Fossils: The Key to the Past (British Museum Paperbacks)

By Richard Fortey

Book Overview

Richard Fortey offers a delightfully lucid explanation of what are and what the field of paleontology is all about. As he traces the history of life from the dawn of the Precambrian era to the present, he paints a vivid picture of the emergence of the plants and animals we would recognize today. In offering an ideal balance between detail and generalization, Fossils will appeal to both amateur and professional alike.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674311361
• ISBN13: 9780674311367
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 1.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.5" x 0.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Beautiful enough for the coffee table – deep enough for a scholar.

If you are enamored of old fossils or if molecular paleontology is more your cup of tea, you will enjoy this book. We are treated to the past present and future with a reminder that it has been 150 years since Darwin wrote his books in this book fills in many of the holes that were left by Darwin to fill in. I am reviewing the fourth edition; in this edition, there have been a few corrections and many additions, so if you have an earlier version of this book, you will definitely want to buy this one also. The book pretty much covers the field of paleontology, leaving no stone unturned or any fossil described. For the beginner paleontologist, the terminologies, histories, and techniques are discussed. The book itself is very sturdy, and the pages are all glossy. Also, there are many color pictures with detailed diagrams and references for further reading. Richard Fortey is also the author of "The Hidden Landscape”, "Life: an Unauthorized Biography", and “Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution".