Jungle

'A bold, ambitious and truly wonderful history of the world' Peter Wohlleben, author of The Hidden Life of Trees

'A fascinating story and a crucial revision of the momentous importance of tropical forests to human history' Lewis Dartnell, author of Origins
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Jungle tells the remarkable story of the world's tropical forests, from the arrival of the first plants millions of years ago to the role of tropical forests in the evolution of the world's atmosphere, the dinosaurs, the first mammals and even our own species and ancestors.

Highlighting provocative new evidence garnered from cutting-edge research, Dr Roberts shows, for example, that our view of humans as 'savannah specialists' is wildly wrong, and that the 'Anthropocene' began not with the Industrial Revolution, but potentially as early as 6,000 years ago in the tropics.

We see that the relationship between humankind and 'jungles' is deep-rooted, that we are all connected to their destruction, and that we must all act to save them. Urgent, clear-sighted and original, Jungle challenges the way we think about the world - and ourselves.
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'Welcome to the "Jungle" - a breathtaking book' Mark Maslin, author of How to Save Our Planet

'Timely, readable and highly relevant' Steve Brusatte, author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs

'Its revelations and stories will stir, rearrange and populate your mind for years to come' Paul Hawken, editor of Drawdown

'Brilliant ... it delivers a timely warning about our abuse of the environment' David Abulafia, author of The Great Sea

'Finally, a book on rainforests that does justice to their majesty and importance' Simon Lewis, co-author of The Human Planet

Autorentext

Patrick Roberts

Klappentext

For many of us, jungles are the domain of films like Tarzan or Cast Away and feel far removed from our everyday lives. But across the entire world they influence temperature, create rainfall, clean the air, stabilise soils, and provide food and materials for essential products, such that the future of humankind is intertwined with their disappearing wildlife and impending destruction. As Dr Patrick Roberts shows in this startlingly revisionist history of the world, this symbiotic relationship with tropical forests is anything but a recent development.

Jungle tells the remarkable story of the world's tropical forests, from the arrival of the first plants on Earth millions of years ago to the role of tropical forests in the evolution of the world's atmosphere, the dinosaurs, the first mammals and even our own species and its ancestors. Highlighting provocative new evidence garnered from cutting-edge research techniques - from plant genetics to laser scanning from aircraft - Dr Roberts shows, for example, that contrary to popular perceptions of jungles as inhospitable, our view of humans as 'savannah specialists' is wildly wrong, with people, produce and even cities thriving in tropical forests throughout history.

Human shaping of these environments also has deep historical roots. 'Anthropocene'-like impacts began not with the Industrial Revolution, but as early as 6,000 years ago in the tropics. Later, European colonialism set off unprecedented exploitation of their resources, natural and human, with fields mercilessly ploughed for uniform stands of new crops, forests felled for timber and mining, and millions of humans brutally uprooted from their homes. As Dr Roberts shows, these extractive processes set us on course for the environmental tipping point we're fast approaching, with mass-scale burning of the fossilized remains of forests now undoing millions of years of their planetary guardianship.

In showing how we are all inexorably linked to this issue, past and present, and by explaining what needs to be done to save our tropical forests, this tour de force challenges the way we think about the world, and ourselves. Urgent, clear-sighted and original, Jungle is a book for our times, but also for the ages.