History of Life (McGraw-Hill Earth Science Paperback Series) - Softcover

Cowen, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0070132607 ISBN 13: 9780070132603

Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies, 1975

Synopsis

In this undergraduate text, the author has aimed to write an introductory course book on the history of life suitable for term-length lectures and for students with a limited background in science, studying the subject for the first time. Based on the author's considerable experience of teaching just such a course, the book is structured as a series of essays on the major events and innovations in the history of life on earth. Each essay discusses how we know what happened and how we can test suggestions about causes. Constant reference to current life studies of ecological and biological principles and how these can be used to interpret the past and using a series of vivid case studies, the reader is led through a learning curve of valuable scientific principles and methods. The book is suitable for introductory courses on the history of life, introductory palaeontology, and evolution across the disciplines of geology, palaeontology, and evolutionary biology.

About this title

Review

Praise for the New Edition:

"His material is accessible to even the uninitiated, but is still able to include fairly nuanced arguments. Mr. Cowen′s gentle wit is much appreciated. This is a wonderful text, written in an engaging style by an author with both deep and broad knowledge of the history of life."
Emily Buchholtz, Wellesley College

"...the History of Life is a superb book which has no peer among published texts describing the macroevolution of life on Earth and the abiotic and biotic factors that have influenced the evolutionary history of living organisms."
Robert McMahon, U of Texas at Arlington

Praise for the Third Edition:

Anybody interested in the evolution of the Earth and its living organisms, especially animals, will find the content of this book useful and interesting. [...] I would recommend the book to those readers who would like to gain a basic knowledge on the Earth′s evolution accompanied with detailed description of the evolution of animals.
L. Natr, Photosynthetica 40

′Should be compulsory for everyone who wants to call him/herself a palaeontologist.′ J.W.F Reumer, PalArch′s Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, (2006)

From the Back Cover

The living world today contains all kinds of creatures that do unexpected things–– we have come to expect that there were complex and unusual ways of life in the past, and that evolution took some unexpected turns at times. Entertainingly written for students, History of Life 4th Edition takes you to the edge of current knowledge.

This text is aimed at students and anyone interested in the history of life on our planet. It explores the "whys" of events that occurred and, in this newest edition, it takes a closer look at the evolution of the physical earth and the strong interactions between organisms and environment. The book s coverage includes geography, climate, atmosphere, ocean, and land (a changing stage) while following the interplay between organisms. Also new to this edition is a dedicated website which explores additional environmental factors and supplemental topics, and provides interactive exercises, a detailed glossary, key links and all art in downloadable form. The art is also available to instructors on CD–ROM in PowerPoint and Jpeg formats.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Publication date: 1975
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0070132607
• ISBN 13: 9780070132603
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 125