Elizabeth Kolbert is a New Yorker magazine writer and this book is a colllection of essays that have appeared in the magazine, most of them in the period of 2006 through 2016. After each essay she typically provides a few updates. The essays run the gamut from Climate Change to the use of poop to determine where elephant tusks have been taken from. Her writing is very insightful and shows a deep understanding of the nature of science. The essays also provide a great introduction to the practitioners.

Kolbert is a wonderful writer about our earth and the impact of global warming upon humans and animals. Read all her books to enlighten you!

Great read and very informative.

I really like Elizabeth Kolbert’s writing style and have been using her previous book, “Under a White Sky” for a university writing course that I teach. My students have always enjoyed the book, but since it was published several years ago and I have used it for the last 7 semesters, I have been looking for something new.I was really excited to see that “Life on a Little-Known Planet” was set to be published in November and I was anxiously awaiting its release. Imagine my disappointment when I discover that none of the writing is actually new - every chapter is a former article previously published in the New Yorker Magazine, some of which are over 15 years old. To compensate, she has a short update at the end of each section, briefly addressing what has changed since the article was written. These updates are generalized and often only a couple of sentences long.A lot has changed in recent years in regards to climate science and other environmental issues, so whereas older information might not be a big deal when addressing other topics, it is a hinderance for this type of publication. I suppose it’s back to the drawing board to find a new book to assign that focuses on what is happening in the here and now.

Life on a Little-known Planet is a collection of articles on a wide variety of environmental issues written by Elizabeth Kolbert over the course of 20 years. As such, which ones a reader likes best will probably vary, but I am confident that anyone with an interest in nature and the environment will find plenty of information, entertainment, and serious food for thought.My attention was grabbed immediately by the Introduction, which talked about quolls, ferocious creatures that look a bit like spotted ferrets and are doing serious predation in Australia. Probably my favorite piece was “TESTING THE WATERS Should the Natural World Have Rights?” Should Lake Mary Jane in Florida be able to sue to prevent development from destroying nineteen hundred acres of wetlands, pine flatlands, and cypress forests? Some others I especially liked were “THE LOST CANYON Drought is Shrinking Lake Powell, Revealing a Hidden Eden”, which was highly informative and also very entertaining. Lake Powell features the Rincon Floating Restroom, which Kolbert says “had to be one of the world’s most scenic toilets.” I confess I was captivated simply by the title of one of my other favorites, “KILLING MRS TIGGLY-WINKLE New Zealand Town Tries to Rid Itself of Invasive Species”. It was a wonderful article that made me feel empathy for both sides! It seems that no one can write a book these days without including Artificial Intelligence, but “TALK TO ME Can Artificial Intelligence Allow Us to Speak to Other Species?”, about the Cetacean Translation Initiative (CETI) to “talk” to whales, was certainly a creative initiative! MR. GREEN, Environmentalism’s Most Optimistic Guru and THE GURU OF DOO-DOO Profile of Sam Wasser, Who Uses DNA to Fight Elephant Poaching were fitting last articles. The first was highly enjoyable as well as informative. The second, about using feces to do detective works against poachers, made me optimistic about the use of science at the same time I was saddened by the actions of those who are ravaging wildlife. Although those were my favorites, all of the pieces had interesting topics and worthwhile information!The only thing that could have made the book better would be some illustrations to help me envision the regions discussed.WARNING: This is one of those books that made me keep wanting to stop frequently to share the latest tidbit or idea with my long-suffering husband, so if you share my tendencies you might want to read in a separate room. I DO plan to recommend he read it himself, though.I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley and Crown Books.