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4:00 pm - Escape from Extinction, A Discussion with Author Fred Rich

October 11, 2020 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Join Author Frederic C. Rich for a discussion of Escape from Extinction, an Eco-Genetic Novel (Vector Books, forthcoming September 30, 2020). This event is scheduled as a LIVE outdoors event at the Desmond-Fish Public Library.  In the event that we cannot hold the event live due to inclement weather, we will shift to an online Crowdcast program. We will register you automatically and you will receive an email telling you how to join.
Please register here. Registration is required regardless of venue.
Rich’s latest book is a retelling of the Prometheus/Frankenstein story for the age of genetics. Scientists wielding new tools for editing DNA have the power to change the blueprint for humanity, hack evolution, re-engineer nature, resurrect extinct species, and even create entirely new forms of life. We are in what Siddhartha Mukherjee in his bestseller The Gene calls “a headlong sprint into an abyss.” Escape from Extinction uses storytelling to explore this abyss. In Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park, the intersection of avarice and scientific hubris gave us man-eating velociraptors. Here, the “monster” is an empathetic and charming de-extincted Neanderthal teenager, who many nevertheless believe presents the same threat to humanity as Crichton’s dinosaurs.
Rich’s first book Christian Nation, called “brilliant” by Richard Dawkins, was a work of speculative political fiction that proved eerily prophetic.  He warned of the rise of the so-called “alt-right” in partnership with theocratic fundamentalists and predicted the 2016 election of a demagogic populist as president, followed by a steady erosion of democratic norms.  Rich, a life-long environmentalist, then turned his attention to environmental politics (Getting to Green, Saving Nature: A Bipartisan Solution, W. W. Norton, 2016).  The Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution called it one of the most important environmental books of the year.   When not writing books, Rich operates an urban farm, serves on the boards of various environmental and performing arts organizations, and blogs. He is an amateur composer (The Hudson Oratorio, Albany Records, 1996) and gardener, and splits his time between New York City and the Hudson Valley.  Rich is currently working on three new books, one of which is a non-fiction exploration of America’s crisis of competence.  Order your copy of Escape from Extinction through Split Rock Books here https://www.splitrockbks.com/book/9781734665505.

Details

Date:
October 11, 2020
Time:
4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Event Categories:
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Website:
https://forms.gle/h5TFrNoZdSxKWoFa9

Venue

Desmond Fish Public Library
Address here
City, NY 564546 United States
Phone
555555555
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