Photo credit: Sigrid Estrada

A dazzling personal journey on the front lines of ecological invasion and its implications for our planet.

Out of Eden is Alan Burdick’s first book. He is a senior editor at Discover and his writing has appeared in publications that include The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, GQ, Natural History and Grand Street. He lives in New York City.

For more information visit, www.aburdick.com.

Judges' Citation

Burdick, Out of Eden
Out of Eden offers a vivid introduction to a relatively new branch of science, “invasion ecology,” the study of how globalization brings alien species—from brown tree snakes to zebra mussels—into local ecosystems, often with disastrous results. Alan Burdick draws memorable portraits of the scientists, hunters, and activists struggling to address the economic, political, and biological implications of this “homogenization of the world.” Seamlessly weaving science journalism with lyrical meditation, he refuses to oversimplify his subject; instead, Burdick invites us to ponder the increasingly murky boundaries between native and alien, the human and the natural.