Call number
Publication
London: Flamingo, 2001
Pages
xv; 269
Description
From the author of Life comes the fascinating story of the beginnings of life on our planet as seen by its very first creatures, trilobites -- the exotic, crustacean-like animals that dominated the seas for 300 million years. Richard Fortey fell in love with trilobites as a fourteen-year-old when he held his first fossil in his hand. In Trilobite!, he draws on a lifetime of study of these creatures to unravel the history of life on earth from their point of view. Trilobites saw continents move, mountain chains grow and erode; they survived ice ages and volcanic eruptions, constantly evolving and exquisitely adapting to their environment -- their own evolution calibrated to geological time itself. With Fortey's expert guidance, we begin to understand how trilobites reveal the pattern and mechanism of evolution through their fossil legacy in the rocks. Through the eyes of trilobites, he allows us glimpses of former worlds as foreign in their geography as in their life forms. Altogether, he provides a unique picture of our geological past, which in turn provides us -- scientist and layperson alike -- with a new grasp of the wonders of scientific discovery.… (more)
Awards
Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction (Shortlist — 2001)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2000
Physical description
xv, 269 p.; 7.8 inches
ISBN
9780006551386
Similar in this library
Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms: The story of the animals and plants that time has left behind by Richard A. Fortey
At the Water's Edge: Fish with fingers, whales with legs, and how life came ashore but then went back to sea by Carl Zimmer
User reviews
LibraryThing member auntmarge64
I started this with no idea how interesting I'd find it, but it was recommended on one of my LT groups. I could never be a scientist (I haven't the attention span), but I'm now a trilobite fan.
Trilobites were a group of arthropods which lived during the pre-Cambrian to Permian time periods. IOW,
Well, I'm getting carried away, so will conclude by saying that the author, a British paleontologist, uses biography, natural history, geology, and even a bit of travelogue to reel in the reader. I was enchanted.
Trilobites were a group of arthropods which lived during the pre-Cambrian to Permian time periods. IOW,
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from approximately 540-250 ma (million years ago). They ranged in size from a less than a millimeter to that of a dinner plate. They were salt-water creatures, some deep water crawlers and blind, some free-swimming, some along shallow shorelines. Their eyes (of those who had them) were made of calcite. Fossils abound worldwide, and that's what makes them particularly interesting even to the layperson: because of how long this class of animals survived, and their easily-fossilized exoskeleton, they have been of crucial help in plotting the movements of continental masses through several comings together and breakups, including Pangaea, about 300 ma, and the previous supercontinent, Pannotia (about 600 ma). For instance, did you know that England and Wales used to be part of a land mass which included eastern (but not western) Newfoundland? The land grouping is now referred to as Avalonia (who said scientists have no sense of humor?) Western Newfoundland was an ocean away. During the Ordovician (say 485 ma), the Laurentian continent, including North America and Greenland, lay along the equator - at a 90-degree angle to today's position. Northern Africa was at the South Pole. Well, I'm getting carried away, so will conclude by saying that the author, a British paleontologist, uses biography, natural history, geology, and even a bit of travelogue to reel in the reader. I was enchanted.
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LibraryThing member NielsenGW
Hundreds of millions of years ago, a special creature travelled through the world’s oceans. Covered in an calcite chitin exoskeleton, they were first discovered by Reverend Edward Lhwyd in 1698, and from there the fascination grew. To date, some 17,000 species have been described. Sadly, though,
The art of finding of trilobites in the wild is equal parts geological prowess, immeasurable patience, and scientific fortitude. Fortey’s early experiences with trilobite investigation left him at the mercy of a microscope and thousands of tiny rock-drilling needles. Fortey’s writing is both scholarly and jovial, and he includes a fair number of pictures to show off the anatomy and diversity of trilobite species. Luckily, so many trilobite specimens have been found around the world, there is a great deal of information to be gleaned on how they lived.
Fortey makes you feel like you should rush out to the nearest mountain and starting hammering away (gingerly, though, you don’t want to break them) to find an ancient creature locked in the rocks. He is genuinely excited to share his collected experiences with the reader, and he wisely keeps his erudition at a decent level. If you’re an amateur scientist or simply a natural history nut (like me), then this one from the London Natural History Museum’s foremost paleontologist is well worth it.
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there are no extant species of trilobite and we only have the fossil record to go by. The closest we have is the horseshoe crab. Richard Fortey’s Trilobite takes us through the history, taxonomy, and science of the wondrous trilobite. The art of finding of trilobites in the wild is equal parts geological prowess, immeasurable patience, and scientific fortitude. Fortey’s early experiences with trilobite investigation left him at the mercy of a microscope and thousands of tiny rock-drilling needles. Fortey’s writing is both scholarly and jovial, and he includes a fair number of pictures to show off the anatomy and diversity of trilobite species. Luckily, so many trilobite specimens have been found around the world, there is a great deal of information to be gleaned on how they lived.
Fortey makes you feel like you should rush out to the nearest mountain and starting hammering away (gingerly, though, you don’t want to break them) to find an ancient creature locked in the rocks. He is genuinely excited to share his collected experiences with the reader, and he wisely keeps his erudition at a decent level. If you’re an amateur scientist or simply a natural history nut (like me), then this one from the London Natural History Museum’s foremost paleontologist is well worth it.
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LibraryThing member DirtPriest
This reads similarly to Earth: An Intimate History, in that it has a storybook feel to a science book. There are certainly more jokes here. Fortey is a trilobite expert, and this shines through this book as he trots around like a kid in a candy store going on and on about his hobby. I mean
He uses the myriad species of trilobites to sketch out a world long gone, where continents were in different places and orientations, the atmosphere was different, an alien Earth. But, Earth it is. We just call it the Cambrian, or Ordovician, or Silurian or Devonian Era. Each had their own different ecologies and endings. Hence the divisions. Trilobites were a key player in those ecologies and lasted longer than most other families of animals.
Not quite as general as his Earth, but the style is quite similar. Definitely read Earth first. If you like it, this one compliments it nicely, like icing on a cake.
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profession.He uses the myriad species of trilobites to sketch out a world long gone, where continents were in different places and orientations, the atmosphere was different, an alien Earth. But, Earth it is. We just call it the Cambrian, or Ordovician, or Silurian or Devonian Era. Each had their own different ecologies and endings. Hence the divisions. Trilobites were a key player in those ecologies and lasted longer than most other families of animals.
Not quite as general as his Earth, but the style is quite similar. Definitely read Earth first. If you like it, this one compliments it nicely, like icing on a cake.
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LibraryThing member yapete
This is a fun read. The variety of trilobites is amazing and Fortey does a great job telling their story.
LibraryThing member MyopicBookworm
Before I read this book, I thought of trilobites as a slightly boring group of fossil arthropods, ubiquitous from the Cambrian to Permian periods, useful as index fossils but not exactly scintillating. Who could get excited about hundreds of petrified woodlice? Now I'm converted: they are really
MB 6-xi-2010
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quite fascinating. Fortey is hugely enthusiastic, and his enthusiasm comes across well, even when explaining something as arcane as the optical properties of calcite. His style is eminently readable, if you can cope with arabesque flights of fancy, laced with fairly dreadful puns, and a slightly desperate thread of literary allusions. The book is disorganized, baroque, and constantly engaging; the author comes across as one of those mad scientists who is really quite sensible underneath.MB 6-xi-2010
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LibraryThing member Mrs_McGreevy
If you’ve ever tried to read a science book, especially one written by a respected expert in a given field, then you know that the books can be a bit…dry. All that material, all of those facts, all of those tables and charts and graphs can be overwhelming to a general reader. But every once in
Trilobites are some of the earliest creatures in existence captured in fossil form, and Richard Fortey is gaga over them. This book is ostensibly a study of the trilobite fossil record and what that changing record can tell us about the prehistoric world. But what it really is is Fortey’s love letter to the trilobite. He marvels over the fossils; he waxes rhapsodic about the rocks and shales the fossils can be found in; he even dotes on the other scientists, past and present, who have studied trilobites.
And you know what? It works. I found myself totally caught up in Fortey’s world o’ trilobites. I shared his pride in identifying new trilobites. I chuckled as he rolled his eyes and poked fun at some of his huffier scientific brethren. And I even began to understand and share his awe at how much can be learned from these ancient creatures.
Richard Fortey is proof positive that anything can be interesting with the right teacher.
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a while, a scientist comes along who is so enthusiastic, so passionate, so giddy in love with his subject that you get swept away in the ensuing rush.Trilobites are some of the earliest creatures in existence captured in fossil form, and Richard Fortey is gaga over them. This book is ostensibly a study of the trilobite fossil record and what that changing record can tell us about the prehistoric world. But what it really is is Fortey’s love letter to the trilobite. He marvels over the fossils; he waxes rhapsodic about the rocks and shales the fossils can be found in; he even dotes on the other scientists, past and present, who have studied trilobites.
And you know what? It works. I found myself totally caught up in Fortey’s world o’ trilobites. I shared his pride in identifying new trilobites. I chuckled as he rolled his eyes and poked fun at some of his huffier scientific brethren. And I even began to understand and share his awe at how much can be learned from these ancient creatures.
Richard Fortey is proof positive that anything can be interesting with the right teacher.
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LibraryThing member AsYouKnow_Bob
An entertaining - and surprisingly non-technical - read. (No notes, and only seven items on the "Suggested reading" list.) This is as almost as much of a memoir as it an explanation of the science around trilobites: e.g., Fortey was near the center of the 'punctuated equilibrium' dust-up of the
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'80s. Show Less
LibraryThing member FioLynn
This is one of my favourite science books, Richard Fortey has an intimate, witty style of writing which is easy to read and gives you an insight into the way science is actually carried out in the field. It shouldn't be possible to write 250 pages about nothing but trilobites and make it
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interesting but Fortey certainly can. Show Less
LibraryThing member hailelib
A fun book about the life and times of the trilobite and about the life and times of Fortey and his fellow trilobitologists. Trilobites were major zoological players for some 300 million years and Fortey demonstrates how the study of trilobites has contributed to the study of evolution and to the
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detailing of Earth's geological past. Chock full of great illustrations and interesting anecdotes, this book is a good introduction for anyone with a passing interest in paleontology beyond the ubiquitous tomes on the dinosaur. Show Less
LibraryThing member Devil_llama
This book was a sheer pleasure if only because it's great to see someone writing an evolution book that doesn't deal with dinosaurs or primates. For once, someone is addressing the small and often overlooked species. Trilobites were once extremely abundant, and the changing fossils left behind a
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wonderful record of evolution that informs a great deal of science today. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member MarkBeronte
Trilobites were shelled animals that lived in the oceans over five hundred million years ago. As bewilderingly diverse then as the beetle is today, they survived in the arctic or the tropics, were spiky or smooth, were large as lobsters or small as fleas. And because they flourished for three
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hundred million years, they can be used to glimpse a less evolved world of ancient continents and vanished oceans. Erudite and entertaining, this book is a uniquely exuberant homage to a fabulously singular species. Show Less
LibraryThing member drmaf
Wonderful and entertaining book about one of the humblest but most successful creatures in the long history. Far from just being simple bugs who crawled in the mud of long-gone oceans, trilobites dominated the seas of the planet for more than 200 million years and evolved an astonishing number of
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forms adapted to every type of sea habitat. Although they have become of the most popular fossils, mainly because of their astonishing proliferation all over the planet, few people know much about the. Simon Fortey rectifies this in a book that is a poem to his deep love affair with this modest creature. He waxes lyrical as he describes how trilobites first came to the attention of science, how their fragile shells were teased out of rock, the details of their lives pieced together, and how they continue to reveal new secrets to this day. More science books should be written like this, it is truly captivating stuff. I must admit, although I have always been fascinated by trilobites, I have never taken the time to really get to know their story, thanks to Fortey I have now rectified this and intend to seek out other books. Truly wonderful stuff. Show Less
LibraryThing member mykl-s
Trilobites, of all fossils, fascinate me, even still. They are very ancient, and there were a lot of them.