Life on a Young Planet

The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth - Updated Edition

| 4.22 | 467 ratings and reviews

Recommended by Richard Fortey, Andrew Scott, Paul Falkowski, and 3 others. See all reviews

Ranked #25 in Earth Science, Ranked #42 in Geology — see more rankings.

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.


The very latest discoveries in paleontology--many of them made by the author and his students--are integrated... more
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Reviews and Recommendations

We've comprehensively compiled reviews of Life on a Young Planet from the world's leading experts.

Richard Fortey It’s very important, when we muck around with the atmosphere as we’re doing, to realise that what we have is actually a product of this ineffable and long period of planetary evolution. (Source)

Andrew Scott Knoll shows the intimate relationship between the evolution of life and the evolution of the planet. (Source)

Paul Falkowski What Andy has done is really exposed us to the world before animals and plants, when there was strong evidence of life but the world was totally controlled by single celled organisms, the protists. (Source)

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