A History of Life in 100 Fossils

Not what I expected--it was more! The author pulls the reader away from close inspection of trees and gives us a look at the forest. From the supposed very earliest life forms through the present, the reader sees development of features of life forms through time, and how the same feature can develop among water-dwellers and land-dwellers. It shows how a feature can be lost with a major extinction, to show up later in a different species. It shows how features develop to serve creatures in their current environment. And, I suspect, there's a basic pattern to life forms that goes back to the very earliest life.

A fantastic book for the curious layman and more.The text is easy to read and helps to understand how long the earth exist. The photos are top quality and a joy to study. The overview of the last pages are helpful as well. I will recommend this book to all my friends.Jack from Southern France

This book is an excellent summary of fossils through the ages. Photos of each specimen are outstanding and makes you wish that you had found these, of course! Glad to have options of both hardback and paper.

A page of text with each chronological fossil shown. 1/2 way between a text book and a coffee table book. Well done and targets "interested readers".

Anyone with an interest in fossils will enjoy this book. What I especially enjoyed was the ability to magnify the photos of the fossils so that I could take a closer look at certain features. Photo resolution is excellent.

Great addition to the paleo library for a serious paleontologist, researcher, student or casual collector. In the finest tradition of Smithsonian Books, we get a guided, geologic time scale tour in full-color and readable text for the many fossil specimens at our national museum.

Interesting overview of evolution in terms of a well selected group of fossils. Encourages further reading about fossil research.

Well done book

This is a very good book for an elder child or adult who is big into Fossils. Not too many illustrations. However, my grandson wants to be a paleontologist so this is just right, Hope this helps

Best summary available.

I had been wanting to read this for ages and I am very pleased to get it. It arrived in perfect condition.

This book has been very much enjoyed. I have used it often in the weeks I have owned it. Well worth 5 stars.

Excellent book for someone who knows a bit about fossils.