Review by Choice Review
The passage of the US Endangered Species Preservation Act in 1966 paved the way for many ambitious conservation efforts. Earlier efforts at protecting endangered species involved setting up conservation areas and enacting hunting laws that prevented further loss of these organisms. More aggressive efforts included relocation projects and breeding programs. The growth of genetic technologies has provided conservationists with the tools to genetically modify and clone endangered species; these technologies have even offered the potential to de-evolve organisms by cloning the remnant DNA from extinct species. Resurrection Science presents a critical analysis of the later strategies used to preserve endangered species. O'Connor (a reporter) uses actual case studies to show the pros and cons of preservation methods that use selective breeding and genetic technologies. Each case study includes interviews with scientists involved with the projects. The author does a wonderful job explaining the rationale and the science behind each preservation effort. She also provides unbiased, accurate assessments of each strategy. In addition, the book presents compelling arguments related to the long-term complications of and ethical consideration for the undertakings. The author does not condemn the efforts; rather, she views them as learning experiences that could ultimately lead to sustainable ways of preserving wildlife. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. --Brian R. Shmaefsky, Lone Star College - Kingwood
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
At least since Jurassic Park and cloning, the possibilities of restoring endangered and even extinct species have enticed the general public as well as scientists. O'Connor's engrossing book on the revival prospects of eight species scuffs the glittering promises of resurrection science without scotching them. As she tells her subjects' stories, sobering themes emerge. We may boost a species' numbers in controlled circumstances, but meanwhile its native environment may further deteriorate or disappear, leaving it no viable habitat to go to. Also, human-supervised animals adapt to the environment of their supervision and away from their wild fellows' habitat, in which they don't know and probably won't learn how to live. If that is so for endangered species, the situation is probably much worse for extinct ones. Furthermore, is the whole resurrectionist approach colossally anthropocentric and hubristic? Do animals exist for us who oversee them? Or are they objectively, intrinsically valuable and not to be tinkered with in which case, conservation, not restoration, is the highest environmental priority. A book as thought-provoking as it is fascinating.--Olson, Ray Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
If the ability to bring vanished species back to life through genetic engineering will soon be in our scientific grasp, do we really need to worry about Earth's current loss of biodiversity? In this collection of essays, journalist O'Connor explores this and other provocative questions surrounding endangered species conservation, the use of genomic technologies to resurrect vanished species, and modern man's relationship to nature. In subject matter, style, and organization this book owes much to Elizabeth Kolbert's highly praised The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. Like Kolbert, O'Connor traveled far and wide to interview scientists of all kinds and to see endangered animals in their natural habitats. In particular, the essays on the Florida panther, the Tanzanian (waterfall) spray toad, and the northern white rhino have a reporting-from-the-front-lines feel. -VERDICT O'Connor skillfully negotiates her way through the thorny ethical issues involved in reinventing nature from DNA banks and frozen tissue samples. This work should appeal to a broad range of science enthusiasts, particularly those interested in the fields of conservation and evolutionary biology.-Cynthia Lee Knight, formerly with -Hunterdon Cty. Historical Soc. -Flemington, NJ © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Everyone sympathizes with endangered species, and few object to traditional conservation measures (limits on hunting, habitat preservation) that workbut they don't work if habitats disappear or if numbers dwindle or vanish entirely. Radical measures are necessary, writes journalist O'Connor. In this gripping overview of the current situation, the author examines the complex, high-tech, usually expensive, and often controversial efforts to save species in peril and even long-gone. The Florida panther was once thought extinct. Though it has been protected for years, cars kill a dozen or two per year, and experts agree that its current range is too small to ensure its survival. Today, no one hunts the great right whale, but no easy solution exists regarding the warming of the oceans and lack of genetic diversity, which may deliver the final blow for the species. Technology and captive breeding may have saved the African spray toad, but those methods are failing with the white rhinoceros. Researchers have not ruled out re-creating the extinct passenger pigeon and maybe even a Neanderthal from their DNA. O'Connor pauses regularly to address deep, often disturbing issues. When humans and animals compete for bare survival, who decides the division of resources? "Until we make space for other species on earth," writes the author, "it won't matter how many animals we bring back to the world, there just won't be any place for them." Evolution works fast. An animal bred in captivity adapts to captivity and may be unfit to survive in the wild. Under such conditions, is it even the same animal? A species is defined by far more than its DNA; if genetic legerdemain de-extincts a species, is the result anything more than a scientific tour de force? A fascinating account of extreme efforts to stave off extinction, the ethics of these efforts, and an unsettling, not-terribly-optimistic analysis of their chances of success. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
