Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

Journal of Paleontology

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Springer, D. A. Search for Related Content

History of Life

Book Review

¹ Geography and Geoscience Department Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania 17815 <dspinge@bloomu.edu>

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

History of Life (fourth edition). Richard Cowen. 2005. Blackwell Publishing, 324 p. (pb) ISBN 1-4051-1175-67.

I had a sudden thought as I sat down to write this article: "Why am I reviewing this book?" Not, "why in the world did I ever agree to do another book review?" That particular thought crosses my mind every time I guiltily move the draft of a promised critique to the bottom of my To-Do list. Rather, why this book? I cannot imagine that there is anyone who teaches paleontology, historical geology, or similar courses who has not already read or used one of the previous three editions of Cowen's History of Life. It is simply one of the best introductory texts on the macroevolutionary history of life on Earth written to date. I could stop there. I really should stop there, but I've been given to understand that a book review ought to be more than a 114-word-long paean to the text in question. Indulge me a bit then, and let me refresh your memory concerning this terrific book.

Richard Cowen taught a History of Life course at UC-Davis for more than 35 years. He developed this textbook specifically for that course. As in all the best textbooks (and courses), the fourth edition is not merely a repackaging of old material, it is an . . . [Full Text of this Article]