Dougal Dixon
After Man – A Zoology of the Future
New York, St. Martin's Griffin, 1998
ISBN 0-312-19433-1
Monika says:
Evolution is an ongoing process, even though the human lifespan is too
short for us to take notice of it, just as we aren't aware in our daily
lives that plate tectonics is constantly changing the face of the earth.
Earth quakes and volcanoes are two visible signs for this continuing
change, but the actual effects of these forces can only be seen after a
few million years. Who really knows that the African continent is right
now breaking up along the Rift Valley and that there will be a new ocean
in a couple of million years?
In his book Dougal Dixon describes what the earth could possibly look
like in 50 million years after nature will have recovered from the
catastrophic repercussions resulting from an extinction event of unknown
proportions caused by one species – Homo sapiens sapiens –
before it vanished from the stage of evolution itself. During the 4.5
billion years of its existence, Earth has known five major waves of
extinctions, from which it has always recovered. It will also recover from
the sixth, supposedly biggest extinction event caused by mankind, but
after it, nothing will be as it was before. New animals and plants will
develop and adapt to the new ecosystems, and there won't be any more
intelligent life on earth. Like Stephen Jay Gould said in his book, Wonderful
Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History, evolution is a
random process, and if one would rewind the tape of life and play it again
from the beginning, the result most certainly wouldn't be the same and
wouldn't necessarily result in the evolution of man.
The most striking – and appealing – aspect of After Man is
its wonderful illustrations painted by various artists, giving the
reader's imagination a leg up. Since the book was first published in 1981,
it doesn't contain any computer-generated images like we are used to
seeing nowadays in this kind of book. The creatures depicted in those
images may look as if they were taken straight out of a science fiction
novel, but if one looks at the strange animals and plants that have
already lived on this planet, it shouldn't really come as that great a
surprise. A page of text describing the future habitats accompanies the
full-page illustrations. A map showing the possible future distribution of
the continents and oceans is also included.
After Man is an unusual book that appeals to people with an
interest in natural history. |
Any comments? Write us:
Monika
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