Editorial Review:
This comprehensive introduction to the history of life on Earth explores the basic principles and processes, the rich history of past life forms -- marine and terrestrial -- and the major events that shaped this history. Emphasizes the complexity and diversity of life through time. Considers the causes for major events in Earth history --and weighs various interpretations. Some of the many topics covered are: the organization of life, rocks and fossils, origins of the earth, oceans, atmosphere, and life, organic evolution and extinction,.marine predators, .early and advanced consumers on land. The book minimizes the use of technical terms, while providing to the reader short chapter-end lists of important key words and defines each term in a glossary.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
Readable  2008-05-03
I knew this was not in perfect condition, but it works. Was delivered in a timely fashion.
Okay content, lousy package, outrageous price  2004-07-26
The previous reviewer's complaints about the price of this book are absolutely correct. This book is wildly overpriced for what it is.
This is not to take anything away from the authors, however. It is a very enjoyable read and packed with all kinds of interesting information on the history of life. In terms of this content, it's the best single source that I've been able to find. And the writing isn't bad.
But for this price there should be some better photographs. I was hoping to see some fossils, diagrams and photographs of stratigraphic features that are the evidence to the book's claims, as well as visual representations of the placement of the continents and associated climatic data for the various historical periods. Physical anthropology books are a great example of this: without seeing the transitional forms it's difficult to get a strong grasp of human evolution. Hence, decent physical anthro books are loaded with photographs of specimens. Since we are often talking about species, climates, and landforms that are long gone and have no direct corrolaries with our present world, this kind of information would have been extremely helpful. The number of such visual represenations is small and their quality is either mediocre or poor.
However, as I said the text content of the book is fine. If you're simply looking for the names of different periods and lots of data on them, this book will provide that. And it is a good read. Bottom line: this is a $14.95 book going for $47.
A $47 Paperback?!?!?!?! 1999-03-27
Yes, I understand that college textbooks are not your average books and that they contain a wealth of information, but honestly...$47?? How do these people sleep at night? I can't understand a price that high for a 320 page soft cover book regardless of the information it contains.
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