The title of this book, "Life: A natural history of four billion years of life on Earth," was a great selling point for me. As an invertebrate zoologist I have an ongoing interest in learning more about where life came from, how it is interrelated, and how and when the diversity of life around us came into being. Of course, no one has definitive explanations for those kinds of topics, but I was looking forward to reading Fortey's views on the natural history of life.
As I began reading I soon became disillusioned with Fortey's approach. If he wanted to write his autobiography, wedged in here and there among his main topic, why in the world didn't he tip off the reader by having a better subtitle? I did press on and complete the book, and found it to have meaningful content and thought-provoking ideas, but after all was said and done I was left wanting.
Fortey deserves commendation for undertaking such a massive topic, in 322pp no less! As I read through his account in search of information that would provide me with a clue to the framework he uses to understand the natural history of life on earth, I felt like I hit speed bump after speed bump in the form of occasionally interesting, but often meaningless, diversions. I'm sorry, but I could really care less, for example, what a hotel traditionally frequented by paleontologists serves for breakfast, or Fortey's personal reflections on Australian ponds where "the jolly swagman rested his tuckerbag"!
Don't get me wrong, those are wonderful literary side steps in this largely scientific work, but for me they were only distractions rather than useful contributions to the work.
Fortey does do a great job in some areas...for example, he does a super job of tying together plate tectonics and continent formations, break-ups, and movements as they affect the history of life. He also does a grand job of telling the basics of what kinds of things one can learn about life and the state of the earth from the fossil and other geologic records. But even so, there is too little meat here for the scientist, and there is too little support in the form of graphs, illustrations, etc., to allow most non-professionals to keep up with what's happening. That point is evidenced by the fact that Fortey introduces many little-known, though important, animals by their scientific names, but provides no supporting illustrations to let the reader know or confirm what Fortey is talking about.
There are a few chapters that, in my opinion, Fortey got "right." Those are the chapters he said that he was loathe to write -- the chapters about dinosaurs. Fortey did a masterful job of describing this period of history, as well as the underlying major controversies and players behind those controversies. He did not accomplish those things in most of the other sections of the book.
To sum things up, Fortey did what a water color painter, Terry Madden, tells his students to do -- that is, to use the largest brush you can manage. Fortey used a large brush supported by limited detail work here and there -- not enough detail to make this book a must have for professionals, and too little on the explanation side to make this an essential book for the non-professional.
If you are looking for a great book that provides a synopsis on the natural history of life on earth, there are better offerings. If you are looking for autobiographical accounts of scientists or works where the author likes to sidestep and let you in on his daydreams and poetic reflections, this book may suffice for you.
It seems to me, though, that Fortey failed to identify his audience, as well as his ultimate goal in writing the book. There are good parts, and disappointments.
Failing to find the middle ground resulted in what was, for me, only about a 3-star experience.
Alan Holyoak, Dept of Biology, Manchester College, IN
