100 Heartbeats - Book Review

About a year and a half ago, in December 2017, my family and I had the opportunity to see biologist and conservationist Jeff Corwin speak live. It was a great event and we purchased a book that Corwin signed after the event. The book was titled 100 Heartbeats.

A year and half later I finally sat down to read the book. The title of the book refers to the subset of animal species in which there are an estimated less than 100 still in existence. This is an interesting, yet alarming book that will leave you depressed as you learn about the species that humans are putting to extinction through habitat loss and increasing global temperatures due to human-made greenhouse emissions.

Don't get me wrong, it is a great book that brings to light the struggle of far too many animals species on this planet, but it is depressing to learn how we are most often failing (or outright ignoring). There are some successes and Corwin points these out in the book, but for every success, there are multiple failures. What I found most depressing is the book was published in 2009. The numbers reported are numbers from 2009. Reading it in 2019 I wonder how many of the species Corwin mentioned are now extinct or closer to extinction? We know climate change is accelerating and current data is matching what were the most extreme models of climate change in 2009. Although they may not be extinct yet, I'm guessing most of them are in far worse shape a decade later.

100 Heartbeats is an excellent read and a great gift idea to anyone with an interest in the future of animals (and humans) on this planet.