David Rains Wallace

This book begins and ends with visions and beautiful, heartfelt language but as the author traces some of what we know about the evolution of marine life, there are passages clogged with jargon. For example: "...creodonts were a separate, primitive group that vanished in the Miocene epoch. In some ways, they resembled mesonychids, the early, flesh-eating ungulates and putative whale ancestors. Indeed, early paleontologists thought mesonychids WERE creodonts, so Cope's observations about the show more seal-like aspects of his 1872 Wyoming fossil, Mesonyx, probably influenced Wortman's thinking." I could go on but my point is the book could easily have been made a bit less of a slog for the general reader, for example with a chart somewhere of the conventional designation of time periods, so that someone like me doesn't have to go to another book or the web to refresh their memory of when and how long the Miocene epoch was. show less

George Kilgore is a man who is not quite sure of his purpose yet. In the midst of his despondency, he stumbles upon murder and intrigue. He isn't quite happy raising tree seedlings for reforestation, but then he wasn't happy raising marijuana, either. Perhaps he is a man who needs jeopardy to bring out his quality; he is about to find that out.

I'm glad to have read this book. The author's descriptions of the Northern California wilderness are captivating. Possibly more so to someone who is show more familiar with the area. Quite apart from the mystery, it is well worth the read for that. The mystery was interesting and suspenseful. For the most part the writing was well done. I was not really fond of any of the characters in the book though, and felt that some of the dialogue was clunky or awkward. Somehow, in spite of the introspection of the main character, I never felt that I knew him. The book has ecological propaganda in it, but the author handled it well, never letting the issues take over the plot. show less

Having not previously read any of this author's work, I'm particularly impressed at the way Wallace weaves together the interaction of the evolutionary theorists with our increasing understanding of the physical remains of the deep past. One also has to be impressed with the capsule biographies offered by Wallace of the relevant players in the game.

This book of popular paleontology is organized around the "Age of Mammals" mural in the Peabody Museum. The topic is the discovery of the multiple strange mammals from the post-dinosaur past, and the ilummination they shed on the process of evolution. I really felt a sense of ownership, because I have seen the mural many, many times in my science-infatuated childhood in New Haven. The writer was more interested in the stories around the bone hunters and rivalries among the classifiers, than show more in the evolutionary theory, although he did a credible job. His initial chapter on the murals was memorable, with Vincent Scully, art historian, call the age of reptiles the "most significant frescoe since the middle ages" show less