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9780198607861

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Extremely few living scientists would be able to cover the entire history of life authoritatively, with wisely chosen examples and principles, presented in lucid prose, and all in fewer than 260 well-illustrated pages. Southwood is one of them, has done so, and I accordingly recommend this book.

Eminent scientist Professor Southwood has written a definitive text on the history of life from its beginnings in the chemical soup to the present day. One might expect such a book to be dense and unreadable, so broad is its sweep and so complex the issues involved, but one would be wrong. Although the book's material was originally directed at life sciences students, it is beautifully clear and so very readable that it deserves a place in every household. We all have a rough knowledge of evolution and perhaps think not a lot more can be said about it. Southwood's talent is to make this knowledge relevant to us, and to the seismic shifts in the environment we see around us today. Species have emerged, and disappeared, and we, too, are a species which may suffer the same fate. For dinosaur lovers, the book provides many fascinating revelations - for instance, dinosaurs were neither warm- nor cold-blooded, but a mixture of both, with biological systems unlike any other animal. In the context of a particular species and its impact on the environment, Southwood cites the effects of lead and chemicals upon our biology and the contribution humanity has made to increased carbon dioxide levels. The stress of population explosion coupled with the scarcity of natural resources leads to political instability. In the final chapter of the book Southwood asks whether we have the ability to deal with the monsters we have created - or whether they will be our doom and, as a result, sound the death knell for the human race as we know it. (Kirkus UK)

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Professor Sir Richard Southwood FRS, was head of both Imperial College and Oxford Zoology Departments, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford, holder of thirteen honorary degrees and, above all, a life-long natural historian with an enduring curiosity about the lives of the other inhabitants of Earth. As well as writing and researching, he played a major role in public policy related to the environment.

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