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The Story of Life

Southwood
en Limba Engleză Paperback – 4 sep 2003
How did life begin? What really was 'snowball earth'? Why did the dinosaurs go extinct? Are we all descended from 'African Eve'? Will humans be responsible for the next major extinction? All these are addressed in this fascinating book.The story unfolds with the formation of the earth around four thousand million years ago, though it took until after massive bombardment by asteroids a hundred million years later for life to emerge and another fifteen million years until more complex life began to appear. Periods of relatively calm, like a kaleidoscope held still, were punctuated by five vigorous shakes of the kaleidoscope representing major extinctions, with innumerable minor jolts along the way. Five million years ago an able ape evolved that gradually came to dominate and control the other animals and plants. Evolution in all its complexity has been put aside and the future lies in the hands of single species.Southwood's love for his subject, and for the life he describes, shines through this carefully and straightforwardly crafted story. It is generously illustrated with line drawings showing the creatures and plants that inhabited the changing world and reconstructions of entire habitats, with maps of the globe that show the progress of the land itself.
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Specificații

ISBN-13: 9780198607861
ISBN-10: 0198607865
Pagini: 276
Ilustrații: numerous, maps figures and line drawings
Dimensiuni: 156 x 233 x 18 mm
Greutate: 0.42 kg
Editura: Oxford University Press
Colecția OUP Oxford
Locul publicării:Oxford, United Kingdom

Recenzii

This remarkable book succeeds, within less than 300 pages, in summarizing everything essential about all living creatures for more than three billion years. If you are looking for one convenient, reliable, highly readable reference to replace your whole library, this is it.
You will learn more from this book than any number of television programmes, and I hope that, like me, you find the unfashionable approach both refreshing and something of a relief.
As scholarly as any textbook, the book would make a ready read on an airplane trip. It can be heartily recommended to the aficionado and the student alike. It should even appeal to that eclectic readership, the general public, so that people can gain an insight into the astonighing abundance and variety, and the pedigree, of our planet's chief feature.
Extremely few scientists would be able to cover the entire history of life authoritatively, with wisely chosen examples and principles, presented in lucid prose, and all in fewer than 260 well-illustrated pages. Richard Southwood is one of them, has done so, and I accordingly recommend this book to scientists and public alike.
Southwood displays an impressive sweep of knowledge about life . . . a swift, efficient delivery of the most important information we have on how life has blossomed on Earth.
This is a lovely book. It is short, nicely presented, authoritative, and friendly. This must find a place in every school library.
Besides being a gripping yarn, The Story of Life is an impeccable review of the science.
We could all benefit from enrolling for his course.
an excellent and accessible overview.
Comprehensive and thorough.

Notă biografică

Professor Sir Richard Southwood FRS, ex-head of Imperial College and Oxford Zoology Departments, ex-Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, holder of thirteen honorary degrees is, above all, a life long natural historian with an enduring curiosity about the lives of the other inhabitants of Earth. As well as writing and researching, he has played a major role in public policy related to the environment - with direct responsibility for the elimination of lead additives from petrol, inter alia.