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Zusatztext “Charming. . . . A fine survey.” Informationen zum Autor David Rains Wallace is the author of fifteen books, including The Klamath Knot: Explorations of Myth and Evolution (Twentieth Anniversary Edition, California, 2003), winner of the John Burroughs Medal; The Bonehunter's Revenge: Dinosaurs, Greed, and the Greatest Scientific Feud of the Gilded Age (1999); and The Monkey's Bridge: Mysteries of Evolution in Central America (1997). Klappentext " Beasts of Eden is a wondrous journey through the vanished worlds of extinct mammals. Exciting, insightful, and accurate, it is everything that good science writing should be."—Tim Flannery, author of The Eternal Frontier "A compelling scientific adventure story…. Peopled with colorful and larger-than-life characters, this account of the history of paleontology dramatically demonstrates how the interactions between crude but charismatic fossil seekers, ascetic intellectuals, temperamental artists, and many others have forever changed the ways in which we view life's prehistoric beginnings."—Ian Tattersall, author of The Monkey in the Mirror " Beasts of Eden is a true delight. Each page drips with the drama and passion of scientific pursuit. Wallace is a keen observer, a learned writer, and a great story teller--this is a must read!"—Don Johanson, Director of the Institute of Human Origins Zusammenfassung Presents an account of fossil discoveries and an overview of what those discoveries have revealed about early mammals and their evolution. This book features towering mammoths, tiny horses, giant-clawed ground sloths, whales with legs, uintatheres, zhelestids, and other exotic extinct creatures. Inhaltsverzeichnis List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Prologue. The Fresco and the Fossil 1. Pachyderms in the Catacombs 2. Dr. Jekyll and the Stonesfield Jaws 3. The Origin of Mammals 4. The Noblest Conquest 5. Terrible Horns and Heavy Feet 6. Mr. Megatherium versus Professor Mylodon 7. Fire Beasts of the Antipodes 8. Titans on Parade 9. Five-toed Horses and Missing Links 10. The Invisible Dawn Man 11. A Bonaparte of Beasts 12. Love and Theory 13. Simpson's Cynodont-to-Smilodon Synthesis 14. Shifting Ground 15. Dissolving Ancestries 16. Exploding Faunas 17. The Revenge of the Shell Hunters 18. Simpson Redivivus 19. Winds Thieves of the Kyzylkum 20. The Serpent's Offering 21. Anthropoid Leapfrog Epilogue. Cenozoic Parks Notes Select Bibliography Index ...
