Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Fossils of the Burgess Shale by Derek E. G. Briggs, Douglas H. Erwin, Frederick J. Collier, Chip Clark ISBN: 156098659X Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press Pub. Date: September, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5
Rating: 5
Summary: Images of our ancient ancestors
Comment: If you've ever kept a scrapbook of old photographs, you'll understand the fascination of this collection. Instead of grandmothers, aged aunts or toddler cousins, this book reveals life from the dimmest past. With photographs and drawings, Briggs and his colleagues have restored to view rare animals that lived in ancient seas. These are our earliest forebears, and for that reason alone, this book is worth repeated scrutiny. The images, with their stories of discovery and restoration, are offered in a spirit of shared discovery. These are very special creatures and it behooves us all to understand their value.
Although the book is targeted for professional paleontologists, the authors give us text nearly as illustrative as the images. They are part of the team who personally enticed many of these fossils from their lithic prison. Beginning with an account of Charles Woolcott's trek into the mountains of British Columbia, they go on to describe the environment in which these creatures lived. The significance of the Burgess Shale fossils, of course, is that they are images of soft body parts, usually lost as fossilization proceeds. At the time of the original find in 1909, such artifacts, especially ones of such ancient deposition were pricelessly rare. Woolcott himself understood their value to science, but never dedicated the necessary time to tease out their full secrets. It took Briggs and others, particularly Simon Conway Morris to apply the painstaking effort to recreate the body forms locked in the shale. In so doing, they overthrew a number of blithe assumptions made by a number of commentators, in particular Stephen J. Gould who had popularized the Shale finds, but sadly misinterpreted what they represent.
As you slowly turn over the pages of this book, reflect on the vast ages separating you from these creatures. The sea has always kept some bizarre secrets, but few can match the multi-spined Hallucegenia or mud-burrowing Ottoia. Haplophrentis might be mistaken for a Roman dagger lost in the sea until you read that its maximum length was but 30 millimetres long. A more formidable denizen of these waters is the Anomalocaris, with its hooked feelers and rasping mouth. Swimming in a sea with this half-meter long predator might not have been dangerous, but observing it might best be done from the beach.
This book is a clearly valuable contribution to our understanding of life's history and the process of evolution. It belongs on the shelf next to the other albums of family history. Take it down from time to time and simply open it at random. With half-closed eyes it isn't difficult to see these creatures in their daily lives, clutching rocks, swimming through the water, or burrowing into the bottom. They are your forebears, and deserve as much of your respect as does Aunt Matilda.
Rating: 5
Summary: An excellent book
Comment: This is a wonderful book. It is chock-full of photographs of Burgess shale fossils. The photographs are full page photographs and are accompanied by drawings that illustrate what the plant or animal probably looked like. The text is informative and easy to follow for a layperson.
Rating: 5
Summary: Richard F.
Comment: "The Fossils of the Burgess Shale," the non-geologist will find this book fascinating and understandable - yet the author did not "water down" the facts for those of us who have the technical background in the fields of geology and paleontology. The only drawback of the book was that some of the species listed in the back were not included in the pictorial portion of the book. I do understand that if Briggs had placed them all in the book the volume would have been over a 1,000 pages in length; however, several of the species not included are equally spectacular!
The first third of the book provides a brief history of the site and it's significance within Cambrian paleontology; the remaining two-third portion of the book provides clear photographs and line drawings of the animals entombed in this special location. I have used this book in teaching about the Cambrian explosion. Students were awed by the content of the book. If you are interested in invertebrate paleontology; this book is a must!
 |
Title: The Crucible of Creation: The Burgess Shale and the Rise of Animals by Simon Conway Morris, Simon Conway-Morris ISBN: 0192862022 Publisher: Getty Ctr for Education in the Arts Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
 |
Title: Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution by Richard Fortey ISBN: 0375406255 Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 31 October, 2000 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
 |
Title: Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Stephen Jay Gould ISBN: 039330700X Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
 |
Title: Life: A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth by Richard Fortey ISBN: 037570261X Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: September, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
 |
Title: Ammonites by Neale Monks, Philip Palmer ISBN: 1588340473 Publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press Pub. Date: March, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
