The natural world is filled with beautiful and incredible creatures, from the delicate iridescent hummingbirds to the elegant but gigantean blue whales. How many of the creatures that we see today came to be is the focus of this well-written, fact-packed book.
Switek takes us back to the beginning, with the early chapters of the book guiding readers through the first ideas about what fossils actually were and ideas on evolution.
We witness how Darwin’s work really did change the way scientists viewed the natural world and encouraged the relentless quest by palaeontologists to unearth some incredible fossils.
The evidence for evolution is literally written in stone. The book examines the enigmatic ancestors of the first birds, amphibians, mammals, whales, elephants, horses and humans.
Switek introduces each chapter with the conundrums Victorian naturalists faced when examining the fossils and how they were thought to be related to modern animals.
He effortlessly guides the reader up to date with the latest finds and techniques in palaeontology.
Written with a clear and authoritative prose, filled with interesting facts and eccentric characters from the past and the present, this book is one you will read more than once.
I would recommend it to any museum colleague in any department. You will find yourself recounting many of the exciting stories to friends and groups of school pupils. And, more than once, you will find yourself saying “Wow”.
Jan Freedman is the curator of natural history at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery
Switek takes us back to the beginning, with the early chapters of the book guiding readers through the first ideas about what fossils actually were and ideas on evolution.
We witness how Darwin’s work really did change the way scientists viewed the natural world and encouraged the relentless quest by palaeontologists to unearth some incredible fossils.
The evidence for evolution is literally written in stone. The book examines the enigmatic ancestors of the first birds, amphibians, mammals, whales, elephants, horses and humans.
Switek introduces each chapter with the conundrums Victorian naturalists faced when examining the fossils and how they were thought to be related to modern animals.
He effortlessly guides the reader up to date with the latest finds and techniques in palaeontology.
Written with a clear and authoritative prose, filled with interesting facts and eccentric characters from the past and the present, this book is one you will read more than once.
I would recommend it to any museum colleague in any department. You will find yourself recounting many of the exciting stories to friends and groups of school pupils. And, more than once, you will find yourself saying “Wow”.
Jan Freedman is the curator of natural history at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery
