Discarded

An imaginative, vivid story of how human civilisation might be viewed in the future. Gabbott and Zalasiewicz explore how our plastics, concrete, cars, power plants, clothes, chickens and toxic chemicals, what they call ‘technofossils,’ will survive the millennia. Using thorough application of science, they argue a case for what we leave behind and what some future intelligent species might make of us. Sobering, but thought-provoking. * Micheal J. Benton, Author of Extinctions: How Life Survives, Adapts and Evolves *A look back, from the far future, at the things we’ve made lately that are going to outlast us and then some. Written with scientist’s eyes and storyteller’s pens, this is the postmortem you’ll want to read, to savor the horror of the side-effects of our most productive technology. * Marc Abrahams, Editor of Annals of Improbable Research *Discarded is sobering, but engagingly written…if you fancyy ourself as a writer of science fiction and want to create a post-human world, this book could prove a terrific resource. * Chris Simms, New Scientist *

Sarah Gabbott is a Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Leicester. She researches the fossil record of ancient life and is particularly interested in understanding how fossils form and what they reveal about evolution and ecology. She actively seeks new fossil specimens from across the globe, going on digs to China, South Africa and the Canadian Rockies. She also works in the laboratory analyzing fossils and undertaking grisly experiments to determinehow decomposition affects fossilization. Recently, she has turned her attention to the potential fossil record created by human activity, especially thinking about how long our ‘artefacts’ will endure.

Jan Zalasiewicz is Emeritus Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Leicester. He was formerly a field geologist and palaeontologist with the British Geological Survey, involved in the geological mapping of eastern England and central Wales. His interests include Early Palaeozoic fossils, notably the graptolites (a kind of extinct zooplankton), mud and mudrocks, the Quaternary Ice Ages, the nature of geological time, and the geology made by humans. In recent years he has helped developthe concept of an Anthropocene epoch. He has written many popular science articles and books.