Life in Deep Time ― Darwin Missing Fossil Record

When Darwin wrote his Origin of Species one of his main concerns was with the perceived shortness of the fossil record of life. Until the work of Schopf and his colleagues much of this history was thought to be unknowable. This book documents astonishing discoveries revealing the first 85% of of the history of life. These earliest periods of life on Earth emerge as a tale of individual exploration told by a scholar whose 60 years of research uncovered the richness and diversity which forms the foundation of todays biodiversity.

J. William Schopf is Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life at the University of California Los Angeles. He is an elected member of the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences. He is the author or co-author of hundreds of scholarly journal articles, as well as many authored and edited books. His books have won 3 national prizes.