Life

A New York Times Book Review Editors Choice Extraordinary Anyone with the slightest interest in biology should read this book The New York Times Book Review A marvelous museum of the past four billion years on earth capacious, jammed with treasures, full of learning and wide eyed wonder The Boston GlobeFrom its origins on the still forming planet to the recent emergence of Homo sapiens one of the world s leading paleontologists offers an absorbing account of how and why life on earth developed as it did Interlacing the tale of his own adventures in the field with vivid descriptions of creatures who emerged and disappeared in the long march of geologic time, Richard Fortey sheds light upon a fascinating array of evolutionary wonders, mysteries, and debates Brimming with wit, literary style, and the joy of discovery, this is an indispensable book that will delight the general reader and the scientist alike A drama bolder and sweeping than Gone with the Wind a pleasure to read Science A beautifully written and structured work packed with lucid expositions of science Natural History New Read [ Life ] By [ Richard Fortey ] For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr I ve read this story before, many times The interesting thing is how different each approach is to telling the story of the appearance and evolution of life on Earth Carl Sagan approaches it with reverent awe, one of the Universe s great mysteries Bill Bryson, on the other hand, took an outsider s view, since he is not really in on the whole paleontology thing And Terry Pratchett and his buddies told the tale through the eyes of the Wizards of the Unseen University, which always makes thin I ve read this story before, many times The interesting thing is how different each approach is to telling the story of the appearance and evolution of life on Earth Carl Sagan approaches it with reverent awe, one of the Universe s great mysteries Bill Bryson, on the other hand, took an outsider s view, since he is not really in on the whole paleontology thing And Terry Pratchett and his buddies told the tale through the eyes of the Wizards of the Unseen University, which always makes things interesting.Fortey s approach is somewhat different He got into this by being a student of the Ancient, and has been studying the history of life since his boyhood So, his take on the story is one of excited discovery He does a very nice job at explaining just how thrilling it is to find a fossil tooth in a place where no one had found fossil teeth before, or why the fact that chal...Great book but as much as I enjoyed it I d recommend one of hisrecent books instead Fortey is one of those rare science writers that combines a gift for explanation with the rare feat of being a great writer and often invokes a Saganesque beauty of science His description of tetrapods wandering across Pangaea as perfectly pandemic perambulation and his constant inclusion of numberless quotes of fine literature and poetry sucks the reader in in a way another British science author, who Great book but as much as I enjoyed it I d recommend one of hisrecent books instead Fortey is one of those rare science writers that combines a gift for explanation with the rare feat of being a great writer and often invokes a Saganesque beauty of science His description of tetrapods wandering across Pangaea as perfectly pandemic perambulation and his constant inclusion of numberless quotes of fine literature and poetry sucks the reader in in a way another British science author, who shall not be named, has always failed miserly at The religious language used in chapter two and in the conclusion as a means to show how an ...Fortey, an exceptionally engaging science writer, takes us on a tour through four billion years of natural history His review is neither focused nor comprehensive butof a wide ranging travelogue touching on each period in evolutionary history and the author s explorations The high points are his evocative descriptions of landforms, flora and fauna both present and past We traverse the terrain with him on his fossil collecting expeditions to remote corners of the world where he describes Fortey, an exceptionally engaging science writer, takes us on a tour through four billion years of natural history His review is neither focused nor comprehensive butof a wide ranging travelogue touching on each period in evolutionary history and the author s explorations The high points are his evocative descriptions of landforms, flora and fauna both present and past We traverse the terrain with him on his fossil collecting expeditions to remote corners of the world where he describes what the earth and its inhabitants must have looked like in eras long ago For example, he takes your imagination to a primitive Carboniferous forest with giant millipedes and dragon flies as big as seagulls Fortey discusses the process and history of paleontology as he describes the pro...I love the combination of autobiography and science in this book I love Richard Fortey s writing style and I appreciate his sense of humour Because of this book, I still have a strong desire to see Spitzbergen I have always loved paleontology and use this book as a basis for the teaching that I have d...This isn t my favourite of Fortey s books, possibly because I ve read similar types of books by other writers before, so he isn t bringing me a new subject I don t expect to like in the same way as he was in his books about geology, or a key passion of his as in his book about trilobites though trilobites have their place here, too, as you d expect with Fortey Still, I enjoy the way he writes and the way he draws together his themes, and this isn t a bad book it s just that he and others h This isn t my favourite of Fortey s books, possibly because I ve read similar types of books by other writers before, so he isn t bringing me a new subject I don t expect to like in the same way as he was in his books about geology, or a key passion of his as in his book about trilobites though trilobites have their place here, too, as you d expect with Fortey Still, I enjoy the way he writes and the way he draws to...My brother realizes I am a paleontology geek, so I was hooked to Life the moment I picked it up Like Fortey, I revel in the minutiae of life s march through the ages, from the Pre Cambian, Ediacarian fauna Spriggina, a possible precursor to trilobites, t...Preface If you ve read many of my previous reviews and perhaps also if your name s Richard Fortey you ll know that I ve already written a review of this book However, I ve recently changed the framework by which I review books and films, so I feel it only fair that I re review this book under said revised structure Main review This book has been lashed with ream after ream of praise So, with that in mind, on top of the fact that the subject of life on Earth has always interested me, I p Preface If you ve read many of my previous reviews and perhaps also if your name s Richard Fortey you ll know that I ve already written a review of this book However, I ve recently changed the framework by which I review books and films, so I feel it only fair that I re review this book under said revised structure Main review This book has been lashed with ream after ream of praise So, with that in mind, on top of the fact that the subject of life on Earth has always interested me, I picked it up eagerly It wasn t what I thought it d be.What don t I like about this book Well, the biggest flaw has to be the fact that it s next to not at all necessary A biography of life should be as ambitious as possible, discussing all the ins and outs of biota on this p...With Life An Unauthorized Biography, British palaeontologist Richard Fortey attempts to pen down four billion years of life and evolution on earth for his readers in only 400 pages total An ambitious aim, to be sure, and one that Fortey manages to live up to, though perhaps not in ways everybody might ve expected and there s no doubt that he s had to sacrifice a...Fortey, Richard LIFE A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth 1998 My rating of this heavy book in no way should reflect on the quality of the material or the quality of the writing It reflects solely on my ability to understand the subject matter The author starts out his book with an account of hi...An absolutely fantastic book that I would recommend to everyone, everywhere, from late high school on Fortey turns entire epochs into captivating stories that make me immediately wantHis exploration of the Ordovician and Carboniferous were particularly captivating Being a 1998 book, there were a few things that seemed dated, but none of those small issues took away from the sweeping magnitude of the overall story Should particularly be required to be read by anyone you hear espousing c An absolutely fantastic book that I would recommend to everyone, everywhere, from late high...

• English
• 20 March 2017
Richard Fortey
• Paperback
• 400 pages
• 037570261X
• Richard Fortey
• Life