Thirty years ago, environmentalist Bill McKibben’s bestselling The End of Nature – long regarded as a classic – was the first book to alert us to global warming. Now, in Falter, he suggests that the human game may have begun to play itself out. Climate change, robotics and artificial intelligence may spell the end of humanity as we know it. Unless we act now.

Falter tells the story of these converging trends and of the ideological fervour that keeps us from bringing them under control. Drawing on McKibben’s experience in building 350.org, the first global citizens’ movement to combat climate change, it offers some ways out of the trap. We’re at a bleak moment in human history, and we must face the reality or watch the civilisation our forebears built slip away.

This is an inspiring and clearheaded guide to saving not only our planet but also our humanity.