Eyewitness: Prehistoric Life [Hardcover]

William Lindsay (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Grade Level: 3 and up | Series: DK Eyewitness Books

Discover the origins of life on earth -- from the first bacteria through the age of giant dinosaurs to the coming of humans.

For 4,600 million years, there has been some form of life on Earth. At first, the Earth was a mass of raging fires and volcanoes, so early forms of life began in the seas. Prehistoric Life tells the story of these and the succeeding life forms -- everything from microscopic organisms to early humans. We know about the great diversity of early life through the fossil finds from many different countries. Prehistoric Life describes how these fossils fit together into a giant jigsaw puzzle. Using reconstructions and authentic models, such fascinating creatures from Earth's prehistory as the great dinosaurs, the ferocious saber-toothed tiger, and the giant woolly mammoth, are brought vividly to life. Written by William Lindsay, an experienced paleontologist and author of many best-selling books for children on dinosaurs, Eyewitness Prehistoric Life is an exciting introduction to what life was like many millions of years ago.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-9-This overview covers a lot of territory-from primordial slime to the apes that were our relatives-presented as a browsing collection of pictures and captions. Photos and illustrations of fossils, prehistoric plants, animals, and dinosaurs are prolific and colorful. While all are clearly reproduced, it is sometimes frustrating to see fossilized remains without seeing the creature depicted as it was in real life. Many of the drawings are out-of-date, reproduced most probably from copyright free material, and they do not always reflect contemporary theories about life on Earth. An adequate flip-through trip to the past, but not a reference source.
Cathryn A. Camper, Minneapolis Public Library
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

...a mini museum between the covers of a book. [Eyewitness series] -- The New York Times

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: DK CHILDREN; 1st edition (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789458683
• ISBN-13: 978-0789458681
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,007,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #69 in Books > Children's Books > History > Prehistoric

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overview of the history of life, June 11, 2004

By 

Anonymous (Glendora, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prehistoric Life (Eyewitness Guides) (Hardcover)

This book is a good overview of the history of life on earth. There are a lot of great pictures in the book.

Some parents may want to be aware the book presents earth's material from an evolutionary perspective. Although I personally do not think that the scientific case for biological evolution has been definitive proven, I use this book as a supplement to our homeschool curriculum to expose my kids to the basic ideas of evolution. I want them to respect this perspective and not lampoon it. And this book is a great way to introduce kids to the foundational ideas. Parents who do hold an evolutionary perspective will probably appreciate the book for the same reason.

My only slight criticism of this book is that the book gives minimal discussion to the multiple extinction and replacement events that have happened throughout the history of the earth. This is an intriguing issue of earth's history which very few textbooks give any discussion to.

My other criticism is that the book doesn't clearly differentiate between modern humans and hominids, their differing behaviors and culture. But, again, this isn't unusual. Many science textbooks don't seem to make this differentiation either.