A review by socraticgadfly
Otherlands: Journey Through Earth's Extinct Worlds by Thomas Halliday

funny hopeful informative lighthearted medium-paced

5.0

A great book, both for having a great concept and being well-written. And, although not entirely about mammals, it comes off better than Steve Brusatte’s new book about mammals.

 

The idea is simple.

 

Using our best knowledge today of both paleontology AND of plate tectonics and how the movement of continental plates and their alignment and positioning on the globe has caused dramatic changes in global climate over the eons, how did this lead to extinction of some species, and genera, families, orders, classes, etc. above that, of course, and the arising of new ones.

 

Per editorial blurbs, Halladay shows in detail how ecosystems arise, and, at different eras in our planet’s history, how this led to new plant and animal life forms.

 

This is aided by a full-page maps at the start of each individual “Otherworld” chapter showing global land and ocean positioning at the time. Good drawings of animals throughout the chapters also help.

 

I noted it’s better than Brusatte’s book. These full-page maps are one reason. His book crams six maps onto two pages.

 

Another is that, on the “Otherworlds” that concern mammals, he seems to have a greater diversity of mammalian life.

 

Also, he’s got a somewhat larger chart of eons à eras à periods à epochs, with dates for each peoch.

 

But, it goes back far before the rise of the mammals. Back before the evolution of chordates, for that matter. Back to Cambrian explosion times.

 

And, yes, back. In an interesting conceit, Halladay starts with the newest “otherworld” first, just a blink of a geological eye, 20,000 years ago. (It focuses on mammoths and is called “Thaw,” in reference to the ice ages.) He ends with the oldest, called “Emergence,” of 550 million years ago in what is today Australia.

 

He ends with an epilogue tying all of this to current climate change.

 

And, it’s all in the best of modern British English, with an occasional transatlantic nod to us in the States.