Editorial Review:
Some 250 million years ago, the earth suffered the greatest biological crisis in its history. Around 95% of all living species died out--a global catastrophe far greater than the dinosaurs' demise 65 million years ago. How this happened remains a mystery. But there are many competing theories. Some blame huge volcanic eruptions that covered an area as large as the continental United States; others argue for sudden changes in ocean levels and chemistry, including burps of methane gas; and still others cite the impact of an extraterrestrial object, similar to what caused the dinosaurs' extinction. Extinction is a paleontological mystery story. Here, the world's foremost authority on the subject provides a fascinating overview of the evidence for and against a whole host of hypotheses concerning this cataclysmic event that unfolded at the end of the Permian. After setting the scene, Erwin introduces the suite of possible perpetrators and the types of evidence paleontologists seek. He then unveils the actual evidence--moving from China, where much of the best evidence is found; to a look at extinction in the oceans; to the extraordinary fossil animals of the Karoo Desert of South Africa. Erwin reviews the evidence for each of the hypotheses before presenting his own view of what happened. Although full recovery took tens of millions of years, this most massive of mass extinctions was a powerful creative force, setting the stage for the development of the world as we know it today.
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
Hand a copy of your book to an English major, Prof. Erwin.  2008-11-01
I am loving this book but besides all my highlighting of truly interesting text, I am having to edit a lot of punctuation, style and grammar errors. Yes, I'm a bit obsessive but I'm wondering Prof. Erwin, why aren't you? This is the fourth printing. . . these errors should be gone by now. Are you as lackadaisical about your geology?
Good follow up 2008-11-01
This book is a reappraisal of his previous book on the same subject "The Great Paleozoic crisis". That was a good book, scientifically rigorous, but also a hard slog to read. This one keeps the same careful approach, and improves on its ancestor in two ways. First there is a lot of updated information, partcularly Erwin now looks at the possibility of an asteroid impact having caused the extinction. Secondly he tries to make it more accessible with a few more personal anecdotes. It still isn't an easy read, but definitely a worthwhile account of a subject that is often lost amongst the attention given to dinosaurs and their spectacular extinction.
Very informative overview of the Permian Mass Extinction  2007-10-08
I found this book very easy to read. Mr. Erwin has a sort of sense of humor he adds to the book to take away from any text book monotony you may be afraid of. He is also extremely in depth and explains with seemingly little bias the many proposed possible causes and evidence (or lack of) for this mass extinction. There are also many diagrams and graphs to illustrate much of the pertenant information. I won't get too in depth with the contents, I will just say if you have any interest in the Permian, or any other prehistoric event, I suggest you read it.
Interesting topic, expert writer, frustrating book  2007-03-22
I wish I could give this book three or four stars. Erwin is an expert in the area of the Permian extinction, and when he tries, he can write well. Unfortunately, he does not seem to try often. There are just too many sentences here that need to be read two or three times before their meaning becomes clear. The meaning of many of the graphics never become clear! And at the end of each chapter, I was unclear about what I had learned, and what I could expect next.
I finally gave up half way through the book. At that point, I was as confused about the Permian extinction as I was at the beginning, and I cannot even say I was confused at a higher level.
Perspective on Global Warming 2007-02-22
A geologist's view of global warming puts things in perspective. The sky may or may not be falling, but it's happened before.
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