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initial reaction to the sixth extinction

hannah's picture

i enjoyed reading the sixth extinction -- it was written in a more journalistic style, which i personally found interesting and informative. the narratives were relevant and engaging, and Kolbert made a convincing argument about the negative effects of humanity on the environment. That said, i did find that it raised some questions for me, and i felt that Kolbert didn't provide new support for her arguments as much as she rephrased her points in different ways. In some sections, the points seem almost overexaggerated in their warnings (almost alarmist). I found that she had the tendency to generalize and create straw-man arguments for people with whom she disagreed, like the people who advocated technology and discovery as a way in which to survive the future sixth extinction. While I agreed with the main point of the book (humans have influenced and caused harm to the environment and it's our responsibility to do what we can about it), I think the book was written more to mobilize people than to inform them, which caused it to err on the side of exaggeration.