Eminent scientist Professor Southwood has written a definitive text
on the history of life from its beginnings in the chemical soup to
the present day. One might expect such a book to be dense and
unreadable, so broad is its sweep and so complex the issues
involved, but one would be wrong. Although the book's material was
originally directed at life sciences students, it is beautifully
clear and so very readable that it deserves a place in every
household. We all have a rough knowledge of evolution and perhaps
think not a lot more can be said about it. Southwood's talent is to
make this knowledge relevant to us, and to the seismic shifts in
the environment we see around us today. Species have emerged, and
disappeared, and we, too, are a species which may suffer the same
fate. For dinosaur lovers, the book provides many fascinating
revelations - for instance, dinosaurs were neither warm- nor
cold-blooded, but a mixture of both, with biological systems unlike
any other animal. In the context of a particular species and its
impact on the environment, Southwood cites the effects of lead and
chemicals upon our biology and the contribution humanity has made
to increased carbon dioxide levels. The stress of population
explosion coupled with the scarcity of natural resources leads to
political instability. In the final chapter of the book Southwood
asks whether we have the ability to deal with the monsters we have
created - or whether they will be our doom and, as a result, sound
the death knell for the human race as we know it. (Kirkus UK)
In this attractively illustrated volume, eminent biologist Sir
Richard Southwood offers a remarkable survey of life in all its
forms, ranging from the earliest single-celled bacteria, to the
evolution and extinction of animals such as the dinosaurs, to the
variety of life today.
The book follows the major geological periods--such as the
Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian--explaining how great
planetary changes such as the movement of the continents, the
rising and falling of sea level, and the periods of glaciation,
affected the forms of life on Earth. Beginning with the earliest
and simplest forms of life, Southwood discusses such amazing
creatures as bacteria that live around geysers and thermal vents
and can survive in boiling water. He explains how the development
of skeletons triggered the Cambrian Explosion, when animals such as
trilobites, sea scorpions, shellfish, cephalopods first spread
around the earth. He also examines such landmarks of evolution as
the appearance of eggs in shells and of insects in flight. We read
about the great dinosaurs and the arrival of the mammals and the
primates, and the great extinctions, including the Permian (the
largest in fossil history, wiping out 95% of animals) and the
Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/T) extinction (the one that wiped out the
dinosaurs). Southwood concludes by examining the impact of humanity
on Earth, considering if we ourselves might not unleash the next
major extinction.
Southwood's love for his subject, for the life he describes so
vividly, shines through this carefully crafted story. Generously
illustrated with line drawings showing the fauna and flora of the
Earth, both past and present, The Story of Life will enthrall
anyone interested in nature and natural history.
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