by Peter Brannen 2017
Book Review by Ray Herrmann
The author hones this talent for vivid depiction as he takes us on a long and detailed journey through the history of life on our planet, starting about 580 million years ago. Through him, we witness life's proliferations and downfalls told by fossils and strata, while he takes from an era of simple pond scum into those of sea critters, plants, trees, dinosaurs, animals, humans and then possibly beyond!
This book has only one small picture section, so I recommend having an evolutionary reference book alongside as you journey. An excellent book is Prehistoric Life: The Definitive Visual History of Life on Earth published in 2009 by Dorline Kindersley Limited. It is a huge 10 x 12 x 1.4 inch thick full color 500-plus page book filled with depictions of our globe and its land masses at each era, along with countless fossils and their renderings. I found both books at the library, so they are probably easy to get.
Once you travel this journey, you will be forever blessed with a deep understanding of life in general and of human lives in particular, as all life struggles for a niche, both through times of miraculous bounty and through times of horrendous calamity. You will gain an appreciation of the slow pace of geological time and of our overall insignificance while we experience great influence momentarily as we travel through an uncharted future./p>
This book will give you a broad perspective of your position in life's story. It is well worth your time!