A History of Life in 100 Fossils

Through a combination of informative text and striking pictures, Taylor and O'Dea, of the Natural History Museum, London, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, respectively, present an overview of the evolution of life on Earth. Using some of the notable fossils present in the collections of the Natural History Museum and the Smithsonian, they describe life forms ranging from 3.5 billion-year-old cyanobacteria to the Stellar's sea cow, which was driven to extinction in the late 18th century. Each picture is coupled with a brief description and readers are treated to a discussion of what evolutionary lessons can be learned from each fossil. (The book's only major downside is that the fossils are presented without a clear indication of scale, so it is difficult to appreciate size differences.) In addition to such standard fare as descriptions of how Archaeopteryx displays both bird and reptile characteristics, the authors go further afield, demonstrating, for example, that grasses were common many millions of years earlier than originally hypothesized. The fossils Taylor and O'Dea present lead them to wonder about such issues as the nature of symbiosis or whether all dinosaurs were warm-blooded, using their material like any good scientist: to ask as many questions as they answer. (Oct.)