Evolution

Evolution: The Whole Story presents a thorough survey of how each of the major groups of living things - earliest life, plants, invertebrates, fish and amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals - evolved through time. Each chapter takes a major living group and presents thematic essays discussing the evolution of particular subgroups as they appeared on Earth with reference to detailed comparative anatomy, evolutionary legacies and the breakthrough theories of eminent scientists. The book covers the giant sea-spiders that prowled the shallow seas until 250 million years ago; the sharks that have changed little over 400 million years; the giant carnivorous dinosaurs that roamed North America in the Cretaceous Period; the perching birds, ancestors of modern-day garden birds; the evolutionary story of the horse, and more. Accompanying the essays are amazing photographic features that investigate the characteristics of individual organisms in detail. Our understanding of evolution has a profound effect on our underlying comprehension of nature - from our own human heritage to the way we believe climate change will affect tomorrow's world. Evolutionary theorists, intrepid fossil-hunters, paleontologists, paleoecologists, molecular biologists, geneticists, climatologists - and the occasional lucky amateur - have all contributed to unravelling this most complex and challenging subject. Evolution: The Whole Story contains everything we need to know about the development and survival of life on Earth.