Rating: 
Summary: Starts slow but is well worth the time
Review: I almost returned this book to the library after the disappointing first chapter. That would have been a mistake. Fortey's prose tend to ramble (the book just uses too many words to say what it has to say) but the content makes the prose (which, in fairness, often were entertaining) well worth wading through. I had the advantage of a keen ambient interest in the critters going into the book but Fortey's command of the key discoveries and their implications is outstanding and his passion for trilobites is contagious. The book could use about twice the figures, but has included over 25 including some very instructive ones. On the whole a worthwhile read.
Rating:
Summary: The reasons for reading are far exceeded
Review: I became fascinated with the demise of dinosaurs after seeing a program on TV, and reading the book it was based on - 'Hot-Blooded Dinosaurs' by Adrian J Desmond. And there was no shortage of fascinating books about dinosaurs to develop my interest. But for me the most ingruiging aspect of dinosaurs is not their end - what caused their extinction - but why, whatever it was, didn't cause other species to disappear. Crocodiles and turtles, some small furry mammals, these survived. But not one dinosaur (excluding the possibility of radical evolution to birds, as some have suggested) - not the big fierce predators, not the small fast scavengers, not the slow-moving armoured hulks, not the vegetarian giants, not the flying dinosaurs, not the sea-going dinosaurs (Nessie excluded!) managed to survive. There must be something to learn about the extinction event from the SURVIVORS - they must have had some feature that distinguished them from the dinosaurs and allowed their survival.So, when I saw 'Trilobites!' I was immediately interested. Here was another far-reaching, long-lived, diversified species that is as extinct as the dinosaurs. Perhaps here there would be some clues by looking at what made the trilobites - all of them - extinct. When I started reading I was surprised to be clambering along a Welsh cliff top with Thomas Hardy quoted at me. Later on in the book I am in a much more familiar territory - an Australian outback pub, experiencing the discomfort of being assailed by those who have had just one or two drinks too many. This all seems far from trilobites. And yet, for me there was something of a relief in it too, because I was spooked by these strange ocean-going creatures. They looked too much like spiders or other unloved creepy-crawlies!! Just looking at the fossil illustrations gave me the heebie-jeebies. But there was so much more in this book than the description of the types of trilobite, the geography of them (cephalon, thorax, pygidium), the exploration of how we (the Human Race) have got to know them. In this book you will learn about the role of Museums in scientific discovery, the naming of species, the shaping of the planet over geologic (almost astronomical) time. But the book is a vehicle for a much stronger message. On page 207 E O Wilson's idea of consilience is introduced - consilience is the unification of knowledge. Mr Fortey has demonstrated consilience wonderfully in this book. Here we have colourful stories about the geography of the places of discovery, there are literary connections, stories of the people who made and are making the discoveries (including Mr Fortey), reviews of other scientific writers and - as indicated already - a bringing together of geology, biology, chemistry, history and so on. There are clearly great advantages to seeing how all aspects of knowledge interlock and benefit from each other - it is better that not all of us are specialists. This message is one that interests me because it seems to me that A E van Vogt promoted the idea in a science fiction novel 'The Voyage of the Space Beagle' (probably a precursor to 'Star Trek') in 1951 where the science of 'Nexialism' was proposed to guide specialists (such as biologists) and the military controllers of the space ship as they explored the Galaxy. I never really got to feel any closeness to the trilobites, perhaps an uncomfortable intimacy in the end. But this is a great book and I'm sure any person interested in scientific endeavour will love it.
Rating: 
Summary: 4 stars, minus 2 stars for linking this to "evolution"
Review: I would've given this book 4 stars, but to link the trilobites to evolution this way is very misleading. The whole unbiased scientific community today advocates the "intelligent design theory". I thought that people who hallucinate darwinist pseudo-science only find room for their pens in commercial corporate pages. Use this book for information about trilobites, but use Harun Yahya's books to read about evolution first. They're legally available online for free even.
Rating: 
Summary: Fine Book but Figure Typos Abound
Review: I'm writing this review a little prematurely. I've only gotten about 70 pages into it. The first chapter was a little overly literary. The author finally broke into stride after that, and the book is quite enjoyable. The primary reason for writing this premature review is to point out the large number of figure typos. I'm talking about the american hardbound copy. Figures seem to be misplaced, pages other than where the text says they are, and figure numbers missing.
Rating:
Summary: not enough science
Review: If you are interested in the science of trilobites, in paleontology, in how they inform on evolution of animal life and of the earth itself, if you are interested in science and the scientific progress, then at least 1/3 of this book is a waste of time. There are discourses into literature, descriptions of this or that trilobite-hunting ground, discussions of friends (or not) and collegues, etcetc, which are utterly uninteresting to the "hard science" of the subject under discussion. This book left me wanting to read something a lot better on the many really interesting subjects raised, but not dealt with in enough detail. It is also a bit vague in places, eg. at one point saying how if trilobites had lived in deep oceans they may have survived until today, then later saying that they did live in the deep.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful!
Review: If you love natural history, trilobites, and authors who can write well, you'll love this book. It is a nice blend of science, humor, and deep appreciation for the forces that shaped and continue to shape the history of our planet. Fortey brings his love of trilobites alive talking about personalities, including his own. And he waxes philosophical in just the appropriate proportions. Enjoy this book as I did.... ... and then head out back out to the rocks with enthusiasm.
Rating:
Summary: I Love This Book!
Review: Not only do I love this book for its subject--trilobites--those fascinating relatives of horse shoe crabs and wood lice--but for the gorgeous and precise language the author uses to describe everything from the murky seas that blind trilobites used to inhabit to the vast sweep of certain strata of the earth's crust with its dents and bifurcations and crenelations indicative of ice ages ancient when the dinosaurs first came into being, and strange events that wiped the evolutionary slate clean when the earth's atmosphere itself was in its infancy. Fortey takes a close look at the mechanics of trilobite vision and lets us know not only how they saw, but what kinds of things they were witness to. He also gives us a quick and easy guide to the anatomy of the trilobite, and he starts it all off by quoting from a Thomas Hardy novel!
Makes you wish that Fortey was your next door neighbor and that those fascinating trilobites were still around in the back pond or in the parlor fish bowl to inspire yet another level of commentary!
All in all, a rich repast and perfect for summer reading.
Rating:
Summary: Not just trilobites, but the evolution of life on earth
Review: Richard Fortey draws upon a lifetime of fossil study to reveal the history of not just trilobites, but the evolution of life on earth. Trilobites are relics of a very different past: this surveys what is known about them, evolutionary facts, and geologic history. Scientists and non-scientists will find Trilobite! fascinating.
Rating:
Summary: Brings to life a fascinating subject
Review: Richard Fortey writes about a wonderfuly interesting subject as he brings 500 million years into focus through the Trilobite.
Rating:
Summary: This is so cool and NOT boring
Review: Thankfully I grew up in a family who believed that girls should be exposed to palaeontology, archaeology, astronomy and anything fun. So I fell in love as a pre-teen with arrowheads, petrified "rocks" and trilobites. Pronounced as trilbit, subphylum of the phylum Arthropoda that includes a large group of extinct marine animals that were abundant in the Paleozoic era( 600 million years ago). They represent more than half of known fossils from the Cambrian period. The trilobite body was generally oval and flat and was divided into three roughly equal sections: the head, thorax, and tail. The name trilobite refers to a pair of furrows along the length of the animal that divided the body into three longitudinal regions. This was an era when the development of the first fishes, amphibians, reptiles,and land plants occured. Which is why this book is so damn awesome. The author begins the journey in a Pub in Boscastle which lays in a SW English area where he is about to take a walk along the shorelined cliffs and find a trilobite. "Drawings and photographs could not compare with the joy of actually touching a find which seemed , in the egotistical glow of boyhood, dedicated to yourself alone." I wondered while reading his words how many of us have found a fossil, lost coin or beautiful shell and had a similar feeling? The book is 284 pages long and is full of mind boggling facts and trust me if you are the least bit curious about "other worlds" this is a book you will love. He discusses how the different triobites look and looked like millions of years ago. Shells of sealife beinning on page 27. Legs of these creatures and eyes, how they evolved and the message of evolution they teach us. The crisp clear illustrations and photographs make this an added pleasure. The book will have you seeking out local museums and haunts that even offer trilobites for sell, and if you can buy even a small one, you will hold it in you hand and be awed. And it will whet the curiouslity of any young person who reads it, and maybe cause them to consider a science field as an occupation. See if your library has the book, but I recommend adding it to your home library. I highly recommend parents buy the book for their childs school, be it public, private or a home school.
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