Allen Lane, 2022

ISBN: 978-0241405741

Reviewed by Ian Mowll.

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This book takes you on an adventure, each chapter going further back in time, starting at 20,000 years ago in the Pleistocene era through to 550 million years ago in the Ediacaran era. What is so good about the book is that each chapter is located in a physical place, for instance, in the first chapter, 20,000 years ago, we are in the Northern Plain, Alaska and the author describes the plants, trees, animals, weather conditions and more. Other chapters include places in Kenya, Chile, China, Germany, Niger, Scotland and Russia. This brings the book to life as, in each chapter, I can imagine myself on the Earth all those millions of years ago: seeing the landscape, hearing the cries of the animals and experiencing the weather conditions.

The author acknowledges that, at times, there are competing scientific theories about what happened. But when this does happen, he generally goes with the most widely accepted theory. And so inevitably the descriptions in this book will change as more evidence comes to light and there is new understanding.

I am particularly interested in the five mass extinctions and some of these are described along with the slow return of life after each catastrophe. Snowball Earth is referred to, a time when almost all of the planet was under ice – life continued through this cataclysm but only just. There is also the Cambrian explosion about 500 million years ago when multi cellular life flourished and many new life forms appeared on the Earth.

The book ends with an understanding of where we are now, with rapid human induced climate change. Whilst there have always been changes in the Earth’s climate, the current changes are so rapid that many life forms do not have the time to adapt – leading to what is now being called the 6th mass extinction.

I found this book very helpful in bringing to life those long gone eras in a way that helps me to feel part of this amazing, evolving, living planet. And to put into a long term perspective, what is happening today. Yes, of course we should be doing all we can to keep the Earth’s eco systems intact. But whatever happens, history suggests that life on this planet will, in time, find a way to adapt and eventually flourish. The big question is whether humans will, or will not, be part of the future on our planet.