When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time

Benton, Michael J

ISBN 10: 050005116X / ISBN 13: 9780500051160

Published by Thames & Hudson, 2003

About this Item

Ausreichend/Acceptable: Exemplar mit vollständigem Text und sämtlichen Abbildungen oder Karten. Schmutztitel oder Vorsatz können fehlen. Einband bzw. Schutzumschlag weisen unter Umständen starke Gebrauchsspuren auf. / Describes a book or dust jacket that has the complete text pages (including those with maps or plates) but may lack endpapers, half-title, etc. (which must be noted). Binding, dust jacket (if any), etc may also be worn.

Seller Inventory # M0050005116X-B

Bibliographic Details

• Title: When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 050005116X
• ISBN 13: 9780500051160
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: acceptable

About this title

Synopsis

"Michael Benton's splendid book brings back to Earth Science a sense of adventure. . . . It is both a wonderfully good read and a valued reference." ―James Lovelock, author of Gaia and Homage to Gaia

Today it is common knowledge that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteorite impact 65 million years ago that killed half of all species then living. Far less well-known is a much greater catastrophe that took place at the end of the Permian period 251 million years ago: 90 percent of life was destroyed, including saber-toothed reptiles and their rhinoceros-sized prey on land, as well as vast numbers of fish and other species in the sea.

This book documents not only what happened during this gigantic mass extinction but also the recent rekindling of the idea of catastrophism. Was the end-Permian event caused by the impact of a huge meteorite or comet, or by prolonged volcanic eruption in Siberia? The evidence has been accumulating through the 1990s and into the new millennium, and Michael Benton gives his verdict at the very end. From field camps in Greenland and Russia to the laboratory bench, When Life Nearly Died involves geologists, paleontologists, environmental modelers, geochemists, astronomers, and experts on biodiversity and conservation. Their working methods are vividly described and explained, and the current disputes are revealed. The implications of our understanding of crises in the past for the current biodiversity crisis are also presented in detail. 46 b/w illustrations.

46 illustrations

About the Author

Michael J. Benton is head of the world-­leading Palaeobiology Research Group at the University of Bristol. He has written more than fifty books, including Dinosaurs: New Visions of a Lost World, Dinosaurs Rediscovered: The Scientific Revolution in Paleontology, and When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time.