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lotusmeristem555's review against another edition
4.0
The main use of this book - other than entertainment - was to make me realize I have whole courses from my biology b.s.c lodged in my brain.
Well done, Mr. Fortey.
One star has been reduced from this book due to religion-bashing in the name if science. Get along, people.
Well done, Mr. Fortey.
One star has been reduced from this book due to religion-bashing in the name if science. Get along, people.
cassandrat's review against another edition
2.0
Very unstructured. More of a slog than a romp. There is a good level of referencing and crediting scientists, but there is additional description and attention to the scientists that sometimes makes me feel like I learn more about the author and other scientists than the plants and animals. I want an abridged version that keeps the parts describing locations where we find flora and fauna, what we know about them, and how we know what we know. Then, I want it structured in a way that makes sense. The mystery reveal of animals isn't really a mystery reveal because there are no clues or context.I like that the author starts with current day and transitions to past day, but it's all a bit jumbled. There is some reference to a tree of life and moving up and down, but I haven't a clue how that structured the book or how we are supposed to be following along. He talks a lot of the base and the top and the roots of trees of life and animals and the analogies with time are a bit mixed up throughout the book it seems.
Chapter 1: is generally good and focused about horseshoe crabs
Chapter 2: is sparse about velvet worms. lots of filler.
Chapter 3: is about really cool stromatolites or slimy mounds, but becomes unbearable because it's also sparse and filler heavy. He talks about the stromatolites long before actually defining what a stromatolite is - this happens a lot in the book.
Chapter 4: starts talking about national parks and bacteria and that's cool. has better diagrams. then kind of goes on a tangent...a related tangent but not why we are here.
Chapter 5: is all over the place. Why are we reading the author's "quiet contemplation"? We are never fully introduced to one creature before another is introduced and then we go back to the first. It's just bizarre. We then "expand on the subject of worms and worminess" wasn't the chapter on velvet worms a good place for that? Jellyfish are in here though, and that's cool. Again, I feel like more time is spent on flowery language than communicating clearly about jellyfish.
Chapter 6: finally the green stuff! Every chapter I wonder if maybe we will get to the green stuff now. pretty focused narrative here on Huperzia. The transition to China and Ginkgo-Cycads is a little rough. It gets a little unfocused towards the end.
Chapter 7: lungfish is the most primitive living form, around for hundreds of millions of years. they live to be 50 or 80 years old! the celeocanth is also covered in this chapter. There is a little too much about the author in this chapter in my opinion.
Chapter 8: again we learn the name of an animal many words before knowing what it is. This chapter covers special mammals and birds. Tinamou. Echidna.
Chapter 9: is a bit of a slog. Musk ox. Midwife toads. This chapter gets into the Americas and extinction of animal species. Not really sure why.
Chapter 10: is a summary of sorts, going over the timeline again and perhaps also generalizations about the "survivors" and their characteristics.
Chapter 1: is generally good and focused about horseshoe crabs
Chapter 2: is sparse about velvet worms. lots of filler.
Chapter 3: is about really cool stromatolites or slimy mounds, but becomes unbearable because it's also sparse and filler heavy. He talks about the stromatolites long before actually defining what a stromatolite is - this happens a lot in the book.
Chapter 4: starts talking about national parks and bacteria and that's cool. has better diagrams. then kind of goes on a tangent...a related tangent but not why we are here.
Chapter 5: is all over the place. Why are we reading the author's "quiet contemplation"? We are never fully introduced to one creature before another is introduced and then we go back to the first. It's just bizarre. We then "expand on the subject of worms and worminess" wasn't the chapter on velvet worms a good place for that? Jellyfish are in here though, and that's cool. Again, I feel like more time is spent on flowery language than communicating clearly about jellyfish.
Chapter 6: finally the green stuff! Every chapter I wonder if maybe we will get to the green stuff now. pretty focused narrative here on Huperzia. The transition to China and Ginkgo-Cycads is a little rough. It gets a little unfocused towards the end.
Chapter 7: lungfish is the most primitive living form, around for hundreds of millions of years. they live to be 50 or 80 years old! the celeocanth is also covered in this chapter. There is a little too much about the author in this chapter in my opinion.
Chapter 8: again we learn the name of an animal many words before knowing what it is. This chapter covers special mammals and birds. Tinamou. Echidna.
Chapter 9: is a bit of a slog. Musk ox. Midwife toads. This chapter gets into the Americas and extinction of animal species. Not really sure why.
Chapter 10: is a summary of sorts, going over the timeline again and perhaps also generalizations about the "survivors" and their characteristics.
ejdecoster's review against another edition
3.0
The subjects of the book were very interesting, but I found Fortey's writing occasionally a bit florid and digressive.
nicmcphee's review against another edition
4.0
Fortey is arguably a little chatty in places, but there is a lot of excellent content and many important ideas here. He does a very nice job of acquainting us with various existing species that shed valuable light on closely related species that existed millions of years ago, helping us understand the complexity of evolution, and the extinction and persistence of species over time. While the book focuses on huge stretches of geological time, it also illustrates how quickly and dramatically things change in major extinction events, which is valuable as we struggle to understand the likely impacts of the massive changes our species is bringing about.
nicoleme1212's review against another edition
2.0
I showed up for the horseshoe crabs, and I gave it this rating because it reads like rambly prose crossed with a textbook. The science is sound and even interesting, but this is a SLOW read, especially with the way the author gets sidetracked but flowery descriptions and personal anecdotes. I forced myself through this book because I wanted to like it, but I did find it to be incredibly dense, and I kind of wish I'd known that before I'd picked it.
ktree36's review against another edition
4.0
This book is an awe inspiring overview of life and evolution on earth. My jaw literally dropped on quite a few pages. Beautifully written and has enough human interest sprinkled in to avoid information overload. There is also a handy index of terms and species names at the back of the book to refer to.
cspiwak's review against another edition
4.0
A look at creatures who have persisted through time. Fortey makes even the plants personable and interseting, though humans do not fare so well under his microscope. A bit pessimistic, or perhaps, realistic, but full of a love for living things
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