Presents a lucid introduction to the earth history leading up to human history

Integrates aspects of cosmology, astrophysics and chemistry wth the fossil record in the examination of the evolution of major groups of animals and plants

As a general introduction to science this book emphasizes the unity of the scientific endeavor which is typically not found in a narrow disciplinary introductory course

Presents a lucid introduction to the earth history leading up to human history Integrates aspects of cosmology, astrophysics and chemistry with the fossil record in the examination of the evolution of major groups of animals and plants As a general introduction to science this book emphasizes the unity of the scientific endeavor which is typically not found in a narrow disciplinary introductory course

Autorentext

George Shaw has had a career as a professor of geosciences, and focused on geophysics, especially high-pressure measurements of elastic properties. He taught at University of Minnesota (14 years; Minneapolis, MN) and Union College (Schenectady, NY), as well as being awarded an NSF post-doctoral fellowship at Edinburgh, Scotland, and American Geophysical Union Congressional Science Fellowship. Dr. Shaw worked for a congressman from Washington State, on energy and environmental issues, and particularly on the formulation and passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. At Minnesota Shaw developed with a colleague a course in energy resources and policy, which he taught for about ten years and which he continued to teach at Union. About fifteen years ago he initiated a course called Great Moments in the History of Life, starting with the origin of the universe and chemical elements and continuing through the Anthropocene. This revived an old interest in early Earthhistory and especially the conditions preceding and surrounding the origin of life. This book is the result of that revived interest.

Inhalt
Introduction.- In the beginningand somewhat later.- How to make a habitable planet.- Prebiotic chemical synthesis.- The origin of life.- Interlude.- Photosynthesis the game changer.- The rise of oxygen and the origin of the eukaryotic cell.- Earliest plants and animals.- The Cambrian explosion and emergence of modern body plans.- The end of the Ordovician and the colonization of the land.- The Permian extinction and the rise of the dinosaurs.- End of Cretaceous extinction the end of the dinosaurs.- The rise of mammals, the Genus Homo, and the ongoing extinction event.- Conclusion.