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Brian Fagan, Floods, Famines, and Emperors: El Nino and the Fate of Civilizations Basic Books, 1999
Brian Fagan, a well-known, prolific science writer and archaeologist, has written an insightful book bringing history, cultural survival and climate change facts together in a provocative work entitled Floods, Famines, and Emperors: El Nino and the Fate of Civilizations. Being in the field of environmental protection for 35 years, I found the book pertinent and thought-provoking. Although written in 1999, it is even more relevant today, in the age of the Anthropocene, where the balance of man, environment and sustainability (of both) is at risk and a matter of political debate about facts and supposition.
"Anthropocene" is a proposed term for the present geological epoch, from the time of the Industrial Revolution onwards, during which humanity has begun to have a significant impact on the environment. It is derived from anthropo- and -cene , coined by Paul Crutzen, born 1933, a Nobel-winning Dutch chemist.
I recommend this book not only for a general audience, but for scientists, environmentalists, archaeologists, planners, and developers as well as business leaders and scholars.
Fagan has attempted to appeal to both his general and scientific audience. In order to accomplish that, the writing style has a built-in tension between scientific, academic and personal story telling. More than one reviewer of this work lists this as a weakness. With the same observations of style, I found the same traits kept my interest.
Fagan shows us...