Brian Switek.
Written in Stone: the hidden secrets of fossils and the story of life on Earth.
Icon. 2011
Darwin’s theory of evolution was for more than a century dogged by a considerable problem:
‘transitional fossils’ – the evidence proving the connections between
the major groups of organisms – seemed to be missing.
During the past three decades, however, we have found fossils of walking whales in Pakistan, feathered dinosaurs in China, fish with feet in the Arctic Circle, ape-like humans from Africa, and many more bizarre creatures that draw together the tree of life.
The first account of the hunt for evolution’s ‘missing links’, Written in Stone shows how these discoveries have revolutionised paleontology, and explores what the findings might mean for our place on earth.