Bibliophilic Friday: Life: An Intimate History of the First Four Billion Years by Richard Fortey, Review by Nancy L. Eady

Today on Bibliophilic Friday, we are going to detour from mysteries to science.  One of my  favorite non-fiction books on science is Life:  An Intimate History of the First Four Billion Years by Richard Fortey.  Nor am I alone in my admiration of this book; it was selected, along with another book by Richard Fortey, by the Folio Society.  The Folio Society publishes high-end editions of carefully selected books, and to have a book included as one of their offerings is an honor. 

The Folio Society Cover for Fortey's Book

I love to read about science, all aspects of it.  Richard Fortey is one of my favorite science writers because of the engaging way he discusses his topics and the trick he has of making complicated concepts comprehensible to non-scientists.  In Life, he covers the evolution of life from the first single-celled organisms through the present – and does so in a way that keeps you reading.

As you read Life, you pick up on Fortey's enthusiasm for his subject and learn about fascinating creatures - and not all of them are dinosaurs.  With Dr. Fortey’s words, even the simple algal mats that once populated the earth in enough abundance to transform our atmosphere from primarily carbon dioxide to primarily oxygen are interesting.  Remarkably, there are a few areas of the world where such algal mats still flourish.

A Trilobite - Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Dr. Fortey's academic specialty is the study of trilobites, animals that swarmed the oceans for over 270 million years but which became extinct about 250 million years ago.  Trilobites were arthropods, which means they are distantly related to insects, arachnids and crustaceans.  Their closest living relatives today appear to be the horseshoe crabs, which are often considered to be "living fossils".  The horseshoe crabs are arthropods, too. Dr. Fortey admits in one of his books that he has a secret wish/hope that maybe just a few trilobites are still swimming around in the ocean, may in some deep-sea canyon, that have yet to be discovered.  I think that would be spectacular.

Horseshoe Crabs from Wikimedia Commons

Sorry - I digressed. The point is that if you are looking for an informative, entertaining read that sets out a comprehensive history of life as currently understood by science, this is the book for you.