Surviving the 21st Century (PDF)

Julian Cribb is an Australian author and science writer. A former newspaper editor and science communicator; his published work includes over 8000 articles, 3000 science media releases and nine books. He has received more than 30 awards for journalism and is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology, Science and Engineering and the Australian National University Emeritus Faculty.
His internationally-acclaimed book, The Coming Famine (University of California Press, 2010) explored the question of how we can feed 10 billion humans this century. His book Poisoned Planet (Allen and Unwin 2014) investigates the contamination of the Earth system and all humanity by man-made chemicals. Surviving the 21st Century is the third book in his trilogy about how humans can overcome the existential risks our success has brought upon us.

“Cribb, an experienced author and science writer, has written an important book–providing policy makers will pay attention to it. … This book is recommended for a variety of readers. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.” (M. LaBar, Choice, Vol. 54 (8), 2017)

“His book Surviving the 21st Century: Humanity’s Ten Great Challenges and How We Can Overcome Them poses the ten existential challenges facing Homo sapiens, and answers each one. It is a book of solutions, severally and collectively.” (Climate Plus, climateplus.info, December, 2016)

“It comprehensively addresses all the main threats to us and to our planet. … We can demonstrate wisdom by getting hold of a copy of Surviving the 21 Century and applying some of the recommendations to our own lives. We can recommend the book to others. We can alert our leaders to the book and its contents. We owe this to ourselves and to our planet.” (Paul Holper, Scientell, scientell.com.au, November, 2016)

“Spells out the ten greatest challenges ahead and suggests strategies to meet them, all based on science .... Those challenges include ecological collapse, climate change, war, chemicals in the environment, food, disease and delusional thinking, among others. The potential solutions proposed by the author include putting women in charge of world affairs, and for men to start thinking more like 'wise women'.” (Scimex, scimex.org, November 3, 2016)


“What a refreshing a dose of realism! An antidote to so much media fog, hype and bad science. An important read for anyone who is seriously concerned about how the human race is to go forward and how to help our grandchildren survive. Worth every penny. (Will Goodall, Amazon.com, October 12, 2016)

“The book has been unanimously praised by a cast of reviewers ... . The author explores each of these threats and identifies ways we can positively approach each of them. But he says the greatest challenge lies not in the physical threats we face