Life: a natural history of the first four billion years of life on earth
Fortey, R. (1998). Life: a natural history of the first four billion years of life on earth. First American Edition. Alfred A. Knopf: New York. ISBN 0-375-40119-9. 346 pp.
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| Available in | Author |
VLIZ: Biology and ecology (General) [100820]
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| Keywords |
Biological phenomena > Evolution
Complexity
Continental drift
Earth sciences > Geophysics
Fossils
History
Life
Mesozoic Era
Organisms > Microorganisms > Prokaryotes > Microorganisms > Bacteria
Origins
Trilobita † [WoRMS]
Marine/Coastal; Terrestrial |
| Abstract |
A magisterial exploration of the natural history of the first four thousand million years of life on and in the earth, by one of Britain's most dazzling science writers. What do any of us know about the history of our planet before the arrival of man? Most of us have a dim impression of a swirling mass of dust solidifying to form a volcanic globe, briefly populated by dinosaurs, then by woolly mammoths and finally by our own hairy ancestors. This book, aimed at the curious and intelligent but perhaps mildly uninformed reader, brilliantly dispels such lingering notions forever. At the end of the book we understand the complexity of the history of life on earth, and the complexity of how it has come to be understood, as, perhaps, from no other single volume. The result is enthralling. |
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