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Product Description
Product Description
This major new atlas offers the first complete look at the evolution of the Earth, from the beginning of the solar system to the present-day. Its six sections are divided into 18 chapters setting out the geological and biological developments of each major geological period. The volume's final section looks at the ways in which the Earth and its biosphere are still evolving today. The distribution today of types of rock, geological formations, fossils and modern species are explained, and the processes of natural evolution and of landscape formation through plate tectonics are revealed here as never before.
About the Author
Dougal Dixon is a writer on scientific topics with a long-term interest in evolution. His After Man: A Zoology of the Future was nominated for a Hugo award; Professor Richard Moody is Professor of Geology at the University of Guildford; Dr Ian Jenkins is an expert on vertebrate palaeontology at the University of Bristol; Dr Zhuravlev is from the Institute of Paleontology in Moscow.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is the clearest explanation of our planet's development that I have read. Its six sections set out the story of the formation and development of our planet and the life it supports with exemplary clarity. Text and illustrations complement one another perfectly to tell the magnificent story of how everything came to be.
Some previous knowledge is assumed, but the more technical terms are explained clearly. The book is a visual feast, filled with diagrams which explain and illustrate without confusing. A real sense of the past is generated, leaving the reader wanting to explore further. The final section on the modern world gives a timely reminder that extinction and climate change are still with us.
A good glossary and index, together with suggested further reading complete an impressive book.
Some previous knowledge is assumed, but the more technical terms are explained clearly. The book is a visual feast, filled with diagrams which explain and illustrate without confusing. A real sense of the past is generated, leaving the reader wanting to explore further. The final section on the modern world gives a timely reminder that extinction and climate change are still with us.
A good glossary and index, together with suggested further reading complete an impressive book.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It is a rare pleasure to find such a comprehensive book about Earth evolution in general. The text is concise, authoritative and extremely well written, simplified enough for educated laymen ' the extensive and copiously researched glossary is a great help ' but inclusive of all evolutionary major points in the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere, for each geological period examined. We follow the course of our planet from the Cambrian sea with its exotic arthropods, through the Devonian and Carboniferous forests with the first buzzing of insects, passing through coniferous lands dominated by dinosaurs, and vast Asian steppes teaming with strange giant mammals, to end in the African Rift system where a strange ape stood up and began changing its environment.
Visually, the book is a feast of photographs, illustrations, maps and superb diagrams. The later are of special importance and fall in two categories: the ones giving a compact representation for evolutionary events in the Earth, Sea, Atmosphere and Life for each period, and the extensive cladograms for all major life orders, and some of the sub-orders and families in the bargain, based on the latest biological research.
But what makes this book really special is its central philosophy, which all four authors follow, based on the concept that everything is connected to everything else, in such a way that no change in one system leaves the others the same as before. The Earth, the continents, the atmosphere and climate, all living organisms ' bacteria, fungi, plants and animals ' are all part of a carefully balanced structure with millions of delicate and crucial interconnections between the various parts. And the last chapter, covering the Holocene (the last 10,000 years) is a sombre catalog of man-made disasters, a story of random destruction of these interconnections, without giving much thought to the long-term consequences. The authors stress repeatedly that Evolution is an ongoing process and it has certainly not stopped with humans. We have to know the best way possible both the separate systems surrounding us and how they are connected between them and with us, in order to better understand ourselves and the beautiful fragile world we live in. This book is a good start.
Visually, the book is a feast of photographs, illustrations, maps and superb diagrams. The later are of special importance and fall in two categories: the ones giving a compact representation for evolutionary events in the Earth, Sea, Atmosphere and Life for each period, and the extensive cladograms for all major life orders, and some of the sub-orders and families in the bargain, based on the latest biological research.
But what makes this book really special is its central philosophy, which all four authors follow, based on the concept that everything is connected to everything else, in such a way that no change in one system leaves the others the same as before. The Earth, the continents, the atmosphere and climate, all living organisms ' bacteria, fungi, plants and animals ' are all part of a carefully balanced structure with millions of delicate and crucial interconnections between the various parts. And the last chapter, covering the Holocene (the last 10,000 years) is a sombre catalog of man-made disasters, a story of random destruction of these interconnections, without giving much thought to the long-term consequences. The authors stress repeatedly that Evolution is an ongoing process and it has certainly not stopped with humans. We have to know the best way possible both the separate systems surrounding us and how they are connected between them and with us, in order to better understand ourselves and the beautiful fragile world we live in. This book is a good start.
Format:Hardcover
I agree with all previous reviewers that this is a most excellent introduction to the history of the evolution of our planet. Brilliantly illustrated with clear diagrams and excellent photographic choices.
The texts are surprisingly detailed for such a broad range of topics and the lists of sources is adequate. More specific information on geological structures, such as precise location and or viewpoint would have been useful.
Much has moved on in the scientific understanding which underpins this book so I would hope that the publishers are planning an updated edition.
The texts are surprisingly detailed for such a broad range of topics and the lists of sources is adequate. More specific information on geological structures, such as precise location and or viewpoint would have been useful.
Much has moved on in the scientific understanding which underpins this book so I would hope that the publishers are planning an updated edition.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
The story of the Earth
This is not only the most useful book i've ever found about the natural history of the Earth but also the most beautiful.
The maps it contains are marvellous. Read more
The maps it contains are marvellous. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Isafish
An excellent read
This book investigates the theory of evolution and looks from the solar system into the indepth articles of the biosphere. Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2002 by Richard C. Nuttall (nuttall_uk@yahoo.co.uk)
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