Human Age

Gísli Pálsson is professor semi-emeritus of anthropology at the University of Iceland. He has had academic affiliations in Norway, England, and the United States and has conducted research in Iceland, the Canadian Arctic, the Republic of Cape Verde, and the Caribbean. He is widely recognized as a scholar and writer, often focusing on environmental issues and human rights. His previous books include The Man Who Stole Himself: The Slave Odyssey of Hans Jonathan; Ma maison au pied du volcan; Nature, Culture, and Society: Anthropological Perspectives on Life; Can Science Resolve the Nature/Nurture Debate? (with Margaret Lock); and Nature and Society: Anthropological Perspectives (co-edited with Philip Descola).

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• Introduction: The new epoch • The strange case of freezing lava • Conceptual debates • The birth of deep time • Early insights and missed opportunities • Excessive heat • Melting of glaciers • Weather extremes • Draining of wetlands • Plastic islands • The ocean • Drilling and fracking • Mass extinction • Inequality • The African Anthropocene • Outer space • Denial • The geosocial turn • Extinction rebellion • Geopolitics • Conclusion • Index.