The History of Life ─ A Very Short Introduction

There are few stories more remarkable than the evolution of life on earth. This Very Short Introduction presents a succinct guide to the key episodes in that story - from the controversies surrounding the birth of life itself to the extraordinary diversity of species around the globe today, and including along the way the origins of sex and multicellularity, the move to land, mass extinctions, and, most recently, the rise of conscious humans.
Introducing ideas from a range of scientific disciplines, from evolutionary biology and earth history, to geochemistry, palaeontology, and systematics, Michael Benton explains how we can piece the evidence in this vast evolutionary puzzle together, to build up an up-to-date picture of the history of life on earth.

Michael J. Benton was Head of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol.