The Re-Origin of Species: A Second Chance for Extinct Animals

"There is no way in which a lost species can really be brought back to life," writes Swedish science journalist Torill Kornfeldt in her fascinating debut, The Re-Origin of Species: A Second Chance for Extinct Animals. "The nearest thing we can manage is a substitute." But as each chapter reveals, the "substitutes" that many scientists think are possible would be nearly identical to--and just as astonishing as--the originals.

Kornfeldt travels the world to meet scientists who are attempting "de-extinction," the practice of bringing extinct animals back to life. In Siberia, she meets Sergey Zimov, a Russian scientist attempting to revive mammoths. And in California she speaks with Ben Novak, a young scientist trying to resurrect the passenger pigeon. Other scientists are working on the northern white rhino, a Spanish ibex called a bucardo and, yes, even a dinosaur. There are still advancements to be made in genetic research before any of these experiments could result in actual resurrected animals but, according to the scientists Kornfeldt interviews, breakthroughs are happening at an unprecedented pace. De-extinction is only a few years away from becoming reality.

Kornfeldt asks several experts whether these experiments are moral, and most respond with absolutes: that they're unquestionably right or wrong. Kornfeldt sidesteps the question herself by saying the science falls in a moral gray area. Nevertheless, this thought-provoking and deeply engaging book throws into the question the very meanings of life and death as we understand them. --Amy Brady, freelance writer and editor

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