The End of the End of the Earth

As the ambiguous title of the latest work from National Book Award winner Franzen (The Corrections) suggests, the essays in this collection contemplate our uncertain future in the face of climate change. But rather than a rallying cry to rescue the world from destruction, Franzen concedes that it's already too late. Yet despite this gloomy position, he does not yield to defeatism either. Rather, he focuses on what can be saved: a view, a bird, a memory. An avid birdwatcher, Franzen mostly focuses on birding adventures in faraway places—Africa, Jamaica, Antarctica. Reading them one after another, his obsession builds to reveal what is, to the author, imperative: paying attention. These fleeting, winged creatures appear to remind readers to witness, to see what is left to be seen, and to notice life before it disappears forever. Carbon dioxide is not to blame for our planet's ruin so much as our failure to observe—our relationships and interconnectedness.