Science Book Reviews

Origins

This beautiful book chronicles the geological events that have shaped our restless world from the time of its origins, amidst the dust clouds of 2 huge supernovas four and a half billion years ago, to the geographical issues that we face today.

Each period in Earth's history is tackled in turn, introduced by spectacular pictures and a comprehensive overview, followed by more in-depth text and illustrations. Origins explains and illustrates the structural aspects of different geological regions very well, and contains a detailed and interesting chapter on the worldwide migration and evolution of hominids, including more contemporary issues such as ship-building, exploration and conquest. The only criticism, and it is a minor one, is that the section on palaeontology is approached on a much broader level, and could also be improved with the use of pictures of real fossils as opposed to artist's impressions.

That said, Origins is on the whole an excellent book, well written and highly accessible to a wide audience. It will appeal to anyone keen to learn more about the earth sciences, including university undergraduates for whom this book will provide good background reading for the first two years of study.