You can download Prehistoric Life, Evolution and the Fossil Record ebook here.
- Title: Prehistoric Life, Evolution and the Fossil Record
- Author: Bruce S. Lieberman and Roger Kaesler
- Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
- Pages: 399
Samuel Clemens, as Huckleberry Finn, once said that if he had known how difficult writing the book would be, he wouldn’t have tried. I can relate to this feeling as I began this project with my mentor, Roger Kaesler, and faced unexpected challenges. However, not too far into the project Roger became deathly ill with the disease that ultimately took his life. In spite of the fact that he passed away in 2006, certainly his stamp is present throughout the book.
I followed the topics and styles I believe he would have preferred, in addition to his earlier contributions. In any event, the book’s genesis was based on a class that both he and I taught (and I continue to teach) at the University of Kansas, the eponymous Prehistoric Life.
The fossil record represents a remarkable pageant of life: what historian of science Peter Bowler, paraphrasing the famous paleontologist William Diller Matthew, referred to as “Life’s splendid drama.” It also provides a unique window on the patterns and processes of evolution. This book explores the interplay between evolution and the geological and climatic history of our planet. A trip on the New York City subway to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) when I was three inspired me to become a paleontologist.
There, accompanied by my parents, I saw the spectacular skeleton of Tyrannosaurus rex. My parents were my first teachers: they instilled in me the wonder of scientific discovery. My teachers, especially Stephen Jay Gould at Harvard and Niles Eldredge at Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History, sparked my passion for paleontology and the history of life. This book is dedicated to these four teachers.