$168.01
FREE delivery 21 - 27 May. Details
Only 1 left in stock.
$$168.01 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$168.01
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Delivery cost, delivery date and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
discount_academic_books
Ships from
discount_academic_books
Returns
Eligible for change of mind returns within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for change of mind returns within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition within 30 days of receipt for change of mind. However, if your item is damaged or defective, you may be entitled to a remedy after 30 days. Contact the seller or visit Third-Party Seller Returns to learn more.
Read our returns policies
Returns
Eligible for change of mind returns within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition within 30 days of receipt for change of mind. However, if your item is damaged or defective, you may be entitled to a remedy after 30 days. Contact the seller or visit Third-Party Seller Returns to learn more.
Read our returns policies
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer—no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Richard Cowen
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

History of Life Paperback – 15 August 2004

by Richard Cowen (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 16 ratings
See all formats and editions

There is a newer edition of this item:

Cowen's History of Life
Cowen's History of Life
$120.95
(49)
Only 3 left in stock (more on the way).
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$168.01","priceAmount":168.01,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"168","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"01","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"lxZR8ns%2Fu99nCH1wE8%2FqHoxnSp%2Fwd3AWafUCLOUv5kLy4nbGDkiWcllD7JPso14ncnFjQudRNYwEc6X1Nz9V8KRQX%2FXSHZZC1TbSLqHu6ydV0JUZMm8cP8HdZzQxql7zQRDPg71p6YLtFnxRnB3vBscEs0rOOHW4vZtqKSim5l4Ww3V5Qwzo13Yivj09Avqe","locale":"en-AU","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

This text is aimed at students and anyone interested in the history of life on our planet. It explores the 'whys' of events that occurred, and in this newest edition, it takes a closer look at the evolution of the physical earth and the strong interactions between organisms and environment. The book's coverage includes geography, climate, atmosphere, ocean, and land (a changing stage) while following interplay between organisms. Also, new to this edition is a dedicated website which explores additional environmental factors and supplemental topics, and provides interactive exercises, a detailed glossary, key links and all art in downloadable form. The art is also available to instructors on CD-ROM in PowerPoint and Jpeg formats.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    336 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Wiley–Blackwell
  4. Publication date
    15 August 2004
  5. Dimensions
    21.59 x 1.91 x 26.67 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1405117567
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1405117562
  8. See all details
Next page

Product description

Review

Praise for the New Edition: "His material is accessible to even the uninitiated, but is still able to include fairly nuanced arguments. Mr. Cowen's gentle wit is much appreciated. This is a wonderful text, written in an engaging style by an author with both deep and broad knowledge of the history of life." Emily Buchholtz, Wellesley College "...the History of Life is a superb book which has no peer among published texts describing the macroevolution of life on Earth and the abiotic and biotic factors that have influenced the evolutionary history of living organisms." Robert McMahon, U of Texas at Arlington Praise for the Third Edition: Anybody interested in the evolution of the Earth and its living organisms, especially animals, will find the content of this book useful and interesting. [...] I would recommend the book to those readers who would like to gain a basic knowledge on the Earth's evolution accompanied with detailed description of the evolution of animals. L. Natr, Photosynthetica 40 'Should be compulsory for everyone who wants to call him/herself a palaeontologist.' J.W.F Reumer, PalArch's Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology, (2006)

About the Author

Richard Cowen learned how to write and to think critically at Cambridge University, and how to teach and think creatively at the University of California, Davis. He received a Distinguished Teaching Award in 1993 and designed the course "History of Life" there. The book was written specifically for that course, and has gone on to become a best-selling textbook.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wiley–Blackwell; 4th edition (15 August 2004)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1405117567
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1405117562
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 21.59 x 1.91 x 26.67 cm
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Richard Cowen

Richard Cowen

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs, and more

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
16 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from Australia

There are 0 reviews and 0 ratings from Australia

Top reviews from other countries

Rakesh
5.0 out of 5 stars Good book,in simple words.
Reviewed in India on 24 May 2021
Verified Purchase
Great book. Evolution explained in very simple words. Though it costs much less than the new edition, the web links provided for futher explanations doesn't work. But can be easily found in Encyclopedia.
Report
Catherine Cass
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 May 2016
Verified Purchase
great product
Report
Catamaran'78
5.0 out of 5 stars Superbly Written Book, Very Informative and Engaging to Read
Reviewed in the United States on 8 September 2010
Verified Purchase
The author knows his stuff, and is one of those often uncommon professors who not only knows his subject 110%, but can present it in a clear, interesting and concise fashion, with numerous diagrams and photographs to illuminate facts. All of the hundreds of illustrations are in B&W, and most are not too large, but they add a lot to the presentation and are carefully selected. No matter how much you have read on the history of life on earth, there will be facts and theories in this book you have not seen before. He covers life from the very beginning, before the Cambrian, and discusses the evolution of both plants and animals, climate zones and how the movement of continents change climate, and the full range of critters: therapsids, diapsids, multituberculates, dicynodonts, etc., along with extinctions, mentioning the possible development of a oxygen depleted Panthalassa ocean (the only ocean at that time as all the continents were fused), a theory of Isozaki (p 99) contributing to the Permian-Triassic mass extinction. I have read many books on evolution and paleontology written at the college level, and this is without a doubt the best overall presentation I have read.
11 people found this helpful
 Report
Mei
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Book!
Reviewed in the United States on 3 September 2013
Verified Purchase
If you are taking a Geology class that involves Dinosaurs, Fosils or just The History of life, this is the book for you. It easy to understand and it explains everthing very good. It also helps that it has a lot of tables, pictures and that kind of stuff that helps yo undersntand the concepts better. I highly recomend this book.
2 people found this helpful
 Report
Dr. Steve Bennett
4.0 out of 5 stars Best treatment I've seen for origins and evolution of life
Reviewed in the United States on 23 March 2014
Verified Purchase
Dr Cowen has fashioned this book from instruction materials for his undergraduate biology classes at the University of California Davis. As such it assume the reader has had at least a basic college-level course in one of the life sciences. Even so there is much...really too much.... to absorb for a first time read, but what I liked about his approach was they way he addresses the biological problems and theories to explain many of the important evolutionary leaps that have occurred over the past almost 4 billion years in which life forms of one type or another have existed. Examples are many but include: origin of "life" from lifeless chemicals and their environments.; origin of eukaryotic cells (those with nucleii, internal membranes and organelles) from their prokaryotic (bacterial) predessors; origin of multicelluar lifeforms... of animals and plants of vertebrates, adaptations to survive on land. etc all the way up to the evolution of humanoids and Homo sapiens. Again, the author treats his readership as budding biologists or at least as individuals who are well-read enough in the biological sciences to pick up the threads of his arguments.

In short, this book has given me much to ponder...and I shall read it again ...and again...and
One person found this helpful
 Report