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In 2020 Chinese geneticist He Jiankui was jailed for creating two genetically modified human babies. Notwithstanding the global outcry over He’s work, Russian molecular biologist Denis Rebrikov announced plans to do the same. In 2007, scientists using the same technology “de-extincted” the Pyrenean Ibex and major efforts are now underway to bring back the wooly mammoth and passenger pigeon. The digital revolution is being overtaken by a genetic one. Scientists wielding new tools for editing DNA now have the power to change the blueprint for humanity, hack evolution, re-engineer nature, resurrect extinct species, and even create entirely new forms of life. We are in what Siddhartha Mukherjee in his bestseller The Gene calls “a headlong sprint into an abyss.”
Escape from Extinction uses storytelling to explore this abyss. As the novel opens, the last Neanderthal dies in a cave on the Iberian Peninsula. Thirty thousand years later, the naturalist Muir O’Brien, hunting deep in the Oregon wilderness, spots a fern believed to be extinct since the end of the last ice age. His discovery leads to a life-changing encounter with the visionary and narcissistic Leo Bonelli, founder of the world’s most successful biotech company. Despite misgivings, Muir and his daughter, Lilith, are drawn into Leo’s world. When the truth about Leo’s strange son, Ned, is revealed by a politically ambitious preacher, the world must grapple with the mystery of Neanderthal extinction and the true basis for human hegemony over the planet. Ned and Lilith, and all who love them, confront a tsunami of ignorance, fear, hatred, and violence. Ultimately, Leo must choose whether to sacrifice everything to protect his son.
Escape from Extinction is not science fiction. The science is real, not speculative. It is an updating of the Prometheus/Frankenstein story for the age of genetics. In Michael Crichton’s 1990 Jurassic Park, the intersection of avarice and scientific hubris gave us man-eating velociraptors. In Escape from Extinction, the monster is an empathetic and charming Neanderthal teenager, who many think presents the same threat to humanity as Crichton’s dinosaurs. The characters and the country grapple with the mystery of Neanderthal extinction, the history of eugenics, and the broader question of whether life, nature, and evolution can or should be brought under human control. In Frankenstein, the monster destroys its creator. Escape from Extinction raises the question of whether the “monster” might instead have the power to redeem its creator and his species.
"Rich’s prose is smooth and measured . . . With its mix of cutting-edge science and moral quandaries, readers will find that the book reminds them at times of the work of the late bestselling author Michael Crichton. However, the thriller element of this novel is relatively muted to allow for a deeper examination of the characters and their relationships . . . a highly readable and timely riff on the Frankenstein theme. A thought-provoking and satisfying story about modern man’s powers and limitations."
— Kirkus Reviews
"While scientists and scholars debate the use of new biotechnologies, such as gene editing, the public remains largely unengaged. Fred Rich’s Escape from Extinction uses storytelling to immerse the reader in the moral dilemmas arising from our new powers to shape life. This book could play an important role in launching a much-needed public conversation about the ethics of genetic modification."
— Mildred Z. Solomon, ED.D., President, The Hastings Center, and Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
"Rich has let his imagination run wild over the outer limits of today's science. Life extension, cloning, resurrection of extinct species -- it's all there in a world both threatening and promising. And a great read for fans of our Neanderthal cousins."
— John Darnton, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author of Neanderthal
"What might happen if the course of life on earth were determined not by evolution, but by human choice? Humanity is acquiring the tools to control nature, but do we have a moral and ethical framework to assure we will use them wisely? The novel Escape from Extinction brings these questions vividly to life, while forbearing from asserting a particular answer. The characters struggle with the promise and peril of new technologies, forcing readers to look to their own most profound values and assumptions."
— Gregory E. Kaebnick, PH.D., editor of The Ideal of Nature: Debates about Biotechnology and the Environment (Johns Hopkins, 2011), and author, Humans in Nature: The World As We Find It and the World As We Create It (Oxford, 2013)
What Do Ordinary Readers Say?
"I absolutely loved this book. There are characters to love, and some to hate, also. It's very well-written. The story, though... the story! It takes you from 'what if' to 'uh oh' to 'oh, no... no, no, no' to 'now you have to give me a sequel.' I was entranced by the unfolding of a potential future, by the hopes, challenges, possibilities. Escape from Extinction has left me wondering where I would stand on the question of 'how far should we go?'. I definitely need a follow-up book!"
— Goodreads