Trilobite!
Published on 5. March 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-0-00-655138-6 (ISBN)
Description
'In Richard Fortey's capable hands the humble grey trilobite has been transformed into the E.T. of the Lower Palaeozoic - a remarkable and fascinating book.' SIMON WINCHESTER
Richard Fortey is one of Britain's leading popular scientists. Life: An Unauthorised Biography, was short-listed for the Rhone Poulenc prize and has been reprinted five times. In all he writes, Fortey displays extraordinary range, delight and descriptive gifts which make complicated scientific facts and concepts not only easy to understand but a delight to absorb.
Trilobite! is an unashamedly trilobito-centric view of the world unravelling the history of the exotic, crustacean-like animals which dominated the seas for three hundred million years. These arthropods witnessed continents move, mountain chains elevated and eroded; they survived ice ages and volcanic eruptions, evolving and adapting exquisitely to their environment. They watched through their crystal eyes whilst life evolved. Their own evolution calibrated geological time itself.
Structured like a detective story, this is a light, but highly informative account of the wonders of scientific discovery and an engaging, quirky and fascinating introduction to evolution.
Richard Fortey is one of Britain's leading popular scientists. Life: An Unauthorised Biography, was short-listed for the Rhone Poulenc prize and has been reprinted five times. In all he writes, Fortey displays extraordinary range, delight and descriptive gifts which make complicated scientific facts and concepts not only easy to understand but a delight to absorb.
Trilobite! is an unashamedly trilobito-centric view of the world unravelling the history of the exotic, crustacean-like animals which dominated the seas for three hundred million years. These arthropods witnessed continents move, mountain chains elevated and eroded; they survived ice ages and volcanic eruptions, evolving and adapting exquisitely to their environment. They watched through their crystal eyes whilst life evolved. Their own evolution calibrated geological time itself.
Structured like a detective story, this is a light, but highly informative account of the wonders of scientific discovery and an engaging, quirky and fascinating introduction to evolution.
Reviews / Votes
'Astonishing... A delightful book, mixed autobiography, philosophy and palaeontology, which illuminates understanding of that critical time in the history of the Earth after the explosion of multicellular life between five and six hundred million years ago. There is nothing here to intimidate the non-scientist. It is as good for reading on the beach as anywhere else... We may be special in our own eyes, but in longevity the trilobites knock us into one of their beautiful conical hats'Financial Times
'Suffused with the experience and affection of a lifetime spent with these common and attractive fossils... A gripping, splendid book'
New Scientist
'Delightful and beautifully written, Fortey has an eye for the world about him that would be envied by some travel writers... interesting and impassioned'
Literary Review
'Fortey has turned his considerable skills to bringing the human dances with trilobites before our eyes... wonderful. His reputation as a first-rate natural history writer will only be enhanced by this volume'
TLS
'Vivid, poetic, highly focussed and uncompromising'
Spectator
'A splendid book written with so much verge and depth'
Sunday Telegraph
'[Trilobites!] needs that exclamation point to shout that it should be read by everybody, whether you know what a trilobite is or not... This is the way science should be written: so engagingly that it makes you forget that you're actually learning something (actually, you're learning a lot), and carrying you swiftly from page to page so that before you know if, you've let the kettle boil over and you're at the end... If I had five thousand words I couldn't do Trilobite! justice. There is just no way to condense Fortey's glittering book so filled with insight, science, history, charm and wit... you must read it!'
Times
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
132 b/w illus
Dimensions
Height: 197 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
240 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-00-655138-6 (9780006551386)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Richard Fortey spent his working life in palaeontology at the Natural History Museum, specialising in trilobites and becoming a world expert. He was elected President of the Geological Society of London for its bicentennial year of 2007 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Royal Society of Literature. He has received the Frink Medal, the Michael Faraday Prize and the Lewis Thomas Prize for science writing, as well as the silver medal of the Zoological Society for science communication. He is the writer of eight previous science and nature books, including two Sunday Times bestsellers, all of which are still in print. He has presented many television programmes across the BBC and other channels.