The Sixth Extinction

E6342

environmental book nonfiction book popular science book science book

The Sixth Extinction is a nonfiction book by Elizabeth Kolbert that examines humanity’s role in causing an ongoing mass extinction of species and its implications for the planet’s future.

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All labels observed (2)

Label	Occurrences
The Sixth Extinction canonical	2
The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History	2

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T56165 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The Sixth Extinction
Context triple: [Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction, notableWinningWork, The Sixth Extinction]

A. The Endangered Earth
The Endangered Earth is the collective representation of the planet’s environmental crisis, recognized by Time as a symbolic “Person of the Year” to highlight global ecological threats and the urgency of conservation.
B. Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life
Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life is a conservation-focused book by biologist Edward O. Wilson arguing that dedicating half the planet’s surface to protected natural areas is essential to preserving global biodiversity.
C. The Climate Book
The Climate Book is a comprehensive anthology on the climate crisis curated by activist Greta Thunberg, featuring contributions from scientists, experts, and writers explaining the causes, impacts, and solutions to global warming.
D. Last Chance to See
Last Chance to See is a non-fiction book and accompanying BBC radio series in which Douglas Adams documents his travels to observe rare and endangered species around the world with conservationist Mark Carwardine.
E. Pale Blue Dot
"Pale Blue Dot" is a popular science book by Carl Sagan that reflects on humanity’s place in the universe, inspired by the famous Voyager 1 photograph of Earth from deep space.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The Sixth Extinction
Target entity description: The Sixth Extinction is a nonfiction book by Elizabeth Kolbert that examines humanity’s role in causing an ongoing mass extinction of species and its implications for the planet’s future.

A. The Endangered Earth
The Endangered Earth is the collective representation of the planet’s environmental crisis, recognized by Time as a symbolic “Person of the Year” to highlight global ecological threats and the urgency of conservation.
B. Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life
Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life is a conservation-focused book by biologist Edward O. Wilson arguing that dedicating half the planet’s surface to protected natural areas is essential to preserving global biodiversity.
C. The Climate Book
The Climate Book is a comprehensive anthology on the climate crisis curated by activist Greta Thunberg, featuring contributions from scientists, experts, and writers explaining the causes, impacts, and solutions to global warming.
D. Last Chance to See
Last Chance to See is a non-fiction book and accompanying BBC radio series in which Douglas Adams documents his travels to observe rare and endangered species around the world with conservationist Mark Carwardine.
E. Pale Blue Dot
"Pale Blue Dot" is a popular science book by Carl Sagan that reflects on humanity’s place in the universe, inspired by the famous Voyager 1 photograph of Earth from deep space.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	environmental book ⓘ nonfiction book ⓘ popular science book ⓘ science book ⓘ
aimsTo	raise awareness of biodiversity crisis ⓘ
author	Elizabeth Kolbert ⓘ
awarded	Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction ⓘ surface form: Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction
awardYear	2015 ⓘ
basedOn	scientific research ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	United States of America ⓘ surface form: United States
describes	ongoing extinction of species caused by human activity ⓘ
deweyDecimalClassification	576.8 ⓘ
examines	fossil record of past mass extinctions ⓘ role of climate change in extinction ⓘ role of habitat destruction in species loss ⓘ role of invasive species in extinction ⓘ role of ocean acidification in extinction ⓘ role of overexploitation in extinction ⓘ
firstEditionFormat	hardcover ⓘ
genre	environmentalism ⓘ nonfiction ⓘ science ⓘ
hasISBN	978-0-8050-9299-8 ⓘ
hasPart	chapters ⓘ introduction ⓘ
language	English ⓘ
libraryOfCongressClassification	QE721.2.E97 ⓘ
mediaType	audiobook ⓘ ebook ⓘ print ⓘ
notableFor	popularizing the concept of a human-driven sixth mass extinction ⓘ
pages	approximately 300 ⓘ
placeOfPublication	New York City ⓘ
publicationDate	2014 ⓘ
publisher	Henry Holt and Company ⓘ
recognizedAs	bestseller ⓘ
relatedConcept	biodiversity hotspot ⓘ sixth mass extinction ⓘ
relatedWork	Field Notes from a Catastrophe ⓘ
reviewedIn	The Guardian ⓘ The New York Times ⓘ Washington Post ⓘ surface form: The Washington Post
setInPeriod	Anthropocene ⓘ
subject	anthropocene ⓘ biodiversity loss ⓘ climate change ⓘ conservation biology ⓘ human impact on the environment ⓘ mass extinction ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction → notableWinningWork → The Sixth Extinction ⓘ

Elizabeth Kolbert → notableWork → The Sixth Extinction ⓘ

this entity surface form: The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Field Notes from a Catastrophe → hasSequel → The Sixth Extinction ⓘ

Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future → follows → The Sixth Extinction ⓘ