Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

Otherlands : a journey through Earth's extinct worlds / Thomas Halliday.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Random House, [2022]Copyright date: ©2022Edition: First editionDescription: xx, 384 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780593132883
  • 0593132882
Other title:
  • Other lands
Subject(s):
Contents:
Thaw : Northern Plain, Alaska, USA - Pleistocene -- Origins : Kanapoi, Kenya - Pliocene -- Deluge : Gargono, Italy - Miocene -- Homeland : Tinguiririca, Chile - Oligocene -- Cycles : Seymour Island, Antarctica - Eocene -- Rebirth : Hell Creek, Montana, USA - Paleocene -- Signals : Yixian, Liaoning, China - Cretaceous -- Foundation : Swabia, Germany - Jurassic -- Contingency : Madygen, Kyrgyzstan - Triassic -- Seasons : Moradi, Niger - Permian -- Fuel : Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA - Carboniferous -- Collaboration : Rhynie, Scotland, UK - Devonian -- Depths : Yaman-Kasy, Russia - Silurian -- Transformation : Soom, South Africa - Ordovician -- Consumers : Chengjiang, Yunnan, China - Cambrian -- Emergence : Ediacara Hills, Australia - Ediacaran -- Epilogue: a town called hope.
Summary: Mining the most recent paleontological advances, a paleobiologist recreates sixteen extinct worlds, rendered with a novelist's eye for detail and drama, showing up close the intricate relationships of these ancient worlds.Summary: The thought that something as vast as the Great Barrier Reef, with all its vibrant diversity, might one day soon be gone sounds improbable. But fossil record show that this sort of wholesale change is not only possible but has repeatedly happened throughout Earth history. Halliday makes sixteen fossil sites burst to life on the page as he explores the Earth as it used to exist, the changes that have occurred during its history, and the ways that life has found to adapt-- or not. He illustrates how ecosystems are formed; how species die out and are replaced; and how species migrate, adapt, and collaborate. In doing so, he tells us something about our current crisis. -- adapted from jacket
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 560 H188 Available 33111010646293
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 560 H188 Available 33111010811095
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

"Immersive . . . bracingly ambitious . . . rewinds the story of life on Earth--from the mammoth steppe of the last Ice Age to the dawn of multicellular creatures over 500 million years ago."-- The Economist

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE * "One of those rare books that's both deeply informative and daringly imaginative."--Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker, Prospect (UK)

The past is past, but it does leave clues, and Thomas Halliday has used cutting-edge science to decipher them more completely than ever before. In Otherlands, Halliday makes sixteen fossil sites burst to life on the page.

This book is an exploration of the Earth as it used to exist, the changes that have occurred during its history, and the ways that life has found to adapt―or not. It takes us from the savannahs of Pliocene Kenya to watch a python chase a group of australopithecines into an acacia tree; to a cliff overlooking the salt pans of the empty basin of what will be the Mediterranean Sea just as water from the Miocene Atlantic Ocean spills in; into the tropical forests of Eocene Antarctica; and under the shallow pools of Ediacaran Australia, where we glimpse the first microbial life.

Otherlands also offers us a vast perspective on the current state of the planet. The thought that something as vast as the Great Barrier Reef, for example, with all its vibrant diversity, might one day soon be gone sounds improbable. But the fossil record shows us that this sort of wholesale change is not only possible but has repeatedly happened throughout Earth history.

Even as he operates on this broad canvas, Halliday brings us up close to the intricate relationships that defined these lost worlds. In novelistic prose that belies the breadth of his research, he illustrates how ecosystems are formed; how species die out and are replaced; and how species migrate, adapt, and collaborate. It is a breathtaking achievement: a surprisingly emotional narrative about the persistence of life, the fragility of seemingly permanent ecosystems, and the scope of deep time, all of which have something to tell us about our current crisis.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-348) and index.

Thaw : Northern Plain, Alaska, USA - Pleistocene -- Origins : Kanapoi, Kenya - Pliocene -- Deluge : Gargono, Italy - Miocene -- Homeland : Tinguiririca, Chile - Oligocene -- Cycles : Seymour Island, Antarctica - Eocene -- Rebirth : Hell Creek, Montana, USA - Paleocene -- Signals : Yixian, Liaoning, China - Cretaceous -- Foundation : Swabia, Germany - Jurassic -- Contingency : Madygen, Kyrgyzstan - Triassic -- Seasons : Moradi, Niger - Permian -- Fuel : Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA - Carboniferous -- Collaboration : Rhynie, Scotland, UK - Devonian -- Depths : Yaman-Kasy, Russia - Silurian -- Transformation : Soom, South Africa - Ordovician -- Consumers : Chengjiang, Yunnan, China - Cambrian -- Emergence : Ediacara Hills, Australia - Ediacaran -- Epilogue: a town called hope.

Mining the most recent paleontological advances, a paleobiologist recreates sixteen extinct worlds, rendered with a novelist's eye for detail and drama, showing up close the intricate relationships of these ancient worlds.

The thought that something as vast as the Great Barrier Reef, with all its vibrant diversity, might one day soon be gone sounds improbable. But fossil record show that this sort of wholesale change is not only possible but has repeatedly happened throughout Earth history. Halliday makes sixteen fossil sites burst to life on the page as he explores the Earth as it used to exist, the changes that have occurred during its history, and the ways that life has found to adapt-- or not. He illustrates how ecosystems are formed; how species die out and are replaced; and how species migrate, adapt, and collaborate. In doing so, he tells us something about our current crisis. -- adapted from jacket

Powered by Koha