Rating: 
Summary: Solid fossil book
Review: Easy to read, well illustrated, reconstructed fossils from protists to sponges to arthropods to fish to reptiles to mammals. It is noted that the original edition of this reference was written in 1958 by Carroll Lane Fenton and Mildred Adams Fenton, with revisions provided in 1996 by Patricia Vickers Rich and Thomas Hewitt Rich.
Rating:
Summary: A great book for your fossil library
Review: I have to admit this is one of the best and easiest to read of all the books dealing with life from the Pre-cambriam to the present. More than half of Rich's book deals with aquatic flora and fauna, which is basic for understanding how life began on land. The other half of the book involves the flora (plant) invasion on dry land preceeding to present day angiosperms, also included is the development of terrestrial fauna (animals) until the Pleistocene period. Diagrams and photo's(blk/wht) are more that abundant thoughout each chapter, making identification an easy task. There is even a chapter on fossil collection! It has it all! This is a must have book for any geology student interested in paleology or for that matter anyone interest in fossils. The purchase of Rich's book would be a worth wild investment.
Rating:
Summary: A must if you're interested in fossils
Review: It gives the reader a solid foundation of paleontology and fossil knowledge on which to build upon. It may not have all of the most recent theories and discoveries because the last revision was in 1996, but it is easy to read and well illustrated. It can be understood by anyone, and contains a wealth of information. It covers the entire 3.5 billion-year history of the fossil record in its 760 pages and is an excellent reference book that I keep returning to time and again.
Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: It is really good because it is local based for Melbourne, Australia, not America.
Rating:
Summary: If you only purchase one book on fossils, make it this one.
Review: Much in the way of really good material on fossils including some 1500 pen and ink drawings in this excellent compendium. It also includes highly readable text which others of its ilk seem not to include. Would highly recommend to both the novice and somewhat advanced collector. Has been revised and updated several times since its original 1958 publishing with 1996 being the latest. I equate it to the USA Today of fossil books. Bottom line, an excellent value.
Rating: 
Summary: Dishonesty
Review: The "review" above from "A reader from the land of honest intellectuals" is not a review at all. The writer probably hasn't even seen the book. It's just another creationist rant, exploiting debates among evolutionists over the speed of evolutionary transitions to argue -- what? That all fossils were placed in the rocks by the Devil to lead men astray? Sure, fossils are rare enough that it's hard to find one that lies directly between two other closely related fossils, but there are plenty that show characteristics of two related present-day groups. For instance, how do dishonest Christians explain the fossil ape-men, the Australopithecines? Their usual tactic with such fossils is to say they're either too different or too similar to be related. Their arrogance is such that I'm sure they'll say the ape-men are nothing like them. Maybe they're right -- the ape-men were too honest to be Christians.
Rating:
Summary: The Fossil Book
Review: The original version of this book was published in 1958. It is a wonderful introduction to the fossil record. The book is organized by begining with the oldest fossils, and working forward through time to the most recent fossils. There are many excellent drawings and phtographs to help the reader understand not only what the living animal looked like, but what the typical fossil parts look like.This book does not require the reader to already be a scientist in order to understand and enjoy it's contents. For the amateur fossil collector, this is a valuable reference book that will be used over, and over again. Many important discoveries have been made in geology since 1958, and the more recent edition(s) incorporate these discoveries. Like all sciences, geology is a growing body of knowledge.
Rating:
Summary: The Fossil Book
Review: The original version of this book was published in 1958. It is a wonderful introduction to the fossil record. The book is organized by begining with the oldest fossils, and working forward through time to the most recent fossils. There are many excellent drawings and phtographs to help the reader understand not only what the living animal looked like, but what the typical fossil parts look like. This book does not require the reader to already be a scientist in order to understand and enjoy it's contents. For the amateur fossil collector, this is a valuable reference book that will be used over, and over again. Many important discoveries have been made in geology since 1958, and the more recent edition(s) incorporate these discoveries. Like all sciences, geology is a growing body of knowledge.
Rating: 
Summary: OK but not up to date
Review: This book would have been fine if it had been read by someone nearly fifty years ago. If you like fossils and fossil hunting this book would have been great. But I needed it for basically a resource for research, and it fell on the wayside miserably in that aspect. It was originally copyrighted for 1958, so the publication date on Amazon was a little misleading, no offense. The illustrations that are in it, and there are a lot, are downright pathetic, it looks like a 3 year old drew most of them. There was next to nothing on fossil floras and no descriptions of any paleoecosystems in detail. The classifications of various vertabrate groups are out of date miserably. All in all buy this book, if you're fifty years old and no nothing at all about fossils and paleontology. But if you do no some and you want to learn more, this book is a waste of time, and a waste of the green stuff if you know what I mean.
Rating:
Summary: This is a comprehesive and excellent publication.
Review: This is the one of the most comprehensive and interesting books on Fossils I have ever read! A great source book and a definite must for a fossil enthusiast, teacher, or seeker of knowledge. Simply excellent!
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