The Nature of the Future

Under a White Sky

Can we save the natural world in time?

Important, necessary, urgent and phenomenally interesting

A meticulously researched and deftly crafted work of journalism that explores some of the biggest challenges of our age

A superb and honest reflection of our extraordinary time

One of the great science journalists, Kolbert has for many years been an essential voice, a reporter from the front lines of the environmental crisis... Important, necessary, urgent and phenomenally interesting... Beautifully and insistently, Kolbert shows us that it is time to think radically about the ways we manage the environment; time to work with what we have, using the knowledge we have, with our eyes fully open to the realities of where we are

Kolbert's prose is peppered with...mordant observations, which bring out the humanity (or animality) in her subjects

Under a White Sky... exhibits Kolbert's sculptor-like skill for making climate change feel tangible, happening before our eyes and beneath our fingers

To be a well-informed citizen of Planet Earth, you need to read Elizabeth Kolbert. . . . It's a tribute to Kolbert's skills as a storyteller that she transforms the quest to deal with the climate crisis into a darkly comic tale of human hubris and imagination that could either end in flames or in a new vision of Paradise

Riveting... inspiring... the premier chronicler of humanity's thoughtless destruction of our habitat

This intimate natural history is both a sober assessment of the ecosystems we have harmed and an exciting description of some of the discoveries that could help undo that damage

Brilliantly executed and urgently necessary

A master elucidator, Kolbert is gratifyingly direct as she assesses our predicament between a rock and a hard place, creating a clarion and invaluable 'book about people trying to solve problems created by people trying to solve problems

Every paragraph of Kolbert's books has a mountain of reading and reporting behind it....  Urgent, absolutely necessary reading as a portrait of our devastated planet

A tale not of magic-bullet remedies where maybe this time things will be different when we intervene in nature, but rather of deploying a panoply of strategies big and small in hopes that there is still time to make a difference and atone for our past. A sobering and realistic look at humankind's perhaps misplaced faith that technology can work with nature to produce a more liveable planet

A terrific look at humanity's impact on the Earth (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

A wonderful book (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

This is the big story of our age (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

Well-composed snapshots of history, theory and observation that will fascinate, enlighten and appal many readers (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

A distinctive and eloquent voice of conscience... timely, meticulously researched and well-written (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

Compelling (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

Remarkable (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

Read this book (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

Elizabeth Kolbert's cautionary tale, The Sixth Extinction, offers us a cogent overview of a harrowing biological challenge. The reporting is exceptional, the contextualizing exemplary (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

Barry Lopez, author of Arctic Dreams and Horizon

The Sixth Mass Extinction is the biggest story on Earth, period, and Elizabeth Kolbert tells it with imagination, rigor, deep reporting, and a capacious curiosity about all the wondrous creatures and ecosystems that exist, or have existed, on our planet. The result is an important book full of love and loss (praise for: The Sixth Extinction)

David Quammen, author of The Song of the Dodo and Spillover

In Under a White Sky...Elizabeth Kolbert...[combines] curiosity with an acerbic wit to explore humanity's obsession with controlling nature... Kolbert's skill is in presenting compelling stories from the Anthropocene and letting us judge for ourselves

The author of the international bestseller The Sixth Extinction returns to humanity's transformative impact on the environment, now asking: after doing so much damage, can we change nature, this time to save it? 
 
Meet the biologists trying to save the world's rarest fish; the engineers who are turning carbon emissions to stone; the researchers trying to develop a 'super coral'; and the physicists contemplating shooting tiny diamonds into the stratosphere to cool the earth. 
 
Elizabeth Kolbert is one of the most important writers on the environment. Here she investigates the immense challenges humanity faces as we scramble to reverse, in a matter of decades, the effects we've had on the natural world and asks - can we save the natural world in time? 
 
'Important, necessary, urgent' Helen MacDonald 
'Meticulously researched and deftly crafted' Guardian

Elizabeth Kolbert

No one rivals Kolbert’s ability to write deeply, empathetically and engagingly about mankind’s relationship with the physical world ... She brings curiosity and persistence to the most important issues facing humankind

Chris Goodall, author of What We Need to Do Now

There is surely no better way to understand our changing world than through the uniquely engaging perspectives provided by Elizabeth Kolbert. Joining her on this round-the-world voyage to some of the most incredible places on Earth is a treat ... Immensely sobering yet also inspiring

PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH KOLBERT'S PREVIOUS BOOKS 
 
One of the great science journalists, Kolbert has for many years been an essential voice, a reporter from the front lines of the environmental crisis ... Important, necessary, urgent and phenomenally interesting

A terrific look at humanity's impact on the Earth

[Kolbert is] the premier chronicler of humanity's thoughtless destruction of our habitat

To be a well-informed citizen of Planet Earth, you need to read Elizabeth Kolbert … It’s a tribute to Kolbert’s skills as a storyteller that she transforms the quest to deal with the climate crisis into a darkly comic take of human hubris and imagination that could either end in flames or in a new vision of paradise

Kolbert’s beat is examining the impact of humans on the environment, and she does it better than basically everyone

What’s exceptional about Kolbert’s writing is the combination of scientific rigour and wry humour that keeps you turning the pages

Kolbert [has a] sculptor-like skill for making climate change feel tangible, happening before our eyes and beneath our fingers

Dispatches from a Changing World

‘To be a well-informed citizen of Planet Earth, you need to read Elizabeth Kolbert’ Rolling Stone 
 
Urgent lessons from the frontline of the climate catastrophe – from one of our most important writers on the environment and natural world, author of the seminal The Sixth Extinction and Pulitzer Prize-winner Elizabeth Kolbert. 
 
In Life on a Little-Known Planet, we join Kolbert on the road as she travels across the globe to the places most dramatically affected by global warming, such as Greenland’s rapidly melting ice sheets and Utah’s shrinking lakes. On the way, we encounter newly discovered species and the last living members of others. We learn how to bring animals back from the brink of extinction, and see the power of rewilding up close. 
 
We also meet countless brilliant and dedicated individuals who are steering us towards a better future: scientists harnessing AI to talk to whales; activists lobbying for the rights of nature; and ordinary people making extraordinary changes, like the Samsø islanders leading a completely carbon-neutral life. 
 
Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our age. The natural world is changing profoundly, and the threats to our planet will only grow more serious. Now is the time to deepen our understanding of this incredible world we are in danger of losing – to act, while we still can.

Elizabeth Kolbert

Praise for Life on a Little-Known Planet

No one rivals Kolbert’s ability to write deeply, empathetically and engagingly about mankind’s relationship with the physical world ... She brings curiosity and persistence to the most important issues facing humank ...

There is surely no better way to understand our changing world than through the uniquely engaging perspectives provided by Elizabeth Kolbert. Joining her on this round-the-world voyage to some of the most incredible ...

PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH KOLBERT'S PREVIOUS BOOKS

One of the great science journalists, Kolbert has for many years been an essential voice, a reporter from the front lines of the environmental crisis . ...

No one rivals Kolbert’s ability to write deeply, empathetically and engagingly about mankind’s relationship with the physical world ... She brings curiosity and persistence to the most important issues facing humank ...

There is surely no better way to understand our changing world than through the uniquely engaging perspectives provided by Elizabeth Kolbert. Joining her on this round-the-world voyage to some of the most incredible ...

PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH KOLBERT'S PREVIOUS BOOKS

One of the great science journalists, Kolbert has for many years been an essential voice, a reporter from the front lines of the environmental crisis . ...

No one rivals Kolbert’s ability to write deeply, empathetically and engagingly about mankind’s relationship with the physical world ... She brings curiosity and persistence to the most important issues facing humank ...

There is surely no better way to understand our changing world than through the uniquely engaging perspectives provided by Elizabeth Kolbert. Joining her on this round-the-world voyage to some of the most incredible ...

PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH KOLBERT'S PREVIOUS BOOKS

One of the great science journalists, Kolbert has for many years been an essential voice, a reporter from the front lines of the environmental crisis . ...

Books by Elizabeth Kolbert

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Praise for Life on a Little-Known Planet

No one rivals Kolbert’s ability to write deeply, empathetically and engagingly about mankind’s relationship with the physical world ... She brings curiosity and persistence to the most important issues facing humank ...

There is surely no better way to understand our changing world than through the uniquely engaging perspectives provided by Elizabeth Kolbert. Joining her on this round-the-world voyage to some of the most incredible ...

PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH KOLBERT'S PREVIOUS BOOKS One of the great science journalists, Kolbert has for many years been an essential voice, a reporter from the front lines of the environmental crisis . ...

No one rivals Kolbert’s ability to write deeply, empathetically and engagingly about mankind’s relationship with the physical world ... She brings curiosity and persistence to the most important issues facing humank ...

There is surely no better way to understand our changing world than through the uniquely engaging perspectives provided by Elizabeth Kolbert. Joining her on this round-the-world voyage to some of the most incredible ...

PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH KOLBERT'S PREVIOUS BOOKS One of the great science journalists, Kolbert has for many years been an essential voice, a reporter from the front lines of the environmental crisis . ...

No one rivals Kolbert’s ability to write deeply, empathetically and engagingly about mankind’s relationship with the physical world ... She brings curiosity and persistence to the most important issues facing humank ...

There is surely no better way to understand our changing world than through the uniquely engaging perspectives provided by Elizabeth Kolbert. Joining her on this round-the-world voyage to some of the most incredible ...

PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH KOLBERT'S PREVIOUS BOOKS One of the great science journalists, Kolbert has for many years been an essential voice, a reporter from the front lines of the environmental crisis . ...

Books by Elizabeth Kolbert

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter

PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH KOLBERT'S PREVIOUS BOOKS

One of the great science journalists, Kolbert has for many years been an essential voice, a reporter from the front lines of the environmental crisis . ...

PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH KOLBERT'S PREVIOUS BOOKS

One of the great science journalists, Kolbert has for many years been an essential voice, a reporter from the front lines of the environmental crisis . ...

PRAISE FOR ELIZABETH KOLBERT'S PREVIOUS BOOKS

One of the great science journalists, Kolbert has for many years been an essential voice, a reporter from the front lines of the environmental crisis . ...