Publisher Description

Journalist Torill Kornfeldt travelled the world to meet the scientists working to bring extinct animals back from the dead. Along the way, she has seen the mammoth that has been frozen for 20,000 years, and visited the places where these furry giants will live again. From the Siberian permafrost to the Californian desert, scientists across the globe are working to resurrect all kinds of extinct animals, from ones that just left us to those that have been gone for many thousands of years. Their tools in this hunt are the fossil record and cutting edge genetic technologies. Some of these scientists are driven by sheer curiosity; others view the lost species as a powerful weapon in the fight to preserve rapidly changing ecosystems. It seems certain that these animals will walk the earth again, but what world will that give us? And is any of this a good idea? Science journalist Torill Kornfeldt travelled the globe to meet the men and women working to bring these animals back from the dead and answer these questions.

Author Biography

Torill Kornfeldt is a Swedish science journalist with a background in biology. She has worked for Sweden's leading morning newspaper and leading public broadcaster. Her focus is on how emerging bioengineering and technology will shape our future. The Re-origin of Species is her first book. Fiona Graham is a British literary translator, editor, and reviewer who has lived in Kenya, Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Nicaragua, and Belgium. Her recent translations include Elisabeth sbrink's 1947: when now begins, an English PEN award-winner longlisted for the Warwick Women in Translation Prize and the JQ Wingate Prize, and Torill Kornfeldt's The Unnatural Selection of Our Species.

Review

"[T]he projects Kornfeldt writes about are incredibly compelling, given that we are living through a mass-extinction event that threatens the stability of the world's ecosystems."
--The New Yorker "This thought-provoking and deeply engaging book throws into the question the very meanings of life and death as we understand them." STARRED REVEW
--Shelf Awareness "Reading The Re-Origin of Species was a delightful adventure. Torill Kornfeldt took me by the hand and led me all around the world, and back through history, teaching me about how extinction works and how the restoration of all kinds of species, from the woolly mammoth to feathered dinosaurs, just may be a part of our future."
--Tim Urban, Wait But Why? "Extinction might not be forever!...Free of most scientific jargon, Kornfeldt's book is an eye-opening introduction to an important new field of study that"s well fit for public library audiences."
--Booklist "The author's careful synthesis of accomplishment versus aspiration is also spot-on--even world-class scientists will be dreamers, and there is much more research to be conducted before mammoths once again lumber across the tundra. Wondrous tales of futuristic science experiments that happen to be true."
--Kirkus Reviews "Any number of terms apply to Torill Kornfeldt's fascinating overview of this profoundly important subject: clear-eyed. Skeptical. Open-minded. But the word that sticks with me is one I haven't had cause to use in a very long time: hopeful. The Re-Origin of Species gives me hope."
--Peter Watts, author of Blindsight and Starfish "Kornfeldt interviews researchers intent on recreating mammoths and passenger pigeons, saving the northern white rhino, and reintroducing chestnut trees to North America."
--Publishers Weekly "[T]his excellent book, written with a deceptively light touch (in Fiona Graham's translation)...raises a number of deep questions and paradoxes about our relationship with nature."
--The Guardian "It's less like reading a college text book and more like reading about a famous explorer digging into cultures not seen since the dawn of time. It's like Indiana Jones light, for the scientist."
--Adventures in Poor Taste

Review Quote

"[T]his excellent book, written with a deceptively light touch (in Fiona Graham's translation)...raises a number of deep questions and paradoxes about our relationship with nature."

Promotional "Headline"

Advance reader copies National radio campaign Outreach to science publications and websites Promotion in conjunction with the author's speaking engagements

Details