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Product Description
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: at least 90 percent of life was destroyed, both on land and in the sea. The Earth became a cold, airless place, with only one or two species eking out a poor existence.
This book documents not only what happened during this gigantic mass extinction but also the recent rekindling of the idea of catastrophism. Scientists have at last come to accept that the world has been subject to huge cataclysms in the past. For the end-Permian event the killing models are controversial -- was the agent the impact of a huge meteorite or comet, or prolonged volcanic eruption in Siberia?
This is an insider's account, from the geologist's field camps in Greenland and Russia to the laboratory bench, of how a panoply of scientists are pursuing a major interdisciplinary goal. Their working methods are vividly described and explained, and the current disputes are revealed. As Michael Benton shows, the implications for today's biodiversity crisis of understanding crises millions of years ago are relevant for us all.
"Mass extinctions have profoundly shaped the course of evolution of life. Of the five 'big ones' of the geological past, the greatest one lies at the division of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic time, some 250 million years ago -- a monstrous event that nearly brought life to a complete halt.
"Such dramatic material naturally makes for good storytelling, but Michael Benton gives us far more than the mere bones of what died when and where: Benton tells the story of how people - from Victorian times to the present - have wrested meaning from old rocks, bones and shells. He tells us of rivalries and squabbles, and paints a vivid picture of science as a quintessentially human endeavor - an ongoing search for better understanding that by its very nature can never be finished."
-- Niles Eldredge, American Museum of Natural History
All of our books are second hand, and while you may not get the exact copy shown in the picture, all of our books are in very good condition. Removing stickers from a book may damage it, so we refrain from doing so. If you see a price sticker on a book, please ignore it.
