Atlas of the Prehistoric World
by Douglas Palmer
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Book Summary Information
Author: Douglas PalmerEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1999-10-01
ISBN: 1563318296
Number of pages: 224
Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Book Reviews of Atlas of the Prehistoric World
Book Review: 3.5 Stars for a Multi-Pictured Potpourri of Paleontology
Summary: 4 Stars
I read the 2000 German edition of the original 1999 British edition.
I bought this family coffee table book for the plate tectonics and because it was offered as a bargain. It is divided into three sections: Plate tectonics (35 pages) of the last 620 million years. Considering that Earth is more than 4 billion years old, that's roughly 1/7 of plates movement only... In my edition there's always a small picture of the entire earth in the right upper corner and two pictures of the respective halves of our planet. So I am not quite sure, what one reviewer is referring to some parts missing. Though the perspectives of the big pictures naturally distort important sections on the edges. All in all, this is a good introductory into plate tectonics. However, if you attempt to gain some knowledge on how today's, say Mediterranean formed: get another book! I COULD use this one, however in addition to two textbooks only. (German books, so I don't bother mentioning them here.)
The second part (110 pages) is about the evolution of life according to geography. The pictures use more space than the text and the snapshots of Earth are repeated. Of course, it is very interesting and a lot of things I didn't know before. However, the choices of inclusion feel rather arbitrary. And a bit superficial at that. Writing in 2008 I have to say that some parts aren't that incredibly up to date. Especially the double page on the evolution of humans.
The last section (35 pages) is on two centuries of the sciences of earth, which curiously has a reversed proportion of text to images, which are monochrome now. It may have made more sense to get elaborative in the other sections instead...
Even though, for the time of publishing, this book dared to mention back then controversial theories like snowball earth, tyranno saurus rex being a scavenger and the bonobos being closer related to us than the common chimpanzees are. Nevertheless, I advise getting a more recent book if possible. And/or more specific books on respective topics, e.g. The Mediterranean Was a Desert: A Voyage of the Glomar Challenger, Rain Of Iron And Ice: The Very Real Threat Of Comet And Asteroid Bombardment (Helix Books) and so on.
Summary of Atlas of the Prehistoric World
From it's beginnings as an accumulation of molten space debris over 4.6 billion years ago, the Earth has undergone astounding transformations, both geological and biological, to arrive at its familiar look today.??The Discovery Channel's Atlas of the Prehistoric World is a dynamic portrait of the Earth and the interplay among the various forces that shaped both the planet and the life upon it.Atlas of the Prehistoric World is divided into three major sections, each of which offers a distinctive look at our planet's pre-history.
In "The Changing Globe" computer -generated global maps track the Earth's shift in topography during eighteen different geological periods.... From the rise of mountain ranges to the creation of new oceans, the world takes on its different faces through the course of eons.
"Life on Earth" chronicles the evolution of plant and animal life, from the first single-celled microbes to land-dwelling mammals. Each of the Earth's major geological eras is profiled in its own chapter, which depicts the life forms that developed as continents drifted, volcanoes erupted, and meteorites crashed to the surface. Specially commissioned panoramic illustrations take "snapshots" of life at a particular time and place....These...reflect the latest scientific thinking about how creatures from each period would have appeared, bringing to life animals and plantlife we can otherwise see only as fossils.
"Earth Fact File," an indispensable gazetteer, explains important Earth science concepts and provides a useful tool for understanding prehistory. Accompanied by over 250 full-color photographs and illustrations and 68 maps, the Discovery Channel's Atlas of the Prehistoric World is a unique must-have resource for any family member.
The earth is not the spring chicken it was 4.6 billion years ago. With the passing of the millennia, earth's face, weathered by heat and ice and subject to tectonic friction, has erupted, wrinkled, and sagged, as do all our faces ultimately, only more so. Continents have shifted, merged, and split apart. Seas have turned to land and land has been submerged by seas. And microorganisms have evolved into the vast diversity of flora and fauna that exists today. Douglas Palmer's Atlas is a digest of what is known so far about the history of the earth, enhanced with brilliant maps, photographs, and illustrations, and explained in lucid, enjoyable prose.
The Atlas starts off with "The Changing Globe," 36 beautiful pages of maps that chart the changing face of the earth from Vendian Times some 620 million years ago, when land was massed in two continents called Northern and Southern Gondwana. Flipping through the vivid pages, one sees how Siberia, during Early Cambrian Times, began to move north from its South Pole location, how in Odovician Times (460 million years ago) the Iapetus Ocean was beginning to close while the Rheic Ocean was starting to open, and how a volcano in what's now Virginia spewed volcanic ash as far away as what's now Minnesota, while in Carboniferous Times (a mere 354 million years ago), there were swampy forests in Nova Scotia that are the coal fields of today.
"Ancient Worlds," the next section of the atlas, charts life, from the aquatic microbes formed 3.5 billion years ago and the multicelled organisms of the Vendian Period, the early-Cambrian brachiopods and the Silurian spiny trilobites, on through to the Jurassic and Cretaceous dinosaurs, the Tertiary mammals, and the entrance of hominids just 5 million years ago. The extinction of the dinosaurs is explained, the Ice Age is described, and, in the "Earth Fact File," 200 years of scientific discovery are chronicled.
Douglas Palmer, a professor of natural and earth sciences at Cambridge University, also writes science articles for Science and New Scientist, and is the author of many books on paleontology. His Atlas is an excellent layperson's reference for families and students, rendering a vast amount of history and science in a highly accessible, entertaining format. --Stephanie Gold
Atlases Books
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