The Book of Life: An Illustrated History of the Evolution of Life on Earth [Hardcover]

Stephen Jay Gould (Editor), John Barber (Illustrator), Peter Andrews (Contributor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393050033 | ISBN-13: 978-0393050035 | Publication Date: January 15, 2001

A new edition of the beautifully illustrated depiction of the dramatic story of survival and extinction. The Book of Life uses an exemplary fusion of art and science to tell the story of life on earth. The text, under the editorship of Stephen Jay Gould, provides thorough understanding of the latest research and is accompanied by paintings prepared especially for this book. Never before has our planet's evolution been so clearly, so ingeniously explained. History is marked by disaster. The Book of Life explains how mammals, having survived at least one of these disasters--the impact of a massive comet--luckily inherited the earth. Next came the rise of modern humans, who would shape the world as no creature has. As this fascinating history unfolds, gorgeous illustrations allow us to observe climate changes, tectonic plate movement, the spread of plant life, and the death of the dinosaurs. We discover the chains of animal survival, the causes and consequences of adaptation, and finally the environmental impact of human life.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

An unusual scientific reference work by any measure, The Book of Life opens with an unusual protest from its editor, Stephen Jay Gould, who worries that it may have left out much of importance discovered between the present and the book's original publication in 1993. Gould's worry is well placed--in the last few years, many advances have been made in taxonomy and genetics, to name just two areas. Still, the book is a lucid, readily comprehensible, and largely up-to-date overview of the origins and evolution of life on earth, from the emergence of bacteria 4 billion years ago to that of Homo sapiens in recent geological time. Written by distinguished scientists, the text proceeds chronologically, giving an in-depth account of the fossil record. It is matched by hundreds of paintings, drawings, charts, and graphs that reinforce the authors' discussions.

More than all that, The Book of Life is a manifesto proclaiming the essential correctness of evolutionary theory, which has come under fire in places like Afghanistan and Kansas. "Life has changed through time," paleontologist Michael Benton observes. "No other explanation will account for the sequence and variety of the life forms preserved as fossils, or the history recorded since humankind began to draw, paint, and carve, about 30,000 years ago." The book's careful documentation of those changes makes it a highly useful reference for high school and university students, and it's a book that rewards casual browsing as well. --Gregory McNamee

From Library Journal

It is hard to know just what to make of this book. On one hand, the inclusion of dozens of striking color paintings and an introductory essay by Stephen Jay Gould on the history of iconography in the life sciences suggest a coffee-table book on biological illustration. On the other hand, the bulk of the illustrations, along with the organization of the text, suggest a textbook or encyclopedia aimed at high school students and general readers. Each of the six chapters--beginning with the origin of life in the seas, continuing through the age of dinosaurs, and ending with the evolution of the primates and hominids--is written by an expert in the field and addresses the latest research. Unfortunately, there are no bibliographies pointing readers to primary sources. This book will probably see the most use in the reference collection of public and school libraries.
- Eric Hinsdale, Trinity Univ. Lib., San Antonio
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (January 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393050033
• ISBN-13: 978-0393050035
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 8.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #422,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fairly complete, beautifully illustrated book, January 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Book of Life: An Illustrated History of the Evolution of Life on Earth (Hardcover)

The story about how it all began and has become... Beutifully illustrated. To the point examples. Beautifully brought together! Easy to understand to people with not to much evolution knowledge. The only thing I missed were some geological aspects. Being so important in the beginning, I would like some more information about the lithosphere, its cycles, the physical and chemical (and later biological) erosion, and so on. But it is one of my favorites, I like it very much. It is what a good book should be: inventing, well made, good looking!

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Illustrated evolution, November 26, 2000

By 

Howard Schneider (Thornhill, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book of Life: An Illustrated History of the Evolution of Life on Earth (Hardcover)

This easy to read, well illustrated book covers the evolution of life from the Cambrian to the emergence of humans. More than a hundred color illustrations give the reader a sense of the events taking place. At the time of this article Stephen Jay Gould is at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Other collaborators include J. John Sepkoski, Jr. a paleobiologist specializing in evolutionary radiation, Michael Benton an expert on extinct amphibians and reptiles, Christine Janis an expert on the evolution of mammals, Peter Andrews an expert on primate evolution, and Christopher Stringer an expert on the origins of humans. Illustrators include: John Barber, Marianne Collins, Ely Kish, Akio Morishima, and Jean-Paul Tibbles.

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very nice overview of the state-of the-art, November 1, 2001

By 

Lars Karlsson (Örebro Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Book of Life: An Illustrated History of the Evolution of Life on Earth (Hardcover)

This singular book gives a very nice popular overview of the state-of-the-art in paleontology, chronologically covering everything from the Archean to the evolution of man. It is a beautifully illustrated and well-written book, although the text is perhaps sometimes a bit too technical and dense for the paleontological novice.
And please don't buy some creationists' claims that this is science fiction. The contents of this book is based on material from thousands of scientific articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals such as "Nature" and "Science", representing the fruits of the hard labour of paleontologists from all over the world. And the fossil record, even if it is convincing in itself, is far from the only support for evolution. Independent evidence for evolution can also be found in biogeography, development, molecular analyses (gene DNA, junk DNA, mtDNA etc), anatomical analyses, and even field observations of new species evolving. This large amount of evidence is why evolution is considered an established and undisputable fact. Of course, if one rather than facts wants comic book fantasies such as humans coexisting with dinosaurs and evil scientists conspiring to hide the truth, then one should look for creationist books instead. Or comic books.