Review by Choice Review
Any library likely to welcome visitors with an interest in plant paleontology should probably have a copy of this delightful little book out in plain sight. The full-page illustrations of fossils are sure to invite browsing, and a glance at any of the excellent essays is likely to pull readers in for more. The essays--each one complete in itself at one to two pages--use the fossils as motivators rather than as their exclusive subject matter. For example, accompanying the image of Psaronius brasiliensis, a tree fossil from the Permian stratum, is an exploration of different strategies for "being tall," while the illustrated Permian shrub Glossopteris motivates an essay about plate tectonics. Most essays emphasize paleoecology but also include interesting details of the taphonomy of the specimen/stratum and basic descriptive information about the fossilized plant. This reader was temporarily surprised by the apparent lack of scale bars but subsequently discovered the illustrated list of specimen details at the back of the book. This list also notes where each fossil specimen is located now. The back matter additionally provides suggestions for further reading including electronic resources for online exploration. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates. General readers. --William E. Williams, emeritus, St.Mary's College of Maryland
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Paleobotanist Kenrick of Natural History Museum, London, delivers an eye-opening, spellbindingly long view of plant life on Earth, from the first evidence of oxidation by photosynthetic organisms some 2.6 billion years ago through 465-million-year-old algae, the first land plants (425 million years ago), the first trees (380 million years), fully open grasslands (5.3 million years), the domestication of grain (10,000 years), and the recent rejuvenation of 31,000-year-old seeds into normal plants, growing flowers and fruits, and setting new seed. Most entries are illustrated with a full-page image of their related fossil, opposite a succinct, deeply informed précis of the relevant plant's terrain, climate, and interaction with the contemporary flora and fauna that surrounded it. Kenrick describes the "mind" of a 407-million-year-old fungus, sometimes a pathogen, trying to enter the tissue of a plant, which would repel it by sealing it off or encasing it: "Other fungi appear to be able to enter plants without provoking an immune response. Their hyphae easily slide between cells weaving their way into the interior. Once they are a few cells deep, they change tack to form distinctive branched or coiled structures within cells." Full-color fossil photos (only black-and-white images were available for review) promise to be captivating.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--This paleobotanical gallery offers a plethora of insights into how plants developed over the past 2.6 billion years and how scientists "read" subtle clues in fossil records. Arranged roughly in chronological order, the big, bright color photos begin with a chunk of rock from the Paleoproterozoic era showing mineral banding indicative of photosynthesis and end with a close-up of a modern seed similar to 30,000-year-old specimens that were preserved well enough to grow. The book also presents a range of fossilized cells, leaves, stem segments, and other structures (some microscopic, others, like a giant club moss embedded in a Welsh coal bed, weighed in tons). Some of the fossil photos are paired with pictures of modern relatives for comparison. In his extensive commentaries, the author relays technical observations about "coccolithophores" and "phytoliths" as he tracks the earliest appearances of surviving or extinct plant families, roots, stems, and flower parts, as well as signs of insect damage, and clues about extinction events, changes in climate, or atmosphere. "It's not easy being a plant," Kenrick writes, but aside from, possibly, bacteria, "no group of organisms has so profoundly affected the long course of life on Earth." VERDICT The dazzling visuals will draw both science-minded upper grade scholars and casual browsers. The meaty analyses will cause the former, at least, to linger.--John Peters, Children's Literature Consultant, New York
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
