Fossils: The Key to the Past (British Museum Paperbacks) - Softcover

Fortey, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0674311361 ISBN 13: 9780674311367

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1994

Synopsis

This thorough introduction to the world of paleontology has been completely revised and updated, reflecting changes in the ways that fossils are viewed and interpreted. Using the fluid writing style that made Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution such a success, Dr. Fortey brings the study of fossils into the twenty-first century.

About this title

About the Author

Richard Fortey is a celebrated popular science writer and former senior palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum, London. Richard spent more than 30 years working at the Museum, specialising in trilobites, the distant relatives of crabs and lobsters that lived 260-540 million years ago. He has also been Collier Professor in the Public Understanding of Science and Technologyat Bristol University.His previous books include The Hidden Landscape, which won The Natural World Book of the Year in 1993, Life: An Unauthorised Biography which was shortlisted for the Rhone Poulenc Prize in 1998, Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution, which was short-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize, and Dry Store Room No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum. He has won both the Lewis Thomas and Michael Faraday prizes for his science writing, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1997.

Review

In this attractive, well-illustrated book, Richard Fortey traces a more or less chronological progression from early Precambrian life through the vertebrates, including hominids, giving due credit to the great diversity and abundance of invertebrate fossils. Fortey also explains the essential biological, taxonomic and geological concepts that underlie paleontology...Fortey maintains the reader's interest throughout by his use of lyrical, commonly humorous language and excellent black-and-white drawings and color photographs...This book offers an excellent introduction to paleontology, pulling together in a concise manner the multiple facets that make contemporary paleontology a dynamic and exciting field of study.
--Samantha A. Harlow and Joseph G. Carter (American Scientist)

This book is not a field guide, yet it provides essential information that many field guides lack. It is not a picture book, yet it provides many good pictures of fossils. It is not a textbook, yet it provides excellent text on fossils. So, what is it? Answer: It is a rarity among its flashier rivals in the publishing trade. Fossils is a clearly written, straightforward book...This is an excellent and intelligent book.
--William C. Philips (The Science Teacher)

[This book] is written in a clear and engaging style, technical terms are minimized but well defined, and complex concepts are simplified yet accurately presented such that both novice and professional will profit from this work...Fortey's many years of service as a paleontologist with the British Museum of Natural History prepared him well for the technical material presented, but his superb writing ability will account for much of the probable success of this book. It should appeal...to anyone interested in a very readable account of the history of life on our planet. (Choice)

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674311361
• ISBN 13: 9780674311367
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208