Michael J. Benton - Cowens history of life

1. Chapter 1
2. Chapter 2
3. Chapter 3
4. Chapter 4
5. Chapter 5
6. Chapter 6
7. Chapter 7
8. Chapter 8
9. Chapter 9
10. Chapter 10
11. Chapter 11
12. Chapter 12
13. Chapter 13
14. Chapter 14
15. Chapter 15
16. Chapter 16
17. Chapter 17
18. Chapter 18
19. Chapter 19
20. Chapter 20
21. Chapter 21
22. Chapter 22
23. Chapter 23

Edited by Michael J. Benton

Written by Michael J. Benton, John Cunningham, Tom Davies, Philip C. J. Donoghue, Andy Fraass, Christine Janis, Davide Pisani, Emily Rayfield, Daniela Schmidt, Jakob Vinther, and Tom Williams

Palaeobiology Research Group
University of Bristol
UK

Sixth Edition

This sixth edition first published 2020
2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Edition History
5e: 9780470671726 (Wiley 2013)

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Names: Benton, M. J. (Michael J.), author. | Cowen, Richard, 1940 History of life.
Title: Cowens history of life / edited by Michael J. Benton ; written by Michael J. Benton, John Cunningham, Tom Davies, Philip C. J. Donoghue, Andy Fraass, Christine Janis, Davide Pisani, Emily Rayfield, Daniela Schmidt, Jakob Vinther, and Tom Williams, Palaeobiology Research Group, University of Bristol.
Other titles: History of life
Description: Sixth edition. | Hoboken, NJ : WileyBlackwell, [2019] | Includes index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2019015116 (print) | LCCN 2019017612 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119482208 (Adobe PDF) | ISBN 9781119482222 (ePub) | ISBN 9781119482215 (paperback)
Subjects: LCSH: Paleontology.
Classification: LCC QE711.2 (ebook) | LCC QE711.2 .C68 2019 (print) | DDC560dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019015116

Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: Sergey Krasovskiy/Getty Images

This book is based on the classic work through five editions by Richard Cowen, and many of his words remain in this new edition. Among the team of revisers, Mike Benton led the revision, contributing more or less to all chapters, supported by Tom Williams ().

Richard Cowens History of Life has run through five editions since it first appeared in 1990. He based the book on his long experience as an instructor at the University of California, Davis, teaching a course called History of Life for 40years. As he said in his Preface to the fifth edition, the book is meant not just for students, but for everyone interested in the history of life on our planet. Fortunately, paleontology (= paleobiology) is accessible to the average person without deep scientific training. My aim is ambitious: I try to take you to the edges of our knowledge in paleontology, showing you how life has evolved on Earth, and how we have reconstructed the history of that evolution from the record of rocks and fossils.

The story of the history of life is of profound interest to many because it addresses core questions in philosophy and knowledge, especially about origins, crises, and environmental change. Since the times of the earliest thinkers in China, India, and Greece, people have asked questions about where humans came from and how we relate to the plants and animals we see around us. During the development of modern science in Europe, great philosophers have debated what fossils are and what the rocks show us.

As an example, Leonardo da Vinci (14521519), as well as being one of the greatest artists of all time, wrote extensively about scientific topics. In his day, people found fossil shells in the limestone mountains of central Italy, and they wondered how they got there. Had the Roman soldiers dumped the shells after eating their lunch? Leonardo realized, correctly, that these limestones had been deposited in the sea, and that the mountains had subsequently been uplifted. He realized the Earth was ancient, and the animals that had inhabited the shells truly had once lived on the seabed, and it took millions of years for them to reach their present location, many miles from the sea.

Great debates in science in later times focused around rocks and fossils could extinct species of often unfamiliar appearance even exist? How ancient is the Earth? Has life evolved or simply been created in an instant? Are humans merely naked apes or are they in some way special? How do environmental changes such as rising sea levels, rising temperatures, and ocean acidification affect life? The paleontologist has (some of) the answers.

Since 1990, when History of Life first appeared, our knowledge of paleontology has changed enormously think of the thousands of extraordinary new discoveries from China: the early animals from Chengjiang, the Silurian fishes from Yunnan, the feathered dinosaurs and birds from northern China, and many more. Every week, exciting new finds are made, adding records of the very oldest traces of life on Earth, early microbes, plants, and animals that tell us about the origins of modern biodiversity. A new dinosaur species is named every two weeks.