The Human Age: The World Shaped by Us

Ackerman, author of literary discussions of science and nature, including Dawn Light and Natural History of the Senses, has taken on the Anthropocene (Age of Man), the term for the current geologic epoch popularized by Nobel Laureate Paul Crutzen in 2000. Ackerman describes how our world has changed because of our choices and actions and how this, in turn, has changed us, and optimistically asks how we can change our path and our world for the better. Very literate chapters describe a variety of topics, such as living buildings, blurring the indoor and outdoor, apes using computers, world changes in weather, robotics, and DNA. The material includes approachable examples—climate change in the author's own backyard, for example. Ackerman only lightly covers most of the science but she writes so well that the book will spark readers' interest in examining further what humans are doing. Elizabeth Kolbert's recent The Sixth Extinction has more science but Ackerman is a lighter read.