Rivers in Time: The Search for Clues to Earth's Mass Extinctions - Softcover

Ward, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231118635 ISBN 13: 9780231118637

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2002

Synopsis

Several times in the distant past, catastrophic extinctions have swept the Earth, causing more than half of all species-from single-celled organisms to awe-inspiring behemoths-to suddenly vanish and be replaced by new life forms. Today the rich diversity of life on the Earth is again in grave danger-and the cause is not a sudden cataclysmic event but rather humankind's devastation of the environment. Is life on our planet teetering on the brink of another mass extinction? In this absorbing new book, acclaimed paleontologist Peter D. Ward answers this daunting question with a resounding yes. Elaborating on and updating Ward's previous work, The End of Evolution, Rivers in Time delves into his newest discoveries. The book presents the gripping tale of the author's investigations into the history of life and death on Earth through a series of expeditions that have brought him ever closer to the truth about mass extinctions, past and future. First describing the three previous mass extinctions-those marking the transition from the Permian to the Triassic periods 245 million years ago, the Triassic to the Jurassic 200 million years ago, and the Cretaceous to the Tertiary 65 million years ago-Ward assesses the present devastation in which countless species are coming to the end of their evolution at the hand of that wandering, potentially destructive force called Homo sapiens. The book takes readers to the Philippine Sea, now eerily empty of life, where only a few decades of catching fish by using dynamite have resulted in eviscerated coral reefs-and a dramatic reduction in the marine life the region can support. Ward travels to Canada's Queen Charlotte Islands to investigate the extinctions that mark the boundary between the Triassic and Jurassic periods. He ventures also into the Karoo desert of southern Africa, where some of Earth's earliest land life emerged from the water and stood poised to develop into mammal form, only to be obliterated during the Permian/Triassic extinction. Rivers of Time provides reason to marvel and mourn, to fear and hope, as it bears stark witness to the urgency of the Earth's present predicament: Ward offers powerful proof that if radical measures are not taken to protect the biodiversity of this planet, much of life as we know it may not survive.

About this title

Product Description:

Rivers in Time Elaborating on and updating Ward's previous work, The End of Evolution, Rivers in Time delves into his newest discoveries. The book presents the gripping tale of the author's investigations into the history of life and death on Earth through a series of expeditions that have brought him ever closer to the truth about mass extinctions, past and future. Full description

Review:

The pace of species extinction provoked by human rapacity may well now equal the rate of loss in the great mass extinction events that punctuate the history of life. We need a broad perspective on this most portentous of all ecological and evolutionary disasters--and who better than a paleontologist to provide it. Peter Ward ranks with the very best in this most fascinating profession, and his book should be read by all thinking and caring people.--Stephen Jay Gould

Rivers in Time is rich in information and ideas... masterfully portrays for nonpaleontologists how data are collected from the fossil record and then used to test various concepts. The section on the modern mass extinction is superb, and it should concern us all... Highly recommended.--M.A. Wilson "Choice "

[One of] the science books every self-taught genius should have read this year.--Discover

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0231118635
• ISBN 13: 9780231118637
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320