Second Nature

From the author of Losing Earth, a deeply reported and beautifully told exploration of how we live in a post-natural world

We live in a world in which scientists are actively trying to bring back prehistoric beasts, in which our most essential and complex ecosystems demand monumental engineering projects to survive, in which immortal jellyfish threaten to fill and overrun the oceans, in which iconic companies that have long been at the cultural and economic center of their communities are poisoning the very people who make up those communities. We are obsessed with words like "organic" and "sustainable," but the fact is that the separation between natural and artificial is obsolete, too intertwined to mean anything. It's not science fiction; it's not the future. It's not dystopia; it's not utopia. It's the world we live in. It's time we reckoned with it.

For years now, Nathaniel Rich has been reporting ecological stories for The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, Harper's Magazine, Rolling Stone, and other publications. From Losing Earth to the story that became the movie Dark Waters (which is one of the chapters in the book), his stories have come to define the way we think of contemporary ecological narrative. But as Rich takes on a series of adventures and explorations and schemes with the scientists and activists, engineers and naturalists at the forefront of these issues, what comes into focus is a world that has left the traditional notion of ecology behind.

There is obvious tragedy in what we've lost, but there is undeniable wonder in what we can do, and Rich captures both with unmatched energy and eloquence. At this point, we have no choice but to accept it, embrace it, revel in it. This is The Artificial Forest.