Fossils [Paperback]

Niles Eldredge (Author), Murray Alcosser (Author), Stephen Jay Gould (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 28, 1996

In this fascinating exploration of the fossil record, Niles Eldredge overturns the traditional view of evolution as a slow and inevitable process, and he shows that lifeforms generally do not evolve to any significant degree until after massive extinction. This rhythm of life--a concept developed by Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould known as punctuated equilibria in evolution-- is revealed by the fossilized remains of the earth's ancient flora and fauna. Distinguished photographer Murray Alcosser augments Eldredge's text with 160 luminous color plates illustrating more than 250 different fossil specimens. In this new paperback edition, Fossils becomes an accessible text with appeal to a broad audience, including natural history readers and students.

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

Eldredge has cleverly combined our knowledge of living organisms with instructive insights into the fossil record to convincingly argue that evolution is, indeed, the grand unifying idea of biology.

From The New Yorker

Fossils goes a long way toward bridging the gap between information and aesthetic satisfaction.... More than a picture book: it is a readable and informative text on the history of life, its geology, biology, and anthropology. Living fossils, stratigraphy, extinction, and evolution are all here.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (October 28, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691026955
• ISBN-13: 978-0691026954
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 10 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,143,703 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #37 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Biological Sciences > Paleontology > Paleobiology

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book for the Rest of Us, December 5, 2001

By 

David Fields (Lincoln, Nebraska United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fossils (Paperback)

Scientists love to write books for other scientists, and overall deplore having to explain their science to the public. Universities work overtime to close their walls to the general public, even going as far as removing their funding from the general scrutiny of the public by catagorizing themselves as "non-constitutional" and in effect keeping themselves out of the public eye. While the general rule for professors is "publish or perish" they tend to attempt to publish in a university press, which is usually a black hole that sucks out lots of money from the university, and is usually funded by grants and endowments and hardly ever from sales - unless those sales are done by making those books "required reading" for University or College students, who can hardly afford another expensive item in their life.

In the introduction to this book Steven Jay Gould laments this problem by saying "In one particularly distressing example... scholars often look down their noses at large format books filled with attractive photographs "coffee table books" in the dismissive jargon." Mr. Gould goes on to say, however "I love this book because it embodies such a fine marriage of these tow m odes of our central vision - palpable photographs of matrials things with a distinctive text of life's history."

I couldn't say it better. Frankly, most books like this aren't very good, this one is perfect for someone with my background: a high school eduction, no chance of ever going back to college, and a overbearing curiosity for all things ancient.

Since starting to collect fossils in the Nebraska road side a year ago, my curiosity of fossils has grown tremendously. Thanks to an effort by a few scientists willling to speak of these things in lay terms, I am able to learn more about the collecting and the science of fossils every day. Books like this are useful to maintain the support scholars need to keep their science alive, and I for one am very happy to see this inexpensive effort from a scientist published and available to the general pubic.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A new and exciting look at Earth's earliest hisory., April 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Fossils (Paperback)

Fossils are a window into time, revealing unexpected insights into the evolution of the staggering variety of forms that life has taken on our planet. This fascinating exploration of fossils overturns the traditional view of evolution as a slow and inevitable process and shows that lifeforms gernerally do not evolve to any significant degree until massive extinction clears the way for new species. This rhythm of life--stability punctuated by burst of change--is revealed by the fossilized remains of Earth's ancient flora and fauna protrayed in 160 luminous cdolor plates and described in in a vivid style that puts the reader in touch with the most current thinking about the evolution of life and the forces that drive it.

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true "coffee table book", July 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Fossils (Paperback)

The book indeed has some splendid photographs but the text moves from general to very very specific.A poor attempt to condense all fields of paleontology into a coffee table book.Buy it for the pictures not the text.