Around 370 million years ago, a distant relative of a modern lungfish began a most extraordinary adventure—emerging from the water and laying claim to the land. Over the next 70 million years, this tentative beachhead had developed into a worldwide colonization by ever-increasing varieties of four-limbed creatures known as tetrapods, the ancestors of all vertebrate life on land. This new edition of Jennifer A. Clack's groundbreaking book tells the complex story of their emergence and evolution. Beginning with their closest relatives, the lobe-fin fishes such as lungfishes and coelacanths, Clack defines what a tetrapod is, describes their anatomy, and explains how they are related to other vertebrates. She looks at the Devonian environment in which they evolved, describes the known and newly discovered species, and explores the order and timing of anatomical changes that occurred during the fish-to-tetrapod transition.
Gaining Ground, Second Edition (Life of the Past)
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Editorial Reviews
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"This outstanding update of early tetrapod anatomy, phylogeny and systematics... will be extremely useful to students and lecturers in palaeontology, geology, zoology and general biology [and] a ‘must’ for researchers in the field." —Nature
(Nature )"A landmark review of some of the most important discoveries in vertebrate biology and evolution during the close of the past century." —PALAIOS
(PALAIOS )"A wonderful tale encrypted in fossils, genes, and flesh." —Carl Zimmer, author of At the Water's Edge
(Carl Zimmer, author of At the Water's Edge )About the Author
Jennifer A. Clack is Professor and Curator of Vertebrate Palaeontology at the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge. She was awarded the 2008 Daniel Giraud Elliot medal, by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and in 2009 was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Foreign Honorary Member by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
As a layperson with some interest in paleontology, I found this book a rewarding read. Clack starts with an overview of the book, followed by a (for laypeople) detailed chapter on tetrapod anatomy. After this, the book looks at the lobe-finned fishes and goes on to present the transition to land in chronological order, focusing on key fossil deposits (Greenland, Quebec, southern Scotland, and more). The book is relatively expensive for an e-book, but is long and packed with detail. The presentation of theory and evidence here is very clear and understandable. There is a reasonable amount of taxonomic and anatomical info, enough to provide some support for the book's claims, but not so much to slow it down. I found it well worth the money, but this is a popular science book with the emphasis on the science. The focus is strictly on the facts; if the topic doesn't interest you, the book won't win you over.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is an impressive book. Dr. Clack has put together a textbook-quality history of fossils and phylogenies to tell the tale of us tetrapods. Included are detailed comparative anatomy tables that brings amateurs up to speed on, well, everything. 18 color plates add nice context. If you can't get enough Tiktaalik or Ichthyostega, this book is for you. Highly recommended... - lc
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By J. Yang
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
The book is a good read so far. Figures and diagrams are bit of a nightmare. The problems are 2-fold:
1. Can't view diagram and read any accompanying text at the same time.
2. Diagrams and figures are tiny and unreadable. even when you zoom in the image is simply a blown up thumbnail (text in image blurry and unreadable)
Does anyone have a remedy for this?
1. Can't view diagram and read any accompanying text at the same time.
2. Diagrams and figures are tiny and unreadable. even when you zoom in the image is simply a blown up thumbnail (text in image blurry and unreadable)
Does anyone have a remedy for this?
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Watch out dirt, here I come!
While reading this book, I actually felt like that first tetrapod thingy crawling out of the water into that air and onto that dry landlike place. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Robert Eichen
5.0 out of 5 stars
gaining ground
I think the book gaining ground was a very interesting book and would recommend to any learned audience. A person
should have a background in a related field. Read more
should have a background in a related field. Read more
Published 4 months ago by kevin w. wright
3.0 out of 5 stars
Gaining Ground: The Origin and Evolution of Tetrapods.
It was a gift to my husband and at 40 pages he feels it was written for academics rather than for popular press. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Ruth
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