SO FAR, SO GOOD

Jack Miles’ piece about “Ishmael” was one of the very best to ever appear. . . . I have worked on the problem of extinction for some time, and have a paper coming out in Science proposing that we carry out a wide, systematic sample collection and freezing of many species, because we aren’t going to be able to preserve them, alas.

The idea is that a century or two from now, we’ll be able to study and probably use the genetic heritage of these samples--the “library of life,” I call it.

GREGORY BENFORD, LAGUNA BEACH. Benford is a professor of physics at the University of California, Irvine.--Ed.