The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment

by: Paul R. Ehrlich, Anne H. Ehrlich
The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment
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In humanity’s more than 100,000 year history, we have evolved from vulnerable creatures clawing sustenance from Earth to a sophisticated global society manipulating every inch of it. In short, we have become the dominant animal. Why, then, are we creating a world that threatens our own species? What can we do to change the current trajectory toward more climate change, increased famine, and epidemic disease?



Renowned Stanford scientists Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne H. Ehrlich believe that intelligently addressing those questions depends on a clear understanding of how we evolved and how and why we’re changing the planet in ways that darken our descendants’ future. The Dominant Animal arms readers with that knowledge, tracing the interplay between environmental change and genetic and cultural evolution since the dawn of humanity. In lucid and engaging prose, they describe how Homo sapiens adapted to their surroundings, eventually developing the vibrant cultures, vast scientific knowledge, and technological wizardry we know today.



But the Ehrlichs also explore the flip side of this triumphant story of innovation and conquest. As we clear forests to raise crops and build cities, lace the continents with highways, and create chemicals never before seen in nature, we may be undermining our own supremacy. The threats of environmental damage are clear from the daily headlines, but the outcome is far from destined. Humanity can again adapt—if we learn from our evolutionary past.

Those lessons are crystallized in The Dominant Animal. Tackling the fundamental challenge of the human predicament, Paul and Anne Ehrlich offer a vivid and unique exploration of our origins, our evolution, and our future.


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Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars - Old Alarmists Should Just Fade Away...
This Stanford Prof, starting with his first book, the Population Bomb, has been seriously discredited.100s of millions did not die as that book predicted.And why should this ivory tower elitist even care?He admittedly spends his time on coral reefs studying beautiful fish because they are beautiful -- that's his serious scientific work.Butthe alarmist issues he recites in the instant book he does not include in his serious scientific work.What is he doing about the future doom in his ... Read More
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Very different from (and much better than) The Population Bomb
Having read (and not liked) Paul Ehrlich's The Population Bomb many years ago, I thought The Dominant Animal would be much the same.It's not.It's a different animal.The Dominant Animal is very different from, and much better than, The Population Bomb.

Well researched and well written, this book takes a careful look at humans and humanity, how we have changed and how we affect our environment.With few forecasts, this book informs more than preaches.Could it be because Anne ... Read More
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - The Self-Destructive Animal...
Lepidopterist Paul Ehrlich has fulfilled the role of doomsayer since at least 1968. In that year his famous (to some infamous) book "The Population Bomb" predicted catastrophic famines, death, and misery for the late twentieth century. Many of these prophesies never materialized - a fact that did not go unnoticed. As such, some critics have referred to Ehrlich as a "reverse Cassandra," namely, he's often wrong but many people keep believing him. But wrong predictions, even fantastically wrong ones, ... Read More
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars - The Dominant Animal
Tedious and convoluted.Supposed scientific objectivity transmogrified into subjective opinion and political bias.Unreadable.Save a tree, do not buy this book.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - The Other Dominant Animals
I read this book several times. Each time I was surprised. The Dominant Animal begins by considering the ways in which humans influence the environment and the environment, modified by humans, shapes everything else. The book then parades through the delightful minds of Paul and Anne Ehrlich. In that parade one will see, more clearly presented than you will find anywhere else, the intertwined stories of human culture, evolution, and human actions toward and in the environment and how those have changed ... Read More
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