The sixth extinction an unnatural history is a 2014 non fiction book written by elizabeth kolbert and published by henry holt and company the book argues that the earth is in the midst of a modern man made sixth extinction in the book kolbert chronicles previous mass extinction events and compares them to the accelerated widespread . Cnn the sixth mass extinction is not a worry for the future its happening now much faster than previously expected and its entirely our fault according to a study published monday. In the sixth extinction two time winner of the national magazine award and new yorker writer elizabeth kolbert draws on the work of scores of researchers in half a dozen disciplines accompanying many of them into the field geologists who study deep ocean cores botanists who follow the tree line as it climbs up the andes marine biologists who dive off the great barrier reef