The Story of Life

Rating:
Summary: A sweeping view
Review: This is an impressive book for anyone considering studies in any of the earth sciences. A swift, panoramic view of life's history, it is well organised and presented. Southwood examines some ideas concerned with life's beginnings, then moves along evolution's path. He sets the environmental scenario, describing continent formation and movement. He then describes how plant and animal life reacted to these changes. There's a wealth of good detail, supplemented by fine illustrations tied directly to the text.

Among this book's attributes is the division of chapters by geologic ages. Opening the chapter with a world map of the period sets the environment. He explains how the shifting land forms impacted weather through changes in reflected sunlight and modified oceanic currents. With the environment fluctuating from warm and moist to cool, dry conditions, rainfall changed, forcing life to modify to survive. Some changes were too abrupt to follow and large extinction events resulted. Nowhere, from our viewpoint, were these changes more noteworthy than in human evolution. His chapter on that most significant topic provides an excellent overview of what is known. He provides a fine diagram of the various "hominins" but adroitly skirts the contentious issue of lineages.

With such a vast subject range and limited space, Southwood has achieved a minor triumph. Research and assessment make earth sciences a dynamic discipline, with breakthroughs in the various subfields emerging more rapidly than ever before. He presents the latest information available without disturbing the flow of narrative. If this book has a shortcoming, it might be the "Further Reading" section which can only be described as sparse. While such a list can never be complete, a dozen titles that should have found a place here come to mind. That doesn't limit the value of this work, however, as the books cited are excellent resources for further reading. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Rating:
Summary: A sweeping view
Review: This is an impressive book for anyone considering studies in any of the earth sciences. A swift, panoramic view of life's history, it is well organised and presented. Southwood examines some ideas concerned with life's beginnings, then moves along evolution's path. He sets the environmental scenario, describing continent formation and movement. He then describes how plant and animal life reacted to these changes. There's a wealth of good detail, supplemented by fine illustrations tied directly to the text.

Among this book's attributes is the division of chapters by geologic ages. Opening the chapter with a world map of the period sets the environment. He explains how the shifting land forms impacted weather through changes in reflected sunlight and modified oceanic currents. With the environment fluctuating from warm and moist to cool, dry conditions, rainfall changed, forcing life to modify to survive. Some changes were too abrupt to follow and large extinction events resulted. Nowhere, from our viewpoint, were these changes more noteworthy than in human evolution. His chapter on that most significant topic provides an excellent overview of what is known. He provides a fine diagram of the various "hominins" but adroitly skirts the contentious issue of lineages.

With such a vast subject range and limited space, Southwood has achieved a minor triumph. Research and assessment make earth sciences a dynamic discipline, with breakthroughs in the various subfields emerging more rapidly than ever before. He presents the latest information available without disturbing the flow of narrative. If this book has a shortcoming, it might be the "Further Reading" section which can only be described as sparse. While such a list can never be complete, a dozen titles that should have found a place here come to mind. That doesn't limit the value of this work, however, as the books cited are excellent resources for further reading. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]