The history of life : a very short introduction / Michael J. Benton.
There are few stories more remarkable than the evolution of life on earth. This Very Short Introduction presents a succinct guide to the key episodes in that story - from the very origins of life four million years ago to the extraordinary diversity of species around the globe today. Beginning with an explanation of the controversies surrounding the birth of life itself, each following chapter tells of a major breakthrough that made new forms of life possible: including sex and multicellularity, hard skeletons, and the move to land. Along the way, we witness the greatest mass extinction, the first forests, the rise of modern ecosystems, and, most recently, conscious humans. Introducing ideas from a range of scientific disciplines, from evolutionary biology and earth history, to geochemistry, palaeontology, and systematics, Michael Benton explains how modern science pieces the evidence in this vast evolutionary puzzle together, to build up an accessible and up-to-date picture of the key developments in the history of life on earth.
Record details
- ISBN: 9780199226320
- ISBN: 0199226326
- Physical Description: 170 pages : illustrations ; 18 cm.
- Publisher: Great Clarendon Street, Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2008.
Content descriptions
General Note: | Includes index. |
Formatted Contents Note: | 1. Introduction -- 2. The origin of life -- 3. The origin of sex -- 4. The origin of skeletons -- 5. The origin of life on land -- 6. Forests and flight -- 7. The biggest mass extinction -- 8. The origin of modern ecosystems -- 9. The origin of humans. |
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Subject: | Life > Origin. |
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Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Kirtland Community College.
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- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
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Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kirtland Community College Library | QH 325 .B46 2008 | 30775305533110 | General Collection | Available | - |
Electronic resources
The History of Life: a Very Short Introduction
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Summary
The History of Life: a Very Short Introduction
Here is the extraordinary story of the unfolding of life on Earth, told by Michael J. Benton, a world-renowned authority on biodiversity. Ranging over four billion years, Benton weaves together the latest findings on fossils, earth history, evolutionary biology, and many other fields to highlight the great leaps that enabled life to evolve from microbe to human - big breakthroughs that made whole new ways of life possible - including cell division and multicellularity, hard skeletons, the move to land, the origin of forests, the move to the air. He describes the mass extinctions, especially the Permian, which obliterated 90% of life, and he sheds light on the origins of human beings, and of the many hominids that went before us. He ends by pointing out that studying the past helps us to predict the future: what happens if the atmosphere warms by 5 degrees? What happens if we destroy much of the biodiversity on Earth? These things have happened before, Benton notes. We need only look to the distant past to know the future of life on Earth.