Now, Wallace’s mysterious death suggests that the CIA itself has been compromised and that China has someone inside the Agency.īut as Allender quietly investigates, he makes a shocking discovery that will upend the entire American intelligence apparatus. Drawn by John White in 1585-6, engraved by Theodore De Bry circa 1590 (Picture Collection, New York Public Library) Indian mythology deals with the problem of ultimate origins by treating the Creation as a process of growing awareness or as a deliberate act of the imagination. Wallace had severely damaged China’s Washington spy ring with a devastating ruse, a so-called “black swan,” in which a deep-undercover female agent targeted and destroyed a key Chinese official. A behind-the-scenes operator at the CIA, Wallace was integral to the Agency’s secret war against China’s national intelligence service, which infiltrates government and military offices, major businesses, and systems crucial to our security. Set in contemporary Washington D.C., Red Swan begins with an ominous phone call from Carson McGill, the Deputy Director of Operations in the CIA, to retired CIA officer Preston Allender. With an advocate’s verve and a scientist’s informed confidence, the author voices “a clarion call for all of us to do what we can to safeguard our fertility, the fate of mankind, and the planet.”Īn eye-opening, disturbing, empowering, and essential text.Written with the authority of twenty-six years of military and government service at sea and in Washington, Red Swan is a brilliant, provocative thriller about the contemporary war that no one sees, but which will shape the future of America and China. Writing about the lack of awareness regarding commonly used chemicals that are harming humans and the environment-not to mention policies to limit or eliminate them-she asks with justified anger, “Where is the outrage on this issue?!” Acknowledging the glacial pace of institutional change, Swan outlines how people can take concrete action to protect themselves now and how positive change has long-term ripple effects that benefit future generations. “Of five possible criteria for what makes a species endangered,” she writes, “only one needs to be met the current state of affairs for humans meets at least three.” The author’s passion for her work and access to reams of alarming data make for riveting reading, and her writing is crisp and unfettered by jargon. In this impeccably researched, cogent book, the author convincingly argues that if society’s trend toward a fertility rate below replacement level continues at the current pace, humans could become an endangered species. ![]() Despite the attention, the demonstrated causes of fertility decline-including toxic chemicals that transfer from everyday products and foods into our bodies-remain a problem. The author made headlines in 2017 when she published a “meta-analysis on sperm-count decline in Western countries.” Her study became one of the most-cited in history, making it a hot topic among scientists as well as the public. Without a concerted global effort to reverse this trend, long-term human survival may be at risk, according to renowned epidemiologist and public health expert Swan. 5, 2020Īn urgent examination of a global problem that requires vastly more attention than it currently receives.ĭespite the pervasive idea that overpopulation is one of the most pressing concerns facing our planet, human fertility rates are dropping fast. “ An eye-opening, disturbing, empowering, and essential text | Kirkus, Nov. Not just an illuminating overview of a grave threat but a helpful guide to protecting against it, Count Down is an urgent wake-up call, an enjoyable read, and a vital tool for understanding our future. How and why could this happen? What is hijacking our fertility and our health? Count Down reveals what Swan and other researchers have learned about how chemical exposures are affecting our fertility, sexual development-even, perhaps, gender identity-and general health. It turns out that sexual development is also changing broadly, for both men and women, and that the modern world is on pace to become an infertile one. The results sent shockwaves around the globe-but that was just the beginning. They found that over the previous four decades, sperm levels among men in Western countries had plummeted by more than 50 percent. ![]() In 2017, Shanna Swan and her team of researchers completed a major study. In the tradition of Silent Spring and The Sixth Extinction, an urgent, meticulously researched, and groundbreaking book about the ways in which chemicals in the modern environment are changing human sexuality and endangering fertility on a vast scale. Count Down How Our Modern World Is Threatening Sperm Counts, Altering Male and Female Reproductive Development, and Imperiling the Future of the Human Race
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