A (Very) Short History of Life On Earth: 4.6 Billion Years in 12 Chapters

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The number of bacterial cells in (and on) a human body is very much greater than the number of human cells in that same body. Go to a museum and see bones of fins and you will see how similar they are to the bones in our arms and feet – as are all mammals. In the beginning, Earth was an inhospitably alien place―in constant chemical flux, covered with churning seas, crafting its landscape through incessant volcanic eruptions.

There are bacteria that thrive on crude oil, on solvents that cause cancer in humans, or even in nuclear waste. And yet it was a sudden surge of free oxygen that caused the Great Oxidation Event, unleashing the first of many mass extinctions that pepper the history of this planet.The atmosphere would have been to us an unbreathable fog of methane, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and hydrogen. The author provides brief, and sometimes surprising, glimpses into the lives of various plants and animals from the earliest points in evolutionary history up to the present day. However, there would also be five mass extinction events including one mass oxidation and a meteorite wiping out all the dinosaurs. Book ends with the possible fate of humanity, anticipated sixth extinction and sure imminent death of our Sun and hence all life forms in earth due to lack of fuel several million years from now.

Like Neils Bohr and others, I believe that prediction is difficult, especially about the future, and I prefer the less definitive figure. But as life forms emerged, as single cellular bacteria, they began to give up oxygen and through the process of photosynthesis began to acquire energy. The membranes made a virtue of their leakiness, using holes as gateways for energy and nutrients and as exit points for wastes. Methane and carbon dioxide are two of the gases in the downy filling of the insulating blanket that keeps the Earth warm. This book created great visual imagery in my mind - I think this story would make an amazing and awe inspiring animation - get to it someone!Se você quer um resumo da vida na Terra, redigido com o que há de mais atual em ciência, este livro é para você. I could potentially push through the book but it would not be an enjoyable read, no matter how useful. And although there certainly are very many species mentioned as we pass through the years, rather than feeling overwhelming, Gee's friendly prose and careful timing made the approach come across as natural and organic. It does, however, give a very approachable overview of the subject, and with an extensive source list, and further reading list within, it also gives the reader next steps if they wish to drill down on any one topic. In the earliest days of the Earth, however, the raw materials were just as likely to have been minerals containing iron or sulfur.