This is the end event most familiar to most of us.The book ends with speculation about a sixth extinction event, with discussion of the possibility that humans may be a part of the picture, with increased carbon being produced, destruction of natural habitats, etc. This is obviously a speculative chapter, but one that helps place the tale of five prior extinctions into an interesting frame.All in all, a fine work.

This is an entertaining and enthralling read. I learned a lot about the history of the earth, and I had a decent understanding prior. I only wish the Kindle version had some photos. The writing is great - often amusing, always interesting, and the subject matter couldn't be more important. That there are all these areas nearby that give glimpses into the very remote past is something I was oblivious of, and the other mass extinctions have been alluded to in a lot of my reading (especially by Elizabeth Kolbert in the New Yorker), but I had no idea of their magnitude. That new and spectacular creatures could arise so quickly after life was nearly wiped out is the most eye opening new information.

Endlessly fascinating and existentially mind-blowing

I laughed, 

I cried, 

I stared into the yawning abyss of time and it stared back, alight with alien eyes of creatures only the past has known, futures yet to be and futures that may never come. 

Sticks the landing with a flourish. 

10/10, incredible read. I will recommend to everyone.

I've loved science books since receiving my first one in the third grade at 8 years old. It's 2023, I'm 69 now and this is my favorite science book. It's well-reviewed in detail here, so I will only add what distinguishes it from so many others - it's easy to read whether for children or adults. It certainly has relevance to today's issues as Brannen explains the many changes planet Earth has endured and the believed causes of a number of these changes. He calls attention to the obvious comparison between greenhouse periods resulting in mass extinctions and the present conditions of which we are a part. He doesn't preach or resort to doomsaying, letting the facts of Earth's past inform the reader that through vast time, it has been many, many different worlds. It seems reasonable that we should learn from these past eras and consider the information going forward. To paraphrase Rachel Carson's “The Sea Around Us" - It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose should now be threatened by the activities of one form of that life. But the sea (and Earth itself) though changed in a sinister way, will continue to exist; the threat is rather to life itself.”

O livro é bem didático nas explanações sobre as fases de vidas e as extinções de espécies baseadas nos diferentes períodos da história geológica do planeta.

I bet you would be a different person post completion of this book. It has reaffirmed some of my beliefs and fears about the future of the humanity. Nevertheless, the description of various aspects are so scientifically poetic, which reminds you of some of the literature classics. There are many instances where I have been overwhelmed to the extent of letting out some joyful (or otherwise) tears. I have become the planet that endured all the possible ends, yet lucky enough to survive. In the end, I am hopeful of subscribing to the ideal of optimism, that, ‘all shall be well’, only if we strive diligently for it to be so. Very grateful for the author to have written such an articulate and thoroughly scientific masterpiece!

We sent it as a gift to a friend. The service was very good - it arrived early and in very good condition.

This book is amazing -- it makes the ancient and I mean the truly ancient world come to life. It also explains the catastrophes that befell it, and how almost all of them were connected to climate and CO2. It is experience to read this book, it is like going on adventure, a who-dun-it adventure as one reviewer put it. I came away with a much better understanding of climate change, and much better understanding of what we need to be doing rapidly. The world is in a crisis and we need leaders. Learn a lot of biology, about creatures ancient and modern, and you learn a lot climate. I'm so glad I bought this book to celebrate father's day.

Gran libro. Interesante. Atrapa