- 320 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
Written in Stone (Icon Science)
About this book
Darwin's theory of evolution was for more than a century dogged by a major problem: the evidence proving the connections between the main groups of organisms was nowhere to be found.By the 1970s this absence of 'transitional fossils' was hotly debated; some palaeontologists wondered if these 'missing links' had been so quick that no trace of them was left. However, during the past three decades fossils of walking whales from Pakistan, feathered dinosaurs from China, fish with feet from the Arctic Circle, ape-like humans from Africa, and many more bizarre creatures that fill in crucial gaps in our understanding of evolution have all been unearthed.The first account of the hunt for evolution's 'missing links', Written in Stone shows how these discoveries have revolutionised palaeontology, and explores what its findings might mean for our place on earth.
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Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access Written in Stone (Icon Science) by Brian Switek in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Biological Sciences & Evolution. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Index
Abenakis, 178, 181–82
Acanthostega, 81–82, 83, 85, 86, 87, 87, 89, 135
acquisition of traits, 39
adaptation, 270. See also specific animals
extinction and, 54, 144
hunting, 248
adaptiform, 10
Aetiocetus, 159, 172, 172, 173
Afar, 250, 251, 258
Afradapis longicristatus, 15, 16, 17, 17, 21
Africa, 46, 70, 257
East, 260
elephants of, 191–92
human evolution in, 237–38, 241, 242, 245
mastodons of, 192, 193
South, 126–27, 139, 243, 246
age, determining fossil, 32
Age of Mammals, 20, 134, 153–54, 181
Age of Reptiles, 153–54
Ahlquist, Jon, 253
air sacs, 120, 120, 121, 121
Alabama, Koch’s fossil finds in, 147–49
Alberch, Pere, 83–84, 87
Alexander, Cecil, 73–74
Amazon, 59, 69, 70
Ambulocetus, 160, 161, 166, 167, 169
America
degeneracy view of, 175–76
large animals of, 176
The Ancestor’s Tale (Dawkins), 21–22
ancestry
common, 55, 67–68
Darwinius and, 9–17, 16
desire to know, 19
Early Jurassic, 143
elephant, 185–86, 186
fear of ape/monkey, 57
horse, 214–15, 220, 223
ichthyosaur reptiles, 166
mammalian, 13...
Table of contents
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Introduction: Missing Links
- The Living Rock
- Moving Mountains
- From Fins to Fingers
- Footprints and Feathers on the Sands of Time
- The Meek Inherit the Earth
- As Monstrous as a Whale
- Behemoth
- On a Last Leg
- Through the Looking Glass
- Time and Chance
- Notes
- References
- Acknowledgments and Permissions
- Index
- Back Cover