The Crucible of Creation: The Burgess Shale and the Rise of Animals - Couverture rigide

Morris, Simon Conway

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0198502567 ISBN 13 : 9780198502562

Editeur : Oxford University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Challenging the views of scientists including Stephen J. Gould and Richard Dawkins, this text takes us on a fresh journey back in time through the Burgess Shale - the astonishing collection of pre-Cambrian creatures so different from everything now living that many rank as separate trunks of life's tree. In readable style, Conway Morris paints a picture of a critical period in the history of life which saw the diversification of all the major animal groups, and takes a controversial stance on current evolutionary theories. The book should appeal to the general reader interested in popular science and evolutionary theory - in particular readers of Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

'tells a great story and manages to be informative at all levels. Conway Morris has a collector's eye for the sort of entertaining yet informative snippets that keep readers on their toes.' New Scientist Located in the west of Canada, the Burgess Shale contains a unique collection of fossil remains, and has become an icon for those studying the history of life. This remarkable book takes us on a fresh journey back in time through the Burgess Shale and its astonishing collection of pre-Cambrian creatures. In an entertaining and readable style, Simon Conway Morris paints a vivid picture of the critical period which saw the diversification of all the major animal groups, and takes a controversial stance on current evolutionary theories that is sure to provoke much interest and debate. 'It is less bleak in its assessment of life on earth and it is spiritually uplifting, rather than dry and mechanistic as some would have us believe' THES 'The centerpiece of The Crucible of Creation is a description, authoritative and readable, of the animals themselves. New York Times Book Review

Biographie de l'auteur

Simon Conway Morris is Professor of Palaeontology in the Department of Earth Sciences at Cambridge. He was one of the team of three scientists who uncovered many of the fossils and worked on the interpretation of the Burgess Shale in the 1970s, for which work Stephen Jay Gould said "Palaeontology has no Nobel prizes though I would unhesitatingly award the first to Whittington, Briggs, and Conway Morris. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1990, and presented the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in 1996. His search for fossils has taken him all over the world, including China, Mongolia, Australia, and Greenland.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Oxford University Press
• Date d'édition: 1998
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0198502567
• ISBN 13: 9780198502562
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 265
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: Ufficio Anagrafiche Messaggerie; ufficio.anagrafiche@meli.it; ; Via Verdi, 8; Assago Milano; 20090; Italie