Becoming Earth
A Journey Through the Hidden Wonders that Bring Our Planet to Life
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- ¥850
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A vivid account of a major shift in how we understand Earth, from an exceptionally talented new voice. Earth is not simply an inanimate planet on which life evolved, but rather a planet that came to life.
“Glorious . . . full of achingly beautiful passages, mind-bending conceptual twists, and wonderful characters. Jabr reveals how Earth has been profoundly, miraculously shaped by life.”—Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author of An Immense World
FINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE • FINALIST FOR THE OREGON BOOK AWARD • AN AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Smithsonian, Chicago Public Library, Booklist, Scientific American, Nature
A BEST BOOK OF THE SUMMER: The Atlantic and NPR’s Science Friday
One of humanity’s oldest beliefs is that our world is alive. Though once ridiculed by some scientists, the idea of Earth as a vast interconnected living system has gained acceptance in recent decades. We, and all living things, are more than inhabitants of Earth—we are Earth, an outgrowth of its structure and an engine of its evolution. Life and its environment have coevolved for billions of years, transforming a lump of orbiting rock into a cosmic oasis—a planet that breathes, metabolizes, and regulates its climate.
Acclaimed science writer Ferris Jabr reveals a radical new vision of Earth where lush forests spew water, pollen, and bacteria to summon rain; giant animals engineer the very landscapes they roam; microbes chew rock to shape continents; and microscopic plankton, some as glittering as carved jewels, remake the air and sea.
Humans are one of the most extreme examples of life transforming Earth. Through fossil fuel consumption, agriculture, and pollution, we have altered more layers of the planet in less time than any other species, pushing Earth into a crisis. But we are also uniquely able to understand and protect the planet’s wondrous ecology and self-stabilizing processes. Jabr introduces us to a diverse cast of fascinating people who have devoted themselves to this vital work.
Becoming Earth is an exhilarating journey through the hidden workings of our planetary symphony—its players, its instruments, and the music of life that emerges—and an invitation to reexamine our place in it. How well we play our part will determine what kind of Earth our descendants inherit for millennia to come.
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Science journalist Jabr debuts with an enlightening examination of how living organisms have influenced their environments. According to Jabr, mammoths likely helped permafrost, and the carbon sequestered therein, stay frozen by digging it out from under "heat-trapping layers of snow" while rummaging for food. The arrival of land plants produced enough oxygen to thicken the ozone, which provided protection from ultraviolet radiation and enabled the emergence of the first terrestrial animals. Microbes have had a massive impact on the planet, Jabr contends, describing how ocean-dwelling microorganisms possibly "helped create the continents" by producing wet clay that "effectively lubricat" the ocean crust, promoting the process by which rock slips into the Earth's mantle, melts into magma, gets expelled by volcanoes, and then solidifies as new land. Lamenting humanity's outsized ecological footprint, Jabr notes how homo sapiens have acidified the oceans, stymied fire's role in regulating forest ecosystems, and generated vast amounts of plastics that are killing wildlife. The science highlights the complex ways in which the planet has been shaped by its inhabitants, and Jabr's sobering look at the harm wrought by humans finds some hope amid the gloom, suggesting that innovating carbon capture technology and cultivating oceanic kelp forests constitute promising strategies for sequestering atmospheric carbon. The result is an edifying and holistic view of life on Earth.
