We are living through a period that is unique in human history.
For the first time in more than ten thousand years, the rate of human population growth is slowing down. In the middle of this century population growth will stop, and the number of people on Earth will start to decline - fast.
In this provocative book, award-winning science writer Henry Gee explains the reasons why and argues that our species is on a rapid one-way trip to extinction.
There could be a way out, though, but the launch window is narrow.
Unless Homo sapiens establishes successful colonies in space within the next two centuries, our species is likely to stay earthbound and will have vanished entirely within another ten thousand years, bringing the seven-million-year story of the human lineage to an end.
Humanity is at a crossroads: to dwindle into extinction on Earth, or to seize the stars.
Dr Henry Gee is the author of A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth, winner of the Royal Society Science Book Prize in 2022, and translated into 25 languages. His other books include The Accidental Species: Misunderstandings of Human Evolution, and The Science of Middle-earth. He has been on the staff of the science journal Nature since 1987 where he is now Senior Editor, Biological Sciences. He lives in Cromer, Norfolk, England, with his family and numerous pets.
Coming Early 2025 from Picador Books (UK/Commonwealth) and St Martins Press (US/Canada)
