Australopithecines, dinosaurs, trilobites—such fossils conjure up images
of lost worlds filled with vanished organisms.
But in the full history of life, ancient animals, even the trilobites,
form only the half-billion-year tip of a nearly four-billion-year iceberg.
Andrew Knoll explores the deep history of life from its origins
on a young planet to the incredible Cambrian explosion,
presenting a compelling new explanation for the emergence of biological novelty.