Hope Dies Last

Author Alan Weisman
Narrator Fred Sanders, Alan Weisman
Publisher Ebury Publishing
Run Time 13 hours and 43 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Agricultural science, Climate change, Environmentalist thought and ideology, Life sciences: general issues, Popular science, Social forecasting, future studies, Social impact of disasters, Sustainability.

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

In this profoundly human and moving narrative, the bestselling author of The World Without Us returns with a book ten years in the making: a study of the precarious state of our planet and what it means to be a human on the front lines of this existential crisis. His new uplifting book, Hope Dies Last, is a literary evocation of our current predicament and the core optimism of the human species against the worst odds we have ever faced.

To write this book, Weisman has travelled the globe witnessing the devastation of climate change and meeting the people striving to mitigate and undo our past transgressions. From the flooding Marshall Islands to wetlands renewal in Iraq, and from the Netherlands to the Korean DMZ to cities and coastlines around the world, he has witnessed personally the best of humanity battling the heat, the hunger, and the rising tides. He profiles the work of big thinkers—engineers, scientists, economists, and psychiatrists—as they devise innovative and wildly creative responses to an uncertain and frightening future. We are at an unprecedented point in history, as our collective exploits on this planet are leading us to our own undoing, and we could be one of the species marching toward extinction.

A remedy to climate anxiety by one of our most important voices on humans’ relationship with the Earth, Hope Dies Last fills a crucial gap in the global conversation: Now that we have passed the point of no return in our battle against climate change, how do we feel, behave, act, plan, and dream as we approach a future decidedly different from what we had expected?

© Alan Weisman 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025

Critics Review

A wide-ranging look at visionaries who are working on ways to lessen the worst effects of climate change….[an] impeccably written and thoroughly inspiring narrative

Kirkus STARRED REVIEW

Weisman’s detailed examination of their and others’ work shows that there are paths to solving the world’s largest problems. The reader will come away with a renewed belief that hope for the future need not be lost

Booklist

This is one of the most exciting books I’ve ever read, full of innovation. Hope Dies Last is a book of heroism, courage, and selfless love. Every story is a way forward. Alan Weisman has written the exact book we need to fight for our place on Earth

Louise Erdrich, author of THE MIGHTY RED

What a wonderful, exhilarating, life-affirming book! The people, creatures and ambitions Weisman introduces us to are ingenious, revelatory, and awe-inspiring… Reading this book made me not only glad to be alive, but proud to be human, and deeply grateful for the extraordinarily brilliant and generous souls inhabiting these pages

John Vaillant, award winning author of FIRE WEATHER

Consider this a non-fiction companion to Kim Stanley Robinson’s Ministry for the Future: Alan Weisman has traveled the world to find the people doing what they can to slow down the greatest tragedy in our history. You’ll be inspired–maybe even to become one of these people yourself

Bill McKibben, bestselling author

A deeply reported investigation into what it means to be alive on a rapidly-warming planet. Weisman travels the world to meet with scientists, scholars, activists, and religious leaders who understand that the fate of the world as we know it is at stake and who are driven to do something about it. What Weisman discovers is not just brilliant minds and heroic deeds, but a kind of desperate love for this miraculous planet we live on. Hope Dies Last is one of those rare books that makes you proud to be human

Jeff Goodell, author of the New York Times bestseller THE HEAT WILL KILL YOU FIRST

This profound narrative offers not just a clear-eyed look at our predicament, but a testament to the remarkable human capacity for hope even in extraordinarily challenging times

Neil Shubin, author of the bestseller YOUR INNER FISH

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