In her latest book “The Human Age: The World Shaped by Us” Diane Ackerman writes that “our relationship with nature has changed radically, irreversibly, but by no means all for the bad. Our new epoch is laced with invention. Our mistakes are legion, but our talent is immeasurable.”
Ackerman, who appeared at the 2014 Utah Humanities Council Book Festival, confronts the fact that the human race is now the single dominant force of change on the planet. She says that humans have “subdued 75 percent of the land surface, concocted a wizardry of industrial and medical marvels, strung lights all across the darkness.” We now collect the DNA of vanishing species in a “frozen ark,” equip orangutans with iPads, create wearable technologies and synthetic species that might one day outsmart us. Ackerman, author of “A Natural History of the Senses,” seeks to help us understand this new reality, introducing us to many of the people and ideas now creating — perhaps saving — our future.
Ackerman's other works of nonfiction include: the memoir “One Hundred Names for Love;” “The Zookeeper's Wife;” “An Alchemy of Mind;” “Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden;” “A Natural History of Love;” and “On Extended Wings,” her memoir of flying. She is also the author of numerous collections of poetry and books for children.
