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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
A truly impressive piece of work. It opens up your mind to a rich and elaborate past that is very misrepresented in today’s media.
As others have said the complexity of the writing made this a challenging read but worth it nonetheless. I wish there would’ve been more pictures as it’s very difficult to imagine creatures that have little resemblance to the fauna of the holocene. Still, very much deserving of 4 stars.
As others have said the complexity of the writing made this a challenging read but worth it nonetheless. I wish there would’ve been more pictures as it’s very difficult to imagine creatures that have little resemblance to the fauna of the holocene. Still, very much deserving of 4 stars.
informative
slow-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
I didn't enjoy the writing style; I was looking for something less narrative and more textbook-like.
Not what I’m wanting to read at the moment when I don’t always have much time to get my teeth into it. This book deserves more than I can give it right now.
We have had life on this planet for a substantial period that it has been whirling around the sun. But the life that you will find is significantly different to the plants birds and animals that we can find around us now.
In this fascinating book, award-winning palaeobiologist Thomas Halliday will take us back to the dawn of time and talk us through the flora and fauna across all of the seven continents from Scotland, to Chile, Italy, Australia and Alaska to China.
In each of these locations he takes us on an immersive journey into the animals that you were likely to see should you be able to step out of a conveniently located time machine. Each chapter is packed with this level of detail and sadly this density is almost too much at times and I ended up skimming it a little.
Whilst I liked it, it was like reading the screenplay of an Attenborough documentary where someone had described every leaf and creature in each shot. I did feel that the epilogue kind of didn’t fit in with the rest of the book, but I get why he included it. It is a warning to say that where we are heading with the climate has happened in the past and it wasn’t a particularly easy time for life on earth. Not bad overall. 3.5 stars
In this fascinating book, award-winning palaeobiologist Thomas Halliday will take us back to the dawn of time and talk us through the flora and fauna across all of the seven continents from Scotland, to Chile, Italy, Australia and Alaska to China.
In each of these locations he takes us on an immersive journey into the animals that you were likely to see should you be able to step out of a conveniently located time machine. Each chapter is packed with this level of detail and sadly this density is almost too much at times and I ended up skimming it a little.
Whilst I liked it, it was like reading the screenplay of an Attenborough documentary where someone had described every leaf and creature in each shot. I did feel that the epilogue kind of didn’t fit in with the rest of the book, but I get why he included it. It is a warning to say that where we are heading with the climate has happened in the past and it wasn’t a particularly easy time for life on earth. Not bad overall. 3.5 stars
Usually, when I take as long with a book as I did this one, it means I didn't enjoy it. This is definitely an outlier in that regard.
Every chapter felt so vibrant and alive that I'd get lost in it, and once I reached the end I wasn't ready to jump back farther into the past. Because of this, I only ended up reading 1 chapter every day. This book is also very scientifically dense, and doesn't lend itself to binging it in one sitting.
Every chapter felt so vibrant and alive that I'd get lost in it, and once I reached the end I wasn't ready to jump back farther into the past. Because of this, I only ended up reading 1 chapter every day. This book is also very scientifically dense, and doesn't lend itself to binging it in one sitting.
informative
medium-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced