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 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.

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, 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. ( )

Once I'd read Richard Fortey's Dry Storeroom No. 1 (review) I knew I'd be on the lookout for his earlier works. Trilobite: Eyewitness to Evolution (Vintage, 2001) is the first of those I stumbled across. Fortey, who spent a career studying trilobites, shares his enthusiasm with the fossilized critters, outlining their discovery, biology, habits, geography, you name it. He also offers up a survey of his predecessors in the field of trilobitology (each with their own quirks and foibles, of course), and describes many of the key scientific debates of the 20th century (plate tectonics, punctuated equilibrium, &c.)

Fortey is one of the best active writers of scientific narrative. His sense of humor and obvious enjoyment of his field of study are infectious, and although there are many detailed scientific descriptions and explanations, those never overpowered the narrative (and were fascinating to read). Plus, I greatly respect anyone who can use such delightful words as ruckle, beetling, fusty, boffin and sempiternally, and phrases like cobble of knobbles and pong of putrefacation (look them up, I did).

If you can read this book and not get at least a little itch to go out and crack open some slates looking for trilobites, you've got more will power than me.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2009/... ( )

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 interesting but Fortey certainly can. ( )

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 '80s. ( )