History Of Life

Author : Richard Cowen
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118510933
Total Pages : 832 pages
Book Rating : 4.33/5 ( download)

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Download or read book History of Life written by Richard Cowen and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-01-22 with total page 832 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text is designed for students and anyone else with an interest in the history of life on our planet. The author describes the biological evolution of Earth’s organisms, and reconstructs their adaptations to the life they led, and the ecology and environment in which they functioned. On the grand scale, Earth is a constantly changing planet, continually presenting organisms with challenges. Changing geography, climate, atmosphere, oceanic and land environments set a stage in which organisms interact with their environments and one another, with evolutionary change an inevitable result. The organisms themselves in turn can change global environments: oxygen in our atmosphere is all produced by photosynthesis, for example. The interplay between a changing Earth and its evolving organisms is the underlying theme of the book. The book has a dedicated website which explores additional enriching information and discussion, and provides or points to the art for the book and many other images useful for teaching. See: www.wiley.com/go/cowen/historyoflife.

Author : Peter Ward
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1608199088
Total Pages : 401 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A New History of Life written by Peter Ward and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2015-04-07 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of life on Earth is, in some form or another, known to us all--or so we think. A New History of Life offers a provocative new account, based on the latest scientific research, of how life on our planet evolved--the first major new synthesis for general readers in two decades. Charles Darwin's theories, first published more than 150 years ago, form the backbone of how we understand the history of the Earth. In reality, the currently accepted history of life on Earth is so flawed, so out of date, that it's past time we need a 'New History of Life.' In their latest book, Joe Kirschvink and Peter Ward will show that many of our most cherished beliefs about the evolution of life are wrong. Gathering and analyzing years of discoveries and research not yet widely known to the public, A New History of Life proposes a different origin of species than the one Darwin proposed, one which includes eight-foot-long centipedes, a frozen “snowball Earth”, and the seeds for life originating on Mars. Drawing on their years of experience in paleontology, biology, chemistry, and astrobiology, experts Ward and Kirschvink paint a picture of the origins life on Earth that are at once too fabulous to imagine and too familiar to dismiss--and looking forward, A New History of Life brilliantly assembles insights from some of the latest scientific research to understand how life on Earth can and might evolve far into the future.

Author : Richard Fortey
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307761185
Total Pages : 566 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Life written by Richard Fortey and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-03-23 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By one of Britain's most gifted scientists: a magnificently daring and compulsively readable account of life on Earth (from the "big bang" to the advent of man), based entirely on the most original of all sources--the evidence of fossils. With excitement and driving intelligence, Richard Fortey guides us from the barren globe spinning in space, through the very earliest signs of life in the sulphurous hot springs and volcanic vents of the young planet, the appearance of cells, the slow creation of an atmosphere and the evolution of myriad forms of plants and animals that could then be sustained, including the magnificent era of the dinosaurs, and on to the last moment before the debut of Homo sapiens. Ranging across multiple scientific disciplines, explicating in wonderfully clear and refreshing prose their findings and arguments--about the origins of life, the causes of species extinctions and the first appearance of man--Fortey weaves this history out of the most delicate traceries left in rock, stone and earth. He also explains how, on each aspect of nature and life, scientists have reached the understanding we have today, who made the key discoveries, who their opponents were and why certain ideas won. Brimful of wit, fascinating personal experience and high scholarship, this book may well be our best introduction yet to the complex history of life on Earth. A Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection With 32 pages of photographs

Author : Michael J. Benton
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199226326
Total Pages : 185 pages
Book Rating : 4.20/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The History of Life: A Very Short Introduction written by Michael J. Benton and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-11-27 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This Very Short Introduction presents a succinct and accessible guide to the key episodes in the story of life on earth - from the very origins of life four million years ago to the extraordinary diversity of species around the globe today.

Author : Henry Gee
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 1250276667
Total Pages : 142 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth written by Henry Gee and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Royal Society's Science Book of the Year "[A]n exuberant romp through evolution, like a modern-day Willy Wonka of genetic space. Gee’s grand tour enthusiastically details the narrative underlying life’s erratic and often whimsical exploration of biological form and function.” —Adrian Woolfson, The Washington Post In the tradition of Richard Dawkins, Bill Bryson, and Simon Winchester—An entertaining and uniquely informed narration of Life's life story. In the beginning, Earth was an inhospitably alien place—in constant chemical flux, covered with churning seas, crafting its landscape through incessant volcanic eruptions. Amid all this tumult and disaster, life began. The earliest living things were no more than membranes stretched across microscopic gaps in rocks, where boiling hot jets of mineral-rich water gushed out from cracks in the ocean floor. Although these membranes were leaky, the environment within them became different from the raging maelstrom beyond. These havens of order slowly refined the generation of energy, using it to form membrane-bound bubbles that were mostly-faithful copies of their parents—a foamy lather of soap-bubble cells standing as tiny clenched fists, defiant against the lifeless world. Life on this planet has continued in much the same way for millennia, adapting to literally every conceivable setback that living organisms could encounter and thriving, from these humblest beginnings to the thrilling and unlikely story of ourselves. In A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth, Henry Gee zips through the last 4.6 billion years with infectious enthusiasm and intellectual rigor. Drawing on the very latest scientific understanding and writing in a clear, accessible style, he tells an enlightening tale of survival and persistence that illuminates the delicate balance within which life has always existed.

Author : Paul D. Taylor
Publisher : Smithsonian Institution
ISBN 13 : 1588344827
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.23/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A History of Life in 100 Fossils written by Paul D. Taylor and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A History of Life in 100 Fossils showcases 100 key fossils that together illustrate the evolution of life on earth. Iconic specimens have been selected from the renowned collections of the two premier natural history museums in the world, the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and the Natural History Museum, London. The fossils have been chosen not only for their importance in the history of life, but also because of the visual story they tell. This stunning book is perfect for all readers because its clear explanations and beautiful photographs illuminate the significance of these amazing pieces, including 500 million-year-old Burgess Shale fossils that provide a window into early animal life in the sea, insects encapsulated by amber, the first fossil bird Archaeopteryx, and the remains of our own ancestors.

Author : J. William Schopf
Publisher : Jones & Bartlett Learning
ISBN 13 : 9780867202687
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Major Events in the History of Life written by J. William Schopf and published by Jones & Bartlett Learning. This book was released on 1992 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Major Events in the History of Life, present six chapters that summarize our understanding of crucial events that shaped the development of the earth's environment and the course of biological evolution over some four billion years of geological time. The subjects are covered by acknowledged leaders in their fields span an enormous sweep of biologic history, from the formation of planet Earth and the origin of living systems to our earliest records of human activity. Several chapters present new data and new syntheses, or summarized results of new types of analysis, material not usually available in current college textbooks.

Author : Clémence Dupont
Publisher : Prestel
ISBN 13 : 9783791373737
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.30/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Brief History of Life on Earth written by Clémence Dupont and published by Prestel. This book was released on 2018-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of life on earth unfolds in dramatic fashion in this amazing concertina picture book that takes readers from 4.6 billion years ago to the present day. Fully expanded to 8 meters (26 feet), this spectacular visual timeline is a very impressive panorama that reveals evolution in all its glory. Full color.

Author : Richard Cowen
Publisher : Wiley-Blackwell
ISBN 13 : 9780632044443
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book History of Life written by Richard Cowen and published by Wiley-Blackwell. This book was released on 2000-04-14 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: History of Life is not just for students, but for everyone interested in the history of life on our planet. Paleontology, the study of ancient life, requires some knowledge of biology, ecology, chemistry, physics and mathematics. However, the average person can have access to it without deep scientific training. This book serves three audiences: it is an introduction to palaeontology; a general education course that introduces nonspecialists to science and scientific thought; and an introduction to the history of life for biologists who know a lot about the present and little about the past. The author's aim is ambitious: to take you to the edges of our knowledge in palaeontology; to show you how life has evolved on Earth,;and to explain how we have constructed the history of that evolution from the record of rocks and fossils. Web page tied to use of book boxes. Case studies. End chapter questions. End chapter references.

Author : Michael J. Benton
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119482224
Total Pages : 1042 pages
Book Rating : 4.22/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Cowen's History of Life written by Michael J. Benton and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-08-08 with total page 1042 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A newly revised and fully updated edition of the market-leading introduction to paleontology Designed for students and anyone else with an interest in the history of life on our planet, the new edition of this classic text describes the biological evolution of Earth’s organisms, and reconstructs their adaptations and the ecology and environments in which they functioned. Cowen's History of Life, 6th Edition includes major updates, including substantial rewrites to chapters on the origins of eukaryotes, the Cambrian explosion, the terrestrialization of plants and animals, the Triassic recovery of life, the origin of birds, the end-Cretaceous mass extinction, and human evolution. It also features new chapters on plants, soils and transformation of the land; the Mesozoic marine revolution; and the evolution of oceans and climates. Beginning with the origin of the Earth and the earliest life on earth, the book goes on to offer insightful contributions covering: the evolution of Metazoans; the early vertebrates; life of vertebrates on land; and early amniotes and thermoregulation. The book also looks at: dinosaur diversity, as well as their demise; early mammals; the rise of modern mammals; the Neogene Savannas; primates; life in the ice ages; and more. Covers the breadth of the subject in a concise yet specific way for undergrads with no academic background in the topic Reorganizes all chapters to reflect the geological series of events, enabling a new focus on big events Updated with three brand new chapters and numerous revised ones Put together by a new editorial team internationally recognized as the global leaders in paleontology Filled with illustrations and photographs throughout Includes diagrams to show internal structures of organisms, cladograms, time scales and events, and paleogeographic maps Supplemented with a dedicated website that explores additional enriching information and discussion, and which features images for use in visual presentations Cowen's History of Life, 6th Edition is an ideal book for undergraduate students taking courses in introductory paleontology, as well those on global change and earth systems.