the sixth extinction
For the past week I’ve been reading The Sixth Extinction by Terry Glavin— to think the only reason I picked it up was because it’s the name of an episode in the X-Files, and they did a particularly beautiful voiceover narrative with the cold open. The chronicles of a nearly extinct world through living vessels— “a tiger, a flower, a fish, a river, a god”— the content intrigues, riles, excites, gives it substance. The writing gives it beauty, a voice, tangibility.
The first chapter is about the Singapore Zoo, the “living dead”— organisms that live only in captivity, and are not viable as wild creatures. The guy obviously has something against both the country and the zoo— a good paragraph talks about how Singapore is “authoritarian”, comparing it to Orwell’s 1984 (one of the most common and least flattering comparisons around, I’m sure).
You know, after the chapter on Hitler, there was a section in the history book that had the question “Is Singapore an authoritarian country?”, then went on to debunk that, saying that we do have elections and that the Internal Security Act is necessary to combat terrorism. Elections, yes, we do have them, but, seriously, what for? In the US presidential race, the Republican/Democrat split is palpable, so there’s actually real competition. Here? Oh, it’s a walkover. No voting. Yay for apathy; that’s how it goes.
The second and third chapters should be read while you’re sitting down and generally calm, because reading it is going to rile you. Really.
Other than that, I can see no more to highlight from the book. But I must say this: when browsing, never ignore something that catches your eye, even if it just grasps the very edges.
“If there’s room for hope, it can be found in a book like this.”
