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Rating: 
Summary: A FASCINATING JOURNEY BACK THROUGH TIME
Review: Curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Western Australian Museum in Perth, Western Australia, John A. Long is a thoughtful scholar. He writes in his introduction, "The story of fishes through time is also the story of changing continents and climates, devastating mass extinctions, and changing faunas and floras." So begins a fascinating journey back through our planet's distant ages to begin the story of the evolution of fishes - the first creatures to have a skeleton. Armosred fishes, monster sharks, fishes with arms and fishes that breathe are all characters in this ongoing panorama of life then and now. Some 220 vibrant color photographs plus numerous color drawings and black and white photos enhance this meticulously prepared volume. For those with an interest in evolution, fossils or fish, The Rise of Fishes is not to be missed. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: A FASCINATING JOURNEY BACK THROUGH TIME
Review: Curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Western Australian Museum in Perth, Western Australia, John A. Long is a thoughtful scholar. He writes in his introduction, "The story of fishes through time is also the story of changing continents and climates, devastating mass extinctions, and changing faunas and floras." So begins a fascinating journey back through our planet's distant ages to begin the story of the evolution of fishes - the first creatures to have a skeleton. Armosred fishes, monster sharks, fishes with arms and fishes that breathe are all characters in this ongoing panorama of life then and now. Some 220 vibrant color photographs plus numerous color drawings and black and white photos enhance this meticulously prepared volume. For those with an interest in evolution, fossils or fish, The Rise of Fishes is not to be missed. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: A FASCINATING JOURNEY BACK THROUGH TIME
Review: Curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Western Australian Museum in Perth, Western Australia, John A. Long is a thoughtful scholar. He writes in his introduction, "The story of fishes through time is also the story of changing continents and climates, devastating mass extinctions, and changing faunas and floras." So begins a fascinating journey back through our planet's distant ages to begin the story of the evolution of fishes - the first creatures to have a skeleton. Armosred fishes, monster sharks, fishes with arms and fishes that breathe are all characters in this ongoing panorama of life then and now. Some 220 vibrant color photographs plus numerous color drawings and black and white photos enhance this meticulously prepared volume. For those with an interest in evolution, fossils or fish, The Rise of Fishes is not to be missed. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: Easy to read evolutionary history of fishes
Review: Easy to read, containing hundreds of color illustrations, this reference nonetheless gives a detailed evolutionary history of the fishes. The reference starts with tunicates, cephalochordates and conodonts and moves on to the agnatha, sharks and the extinct acanthodians and placoderms. The emergence of the bony fish (class osteichthyes) in the late Silurian is then discussed. Major groups of this class include the ray-finned fishes (actinopterygii), the predatory lobe-finned fishes (crossopterygii) and the lungfishes (dipnoi), and each is discussed in more detail. The final chapter of the reference discusses the evolutionary transition from fish to tetrapod.
Rating: 
Summary: Fossil fish with a slight "Aussie" bias.
Review: John A. Long, a vertebrate paleontologist in Perth, is proud of the fossil record found in Austrialia. In this book he presents a manageable overview, encompassing 500 million years of fish evolution, with some interesting anecdotes about his own research. Long is a talented writer and brilliant scientific educator with a gentle, but obvious, bias towards the "land down under". The Rise of Fishes is well organized and beautifully illustrated. Photography of fossil specimens and locations is artfully presented. The chapters on lungfish development and tetrapod evolution (independent of one another) are easily understood and well documented sections. It's certainly one of the most visually compelling reference books available for the amateur fossil hunter or professional icthyologist/vertebrate paleontologist.
Rating:
Summary: An authorative synopsis of the evolution of fishes downunder
Review: John Long presents a beautifully illustrated summary of the 500 million year evolution of arguably the most successful of the chordate faunas. If you have found the exclusion of Australian fishes from general texts on marine evolution irritating, then you'll be pleased at the wealth of information and photograph's on Australian - Gondwanaland - fishes that is contained within these pages. John is vertebrate curator at the West Australian Museum, has published over 80 scientific papers, and is author of the book "Dinosaurs of Australia and New Zealand ...". If you are a professional Paleontologist, or aspire to be, or an enthusiastic fossil-hunter, then this book is cumpulsory reading. Order it today!
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