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"This is the first real biography of the Earth - not only a brilliant portrait of the emergence and evolution of life on this planet, but a vivid and frightening look at Earth's remote future. Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee combine storytelling power with extreme scientific care, and their narrative is as transfixing as any of H.G. Wells's fantasies, but more enthralling, for Ward and Brownlee have real power to prognosticate. This is a book that makes one shiver, but also inspires one to wonder how humanity (if we survive in the short term) will fare in the distant future." Oliver Sachs Peter Ward and Don Brownlee, a geologist and an astronomer respectively, are in the vanguard of the new field of astrobiology. Combining their knowledge of the evolution of life on our planet with their understanding of the life cycles of stars and solar systems, the authors tell the awe-inspiring story of the second half of Earth's life. The process of planetary evolution will essentially reverse itself; life as we know it will subside until only the simplest forms remain. The oceans will evaporate, and as the sun slowly expands, Earth itself will eventually meet a fiery end.
About the Author
Peter Ward is Professor of Geological Sciences and Zoology at the University of Washington in Seattle. David Brownlee is Professor of Astronomy at the University of Washington, and co-author with Peter Ward of the acclaimed and bestselling Rare Earth.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It takes a certain amount of fortitude to confront your own doom. Ward and Brownlee, having acutely described life's beginnings in "Rare Earth", here portray the mechanisms of its end. With the course of life's evolution revealed in the work of many researchers, depicting the finale has rarely been attempted. Recent studies of the past have given the authors the tools for forecasting the future. They use the history of the planet to suggest the "tape of life" will be rerun - backwards. Changing conditions will reduce the options life has to continue surviving. As a swelling sun and dehydrating Earth limit choices, life will revert to simpler, hardier forms. At some point, although far in the future, life's opportunities will end. A bleak barren world will likely be consumed by Sol's energetic transformation into a red giant star. A lifeless planet will either skirt the circumference of that swollen star or be consumed in its fires.
Although a fiery conclusion is the ultimate finale, there are many intermediate steps along the path. Ice, which has covered our planet many times in the past, is shown here as one of the major signs of the impending finish. Seas withdraw from coastlines and habitat zones shrink dramatically. Weather patterns undergo massive changes from what we experience. The authors use "time transport" techniques to enable you to envision the impact of these drastic variations. You visit future scenarios where plant life's extinction has taken herbivores with it. Grasses exist for a bit, but it's too desolate for complex grazers to enjoy them. Harsh winds scream across those savannahs, dehydrating the soil until the grasses, too, finally expire. These conditions, Ward and Brownlee contend, have likely already begun. The peak of plant diversity may already be behind us. Animal extinctions, accelerated by our presence, must surely follow.
What of humanity, then? Raised with the ideal that we are evolution's "purpose", we believe we can overcome nature's greatest challenges. It's clear that even our esteemed technology must fall short of coping with an overheating Sun. The authors, who have dealt with extinctions in the past, deal ambiguously with the logic of human continuation to a distant future. While most species survive for a few million years, they suggest we will still be present when vast changes begin. They weigh the issues of our possible escape from the doomed planet in terms of will, available resources, advanced technologies and likely havens. All come up somehow short. A bleak prospect indeed.
The authors' expressive style captures your attention throughout. Not an academic study, yet still a serious assessment, this book will keep your attention throughout. With the new science of astrobiology as their foundation, little of their narrative is idle speculation. They write with authority, yet present their theme as a drama. Actors come and go, struggle to maintain their roles, but succumb in tragic circumstances. Referring to this book as compelling reading is almost damning with faint praise. While the scenarios are projected billions of years in the future, we can initiate many of the processes through carelessness.
Incorporating many ideas and research information in a mere 200 pages is a major accomplishment. Ward and Brownlee, with their wide knowledge and almost florid style have produced a fine work. As a summary of geology, astrophysics, evolutionary biology and atmospheric sciences, this is a unique and admirable synthesis. If there is anything to fault, it is the strong reliance on the resources used in their previous collaboration - a minor flaw in such a comprehensive study. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An interesting book based on facts, clearly written and easy to understand. Written almost as a narrative, as if the authors are talking to you.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
"The disciples said to Jesus: Tell us how our end shall be. Jesus said: Have you then discovered the beginning, that you seek after the end? For where the beginning is, there shall the end be."
(The Gospel of Thomas, Logion 18)
After Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe, here comes another belter from Ward & Brownlee. The question of what has happened over the last 5 billion years of earth's history has of course been addressed in great detail by science. But what will happen over the next 5 billion?
In this masterly study, W & B contend that everything is going to go pretty much in reverse, a kind of film run backwards of the history of the planet - we may even already be past the turning point and it's downhill all the way from hereon.
A mind-blowing analysis.
(The Gospel of Thomas, Logion 18)
After Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe, here comes another belter from Ward & Brownlee. The question of what has happened over the last 5 billion years of earth's history has of course been addressed in great detail by science. But what will happen over the next 5 billion?
In this masterly study, W & B contend that everything is going to go pretty much in reverse, a kind of film run backwards of the history of the planet - we may even already be past the turning point and it's downhill all the way from hereon.
A mind-blowing analysis.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Really wanted to like this, but...
This type of book is always fascinating to read, as you know you'll learn stuff that you could never imagine. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Baz
Genuine fun
Whether any of this will ever come to pass is, of course, impossible to know. However, the science that these two use to back up their claims is genuine enough and it gives a... Read more
Published on 18 Jan 2006 by Mr. P. D. Gregson-allcott
We're All Doomed!
Ward & Brownlee tell us how planet Earth has changed over time, from its beginnings 4.5 billion years ago up to the present. Read more
Published on 4 Nov 2003
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