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Contents:

1 - The origin of life on Earth; 2 - Earth's earliest life; 3 - Sex and nuclei: eukaryotes; 4 - The evolution of metazoans; 5 - The Cambrian explosion; 6 - Changing life in a changing world; 7 - The early vertebrates; 8 - Leaving the water; 9 - Tetrapods and amniotes; 10 - Early amniotes and thermoregulation; 11 - The Triassic takeover; 12 - Dinosaurs; 13 - The evolution of flight; 14 - The modernization of land and sea; 15 - The origin of mammals; 16 - The end of dinosaurs; 17 - Cenozoic mammals: origins, guilds and trends; 18 - Geography and evolution; 19 - Primates; 20 - Evolving towards humans; 21 - Life in the Ice Age.

Review:

Interest in the geological past has been popular for decades. Dinosaurs must be on everyone's hit list at some time. However, there is less interest in a more complete overview which is a pity because there are many facets to explore. The aim of this text is to provide such an overview.

We start with a brief outline of the nature of geology, the solar system (origins of the Earth) and genetics (origins of life). The introduction continues in chapter two with an explanation of how fossils are preserved and a discussion about the very earliest of fossils (still a controversial area). Chapter three looks at the evolution of eukaryotes (the more evolved cell type) with a good overview of possible hypotheses of development. There's also an introduction to cladistics. Chapter four deals with the evolution of more complex organisms and, as such, can be seen as the last of the overview chapters. Chapter five starts with the 'explosion' of life in the Cambrian. Clearly this was not as dramatic as the term suggests but it's a useful place to begin especially as the previous four chapters were an introduction to both the topics and the very earliest life forms (and environments). Now that the stage has been set with the start of complex life forms, the text diverges from the more normal period-by-period description. Chapter six, for example, discusses fossil diversity and the main extinction periods. Chapter seven describes the development of early vertebrates. By this time, land was suitable for colonisation. Chapter 8 outlines the main features of the first organisms but plant and animal. We get a brief, but useful, overview of the problems that need to be overcome. This is useful because all too often these can be overlooked and the whole process seems too simple. Chapters 9 and 10 cover the rise of two important groups; tetrapods and amniotes. The latter group is the name given to egg-producing organisms and so reptiles, birds and mammals are all in this lineage. By linking groups in this way it's easier to get an overview of the adaptive radiation that must have been in operation to create such diversity. In addition to eggs, the early amniotes also developed themoregulation which meant that species could more easily spread around the early Earth. Chapter 11 moves on to the Triassic and the development of the early dinosaurs. How this group spread is the subject of chapter 12. The reader is given not only a brief description of the main orders but also some idea of adaptations and ecology. One issue in dinosaurs was the development of flight. Chapter 13 takes this in more detail looking at insects as well as birds. The Permian was a time of great species loss. Chapter 14 describes this loss and the development of the 'new' species that went on to colonise both land and sea (the 'modernisation' of the title. Part of the new fauna were the early mammals (chapter 15) and although this was a key development we still have to deal with the loss of the dinosaurs (chapter 16) and the range of hypotheses which surround this event. From this point, the focus is on mammals in general and primates/hominids in particular. Chapter 17 outlines mammal development in terms of both species and communities. Chapter 18 links geography with evolution to help explain some of the mysteries of fossil distributions. Primate development is dealt with in chapter 19 whilst the final two chapters focus on human development in both early (chapter 20) and Ice Age (chapter 21) phases.

This book covers a great deal of ground. It deals with the topic by linking groups of species and environments rather than just go through the litany of periods which is useful for beginners trying to make sense of the new fossil data being produced. There are numerous illustrations which highlight key species/developments. It should be seen as a very good addition to the literature.