cover image Aquagenesis: 2the Origin and Evolution of Life in the Sea

Aquagenesis: 2the Origin and Evolution of Life in the Sea

Richard Ellis. Viking Books, $25.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-670-03023-1

The ancestors of today's whales, manatees and seals were in fact terrestrial (some even looked rather like wolves); circa 50 million years ago, however, they returned to the sea. Prolific nature writer and marine life artist Richard Ellis (The Search for the Giant Squid; Men and Whales) investigates this phenomenon and many others from bioluminescence to convergent evolution to the origin of life itself in his excellent Aquagenesis: The Origin and Evolution of Life in the Sea (sent too late to PW for review). Combining scientific data with personal opinion (and even giving time to a few crackpot theories), this volume offers both the pleasures of a good narrative and the stimulation of a serious study. Line drawings by Ellis throughout. (Oct.)