YOU ONLY GO EXTINCT ONCE: Stuck in the Anthropocene with the Pleistocene Blues Again

YOU ONLY GO EXTINCT ONCE (Stuck in the Anthropocene with the Pleistocene Blues Again) shows us a planet that is simultaneously funny, fascinating, frightening, and full of plants, animals, and humans who think they have things figured out. Haven't we learned anything yet? Even the Neanderthals could have taught us that you only go extinct once. From essays like "We're All a Little Bananas Here" and "Beavers vs the Army Corps of Engineers," to "Calling All Neanderthals" and "Interview with an Inflatable Tube Man," YOU ONLY GO EXTINCT ONCE not only shows us the natural world, but how hysterically far from the natural world humans have come. Nobody ever said the Anthropocene would be easy. It's not even easy for all scientists to agree that we're in the Anthropocene, a period of geologic time defined by human's impact on climate and ecosystems, and further evidence, perhaps, that we should all go back to the Pleistocene and start over. Sometimes, when you find yourself at an evolutionary dead-end, all you can do is laugh. In these fifty essays, environmental scientist Bob Lorentson blends humor with science, nature, and culture until the reader won't know whether to laugh, cry, or start building an ark. If you liked his first book, HOLD THE APOCALYPSE - PASS ME A SCIENTIST PLEASE, you're sure to enjoy YOU ONLY GO EXTINCT ONCE. Excerpts: From "Wouldn't You Like to Be a Prepper Too?": An apocalypse is no time to discover that time goes twice as slow in a bunker, and toilet paper twice as fast. From "A Modern Guide to Thinking": If you find yourself saying, What were they thinking? more than usual these days, perhaps it's time to take a closer look at an activity that some think back on as the foundation of humanity, while others think ahead and just see the ruins. From "The Opossum - America's National Shame": While other mammals were busy evolving into fascinating creatures like horses, foxes, and bison, opossums are a 65-million-year-old reminder of what happens when you don't even try. From "How to Resurrect Will Cuppy": The animals spoke to him in ways that people didn't, although in the city it took a fine ear to tell the difference. From "Animals on Drugs": Sometimes I have to wonder if the whole planet isn't made of locoweed. View Less