Under a White Sky is a fascinating survey of novel attempts to manage natural systems of all sizes, from preserving tiny populations of desert fish to altering the entire atmosphere.

In this new book, Kolbert once again looks down the barrel of the Anthropocene, the new geologic epoch where human activity represents the most powerful force shaping the machinery of Earth's planetary evolution.

... an arresting montage of just how hard it is to return balance to our exquisitely interconnected biosphere, and the extraordinary efforts people go to in the attempt.

[Kolbert's] narrative voice is steady and restrained — the better, it sometimes seems, to allow an unadorned reality to show through, its contours unimpeded by frantic alarmism or baroque turns of phrase.

Science writer extraordinaire Kolbert reports on man-made natural disasters and less-than-reassuring attempts and plans to ameliorate them. Writing with trenchant wit and stinging matter-of-factness, Kolbert observes 'how much easier it is to ruin an ecosystem than to run one.'.

... riveting and pessimistic.

If you’re up for being shaken into fuller awareness about our endangered world...there are few more competent or companionable guides. Kolbert’s conversational prose draws readers across earth’s land, waters and air, animating a prismatic what’s-what of human follies and their unintended consequences. Metaphor, mythology, and literary references often frame the science, underlining life’s beautiful essences under threat. She mines past and present debacles due to ignorance or arrogance, and finesses a remarkable amount of detail and background into her text.

A sobering and realistic look at humankind’s perhaps misplaced faith that technology can work with nature to produce a more livable planet..

... will satisfy readers keen on a skeptical survey of how innovation could save coral reefs or turn climate-warming carbon into stone.

... highly readable, albeit disturbing.

In the manner of fellow New Yorker contributor John McPhee, every paragraph of Kolbert’s books has a mountain of reading and reporting behind it.

Pulitzer-winner Kolbert focuses once again on the Anthropocene in this illuminating study of humans’ 'control of nature.'.