[ExI] book review

[Dan TheBookMan]

On Dec 8, 2021, at 8:52 AM, William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> 'Life as we Made It' by Beth Shapiro
> 
> I cannot remember a book that was more stuffed with information and ideas.  EXtinction. saving the bison, pollution of all kinds, lots on genetic engineering and CRiSPR and twins born in China, and hornless cattle - the past, present and future, Covid and tons more.  Elegant and graceful writing.  
> 
> Got lost in some biochemistry for a few pages, but easily understood the rest.  Every topic she deals with she does so in depth (occasionally more than you might want!).  Lots of focus on ethics and controversies.  
> 
> Cannot recommend highly enough  A+

I read that as ‘_Ben_ Shapiro’ and became ever more confused as I continued reading. ;)

Speaking of extinctions, maybe you’d enjoy Peter Brannen’s _The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions_. I was happy to see him giving space to a volcanic mechanism for the End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction. I recall David Archibald’s _Dinosaur Extinction and the End of an Era_ going over this in some detail, and even mentioned it on the list years ago.

I read the Brannen, though, more for his discussion of the pre-Permian mass extinctions. Wanted to see what he’d cover. And I enjoyed that much.

Regards,

Dan 
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