Life on a Little-Known Planet

An intimate portrait of the natural world … With clear-eyed urgency and a measure of tenderness, Kolbert chronicles the lives of people trying to hold on to what’s slipping away * New Yorker, Best Books of the Year 2025 *
Kolbert’s writing is serious but adroit [with] just enough wry humour. The necessity of fitting huge subjects into 20 clear pages suits her style. Each essay is pacy, with energising turns … Kolbert [is] a necessary voice on the environment * Observer *
Kolbert is one of our most important and lucid voices on climate change, and she’s been ringing the bell for longer than most. This book … will be essential * Literary Hub *
All are exceptional pieces of writing… the most recent [in the collection] feel truly timely * Times Literary Supplement *
Elizabeth Kolbert’s writing illuminates the world’s complexities in vivid colour. No one contextualises the natural world better than she does, and no one is able to describe its many facets better than her – Harriet Rix, author of The Genius of Trees
No one rivals Kolbert’s ability to write deeply, empathetically and engagingly about mankind’s relationship with the physical world … She brings curiosity and persistence to the most important issues facing humankind – Chris Goodall, author of What We Need to Do Now
There is surely no better way to understand our changing world than through the uniquely engaging perspectives provided by Elizabeth Kolbert. Joining her on this round-the-world voyage to some of the most incredible places on Earth is a treat … Immensely sobering yet also inspiring – Chris Fitch, author of Wild Cities
Kolbert, in her clean, precise prose, asks us … to be curious, to pay attention, and not look away from the imperilled beauty of our planet … The book works well as a primer for the guiding issues and ideas that comprise 21st-century environmentalism … Kolbert has a knack for elucidating abstract concepts - sea level rise, de-extinction, genetic engineering, invasive species - by locating them in particular places and people – Adam Weymouth * Resurgence & Ecologist *
Kolbert gracefully balances a realistic awareness of losses brought about by human activity -particularly by the use of fossil fuels - with a sense of wonder at just how much there is still to learn about this ‘little-known planet’ and admiration for those who quixotically explore and attempt to heal it. … Despair and hope dance together [in these] thought-provoking speculations about a world on the edge of violent change * Kirkus Review, starred review *
Kolbert brings every creature, place, person, fact, and issue to scintillating life in these deft, engaging, lucid, and thought-provoking dispatches covering 20 years of her world travels during epic planetary changes. … Kolbert resolutely and brilliantly alerts us to how little we know about our precious planet, how much harm we do, and how we must and can do better * Booklist *

Elizabeth Kolbert is a prize-winning journalist, author, and visiting fellow at Williams College, Massachusetts. She is the author of The Sixth Extinction, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize, Field Notes from a Catastrophe, Under a White Sky, and H is for Hope. She has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1999 and has been awarded the Blake-Dodd Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She lives in Williamstown, Massachusetts, with her husband and children.

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